Capitol Hill-Sellwood United Methodist Churches

Rev. David Weekley, Pastor

January 9, 2011

Isaiah 42:1-9

Matthew 3:17-23

A Covenant to the People

(reflection on Testimony by Daney Dumdeang)

I was in the midst of reading the personal testimony Daney shared with us
this morning when I received word about the rampage in Tucson, Arizona.

As I watched in disbelief I heard two early comments about the attack on

congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her party. One comment was made
by the chairperson of the Arizona Republican Party, who said that senseless
acts of violence such as this have no place in our country. The second
comment was from a CNN News reporter who asked, “How have we arrived
at this point? What is going on in our country?”

Not long afterwards Sheriff Clarence Dupnik made a connection between the
public vitriol so prevalent in our politics and media today, and increasing acts
of violence such as this senseless attack. He was not the first to make this
assertion. Congresswoman Giffords herself stated that public speeches and
other acts encouraging violence are not without consequences. Others have
specifically pointed to Sarah Palin’s use of a map with apparent target
crosshairs depicting where key democratic rivals were being targeted in the
upcoming elections

For years I have expressed my growing concern over the way we treat one
another in our culture. When I was a graduate student my mentor and
professor would lament almost daily at the changes he observed in our
educational and political systems. He bemoaned that the humanities, the
inclusion of ethics and critical thinking skills, and other dimensions of
traditional liberal arts education were quickly being replaced with an
educational philosophy based upon how to get a job and earn a good
income. When I went to seminary, I was shocked when a friend attending the
Harvard School of Business said all the formerly required ethics classes were
no longer necessary. Everywhere I looked I observed a society increasingly
based upon personal gain, with others viewed either as competitors or
potential resources. Observing the economic recession and ensuing
devastation affecting so many in our country, it seems we are reaping the
consequences of this shift away from the teaching of ethics, and an attitude
of mutual respect, focused on the common good. I well understand Daney’s
dismay and frustration over the injustices being perpetrated on homeowners
by banks and mortgage companies using unfair systems and means to force
foreclosures. Last July, the first day of a one month sabbatical to write, I
received a letter from the bank holding our mortgage that we had been late
on a payment two years previously. They had been keeping track of late fees
and interest for two years and now claimed we owed a few thousand dollars
we of which we had no knowledge. After months of futile efforts to fight their
claims and fees, we decided to sell our house. Our house sold in two days.
We were extremely blessed: too many other stories end in more tragic
circumstances.

Our economy, our politics, and the way we treat each other- all these things
are grounded in the core values we embrace both as individuals and as a
nation.

We continue to pray for all the victims and wounded. As we do, may we
include in our prayers the question Daney asked in his testimony: “So the
end of the story is the beginning of the story for us all . . . the essential and
meaningful question, then, is “what do we do for our lives?”

Our scriptures point to an answer:

1. The Isaiah passage speaks about covenant, and Christians view Jesus
as the model for this new covenant. As Christ is given to us, we are
given as followers of Jesus to be a light to the nations.

2. The gospel tells the story of Jesus’ baptism. When we are baptized we
declare our intention to follow Jesus as our model for living, engaging
in the same struggles between human will and divine.

In his testimony Daney expresses how these work together in Christian life:
“I urge each of us as living the Christian life to do our best for connecting
ourselves to great works of our Lord Jesus . . . “I came in the light into the
world, that whosoever believes in me should not abide in darkness.” (John
12:46)

As we live into 2011 may each of us examine our covenant, and the core
values by which we live.

I agree with Daney when he talks of relying on the Holy Spirit for guidance: “I
believe in the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is always revealing itself in
my life.” Daney says he does not think he would be here without the Holy
Spirit; I know I would not be, either. As Daney points out, life contains much
Dukkha, suffering. Yesterday’s tragedy in Tucson too clearly illustrates this
truth. Too often we do seem to exist in a world of “hatred ongoing.” One
friend I spoke with about what happened in Arizona cried out in dismay that
we live in a culture of hate. I grieve with her because I know this is so true.
But there is good news, and that is that you and I are called to be better. As
Daney says in describing the Spirit of Truth: “It helps me to see myself
beyond myself . . . to see others more than themselves . . . it gives me more
belief in His creation . . .We are in all, and all are one because we are coming
from the same originality of God’s creation . .”

The world needs to hear this message. May you and I believe it enough and
embrace it enough to declare it through our words and actions every day.
Then, as Daney reminds us from Ephesians 3:17-19: “Then Christ will make
his home in your heart hearts as you trust in him, your roots will grow into
God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand,
as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his
love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to
understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life
and power that comes from God.” Daney says these words help him get out
of craziness and keep him from going nuts sometimes. Me too, Daney.

Amen.
Christmas Testimony 2010

As the Christmas holiday and new year comes upon us, we celebrate Christmas and
travel with a look at Christmas greetings from around the world While my wife and I
were shopping for Christmas gifts in the Moreland area, I heard a Christmas song. I
was so touched and my gentle spirit refreshed. I asked myself, "What am I missing
this year?" My answer was that, oh, I am missing my annual Christmas testimony
and I said what the heck, I've got to do it, to share with you at Capital Hill
Church...there seemed nothing to say than what I have already said before. Well,
let's allow God to search my heart (John: 8: 9...) and let Him speak for me to you.
And this is the only thing that is encouraging me, to be able to sum up and give my
words in his guidance to me. As a Catholic priest said, "To me Christmas is
tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future. It is a fervent
wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every
path may lead to peace and the ultimate goal of life...The earth has grown old with
its burden of care, but at Christmas it always is young..The heart of the jewel burns
lustrous and fair.. And its soul full of music breaks the air..Where the song of angles
is sung" (Phillips Brooks). "The morning stars sang together and all the sons of God
shouted for joy. Man was created in the image of God and given something unique:
a soul... because God has come for you, to be your savior, your redeemer, your
Lord." And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the
power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be
called Holy -- The Son of God" (Luke John 1:12.)

Every story of life must have an end, and the end of the story of life is the beginning
of time...time is the essence of life...We were born, we grew up, and we are getting
old, as the law of the nature of change as Buddhist doctrine teaches us states, that
nothing is permanent...impermanence is permanence of life... We say "goodbye"
to2010; we say welcome to 2011. When 2011 comes to an end in the next 12
months, we will say goodbye again...We celebrated last year; we are celebrating
again this year...all things are in cycle... no end, no beginning...so the end of the
story is the beginning of the story of us all...the essential and meaningful question,
then, is "What do we do for our lives?" "What do we do for ourselves?" 'What do we
do for other relationships?" "Do we have for each other the relationship with God's
faith that we gain or that we have with Him?" I do not know about you, but I do
know I have an increasingly stronger faith in Him, without looking upon him and He
looks upon me... I became insane or not myself, due to my business failure and the
national economy crash and many, many other things in my life that are beyond my
control, but I have allowed HIM to take over and made HIM accountable for my
life..daily and forever more...And yet of course sometimes I feel a struggling of faith
in HIM..so I am stumbling along and I do it myself...I feel and achieve no goal... I
then allow HIM to search my heart and let it be...What did I do in the major part of
my time this year..I fought with mortgage companies and bankers, talked to layers,
wrote tons of documents of correspondence with bankers and related to them...It
saddened and hurt my heart to watch and see the news of banks taking over with
foreclosures of homeowners all over the nation...I deeply researched on the Civil
Protect Act to help them and help myself. I even sent my message to the White
House to be sure that Obama has been doing his work and keeping his promises. I
want him to keep his word, to tell the truth, for him to promise that all can have
hope for a place to stay, enforcing the banking regulations. He cannot keep his
commitment, and therefore he is not telling the truth as the leader of our nation. He
is s political game players just like anyone else. We have no foundation of real
Christian faith. "Liar, liar, pants on fire,,, empty words..Man has no power to do
things, but only God has power. We must act to God by His faith not act upon
himself...in this God has encouraged me daily... Proverbs 8:13 says that those who
fear God instinctively and earnestly loath those things that do harm to life and
liveliness, even if the harm is not immediately apparent. If we fear GOD-if we
respect HIM and what HE stands for-then we also oppose all that HE is against,
which certainly includes anything associated with "the evil one" or his subservient
"evil spirit." I am pointing this out because GOD warns us that we cannot depend
upon human effort or human power, which will lead us as far as the mundane world
in power, but not in the external and super mundane world because of human
weakness which lacks God's strength..We are hurting from all promises because we
do not believe in God's purpose for all of us...That reason alone encourages all of us
to seek the truth in love and, as Paul writes in Romans 12: 1-2, "...having been
warned in dream...."Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer
your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of
worship. Do not conform any longer to patterns of this world, but be transformed by
the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's
will is--His good, pleasing and perfect will." We all should realize that the Holy Spirit
proves that all the world is guilty before God..and further we must believe that the
Holy Spirit has begun a good work in our hearts. Without clear discovery of our guilt
and danger, we never shall understand the value of the Redeemer. We would have
fuller views of the Redeemer, and more lively affections for HIM, if we prayed more
for, and depended on the Holy Spirit. As I have developed my Buddhist belief and
gained fuller faith in Christianity since I came to this country, and it has been over
40 years, I always believe in the Holy Spirit because the Holy spirit is always
revealing itself in my life. Without the Holy Spirit, I may not be here now.. because
our lives are full of dukkha, or suffering, and hatred ongoing. It seems endless.
Many years ago, our lovely friend Pat McConnel, gave a testimony in our Capital Hill
Church among all of us... Do you remember her meaningful and honorable and
logical questions which were raised..."Do I (Pat) have spiritual gain?", "Has my
spirituality grown more or am I gaining nothing in this church?" Those questions
touched deeply inside my heart. Pat encouraged me to continue my testimony like
hers, every year, as I feel closer and closer to her. I feel that her spiritual body has
grown inside her. She must have fully found her spiritual growth, as have I and all
of you. As written in John 16: 13-15, "When the spirit of truth comes, He will guide
you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He
hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come. He will
glorify me, for He will take what is mine to you. All that the father has is mine;
therefore, I said that He will take what is mine and declare it to you." I must profess
that our Capital Hill Church has carried out the Holy Spirit of our God and His
purpose for over 100 years..Our family of Capital Hill is unique. Capital Hill has
made me realize I have found and achieved the Spirit of Truth and it has come..It
helps me to see myself beyond myself..to see others more than themselves..it gives
me an enlightenment of what the reality of life is all about.. it gives me more belief
in His creation..We are in all, and all are one because we are coming from the same
originality of God's creation and His family..It gives me room to go beyond who I am
and who you are; who I am is more than who I am; who you are is more than who
you are; we are not only who we are, but more than who we are within it..That solid
faith leads me to accept new things by going beyond racism, sexism, religious
belief.. This is why I have no problem accepting our present pastor or who he is, and
he is more than who he is. Thank God we all now accept him totally for who he is
and love his fantastic and brilliant sermons...Thank you Pastor David for the
sincerest performance of your duty and your service of great ministry in your
church and unlimited places..Wherever you are you bring happiness to all...and that
is who you are.(((I turned around, allowing HIS word to enter my heart...."Then
Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him, your roots will grow
into God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand,
as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.
May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.
Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes
from God. (Ephesians 3:17-19)..."These words help me get out of craziness and or
keep me from going nuts. I told myself if I were younger, I would go to law school
and specialize in real estate law only, changing and revising the foreclosure laws
from fraud, giving more fairness and justice to fight the poverty in this country and
around the world...I still may want to do it..I feel full of hatred for what banks have
done to the poor and home owners. What is the good deed from the rich to the
poor?-- No, I cannot see it. I told myself, when my time comes, I'll take care of
unjust treatment of this critical mortgage deceit. God's word entered my heart: it is
not my job, but his job. Then I was in silence, trying to accept. I am pointing this out
here in connection of my testimony of journeying with God from worry to peace and
in testimony of overcoming anxiety: finding peace, discovering God or God's Holy
word...where we can see the solution that God has provided for us...where God has
made the victory possible through Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ has made all
possible thorough us all, including Capital Hill Church members.

As for my mission this year, we were able to help one of our God daughters
complete her master's degree and return to work in Thailand and live with her
family..it makes her family happy for her. We continue to contribute funds from the
Dumdeang Foundation to help medical needs for one of our longest and dearest
friends who has been ill in bed for years and who now is in the Bangkok Hospital
and struggling to fight for her life to live. Thank God for making us keep our promise
and being able to serve His will..."With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and
not to man" (Ephesians 6:7). I urge each of us as living the Christian life to do our
best for connecting ourselves to great works of our Lord Jesus and perceiving or
being perceived that the light that He has given us is from the darkness of life..(He,
Father of Light, John 1:17), "I came in the light into the world, that whoever
believeth in me should not abide in darkness," (John 12:46.) Our family is healthy
and happy. WE ARE PROUND OF THEM ALL..THANK YOU GOD. We are more than
happy to have one more granddaughter, Kayla, our new born baby. She is 11 1/2
months old and she is sweet and an angel. She brings us even closer together,
thank God. Patty and I had the chance to travel to Hawaii for Patty's niece's
wedding, for a week. Thank God for allowing me time to be away from my business
and writing duty. I share with you that I have been writing about Steve and David's
life and I am deeply interested in this. Pray for me to complete this work (writing is
like cooking; it never ends, but some of it will; it is the art of human thought to
express to the world from each of us to us all. I love to write; it is my life. However,
taking a break from writing and going to Hawaii gave me a chance to feel closer to
my granddaughter, Kyra, as we took her along. We had the greatest time swimming
in the beach, snorkeling, seeing volcanoes and the mother nature of landmarks of
Hawaii, shopping, dancing, acting, and eating out. That was the best time of the
year 2010 for us, traveling as a family. Yes, the trip to Hawaii was thoroughly
enjoyable with the value of the world volcano. I was with my wife when we saw the
giant ferns surrounding the volcano. She read and told a funny story about the giant
ferns where the judge stopped the fire, water, wind and the mud from fighting
together. I tried to believe her, but it was kind of hard to believe. For legends like
this, you know sometimes when our wives tell stories to be peaceful, then we must
pretend to believe it and that is what I did. Surely I loved the volcanic national park.
It was a fantastic and exciting trip. I heartily recommend a Hawaiian trip/vacation
to family and friends or anyone who wiIl listen to me. I even want AND AM SEEKING
THE DREAM VACATION HOME to live there ON THE BIG ISLAND WHERE THERE IS
PARADISE ON EARTH..NEXT TO THAILAND, my country.

In a nutshell, I am closing and I would like to end up with praying and thanking you
because there are too many greatest things we have done together over the year of
2010... too many greatest memories in our hearts, too many unique, inspiring, and
challenging experiences as we have all navigated our spiritual journeys. Each of us
have such different and significant journeys of spirit in life. Even though every
spiritual journey we take is different..some are welcomed, some are fearful, some
have hidden excitement, I would like to share some of my foolishness and my
ignorance. The little I am older, I realize how little I knew when I knew it all... the
sin of my youth...stealing bicycles from the Chinese businessmen, selling the bikes
for gambling money, using that money to support Muslim gangsters, and more and
more stories. I told my Muslim friend on the bus in front of my wife on a Singapore
trip some years ago. She said I should tell my children about these things I have
done, but I did not. I'd rather tell my church people like you. Now those are some
haunting problems in my youth..life from the past: Why? Because "I was ignorant, I
was foolish, I was immature--Lord, chose not to remember these things." I am
sharing with you my stupid series of actions of my youth which has been the glue
which holds everything else that I could disclose here together. I remember I shared
with Allen one time when he told me he his life was involved with gangs; I kept
telling myself that that was like my life. I did tell him how quite incidentally we had
a similar problem. I guess that is why we became Christian..trying to have total
freedom accomplished in this area of core fears of our youthhood life. These words
of Jesus helped me: "This is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and
make it known to you (John 16:13-15). My realization came to my mind due to those
bad things I have done. I realize one of the reasons why people trust God so little is
because trusting God requires dealing with sin.. so now it is my struggle to find
peace.. but after all we all want to be closest to the Holy Spirit of our GOD..we want
to taste the sense of Holiness of HIM. As we draw near to God ,we have the sense
of His HOLINESS, which is indescribable in a short moment, but in our mind we
cannot get away without thanking one another in our church, in our community, in
our nation and in our global community...So we pray may God Bless you all...all
church members, families, friends nationally and internationally, including in India
and Thailand, and especially may MIGHTY GOD bless all who have lost their lives in
the nation and in the war, and those who serve and contribute their lives, their time
for us...cheer them up, giving them His gracious hand and special blessing, comfort
them and their families and friends. Thanks for letting Steve Beal serve the special
mission as he welcomes us at the door, giving us the biggest, most refreshing smile
with a gentle spirit every Sunday morning. Thank you GOD for saving my cousin
Chin Thongmee's life from a serious heart operation without complication; thank
you he is now healthier. Thank you GOD for allowing my wife to stick with me,
staying my wife for life. I pray for my sister, Warangkana, who is serving your duty
on mission in Thailand. I pray and thank you for our dear friend, Dr. Premraj Varma,
who is sincerely serving your mission and who has established a home for young
prisoners and who takes care of orphans under your will and your name. Pray for
Dr. Premraj to have immeasurable energy and solid resources of financial support to
complete your mission in his community and his nation in India. Pray for Dr. Yesu
Ratnam who serves your duty by helping establish an orphans home and ministry
for all, for you, hardly taking rest in his life. Thank you for letting us be part of
building a hospital in your name in India...You did all the greatest things for all of
us. Thanks for caring and looking out for Morgan Middal's life; thank you members
of Capital Hill Church who gave Morgan financial and emotional support when the
time was badly needed. Pray for comfort for our enemies (Matthew 5:44-45.) Pray
for ending the economic crash/ economic depression...for ending war and returning
to peace. Pray for all who need to be blessed on earth and special blessing to our
Pastor David Weekly. David is surely the man of God and he is being the one who
God wants him to be, and pray for his wife Deborah to be proud of her husband who
gives great service to his family and who serves us as the finest minister spreading
and giving your holy word to us. Comfort his family and let them sense him guide
us with your word to be given to us on your birthday. Thank you, as our own Father,
for giving your life to us. You are here not to be served, but to serve all of us, as you
said at your dinner table, "At my dinner table I invite all people, rich or poor, old or
young, black or white, red or brown,...my dinner table is for all of you."

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, God Bless you all.

The Dumdeang Family

Daney Dumdeang

President of Dumdeang Foundation