5 Questions with...Elder David MacRaild

1. How did you first get involved with Friendship Presbyterian? My wife, Yining (怡寧), and I moved from my home, Scotland, to her home, Taiwan, in 2010. I had visited FPC with my dad and brothers during a previous visit. So returning and quickly becoming a member here was an easy decision. I was a recent convert, although I had enough Bible knowledge to know God has called all Christians to participate in the service and community of whichever church they are committed to. After a while, I got to know people and the dynamics of the church. I then began to become more involved by welcoming newcomers as I had been welcomed.  

2. What do you do Monday through Saturday? I am a Taiwanese artist’s full-time technician. I work in his studio in Guishan (龜山). My boss, the artist Tu Wei Cheng (涂維政), is a teacher at Taipei National University of the Arts, so he needs someone to manage his studio, make new works, restore old ones, and prepare/install works for exhibition or sale. Much of the work is sculptural and mimics the aesthetic of relics or antiques. I am a mold-maker, by trade, and am experienced in casting multiple materials, which is useful for this current position. 

3. What is something people might be surprised to know about you? Although I am from Scotland, I cannot play the bagpipes. 

4. What do you find most challenging about being a Christian today? Lately, I have thought much about observing the Sabbath. With so many distractions at hand, the need to rest from our normal work is great. God has invited us into His rest and we should respond by acknowledging that we are not saved by our works and achievements but by His grace in Jesus. God has literally made time for us, so why do I find it so hard to make time for Him? 

5. What is your favorite book of the Bible? I would like to nominate two books which are both close to my heart. God used them to speak to me as I neared the point of conversion. First is the Book of Job, where I learnt that God is almighty and I am not. His plan is perfect and his promise is good, no matter what I think or say. Then, in the Gospel of Matthew, I learnt anew the truth of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, and how the gospel is key to the fulfilling of God's promise. 

5 Questions With...Angela Lu Fulton

1. How did you first get involved with Friendship Presbyterian? I have been attending Friendship since moving to Taipei from Los Angeles in the beginning of 2015.  My work had sent me to Taipei, and although I have family in Kaohsiung, I didn't know anyone in Taipei. My first Sunday in town, I attended the Mandarin side with my mom and our friend, who is the daughter of the church's former pastor. She told me about the English side, which I visited a few weeks later. I loved how friendly everybody was and so I kept coming back.

2. What do you do Monday through Saturday? I am a reporter for WORLD Magazine, a news magazine from a Christian perspective. So sometimes I travel to different cities to report on stories and interview people. That is fun, but most of the time I am on my computer researching, emailing sources, writing, and editing. During the workweek, you will likely find me working at Project 0.1, a co-working space in Shilin run by FPC's own Cordelia Lee. On Wednesdays, I co-lead a women's group called Women of the Word (W.O.W), which you should come check out if you are a woman. 

3. What is something people might be surprised to know about you? In college, I was on our school's fencing team. I wasn't good and I didn't even compete, but I joined after seeing a Facebook ad that said the team needed walk-ons and would teach you how to fence. I had zero prior experience, but thought it would be fun. So I did it for a year. 

4. What do you find most challenging about being a Christian today? I think the biggest difficulty is intentionally making time for God in a world full of unending distractions. Our world today provides us with a million things that we could spend our time on, and most of it is easier, more comfortable, and more "fun" than sitting down with a Bible, closing our eyes in prayer, and truly remembering what is most important in this life. I sense it in my own life as, time and time again, I choose to passively scroll through social media rather than digging into the powerful Word of God that should be my greatest treasure.

5. What is your favorite book of the Bible, and why? I like the book of James because of how real it is and how applicable it is to everyday life. I mean, by the second verse, he is already talking about how we should react when (not if) we encounter trials. I always find the book convicting as James points out how counter-cultural "God's way" is when compared to how we would naturally respond to a situation. I love knowing that what believers in the early church struggled with is the same things plaguing us today: taming the tongue, living out our faith, avoiding favoritism, and trusting God in the unknown tomorrows. 

Stories of Grace

In John 5:17, Jesus tells us that “My Father is always at his work, to this very day…” In Philippians 2:13, the Apostle Paul reminds us that “it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” In our "Stories of Grace" feature, members are invited to share a particular instance of how God has been at work in their lives.

This month, our contributor is Grace Brown.

As a person who grew up in Taiwan, I was entrenched with the belief that you have to work quite hard to win the love and respect of others. For a very long time, in the bottom of my heart, I felt that there was no such thing as unconditional love. Even after I became a Christian, trying to resist the values of the world was not, and is not, easy. This world adores the strong, the smart, the kind, the beautiful, the clever, and the powerful. Even though I have devoted myself to serving the Lord, many times I have also fallen into the trap of trying to earn or work my way to the top. Of taking, rather than giving. Of refusing to accept or admit my weakness.  

But one time, I happened to read a poem by George Herbert, a 17th century Welsh priest in the Church of England. The poem was the third in a series simply called, “Love.” I read it aloud, and it captured my heart:

Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,
	Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
	From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
	If I lacked anything.

“A guest," I answered, “worthy to be here”:
	Love said, “You shall be he.”
“I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,
	I cannot look on thee.”
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,
	“Who made the eyes but I?”

“Truth, Lord; but I have marred them; let my shame
	Go where it doth deserve.”
“And know you not," says Love, “who bore the blame?”
	“My dear, then I will serve.”
“You must sit down," says Love, “and taste my meat.”
	So I did sit and eat.

I was deeply touched by the line, “‘I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear, I cannot look on thee.’ Love took my hand, and smiling did reply, ‘Who made the eyes but I?’“

I can work my way to becoming a diligent, hard-working person. Maybe I can also work my way to becoming a polite person. However, I cannot work my way to becoming a kind person. Kindness flows from the heart, and I know there is no kindness in my heart.

When I encounter the Lord, I often focus on my shortcomings, my flaws, and my sins. I never have a problem admitting that I am a sinner, but I often have a problem believing that the Lord loves me and cares for my well-being. What kind of experience is this? I feel desperate that I cannot change myself to become even a slightly kind and grateful person. So I do not want to look at the Lord ever again.

Yet, Herbert’s poem says, beautifully and most gently, “Who made the eyes but I?” I realize his point that returning to the Lord never lies in my kindness and gratefulness. I will never have enough. It will never be enough. I can only throw myself at the feet of the Lord and depend upon his mercy and love. Yes, the eyes have been marred, but, by that same pair of the eyes, I can look upon the Lord. As a Christian, looking upon the Lord is the essential activity of my life.

But Herbert reminds me that there is also a passive dimension to the Christian life. “You must sit down and taste my meat.” I had never understood that the starting point of Christian spirituality is not working, standing, making something, or even serving. Rather, it is sitting down and receiving, like a newborn baby receives his mother’s tender care, or a girl receives her lover’s passionate embrace. I, too, must sit down and taste my Lord’s meat, accept His love. This is where I start my Christian journey.