Su Jean Park

JESUS IN THE CAROLS

Residents at A-dong looking out to watch us carol 

MY EXPERIENCE

I attended the "Caroling around SFS" event on Monday December 10th. Not only was this my first time going about the whole campus, but caroling in general too! The carol that was most unfamiliar to me at this event was called We Three Kings which we sang for A-dong.

HISTORY OF THE SONG-WE THREE KINGS

Upon further research I found that this carol's original name is We Three Kings of Orient, and was written in 1857 by Reverend John Henry Hopkins who was an Episcopalian minister from Pennsylvania. Below is a recording of We Three Kings of Orient, with lyrics.

BIBLICAL & CHRISTMAS RELEVANCE

The song "We Three Kings of Orient" celebrates/ talks about baby Jesus' birth. It starts from the bright star that wise men followed westward to the place of Jesus' birth and goes on to tell of the gifts presented to baby Jesus and what they mean. -After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the time of King Herod, Magi (wise men) came from the East to Jerusalem and asked “Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw His star in the East and have come to worship Him." (Matthew 2:1-2)- The star in this verse is the one referred to in this song (lyrics "following yonder star", "star of wonder start of night"). However one major part of this song does not match up to what the Christian scriptures tell. In the Bible it is actually not said how many wise men (called kings in this song) went to Jerusalem to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Yet the song says 3 (kings).

The gifts presented to baby Jesus in the Bible (Matthew 2:11) are also mentioned in the song: gold symbolizing His kingly reign (lyrics "Gold I bring... King forever"); frankincense for His priestly ministry (lyrics "a deity nigh....worship him, God most high"); and myrrh representing our redemption through His death (lyrics "its bitter perfume...bleeding, dying sealed in the stone-cold tomb ").

HOW IS JESUS PORTRAYED?
In this song, Jesus is the newborn savior that is praised, because the song is about His birth. He's called King ("born a King..") and God ("worship him, God most high") and a sacrifice ("King and God and Sacrifice...")
Through the lyrics "Over us all to reign" we know that Jesus brings leadership to the people and gives them "perfect light". There is not much in the song about what He specifically brings and gives to the people.

Sources

http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/we_three_kings_of_orient_are.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8mjRxkMBkE
http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/devotions/We_Three_Kings.aspx
http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/3wisemen.asp

MY SHEMA

3 Characteristics: Omniscient, omnipresent, and loving

Personal Experience: I was badly hit by a car in 7th grade, but I'm still alive and well

How I remember my God: By praying daily, attending church weekly, and reading the Bible as often as possible.

My Shema: God means a lot to me. He is my dad, my best friend, my savior, and my creator, and our relationship is based on that.  Sometimes I go to Him in fear, sometimes in repentance, and other times hope (etc). I pray to Him almost constantly- because after all, how can you have a relationship with someone you don't talk to? 

 

REFLECTION 3: FOLLOWING THE PATH TO ENLIGHTENMENT

 

Frankly, meditation was so difficult for me. I often found my mind wondering around to completely irrelevant thoughts. For example, when we were on the field meditating on the idea that we should let go of our encumbrances, I was distracted by Mr. Zimmer’s gym class playing soccer. Especially since I play soccer myself, I wanted to be involved and play with them and cheer them on. The nice weather also had me imagining what sorts of things I could do during good weather like this, and drew my attention away from trying to adjust my behavior to have the right conduct and do everything the best way possible. On the other hand, there were also times when I was able to focus again on the meditation topic. When I got off track, looking at the classmates around me suddenly reminded me of what I should be doing, so I started tossing that idea around in my head again. Additionally when the meditation topic was specifically relevant to my life at the moment, I was able to keep my focus. Such as when we were focusing on right speech, I was thinking about all the euphemisms I could use to change the way I talk, and was determined to cleanse my mouth from cursing/lying from then on. I focused on this especially because right speech is upheld in my religion, Christianity, too.

 

Visiting the Bongwonsa temple was a totally unexpected, but great experience for me. The sereneness of the area completely captivated me. The elements of stone, nature, and running water would have provided a perfect meditation environment for me if my curiosity hadn’t overwhelmed me! The constant bows I received from the Buddhists there intrigued me, as well as seeing them bow to stone structures and pine trees, which I assumed was their showing of their compassion for everything. Seeing Buddhist believers sit in Namaste position meditating, was also an interesting appearance to see. Their façade and poise seemed so different from the ones of my classmates’ when we meditated in class. And after noticing all the paintings, idols and offerings, I just wanted to see more! But of course, with our time limited, we headed back to school. But my interest in that temple, lead me to go back up to the temple yesterday after school. Then, I was able to get a closer look at the 3000 Buddhas in the “hall of 3000 Buddhas”, examine the incense and flower offerings, and observe the Buddhist leaders (monks). Upon doing so, I got to know that the image of Buddha is completely different from what I had in mind. I used to think Buddha was just a fat stone man that got his belly rubbed when Korean woman yearned to be pregnant. But instead, Buddha was gold, sitting in Namaste position, and had many intricate facial details: such as green eyebrows! This made me realize that I was so religiously ignorant. I grew up with Christianity, so that’s all I knew, and I didn’t bother to learn others. It made me glad that I was taking this class, so I can at least compare religions and see why Christianity works for me. I also noticed that the incense offerings smelled different in every room and that only Buddhist leaders had their heads shaved and wore robes; other common believers were dressed in everyday clothes such as sneakers and jeans. Overall, the experience widened my narrow view of religion and allowed me to understand through hands-on learning, the religion of Buddhism.

 REFLECTION 2 ; HINDUISM IN ACTION

Gandhi: Hindu and activist

Gandhi didn’t only say that “a true disciple knows another’s woes, as his own; He bows to all and despises none,” but he reflected this in his actions as well. I explicitly saw this in the movie, in the scene after the major conflict between the Muslim and Hindu people. A Hindu man who murdered a Muslim boy, came to Gandhi in distress. Gandhi at this time, pitied this man and empathized with him. Although he didn’t show how bad he felt straightforwardly, he showed it when he said “There is a way. (out of hell)” Instead of judging the man and despising him or being angry at his actions, Gandhi “bowed” to him (served him) by presenting a solution and helping the man. In this way, Gandhi was a “true disciple” and lived up to his words. He did not let his lips and his life deliver different messages.

Another one of Gandhi’s revered quotes that appear in the movie is “an eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” This was said by Gandhi during the Muslim and Hindu conflicts. The Muslims and Hindus were trying to get revenge at each other when fight each other over the Indian government which refers to the saying “an eye for an eye”.  Gandhi most prominently shows this when he refrains from the use of violence, even when the British use it on him. In his act of non-violence he gets his “eye” taken away, but instead of fighting back, and essentially getting “an eye” back, he does nothing about it for the better of the world- so that the whole world doesn’t “go blind”. By doing this, Gandhi supports what he says which gains him more reverence and support from the people and leads to people who follow what he says and save the world from “going blind”.

YOGA EXPERIENCE

          Other than one extremely painful experience in gym class last year, today was my first true discovering of yoga. At first, looking at the instructor’s example, it seemed feasible to follow him. But the second I bent my back backward, I knew my judgment came too early. The first time through the first exercise began with a bunch of cracks and groans for me. However, by the time we rolled our bodies back up into Namaste position, an unconscious smile crept over my face. How refreshing! I didn’t even know why it felt so good; I was after all, dying of pain in the midst of the exercise. Meanwhile, as Ms. James pointed out connections in our lives of how controlling our body would affect our minds, I began to comprehend the purpose of yoga in Hinduism and why they did it. The ultimate goal in Hinduism is to meet one’s true self, which we can presume comes with much discipline and undivided focus. Through yoga, you are able to move your body physically, but only if your mind is focusing- it would be hard supporting your seated body with one foot while thinking of the chaos of tomorrow’s party. Because you are forced to concentrate on moving your body correctly, your mind becomes trained to focus, which will definitely be an advantage when trying to find your true self, AKA nirvana. An example of how yoga would help us be focused in our lives is through the exercise where we balance on one leg while the other foot is rested on the balancing leg’s thigh. One of the tricks to balancing on one leg is to stare at a single still point. But if everyone around you is hobbling around, laughing and falling, how can you not look? Ms. James related this to our lives and provided the insight that often, you just have to ignore everything around you and look ahead at your priority. 

REFLECTION 1 ; THE MYSTERY OF STONEHENGE

Sun god we know you are there
daily, you are everywhere.
Come down to us and stay with us from the heights of the sky
give us light and show us the way.

Our altar for you
will not fall, stumble or tip
we chose this plain
for balance on its flatness.

The structure of our stones,
circular like you are
with spaces here and there to welcome you into your holy home.
This place we will come to praise you, light.

Accept our sacrifices, that we place in the center
because you, are the center of this world.
You shine through the openings,
to meet us face to face, one last time before you leave for a time.
Promise us to come back, we need your light
we are afraid and cold without you.