Lewis Winkler: What is the Significance of Lent?
Blessed Ash Wednesday 2022
In the Christian calendar, Lent is “a period of self-examination, fasting, and penance leading up to our Easter Day celebration” (Daily Devotions for Lent 2022, 1) where we celebrate Christ’s resurrection. Some of us grow up in churches where Lent is observed but many of us are either unaware or think that it is not necessary to practise these church traditions in this modern age.
EAST Resident Faculty on Theological Studies, Rev Dr Lewis Winkler, shares on his take on Lent below.
I grew up in what many call a “low” church tradition. Besides events surrounding Christmas and Easter we did not follow the rhythms of the annual liturgical calendar. I thought that sacred seasons like Lent were only practiced by more “stuffy,” “rigid,” and “ritualistic” denominations. For most of the classmates who attended these churches, Lent was a time to complain about all the things they wanted but couldn’t have because they had to “give it up for Lent.” Consequently, the practice held little attraction for me. I enjoyed the freedom of eating, drinking, and doing whatever I wanted whenever I wanted.
eOpen House Reaches Out
EAST President Rev Dr Chan Chong HIok (right) and Dean of Academics Rev Liong Kwok Wai (left) warmly welcoming participants.
Just two days before the eOpen House was to take place, we only had 35 registrants which included some of our own staff and students. This event had been planned months ahead, and the publicity had also started way earlier than our first eOpen House in March 2021. God nonetheless provided the guests on the actual day, with over 100 from 10 different countries who zoomed in. We are grateful for God’s faithfulness in directing different ones to EAST, even in the midst of the pandemic.
Our EAST President Rev Dr Chan Chong HIok and Dean of Academics Rev Liong Kwok Wai both gave the participants a very warm welcome, along with our lively and interactive emcees, student Daniel Yoncer and ministry staff Agnes Kao. We had three breakout rooms catering to Visiting Students, International Students and Singapore Students hosted respectively by Rev Jonathan Yao & Dr Benson Goh, Rev Jacob Li & Ms Aitee Koh, and Dr Lau Ying Kheng & Ms Wong Ee Yuing. Different students were able to share their experiences at EAST during breakout sessions to give the participants a glimpse of what some termed as a little bit of “heaven on earth” while studying at EAST.
Alumni Gordon & Diana’s Life and Ministry
EAST Alumni Gordon & Diana with friends at Reunion Dinner 2022
What is a “Safe, Sound, Sleeping Place (S3P)” for Kok Meng and Diana? No, it’s not their bedroom nor their home but a special shelter. Read on about the husband and wife alumni of EAST who ministers cross-culturally in Singapore and beyond!
- Can you (Diana) share how different it is spending CNY here (in Singapore) as compared to back in Shanghai or with your parents in your hometown in Anhui?
Of course, there is no firecrackers in Singapore! In Anhui, my hometown, we still can play with fireworks and firecrackers. My niece loves it. In the past, I would travel from Shanghai to Anhui for reunion dinner with my parents and sisters’ families. My sister and I would go to nearby village to buy CNY snacks and goodies. My hometown is a mountainous area near Huang Shan – my niece and I love hiking in the mountains during CNY. On the first day of CNY, my family normally joins the local church for service.
Alumnus Yutaka Gakiya – Shy Person to Ordained Preacher
Rev Yutaka Gakiya’s Ordination at Sakai Evangelical Church (October 2021)
EAST News caught up with Rev Yutaka Gakiya who graduated last May and has since returned to serve in his home church, Sakai Evangelical Church, Osaka. He was ordained as a Pastor in October 2021. It was a significant milestone for Yutaka as the ordination denotes the official start of his duties and responsibilities as a minister of God’s Word. It was also a proud moment for his father, Rev Akira Gakiya, who is the Senior Pastor of the church to witness Yutaka following his footsteps in serving God full-time.
Update from Senior Alumni Rev Simon & Hannah Son
Rev Simon & Hannah Son
EAST News caught up with Rev Simon & Hannah Son through a Zoom interview recently. Both Simon and Hannah graduated from the inaugural class of 1995 when EAST was established in 1992, with a Master of Divinity degree and Partners-in-Ministry certificate respectively. Although Simon and Hannah are both Korean Campus Crusade for Christ (KCCC) Staff, they had undergone their Great Commission Training Center (GCTC) days in Manila back in 1984, having to learn English which was not their native tongue. After that, they pioneered the student ministry in Hong Kong where they had to learn yet another language, Cantonese. They were missionaries in Hong Kong for six years before Dr Victor Koh invited them to equip themselves for further studies at the newly established EAST in 1992. Simon had to complete a year of English preparation in 1991 in Singapore before beginning the course at EAST in 1992.
EAST Library Catalogue
EAST Populi
National Library Board eResources
The Digital Theological Library
