20191029 church newsletter for TPCSTL

Two week in a row Pastor Aline participated in the discussion-based open study of the Wilderness Sunday School class, on the 27th. This is a new trial of English ministry -- to facilitate the usage of Gospel-through-English in the immigrants' English lives.

AS usually we shared our understanding and our extended interpretation of the sermon through a mixture of English, Mandarin, and Taiwanese. It is a beautiful scene seeing everybody tried to help one another comprehend over a "bridge of culture and language".

It was first mentioned in the previous Sunday that some kind of abstract would help receiving and processing the sermons. Here is one kind of abstract for those who want to continue the study of that sermon on the 27th. This is a conventional abstract where the concrete interpretations are summarized. Next week we might share a new kind of abstract where the ideas in the sermon might be presented (forecasted) through question-based abstract.

 Here is the outline:

1. Apocalyptic Literature        世界末日文學
2. All Saints Day November is All Saints Day. 再來談談「萬聖節」/11月1日是萬聖節(諸聖節)。
3. What Is A Saint? 麼什麼是「聖徒」呢？
4. So who gets to be a saint? 麼什麼樣的人會成為聖人呢？
5. So How Do We Get to Be A Saint? 們如何成為聖徒呢？Many Saints有這麼多的聖徒
6. So Many Saints 有這麼多的聖徒
7. What Do Saints Do For Us? 些聖徒們為我們作了什麼？
8. How do Saints Live? 那麼聖徒們如何生活呢？

Here are a couple of quotable quotes from the sermon:

20191027 Translation ministry

1.        Objectives & functions

1.1.       Translate the preaching for the worshippers not fluent in the language of preaching to comprehend.

1.2.       Assist the preacher adjust the oral expression to cover the worshippers with multiple cultures and languages.

1.3.       Collect and Preserve the scripts of sermon for future references, for future guest preachers and the pastors.

1.4.       Develop human resources for future implementation

1.5.       Develop systems for implementing the tasks and fulfilling the objectives and functions

1.6.       Develop other work from the sermon, such as, Abstract in questions for newsletter before sermon; Abstract in answers for newsletter after sermon; Sermonaids using quiz form for the concurrent or post-worship-service reading; other prose or poem extended from the sermons.

2.        History

2.1.       In the beginning of TPC (FCF)

2.1.1.      Preached in Taiwanese regularly

2.1.2.      preaching in English by the guest preacher – translated intermittently with the involvement of the congregation. It happened from time to time that the congregation was asked to help with the translation by the pulpit translator.

2.1.3.      At Reis Road-when preaching was by the Interim pastor who was a native English speaker the congregational volunteers rotate to study the script ahead of time and implemented interactive translation reading from his or her prepared script.

2.1.4.      At Reis Road - after Pastor Chi was in residence – equipped the radio system for concurrent translation from the office. Sometimes the preaching was translated into two languages at the same time from the pastor’s office and the general office, using FM broadcasting systems. Translators normally listen and translate on-the-fly.

2.1.5.      When English ministry had separate worship service at 11:30 only the Taiwanese sermon was translated into Mandarin on-the-fly, with pastor’s script in Chinese in hand. The translators were limited to the small number of volunteers with occasional rotation. Two-person team was tried sometimes to release the tension, without pre-arranged switching. Usually Tony played the role of the secondary and relieving translator to jump in when the primary translator appears to be nervously struggling

2.1.6.      When the English worship was reduced to once-a-month with combines worship services in most of the Sunday, the Taiwanese sermon was translated into English on the pulpit while translated into Mandarin by Mrs. Chi from the office through radio. Elder Li was expected to recruit translators for paper and radio translation on a weekly basis.

2.1.7.      Deacon Peggy Chan started organizing volunteers into a team of translator and holds meeting to work out a new system that is supposed to expand the functions and effects perpetually.

3.        Lessons learned from the past

3.1.       Principles in paper-translation

3.1.1.      Timing

3.1.1.1.     The person inviting English preacher was expected to ask the preachers to provide the script for paper translation at least one week before the preaching.

3.1.1.2.     The paper translation is expected to be available to the bulletin team and projection team no later than the after on Friday.

3.1.2.      Format in file

3.1.2.1.     Original file for pulpit reading

3.1.2.2.     original file for private reading

3.1.2.3.     Work file with mixed languages in paragraph

3.1.2.4.     Work file with two-column MS-word .doc

3.1.2.5.     Work file with Multi-column spreadsheet, including word-count, timestamp, duration, etc.

3.1.2.6.     print file for radio reading and pew reading

3.1.2.7.     Slide file for projection

3.1.2.8.     Spreadsheet collecting quotable quotes

3.1.2.9.     Spreadsheet collecting Christian idioms

3.1.2.10. Spreadsheet collecting abstracts in question forms for pre-sermon newsletter and the sermonaids

3.1.2.11. Spreadsheet collecting abstracts in answer forms

3.1.3.      word , wording, sentencing

3.1.3.1.     Watch for the proper nouns and idioms by searching the web and lookup the idiom list

3.1.3.2.     Watch for ambiguous words, such as life, love, heart, etc.

3.1.3.3.     Watch for switchable proper nouns. Sometimes the “you” refers to “I, we, or us”.

3.1.3.4.     Sometimes, using the Mandarin idioms might help the listeners feel.

3.1.3.5.     Sometimes, adding extra legs to a serpent might help the listeners comprehend. (Tony always bring this up with the preacher in emailing to make sure the extra legs are not twisting the original meaning.)

3.2.       Principles in oral translation

3.2.1.      Watch the tempo to accommodate listeners of all levels.

3.2.2.      Raise the pitch for clarity of enunciation, avoiding the chest voice.

3.2.3.      “Waiting for the preacher in order to translate after the preacher” is not necessary. On the other hand, read ahead of the preacher at least in the last paragraph because the preacher might rush into the prayer before the translator finish reading.

3.2.4.      In case the preacher added words on-the-fly, it is OK to skip those extra words if they cause problem in translation.

3.2.5.      In case the translator lost track of the preaching, take it easy to read through while watching the original to find where the preaching is.

4.        Current practices:

1.          The preacher works on writing the script verbatim and send the file to the session member leading the worship ministry and the person handling the first conversion, by the end of Tuesday.

2.          The session member pass the file to the involved team, including the bulletin team, the projection team, and the translation team and post the original file to the cloud, for now a google drive.

3.          One of the translation team member would convert the original file, which is for pulpit reading, including large fonts and generous white space, into a smaller file for private reading with smaller fonts and white space.

4.          One of the translation team member would convert the original file into a spreadsheet with one row for each sentence with series number along with Mandarin translated by google, manually or thru a new automated application. The app is developed by Michael Shih voluntarily, might be in service starting next week.

5.          One of the translation team member would post the spreadsheet to the cloud for co-writing among the team members.

6.          One of the translation team member would send out a message to the teammates specifying who works on what group of sentences.

7.          Each member of the team would start translating his or her share by changing the sentences translated by google and post the result to the shared file online. (Tony would work on a copy of that spreadsheet on a desktop or notebook computer and duplicate the sentences in the file on the cloud to let others know the progress.)

8.          Some members of the team might write emails to the preacher to clarify some question by showing the "translation by guessing".

9.          Some member of the team would work beyond his or her share of sentences to cover those not yet touched by others.

10.      Some member of the team would point out questionable translation for discussion and/or revision.

11.      Some member of the team would download the completed spreadsheet and convert it into a ms-word file for proofreading at the same time adjust the format for print on paper.

12.      Some member of the team might extract the quotable sentences and the ones difficult to comprehend by hearing and duplicate them in a slide set.

13.      The slide set would be forwarded to the projection team for further usages.

14.      Some member of the team might extract the special expressions and enter them into the spreadsheet of Christian Idioms for future references.

15.      Some member of the team might extract sentences for usage in the "sermonaid" to be printed out as Church bulletin inserts to help the congregation preview, compare, or review the sermon.

16.      Some member of the team might upload the finalized print copy to the cloud for future references.

17.      Some member of the team might duplicate the finalized print copy on papers to be distributed to those who need them at the church.

18.      The finalized print copy might be distributed in the church newsletter after the sermon is delivered.

20191026 church newsletter for TPCSTL

It will be the first time in my life that I hear something about the All Saints Day this coming Sunday.

It will be the first time I understand the contemporary sense of the saints.

It will be the first time we sing the old hymn about the Saints, #633. The first note of this hymn is a rest that makes it a challenge for all to sing the first sound together. The key to singing this hymn is for all to wait for the instruments, in our case a piano, to play out a loud chord which is not in the score for half-beat. The silent half-beat would provide the timing for swallow the water in the month and sing the first word.

It will be the first time that the hymn slide starts with a brief instruction on how to sing this hymn.

It is the first time that the sermon translation is done by a ministry team, rather than an individual recruited for the day, attempting to develop into a new system of ministry. For this new vision and new life of involvement the team will have the first meeting at the lunch time. Everyone is welcome to join the venture.

Here is a brief outline of the translation ministry:

1. The preacher works on writing the script verbatim and send the file to the session member leading the worship ministry and the person handling the first conversion, by the end of Tuesday.
2. The session member pass the file to the involved team, including the bulletin team, the projection team, and the translation team and post the original file to the cloud, for now a google drive.
3. One of the translation team member would convert the original file, which is for pulpit reading, including large fonts and generous white space, into a smaller file for private reading with smaller fonts and white space.
4. One of the translation team member would convert the original file into a spreadsheet with one row for each sentence with series number along with Mandarin translated by google, manually or thru a new automated application. The app is developed by Michael Shih voluntarily, might be in service starting next week.
5. One of the translation team member would post the spreadsheet to the cloud for co-writing among the team members.
6. One of the translation team member would send out a message to the teammates specifying who works on what group of sentences.
7. Each member of the team would start translating his or her share by changing the sentences translated by google and post the result to the shared file online. (Tony would work on a copy of that spreadsheet on a desktop or notebook computer and duplicate the sentences in the file on the cloud to let others know the progress.)
8. Some members of the team might write emails to the preacher to clarify some question by showing the "translation by guessing".
9. Some member of the team would work beyond his or her share of sentences to cover those not yet touched by others.
10. Some member of the team would download the completed spreadsheet and convert it into a ms-word file for proofreading at the same time adjust the format for print on paper.
11. Some member of the team might extract the quotable sentences and the ones difficult to comprehend by hearing and duplicate them in a slide set.
12. The slide set would be forwarded to the projection team for further usages.
13. Some member of the team might extract the special expressions and enter them into the spreadsheet of Christian Idioms for future references.
14. Some member of the team might extract sentences for usage in the "sermonaid" to be printed out as Church bulletin inserts to help the congregation preview, compare, or review the sermon.
15. Some member of the team might upload the finalized print copy to the cloud for future references.
16. Some member of the team might duplicate the finalized print copy on papers to be distributed to those who need them at the church.
17. The finalized print copy might be distributed in the church newsletter after the sermon is delivered.

One day before the LNY dinner on 1-21-2017

It is one day before the big day of Lunar New Year party of the Taiwanese Association of American in St. Louis, TAA-STL.

While the inauguration of a new President of USA marks the beginning of a new era, normally with half of the population resisting, the TAA-STL also try to start a new era but with the old faces in the board of directors.

It appears to be a difficult challenge. The president, a caretaking role now, issues a chat about the dream of re-starting the non-profit organization for cultivating the Taiwanese American heritage and identify in St. Louis area. It is posted in Mandarin here.

If you need or "can offer" an English version please write or call.

謝謝董事們辛勞地籌備，讓台灣同鄉會的新春晚會再回人間聖路易。特別感謝謝昌宏董事，他挑起總策劃的重擔，雖然臨時有要事需要出國，仍然拼到最後一天。若有人願意代替他本來計畫要兼扮的財神爺，還有機會試看看。什麼話都不需要講，出現時間也自己決定，給大家、你、跟家人一個意外的驚奇。願意的人請私訊給我 (groh.hisam@gmail.com 或314-488-5150)

正式的宣告總是不好聽，我來試看看避免在餐會時煞風景，就在這裡聊聊同鄉會的某些話題。看看能不能激起些許漣漪，引發鄉親社區的前進。歡迎提出疑問或討論。

長話短說，我們需要找出繼續玩下去的理由、方法、與策略。其實最根本的是該談談我們在聖路易要怎麼活下去，要活出什麼來。

以前，旅居聖路易，想的都是如何發揮最大的生存效益，賺最多的錢、買最便宜的東西、存款繼續增加、謀取更多的福利、還有，該搬去那個較好的地方。

現在留下來的人好像心情不同了。新來的人也好像沒有以前那些負擔了。大家較關心什麼時候去哪裡旅遊、回台灣、吃哪家館子，不是嗎？

我們當中還有共同需求嗎？若沒有，那就幾乎沒有見面聚會的理由了。那只能提供見面聚會的同鄉會自然就會消風，沒有人想參加了。

用社會學觀點來想，應該有，不過需要去找，去談，去開發，去經營。

同是天涯移居人或寄居人，我們有什麼共同點跟共同需求呢？簡單說，就是共同的認同。不錯，有的人具有多樣認同的條件可以加入其他群體去取暖或收取福利，而不需被某一項認同綁住。

我們之間的共同點可以說是來自台灣，接受過現代台灣的滋潤與洗滌，帶著台灣氣質跟優缺點，跟住在聖路易地區，繼續活在台灣跟美國的大傘下面。

無論如何不可能完全變成其他族群。我們的喜怒哀樂只有在同鄉圈子裡才可能得到欣賞或體諒。當我們站在大社會裡，我們需要一個讓其他族群的人爭眼敬佩的共同理由。

如果我們曾經覺得某某族群的人了不得，就表示我們的族群也可能讓人另眼相看。這就是我們此後在聖路易可以努力、發揮的地方。也是因為這樣同鄉會早已把宗旨改為台美人文化傳統的發展與展現，而交誼活動變成「匯聚大家能量」的手段與過程。這跟早期同鄉會以交誼為主大不相同。

談到交誼也是有新的空間可發展。以前強調「跟老朋友見面」，現在需要強調「認識新朋友」、「拓展人脈」。

有了認同，有了平台之後，除了自我感覺良好之外，又怎樣？認同與認同感都是需要不斷經營、保養、維護的。因為事實是認同感也是競爭、打壓、霸凌的標的、藉口、或媒介。這是有些人不願意涉入的原因。尤其是夾在兩個互相排斥的認同感之間的人更覺為難。有人偏愛輕鬆地順流漂浮，有人選擇逆流而上。這也是自然現象。此外，真的沒有了嗎？

有一件事情就是靠「認同感」做基礎的。鄉親之間互相作伴、提攜、提供舞台、互相欣賞鼓勵、拌嘴。其實這很簡單。因為最古老也是最普及跟最通行的娛樂就是聊天。聊天不但可娛樂，還有調節身心、教育、訓練、跟拓展人脈的功用。這次，也可以說是今後，我們設計特別的聊天節目作為餐會的主題活動。不但每個人都可能受邀扮演名嘴當眾聊聊，也可能臨時扮演訪談者帶動大家。鄉親之間互相學習、互相鼓勵本來就是家常便飯，不必擔心出糗。

這是新方向、新氣象、新作風、新希望的第一步。2017年顯然是新時代的開始。我們也不例外。星期六下午見。

蘇希三 3:05 1/20/2017

  （這一篇想了好幾個月總是下不了筆。殘殘直接打字下去，竟然是全新的風貌。參加同鄉會就是有這種磨練的機會） 

recording the activities of a social organization

Nowadays, recording can be done with audio-only recorder or the video recorder that captures both sound and images.

The sound recording can be monophonic or stereo. The cost of stereo recording is not any more than the mono ones. The stereo recording provide better sound quality for playing back.

The recording could be done in a studio-like environment where noise and interference can be managed and the undesirable result could be improved by doing them over, or in wherever the actions are going on and the environment might be out of control.

In the case of the live recording of an event, such as a public speech, the sound is the primary concern and the environment might be sacrificed bring the microphone as close to the source of sound as possible. This becomes a challenge when there is open discussion and the sound come from everywhere.

To maintain the quality of images it is better to place the camera firmly on something, such as a tripod.

If the speech and the content of the speech are the primary concern of the recording, minimize the scenes to maximize the lip movements that help the comprehension when listening. Of course where gestures or visual aids are important it is desirable to zoom out to capture the helpful images.

If the speaker tends to move around with gestures it is desirable to zoom out for a sufficient coverage, sacrificing the focus on lip-movements.

Avoid fast movement of the focus and the scope of view. When changing the direction is desired zoom out as the motion of changing direction is going on. Zoom in again after the changing of direction is settled. (16:16 2019/10/04)

How the Taiwanese Americans function in social organizations - a video documentation 01 introduction

Objectives:

1. Capture, preserve, and retell the stories of Taiwanese in USA. This is a historical obligation to many who are benefited from the cross-cultural experiences.
2. Gather, collect, and extend the value of the existing recording of the lives of Taiwanese Americans
3. Re-tell and make new senses of the stories through documentary films as well as the movies incorporating or inspired from the existing video clips.
4. Develop future professionals with Taiwanese American background and attributes to continue the contribution of the well beings of the Taiwanese Americans through video recording and film making.

Scopes and sub-fields:

1. Search for, gather, catalog, index, and interpret the existing recordings.
2. Re-organize the existing clips of video recording into documentary films that make educational senses
3. Record interviews of the related subjects and capture the interviews in new documentaries.
4. Derive ideas from the documentaries to form story lines for movie-making
5. Raise awareness of the value of documentaries and movies and raise funds to support continuous movie-making.
6. Utilize the products for developing future leaders of Taiwanese Americans in social organizations, communities, and the society at large.
7. The subjects could cover sub-topics such as The decisions to migrate and the mechanism of  migration; making a living; social lives; social organizations; advancing the career levels; balancing the multiple cultures involved, contributions to the society at large, etc.

By-products

1. Practicum for professional skills involved, including playwright, archiving, photographing and filming, film editing, movie directing, scheduling, equipment management; human resource management; financing; accounting; supervising; contract negotiating; sales of ideas and products;  ... etc.
2. Reference letters for all who are involved
3. Biography services using the skills acquired from the projects.   

21:48 2019/10/3 by Tony Su (as the draft to be further developed by Sarah Chang)

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The idea of documenting the lives of Taiwanese Americans must have been in the minds and the hearts of many Taiwanese Americans. There must have been many related video clips scattering around.

How could the pieces be strung together to form a big picture of how the Taiwanese survive and extend the value in the USA.

Meeting a young student majoring in cinema in college triggers the thoughts of actually merging the existing video clips and new filming to paint a big picture for extensive usages as well as serving as a practical field study that facilitate some young professionals' careers. (9:23 2019/10/3)

draft - Growing through TPCSTL - 20191001 - collecting the collectibles

2019/10/05

One of latest thinking that leads to a new practice is to compile the quotable quotes that we encounter at the church. Everybody is encouraged to capture them and send to this newsletter for sharing with others. We can share whatever you consider quotable whether they are copied from other sources, from the speaker's mind, or from the above on-the-fly.

One of the common sources of the quotes is the sermon. The others are the Sunday School classrooms,  the fellowship gathering, the meal table, etc.

We will join the whole world in sharing the Holy Communion on the first Sunday of October. 

Davitt S. Bell (the late Clerk of Session and church historian at Shadyside) recalled that Dr. Kerr first conceived the notion of World Communion Sunday during his year as moderator of the General Assembly (1930).  https://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/worship/special-days-and-emphases/world-communion-sunday/

F:\0TPCSTL\0 sermon\2019\201910

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2019/10/03
We are in an interim period. Because we have an interim pastor leading us. This means that we are trying new thinking and new practices continuously. We have to. This is the blessed period for growing. 我們正處在過渡期。因為有一位中繼牧師在領導我們。這表示我們正在不斷地嘗試新思考與新措施。我們必須這麼作。因為這是一個蒙恩的（受祝福的）成長時期

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Pastor Aline started the previous sermon with a quotable quote, "There are two streams of thought about Christianity in this country." This turns out to be an effective template for thinking and dealing with congregational life and congregational management. There are actually many types of the "two-stream" phenomena. While she pointed out the two opposite streams of "everything has to be right" versus "everything is acceptable", we can easily extend to find other "two-stream" issues such as "singing familiar songs" vs. "singing new song"; "chatting with good old buddies" vs. "chatting with new acquaintances"; "sitting at the seats of my favorite choice" vs. "sitting any place to meeting new faces", etc.
阿鄰牧師上週的講道一開就講出一句值得繼續傳講的「語錄級」的話：「在這個國家裡有兩股有關基督教的思考潮流。」這句話幾乎可以成為思考與處理「教會生活/事務」的有效範本。實際上，到處有很多「兩股潮流的現象」。她舉出「樣樣都需要正確」的律法主義思考與「 凡事想到都可接受」的包容主義思考。 我們可以很輕易地「唱老歌與唱新歌」、「找老友聊天跟找新人聊天」、「選坐在習慣的好座位與為了陪伴新人而找座位」，等等兩股逆流。
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We have many unique, one of a kind, practices of a congregation that make the participation a rare opportunity of growing. Translating the sermons is one that most of the congregations around the world could not provide. We have started a new group trying to share the opportunity and advance the processes.我們教會有許多獨特（沒人有）的措施，使的參加我們教會成唯一個特殊的成長機會。翻譯講道就是其中的一項在其他教會不見得會遇到的機會。我們剛啟動一個新的群組，想要一邊分擔負荷，一邊分享改進技術與步驟。
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Going through an interim period we are privileged to take risks. This is essential for us to prepare our minds for the next pastor-in-residence who is most likely to be beyond our imagination and expectation.


One of the special attributes and benefits of the interim period, having an interim pastor, is the continuous trying of new thinking and new practices. This is important because the interim pastor, by definition, is not open to serve as the next pastor in residence. In other words, he or she would not have the burden of worrying about how to continue the service by increasing the voting in favor of is or her term. This is important because the congregation would have the legitimate reasons to pick up new visions and try new practices without worrying about disturbing the vested interest.
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Pastor Aline started the previous sermon with a quotable quote, "There are two streams of thought about Christianity in this country." This turns out to be an effective template for thinking and dealing with congregational life and congregational management. There are actually many types of the "two-stream" phenomena. While she pointed out the two opposite streams of "everything has to be right" versus "everything is acceptable", we can easily extend to find other "two-stream" issues such as "singing familiar songs" vs. "singing new song"; "chatting with good old buddies" vs. "chatting with new acquaintances"; "sitting at the seats of my favorite choice" vs. "sitting any place to meeting new faces", etc.
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One of latest finding that leads to a new practice is to compile the quotable quotes that we receive at the church. Everybody is encouraged to capture them and send to this newsletter for sharing with others. We can share whatever you consider quotable whether they are copied from other sources, from the speaker's mind, or from the above on-the-fly.
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One of the functions or effects of an interim pastor is the opportunity to learn by practice the methods of assimilation, which is essential to a congregation that commits to embrace varieties that come along with new members and visitors.  Whenever a new face shows up at the church the congregation faces a challenge of "bringing him/her in" or not and "how could we make the new person feel at home and becomes one of us". The ability actually affects the success of receiving a new pastor, which is the mid-term anticipation of a congregation under the leadership of an interim pastor. The appearance of the interim pastor gives us the opportunity to try and develop new skills of breaking-in a new pastor. Remember the demanding days in the first three months on a new job? What do you hope and expect the existing co-workers to do to us might be what we need to try to help the interim pastor to break-in and function normally. What would you feel when nobody comes to greet you and introduce the new environment to you? I had that kind of experience and left the job that the company kept increasing the offer to entice me to give up another promised job,  after 6 months.
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We have many unique, one of a kind, practices of a congregation that make the participation a rare opportunity of growing. Translating the sermons is one that most of the congregations around the world could not provide.

Because we embrace people with different stages of Christian growth, background, including age, for interpreting the faith and the theology, cultural background,  languages in sharing the worship services we need to translate the sermons. By translating we gain extra layers of learning and extending what the preachers deliver to use. One of the exercises in translation is  to think about "how do I say it in my own words?" which is the foundation of "spreading the gospel". We have been changing the ways we translate over the years. We continue to explore and change the ways we handle translation. Everyone would have the opportunity to take a little piece of this particular ministry, which is also a rare opportunity to advance our career skills as well as Christian faith. Talk to Peggy Lin who volunteers to start a new system and coordinate the tasks and the volunteers. This means we will have the opportunity to observe how a professional manager works to make things happen, including how we "humbly follow Jesus".