THE DISCIPLES OBEY

Book Review

The Cost of Discipleship

by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Bonhoeffer, D 1995, The Cost of Discipleship, Touchstone: New York. 316 pp.

“Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes” (p. 63) may sum up the whole theology of discipleship presented by Bonhoeffer in this book, since these two propositions appear again and again as the emphasis on how faith comes from obedience and obedience generates faith. These two must come together because if we only focus on one of them, it might result in either the danger of “cheap grace” or “salvation through works”, which is the false interpretation and understanding of following Jesus (p. 68). Using the Sermon on the Mount in the gospel of Matthew, Bonhoeffer portrays his view on how discipleship is supposed to be applied in the light of free grace, yet costly. This book review will focus more on how to respond to Bonhoeffer’s view through physical, emotional, and spiritual dimension personally, existentially, and theologically.

Bonhoeffer defines cheap grace as “the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross” (pp. 43-47), basically like we enjoy parking our car under the rain and has this grace wiper to wipe the water on and on, just to let it be wet again, that “grace alone does everything, and so everything can remain as it was before”. On the other hand, costly grace is like once we have our car wiped, we take action and drive to the dry place, trying hard to keep it dry, or as described nicely by Bonhoeffer, “the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has, the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.” He then adds that such grace is costly because we are called to follow, but it is grace because it is Jesus whom we follow. This grace costs His life, but it gives us life. It condemns our sins but justifies us the sinners. Therefore, this costly grace is to be protected and valued, not to be thrown away just because it is free (p. 47). Basically if I may illustrate his principle, it looks like this.

According to Bonhoeffer, obedience means “to rely on Christ’ word and cling to it as offering greater security than all the securities in the world” (p. 79). Emphasizing on the importance of this grace, he challenges us to think whether we have treated grace cheaply all this time. It is dangerous to be too left because it is cheap grace, but it is dangerous to be too right because it is legalism. He asserts that the ways we reason and negotiate with the Scriptures, although sometimes may not be intentional, look like we have tried to fit the Scriptures into our own comfort. Yet, he also states that the real problem is when we put so much “burdensome rules and regulations, false hopes and consolations – that it has become extremely difficult to make a genuine decision for Christ”. Preaching is so hard to understand, overburdened with ideas and expressions. So many people come to church with a genuine desire to hear what we have to say, yet they are always going back home with the uncomfortable feeling that we are making it too difficult for them to come to Jesus” (pp. 35-36). So is it too easy or too hard, how easy is too easy so that it will not be cheap grace, and how hard is too hard so that it will not be legalism?

Meanwhile, from how he treats the Sermon on the Mount, he looks like taking it quite literally, yet he made a good point about degrading Jesus’ words by giving the example of father who asks his child to sleep in the case of obedience (p. 81). This challenges me to think whether we have seen obedience and grace lightly all this time, as he suggests, that “we are trying to evade the literal obedience”, and whether there is a need to change, since Bonhoeffer believes that “we must take the call of discipleship more seriously than ever” (p. 49). So, is it true that by not taking Jesus’ commands (sometimes literally), we have misinterpreted the Bible and failed to be obedient? Or does the ways to treat it differ depending on the aspects of life?

The Sermon on the Mount covers so many aspects, including community, righteousness, relationship, lust, truthfulness, revenge, love, rituals, and devout lives, which I am going to categorize into three dimensions, physical, emotional, and spiritual. So, the first dimension I am going to talk about is this physical context in becoming disciple. Jesus was talking about being the salt and light of the world, which I believe include sharing the gospel to those who haven’t heard. However, seeing it from the physical perspective, how far should we go in obeying His command to share the good news? Seeing it from the fact that Bonhoeffer died as a martyr (Robertson, 1966, pp. 10-12), he took this quite literally. As he states (pp. 60-62) that “if needed, the law must be broken for the sake of Jesus. Our faith cannot mean sitting and waiting anymore”. Should then Christians unite and destroy ISIS? If we say “No, it’s not wise, that’s not what Jesus wants”, are we treating grace cheaply, not willing to lose the lives which actually do not belong to us anymore? I think the case of obedience applies when we are sure Jesus wants us to do something and we have to choose whether to obey or not. It is true that “suffering is the badge of true discipleship”, and that in order to pass suffering, it has to be endured, just like how Jesus drinks from the cup of wrath (pp. 91-92). However, we also can learn from the gospel (like in Matthew 10:23) that we should not rush and seek martyrdom, because He does not call us to intentionally try to lose our lives, yet He expects us to be willing to lose it for Him. 

The same case as money, which is an important issue since long time ago, and gets worse nowadays. How should we deal with it as His disciples? Should we work and give our money to people, because we believe God will provide for us anyway? As long as we have enough then we can share the rest. However, if every Christian think this way, then there will be no source of funding, because all this time actually Christians support each other financially in the mission field. Then what does it mean to be disciples when dealing with lust? It is natural and biological as human. I knew that when Jesus said cut your part of body he doesn’t mean it to be literal (or did He?), Bonhoeffer also questions that. I believe it is an act of obedience to choose abstinence before marriage. It is an act of obedience to immediately repent when it is in our mind. It is obedience to not compromise and put ourselves in temptation. But to not really think about it all, I don’t think that is possible, because temptation is always there no matter how hard we try to avoid it.

The second dimension is to see it within emotional context, this includes relationships and feelings, and interests. We as humans have to deal with emotions every day, and Jesus also mentioned about it. How we shouldn’t revenge and instead, love our enemies. How we should stop judging others and instead, love them. How we should let go our anxiety, and instead, love His plan. These things cannot be done except by our willingness to obey Him, and I understand that. How we should forgive someone, and “give another cheek”. But does that mean we allow them to hurt us over and over again? Should we stop pursuing our own happiness and desire, and instead, love what God loves. How does we apply obedience here? Do we then have our own value of existence? Shall we follow our interest? Does it even matter? 

Seen from the existentialist’s point of view, Jesus does demand “authentic individual obedience” and the worst that can happen to human is losing ourselves (Macquarrie, 1973, pp. 20-21). We are not supposed to be afraid to lose our lives, but how about us as a person in our existential being? Jesus lost His life, but not His name, memory, authority, desire to love us, interest in ministry, etc. He did not lose Himself. Then the question is, if everything is about God, is there anything about me at all? Because I believe that our interest, hope, intelligence, sexual desire, and talent are not random things, as long as we subject them to Christ, those are put by God in our hearts in order to glorify Him. 

The third dimension I am looking at is spiritual which I use to categorize everything related to our devout lives, like prayers and religious rituals as mentioned there. Jesus points out the tendency for us to pray in front of people, the way we show people that we are fasting, and He mentions us to keep the secrecy, or the hiddenness of prayer as stated by Bonhoeffer. However, it doesn’t mean that we cannot pray in public at all. The problem is not the place of prayer, but the fact “that they may be seen by men” (Geisler & Howe, p. 334, 2008).

From those three aspects of our being, I think the way we deal with Jesus’ words depends on our motivations and perspectives in our existence as a human being. If we have right motivations and perspectives, with the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, we will have this wisdom to know His will and obey that. By treating grace cheaply I think we just act like the guest without proper garment in the parable of the Wedding Banquet (Matthew 22). Surely we are still sinners and will still stumble along the way, but wouldn’t our hearts desire to seek what is pleasing God if we love Him? Therefore, I believe that the right motivations and perspectives lead us to obedience that generates faith. 

In conclusion, faith requires obedience because it is the first step, and obedience requires faith because discipleship is not limited to what you can comprehend, as Luther said that “it must transcend all comprehension” (Bonhoeffer, pp. 93-96). Therefore obedience comes from within, from our Spirit (spiritual), to our soul (emotional), and body (physically), with the right motivation and perspective. Like how we can know whether we have been too left or too right, too cheap or too legalistic, all depends on what motivates us to do something and how we see it, because for me obedience comes as a result of a humble heart, while legalism is the contrary.

Bibliography

Bonhoeffer, D 1995, The cost of discipleship, 1st ed, Touchstone, Simon & Schuster, New York.

Geisler, NL & Howe, TA 2008, The big book of Bible difficulties: clear and concise answers from Genesis to Revelation, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI.

Macquarrie, J 1973, An existentialist theology: a comparison of Heidegger and Bultmann, Pelican books, Penguin, Harmondsworth, England.

Robertson, EH 1966, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Makers of contemporary theology, Carey Kingsgate Press, London.

GOD AND HIS STORY

A Lecture Reflection

The Old Testament might be a difficult set of books to read, or at least for me. I remember in my early phase of Christian life, my Bible was colourful in the New Testament part and sticky in the Old Testament part, simply because I was not interested at all to read it. I thought, why bothered with confusing stories if we could have Jesus spoken directly to us in the gospels and letters about things which were more applicable to our daily lives, like love, peace, joy, and relationship, in comparison to war, weird culture, sacrifice, tradition and rituals, and many other things. 

However, learning to see the Bible as a narrative, particularly the Old Testament with its plot, characters, setting, and other elements has totally changed my perspective, even on the accountability and credibility of the Bible itself. As stated by Brisben & Klein (2012, p. 326), the failure in understanding the Old Testament as a story can lead to pious and religious legalism. It is important to read the Old Testament for its doctrine and theology, however, it is not enough for our spiritual formation, because we will only have “heads without hearts”. This is personally true for me, because the way God tells us this story shows the relationship He wants to have with us, just like a father who reads story to his son every night, instead of giving a set of certain rules to be followed. It is supposed to have transformational power which can provide growth in faith and life, as also mentioned by Corcoran (2007, p. 34).

I remember when I was asked, “Why is it so hard for you to read the Old Testament but it is so easy for you to read a set of seven novels with the thickness of a dictionary?” I just thought I did not understand and it was hard, but now I realise maybe because I treated it wrongly. Song (2008, p. 28) explains beautifully that a story “grips you in the depths of your hearts and minds, forces you to look deeply into yourself and into human nature”. I never feel so engaged with the Old Testament and its characters before, which could be the reason why it was so enjoyable to read those seven novels instead. Song (2008, p. 28) continues that a story make us relate ourselves to others, to the world, nature, and also with God. So, it is theological to treat the Old Testament as a story because it relates the relation between human being and God.

The biggest problem in reading the Bible, besides the different historical, cultural, and geographical issues, is the different stories occurred in different books, which often leads to confusion. Therefore, the first lecture points out the importance of treating it as a story; that it was told by people and should be seen through perspective. This includes various points of view and that being different does not mean it is wrong, simply because narrative is a story about something happened to someone, somewhere, sometime, as told by someone, somewhere, in a particular time, as discussed in class. We can only see what is presented to us, just like we can only read what is told by the narrator in the Bible, from his point of view, and for what he considers important. This is a big deal for me because it changes the way I view the Bible, not only the Old Testament, but also the four gospels in the New Testament.

Therefore, to read the Bible as a narrative, we ought to see the characters and setting as well. Learning about major and minor characters, as well as foils, explain it well for the reason of why certain weird stories are included in the canon. I know this is for the purpose of the narrative, but I still wonder if there is such thing as foils in God’s eyes. I want to believe that everyone is as important and precious in front of God, but I cannot deny that sometimes some people are more than others. Sometimes this is affected by someone’s status, intelligence, physical appearance, charisma, personality, and talent, which sometimes (again) leave people with no choice and no control. Can it also be affected by someone’s faith and obedience? If so, there is also a possibility that someone has no control over their faith and obedience, simply because they have no chance to understand deeper, which then lead them to be ordinary, and to work as foils in this story of God’s meta-narrative? 

Back to the narrative elements, Crain, 2010, (pp. 110-126) suggests that we can identify characters through the context, actions, other characters’ responses, words, and description. He adds that by learning from the characters, we learn and understand more about our motives, attitudes, and moral natures. However, if God is the central character in the Bible, and it was told through omniscient point of view, how can the narrator be omniscient then? This relates to a lot of things, just like the statement “the Lord regretted that He had made man on earth” in Gen 6:6. As Fokkelman (1999, p. 56) states, that the first sentences of the Bible betrays the characteristic of the narrator, because he is omniscient. The narrator tells us about something with no one including himself being present. The narrator knows because he says it, which is not necessary to consider that it is historically reliable. As it was discussed in class, that maybe God is not omniscient. I still think that the way the narrator portrays God cannot fully describe God’s divinity. The omniscient narrator is able to show us prior knowledge of what is to come because he knows it (Fokkelman, 1999, p. 124), so it is subjective based on what he knows and what he feels.

Another essential element in a narrative is the plot. It was discussed in class that the Hexateuch is preferred to Pentateuch because of the plotline, which actually makes sense. A plot in the story consists of exposition, conflict, complications, climax, resolution, and conclusion, which integrates the whole narrative in the Old Testament. The first is exposition. This is the introduction of everything, including characters and setting. The story starts with the prehistory from Creation to when God calls Abraham. Creation has never been a struggle for me because I think I just need to believe that God is able to do it literally in 6 days and science must be wrong. However, it is actually dangerous because it results in my ignorance, which I realised when I was doing my field research report on creation account. According to Geisler & Howe 1992, pp. 32-33), there are two ways to reconcile with science. First is that modern science is wrong and earth is not that old. Others argue that universe could be billions of years old without considering Genesis 1 and 2 wrong. It can be because of the time span or time gap. I stand on this position, because our calculation and understanding about time is not the same as God and ancient people. However, I learn that the most important point is that there is no demonstrated contradiction of fact between Genesis 1 and science, and it’s only a “conflict of interpretation” (Geisler & Howe, 1992, p. 33). Then it was discussed in class about the difference in Genesis 1 and 2, which also bothers me. For me, they are both the same, as Geisler & Howe (1992, p. 35) explain that Genesis 1 is more about the chronological order, and Genesis 2 is more about the topical content.

The discussion continues with the Garden Narrative which tells about the fall. This is when they were conscious of their deception and also their disobedience. They try to cover their shame with apron of fig leaves (Schultz, 2000, p. 14). This story presents a wonderful realisation of God’s mercy and grace when He was looking for them and still made the garments from animal skin for them (Gen 3:21). However, I am curious if they had no shame before, then would human have to deal with lust? If being naked is not so special, how would they reproduce? This just comes to mind since lust is the biggest struggle snaring human being in this life. Relating this to another class where I learned about Jesus’ command in Matt 5:29, I was arguing that it is impossible for man not to have this lustful thought because they are visual persons. Yes, it is obedience for them not to continue with their thought, and not to compromise, but it is impossible to be pure in mind at all because it is just our nature in this broken world and broken body.

Therefore, the effect of sin is disharmony. The relationship between man and woman, God and human, brothers, neighbours, parents and children are spoiled. We can see this narrative pattern consisting of “harmony, revolt, punishment, and divine grace” occurred throughout the story (Deist, 1982, p. 2). However, this then leads me to wonder if God actually destroyed Adam and Eve that day, then there would be no misery in this world, and He did not need to see these people sent to hell.

The composition in Genesis 1-11 serves as the exposition in this plot, showing the chiasm structure in which fall and punishment become the centre. Connecting it with the conflict which happens in Genesis 12, this prehistory serves like a prologue to Hexateuch and further, to David Narrative, the New Testament, and the world today.

The conflict arises when God calls Abraham and makes a promise with him, which then is also known as the Patriarch. Here God makes a covenant with Him that Abraham is going to be a father of a big nation, which means that he will get a descendant, land, and blessing. It is a big problem because Abraham’s wife, Sara, is barren. In addition, they are nomads, and they are sinners. It seems impossible. Delays and threats come along the way as the complications of the conflict, or known as the rising actions. Then, we also learn about Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Each story develops certain issues that portrays God’s character, about His providence and sovereignty. One of the promises is fulfilled in Exodus 1, when “they become too many” as Abraham’s descendant. However, this is just part of a bigger plot, because it rises another conflict. Since now they become many, they need a land to become a nation. As stated by Deist (1982, p. 15), the idea of the Promised Land is a “safe and blessed home”, because out there is dangerous. How will God fulfil this promise? The story continues with Moses leading them to go out from Egypt. Exodus to Deuteronomy talks about how God deals with His people along the way.

Finally in Joshua, all the promises fulfilled, as the theme of the Hexateuch we learned in class, that God is able to stay true to the promises He made to His helpless people. We can see in Joshua 21:45 “Not one of all the LORD's good promises to Israel failed; everyone was fulfilled,” works as the resolution in this story, followed with the rest of Joshua as the conclusion. This is a soothing feeling when we see that God keeps His promises and everything is beautiful in His time. It is God’s commitment, not Abraham, but he only believes. It is Jesus, not us, we just need to believe. Abraham is not great because of what He has done, but because of the God He serves. However, this troubles me because it is hard to differentiate whether something is delayed because of God’s timing or our disobedience. When God promises something, we do not know when it will be fulfilled, whether it is delayed or it is what God intends it to be. It is easy to see how God journeys with His people in the Old Testament because we are the third person who knows the end of the story. 

Even when they settle in the land, we can see that they still do not obey God and turn their back on God. They have the Judges era but then they are not satisfied. They want a king just to be like the other nations, although they have God as their king. Then they start nagging although God has told them that He is their King. I feel this relates to us. Sometimes we nag to get something in our own time and desire, and we often end up disappointed because it is not as we imagine. If only we listened and waited. Yet still, God can make something good out of bad. When Saul is appointed to lead, he disappoints God because of his self-centeredness. Then the story continues with David, and we can learn so much from his relationship with God. God still blessed Israel through him, and he is known as “Israel’s greatest national hero” (Drane, 2000, p. 94). It was discussed in class about how could David who looks like doing more wicked sin than Saul actually is called a man after God’s own heart. We learn that it is the attitude of humility, which should then be applicable to our lives as well. No matter how bad we think we are, as long as we humble ourselves and confess, we can be someone after God’s own heart, too. Then here we have Solomon who is so wise, but he still falls. He ends up ignoring God's warning, which is weird because he is supposed to have this wisdom to take God's warning wisely. When Solomon prays for wisdom, as mentioned by Drane (2000, p. 280), he asks for the ability to rule “with justice and to know the difference between good and evil”. This makes me worried, if a man who gains his wisdom from God can be so unwise, then how about us?

Then because of the consequences of sin, the kingdom has to be divided. One thing that catches my attention is when King Rehoboam (1 Kings 12:8) chooses not to listen to the wise elders and prefer to consult with the young people instead. It is ironic that now the younger generation seems like losing their respect to elderly people, supported by the advance technology that makes the older generation looks even dumber. They tend to disrespect and look down at them think that they are way smarter. However, experience cannot lie. It can be wrong, but still it has passed so many stages of life and learn from the mistakes. It is good to explore with the uncertainty of the future, but it is even better to learn from the certainty of the past. 

From the past, we learned that Jerusalem is the city of David and the Israelites believe that God is there because the temple is where God dwells. His covenant that David’s kingdom will endure forever and his descendant will always be on the throne is a big deal for the Israelites when they were sent to exile, because then Jerusalem apparently is not an everlasting city that never falls. So their theology was shaken. I think this is applicable to our cases today where something happens and we get shaken because we have a wrong understanding on where God is and who He is.

However, then they learn that there is a reason for them to be in exile, and that there is hope, too, as they can see from the Deuteronomist perspective. They have turned their back on God, but again, as the theme of the Hexateuch occurs again and again, God is able to stay true to the promises He made to His helpless people. This is also the reoccurring theme for our whole lives. I think when the Israelite went into exile, this is like the phase of disorientation in the Psalm cycle for them, where they ask God why this happened and if there is any hope. However, some of them chose to believe in the God which they know, to hold on to His promises and reflect back to His goodness, which is the time of reorientation. When they finally go back to Jerusalem from exile, they see that God keeps His promise and they enter the phase of new orientation, as pictured by the Chronist. The Chronist invites people to see that God is generous, merciful, and faithful, despite our own failure (Goldingay, 2011, p. 168) which is also applicable to the way we see life.

The Chronist focuses more on cult, on everything that happens around the temple. Therefore David and Solomon are portrayed really well because they kept the cult. He also looks at history differently from the Deuteronomist. As it was discussed in class, the Chronist emphasises that it is God’s invitation that is extended to people to experience the abundance of life in Him. If we treat the Chronicles right, its message is still relevant to us. As stated by Deist (1982, p. 98), “the Chronicler's powerful message that God intervenes in history and that salvation is meant for all people, is an important statement in the religious history of Israel and it should continue to be appreciated by believers today”. Every rule and regulation is God’s protection. God sets this framework for His people, not to be carried out legalistically. Even by discussing about the sacrifice of the animals, I finally understand that it is because we have been saved, therefore we do this, to remember the price we have to pay for sin, which is in coherence with the death of Christ. 

In the end, we can see from this set of lectures that God indeed has a plan for us, but how to relate this to God’s sovereignty and our free will? The explanation presented in class is the best way to conclude and close this last class. We are part of God’s meta-narrative, part of His redemptive plan. When I first became a Christian, I believed that God would lead my every step, what major I should choose, which university I should study at, what company I should work at, and which country I should stay in. All are written as a wonderful testimony. They are all miracles and I don’t say that now they are not. However, I come to this understanding that God indeed has a plan for us. It is dangerous to tell people that God doesn’t care what you wear and what you study about. I think God does care, because He loves us, and if it can strengthen the relationship, why not? I imagine myself asking my dad what I should wear today. Will it make me look good? Will it represent and honour Him well? Will it please Him and please the people I love? From the simplest unimportant thing to the biggest important decision, I think it is good to involve Him. On the other hand, it is also important that as long as it is inside the framework of His plan, we are not obliged to study certain major at certain university, and if not then we ruin His plan and our lives. It doesn’t work that way and we need to understand. We do not need to be like robots and do not consult our hearts and interests at all. I believe that God puts interest and dreams in our hearts not as random things, but it can be used for the purpose of His glory.

I portrayed that this life is a story with a plot. Since I was born, to my primary school, high school, university, and work, I feel that God draws this one line which I need to follow. If I did not go straight with His path and turn somewhere, I couldn’t come back, or I could but I would waste my time to make the turn around. So I always prayed before deciding anything. Someone once asked about this company where I work, “Are you sure it’s from God?” I was pretty sure because I miraculously got this job and I loved it. Yet this question bothered me and stole my peace because I was still with my old understanding. I started thinking if I was at the wrong place. However, now I can say that it’s in His framework. Now I can see that God can make a new way out of our choice. Maybe when we mess up because of our sinful nature and free will, it may take longer to find the light, but we will. Then for us who try to be obedient and ask Him in everything we do, there is no such thing as wrong way. We will always find the light heading to the goal of His plan, which is the redemption for people.

I think this is very important. People come to us to ask about the most important things, yet the most difficult. Is God happy if I marry him? Is he the one from God? Can I study this, or actually God will be happier if I choose that? What do I need to study? Or some people will say, “Well I want to study at Bible College, but I need to pray if it is God’s will”. It is a godly thing to say and yes of course we have to pray before making decision. In the time of waiting for answer, we can see how God really support this idea and we get reassured, which is important to strengthen us in the time of hardship. But how many steps are not taken because we are too afraid when we do not hear any answer? This will not happen if we know whatever we do as long as it’s heading toward His plan for us, we can just obey. 

In conclusion, the Bible is actually a master story about God’s plan for us, and we can learn so much when we treat it right. It is important not to disregard the Old Testament, because it plays the crucial part in the Bible, as precious as the New Testament. Without the New Testament, the Old Testament is only a collection of unfulfilled promises, yet without the Old Testament, the New Testament is just something which can be claimed to happen by anyone, anywhere, anytime, or as plainly stated, “the New is in the Old concealed, and the Old is in the New revealed” (Schultz & Smith, 2001, p. 8). 

Bibliography

Crain, JC 2010, Reading the Bible as literature: an introduction, Polity, Cambridge, UK.

Corcoran, HA 2007, 'Biblical narratives and life transformation: An apology for the narrative teaching of Bible stories', Christian Education Journal, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 34-48.

Drane, J 2000, Introducing the Old Testament, Rev. ed, Lion, Oxford, England.

Fokkelman, JP 1999, Reading Biblical narrative: an introductory guide, Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, KY.

Geisler, NL & Howe, TA 2008, The big book of Bible difficulties: clear and concise answers from Genesis to Revelation, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI.

Goldingay, J 2011, Key questions about Biblical interpretation: Old Testament answers, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, MI.

Klein, A & Brisben, D 2012, 'Reading the Old Testament as story: a pedagogy for spiritual formation', Christian Education Journal, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 326-341.

Schultz, SJ 2000, The Old Testament speaks, 5th ed, HarperCollins, NY.

Schultz, SJ & Smith, GV 2001, Exploring the Old Testament, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL.

Song, CS 2008, 'Story is the matrix of theology', Theologies and Cultures, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 28-48.

THE WEDDING, WINE, AND WORLD

A Report on the Parable of Power

Introduction

Food and fest, glam and glory, wedding and wine. The first miracle that Jesus did is so simple yet remarkable. Andy Crouch in his book Playing God discusses the concept of power in The Wedding Wine story. The writer is going to evaluate this exploration chapter with the commentaries on John 2 to see the message and application behind the passage.

Basically, according to Burge (2003, p. 90) the core message of this story when Jesus turns water into wine is “the old has gone, the new has come”. The New Testament also talks about how once ones receive Christ, they are not the same anymore. There is this power that makes the old goes and the new comes. They are new creation in Christ, changed, different, transformed. What is the source of this power? Is this the form of miracle? Or is it simply a process, combined with power and time, to make such a difference? Analysing this concept against two secular books, The Secret and The Empowered Mind, the writer aims to dig deeper about power and miracle.

The Wedding in the Chapter

Crouch (2013, p. 104) starts the exploration chapter by defining the grand pattern of creation as “good, to very good, to glory”. He states that creation is good, but human as God’s image bearers are very good, because we have that ability to cultivate and unfold potential. Therefore, we can make something good to very good. Nature is good, then add some creativity and care, it becomes culture which is very good. Grain is good, then add some power and process, it becomes bread which is very good. Just like egg and omelette, tree and wooden chair, sound and music, they become very good by human intelligence and intentionality. One step ahead, it leads to glory.

Grape is the best example for this. Crouch mentions about how grapes are good, and when they become wine, they can be very good, and “the right grapes, at the right time, in the right hands” can become glory. Relating this to the story of Jesus when he attended a wedding in Cana, Crouch (2013, p. 106) says that miracles are beyond power itself, working not like how this world works. Therefore the miracle Jesus performed in the wedding reveals the true meaning of power. He first states that Mary, using her power as a mother, stating indirectly what she wanted through the fact, that “they have no wine”. In this case, believing that she had the authority and Jesus would honour her, she didn’t need to request or command.

According to Crouch, Jesus replied by emphasizing that the assumptions of power and authority did not apply because Jesus was here to fulfil His mission under higher authority and that he himself had that higher authority than his mother. Yet, Mary seemed to know what Jesus would do since she told the servants to do what Jesus asked them to do, and Jesus did exactly what Mary believed he would do.

Therefore, Crouch emphasizes that there are several things to be concluded from this miracle about Jesus’ power. First, his power does not “flow through predictable channels”. He was not bound by anything: custom, law, etc. However, what Jesus did here in Cana shows “the pattern of social life: marriage, hospitality, celebration, and honouring parents”. This means that through the first miracle, Jesus touches the closest, simplest thing among us. His power restores “family and feasting”. He shows how to bless by honouring parents, showing hospitality to guests, etc. Second, his power reveals glory. It reveals Jesus’ true identity and the ultimate truth of his mission, “to make all things new”. Through the miracle of the wine, Jesus shows that he is more than expected. This miracle that reveals glory happened in the wedding which is a moment of glory, too, because it is the sign of “the magnificence of love” between man and woman, united by God.

Third is his power is abundant. The wine is more than needed, showing how God always provides abundantly. Forth is that his power is hidden as it is revealed. It does not bring him to the centre of attention and put him on the spotlight, yet it reveals his glory. Crouch mentions that true power in the world sometimes is invisible, but the effects can be seen and celebrated, and the credit goes to somewhere else, but God is behind everything.

Finally, he concludes that this story is just not about wine, it is the sign of something deeper. “The third day” becomes something special, since Jesus also was risen on the third day, the day where true power overcame and his glory was revealed. Then why would we settle for anything less, the rhetorical question ends his statement.

The Wine in the Passage

Wedding is a very important celebration in the past and present. According to Burge (2000, p. 88), John uses the cultural and religious theme as the backdrop of his presentation about Jesus. It gives clearer insight about Jesus’ personhood, yet it carries a deeper meaning.

When Mary mentioned about wine, Jesus said that his time is not yet to come, which means that it looks forward to Jesus’ important work on the cross. So Jesus will act on behalf not of this wedding but the entire world. His death on the cross will provide more than wine. However, Jesus indicates that he will act since his mother directs the servant to obey him. The six stone jars that becomes the source of new wine is not only for holding water. Stone jars represent Jewish purification washing. Then they can hold large volume of wine, about 120 gallons (Burge, 2000, p. 92).

It is said that the wine is superior to before, means this is the sign that reveals something hidden before. This is not merely acts of power and might, but they unveil that God is a work in Jesus and indeed is present in him (Twelftree, 1999, p. 195).

It shows how God cares about our simplest problem, not just about saving souls and renewing lives. John is telling something about Judaism and history. The arrival of Messiah shows something unparalleled is happening in the world. The wine also recalls many prophetic words that God’s arrival and blessing are seen particularly in an abundance of wine in the land. Now God’s glory becomes visible in human form (Burge, 2000, p. 102).

Longman & Garland (2007, p. 385), also explains that “sign” was used by John to describe Jesus’ self-manifestation in his works. Wedding in the first century is a feast that can last as long as a week. Wine was a basic commodity in the ancient world. When the supply runs short, the host can be embarrassed. In contrast, some scholars do not think that Mary expects Jesus to perform miracle. Mary just went to Jesus because she knew how resourceful he is and it is natural for a mother to do so. It is also believed that Mary did not grasp the full intent of what Jesus just said because she instructs the servants to do what Jesus would tell them, then Jesus did it anyway. They also have speculation that actually Jesus only pretends that the water is the wine and people believe it because they have been too drunk.

The use of wine also illustrate human’s relationship to God as quoted from William Temple (Longman & Garland, 2007, pp. 388), that it becomes more and more satisfying with the passage of time. Just like marriage, the older should be the sweeter, because it has passed the challenge of time and process. The miracle Jesus performed was the first of his miraculous sign, which means the mighty work of Jesus, act of power. Jesus reveals glory and leads his disciple to put their faith in him. However, the third day here is simply the day after tomorrow. There are some metaphorical references. Lack of wine is the symbol of Jewish laws that fails to meet the deeper needs of humanity. Six jars is one less than perfect number seven. The jars each held twenty to thirty gallons shows abundance supply of grace (p. 389).

Basically these two commentaries have some similar views, one of them is that Jesus provides in abundance. However, there are a lot of significant differences as well, which do not support Crouch’s statement on how people are aware of their power and how to use it. There is one point missing from this story of miracle and power, it is obedience. As stated by Spurgeon (1992, pp. 93-95), this story teaches people on obedience to God before He performs miracle.

The World in the Books

The Secret is a book that talks about “law of attraction”, which means that everything comes from the power of thought. Bryne (2006, pp. 1-27) says that people need to know the secret to have and be anything they want. People throughout the history have discovered and used this secret. She believes that we all work with one infinite power. It is the same law for everyone, one power, one law, attraction. Everything that comes to our life is attracted by the virtue of images people are holding in their mind. So it is what they are thinking, that thought is the force. This law also appears in all religions throughout the history.

When people focus their thoughts on something they want, and they hold that focus, they are in the moment summoning what they want with the mightiest power in the universe. It works like Genie from the magic lamp. Genie is our law of attraction (p. 60) that will fulfil our wish. People do not need to know how, because the universe will do it for them.

In other words, people are in control of their own destiny and life, which is actually in line with the concept of “free will of choice”. People are believed to be able to create their own miracle, the impossible, by the power of their thought. Trench (1949, pp. 5-12) defines miracle as power or mighty works through the “Divine Messenger” equipped by God, referring to Christ. Miracle can immediately working, or establish to work. It is not nature, but not against it. It is beyond, and above nature. If so, it can be said that human has this ability to perform miracle. Surely, human are miracle themselves, and optimizing one core part of the body created by God to achieve what they want and to have a good life is rational.

According to Bryne (2006, p. 71-92), there is a pattern of this method. Ask, believe, and receive. She quotes scriptures too, from Matthew 21:22 and Mark 11:24 that when we pray, believe that we already receive it, and we will receive it. There are the powerful processes of gratitude (to be grateful for what we have and we will get more), visualization (to create the picture of us enjoying and feeling that we already get it), and action (to make it a habit). This also influences all areas in our lives, including wealth, health, and relationship. They teach people to be generous with money, give so that they will receive more, to love themselves and love people, to know that laughter is the best medicine disease is held in the body by their thoughts. Basically, they can receive all things they want because this universe offers abundance.

These methods to increase wealth, health, and relationship are actually what the Bible teaches us. Give more, and God will bless more, because there is blessing in giving. Live happily, happy heart is the best medicine, do not resent and keep bitterness because it will make people sick, love people just like people love themselves, care for them like Jesus cares. They are basically the same, that we have and ought to use this power in us to have a “good life”, since good life is associated with being wealthy, healthy, and happy.

In The Empowered Mind, Scott (1994, pp. 1-11) mentions the technique of using “creative force”, which is the inner power in people’s mind both to get what they want and to feel more satisfaction. Scott claims that she has used this technique for more than twenty years in her life and that everyone can do this. It is just tapping the power that they haven’t used or fully developed, to be, do, and enjoy the best. She gives the examples of how she can do the things that she believes she cannot do before, in this case, the impossible. This technique will make the readers feel more powerful, gain more confidence, develop personal identity and purpose, be satisfied and get more enjoyment by focusing energy for optimum functioning, maximise their talents, designing the person they want to be, becoming smarter by sharpening their intellectual powers, increasing power of perception and awareness, making better decision, turning problems into possibility, and optimizing relationship. So, all they need is to develop and pay attention to make it powerful.

All these methods focus on the power in human self and how to use it right in order to achieve what human wants, a good life. Human are the ones who construct the definition of a good life, and they spend the whole life to live meeting that definition for self-satisfaction. Scott also mentions about how practicing intuitive technique makes her feel like having a magic Genie she can call forth whenever she needs help. When she can’t find answer with her logic then help will pop out, not only quick but also right (1994, p. 13). Isn’t this power known by Christian as the Holy Spirit? How he reminds people of scripture or memory they need at that time, gives wisdom beyond logic that is “not only quick but also right”.

Crouch, Burge, Longman & Garland, Bryne, and Scott, they talk about power and they believe that human have power and control over it. The secular views also believe that human has total control, but they need the universe to help them. They are talking about the same power and force in human’s life. Only, the source of power for them is the universe, which will conspire to support and provide what human need only by the power of their thought. It is dangerous to emphasize on how human can get what they want, because human’s intention and desire corrupt. On the other hand, the Christian views urge to use the power, yet it is important to surrender it to the source of the power, God himself. Crouch also mentions that “Jesus’ power is hidden as it is revealed” (2013, p. 111), which fits this concept of power by the universe. There is the source behind it.

Linking it to the concept of miracle, human are empowered by God to do miracle through the Holy Spirit, but miracle is a product of grace and faith. The secular view emphasizes on faith in self, but excludes grace, because the control 100% belongs to human. Referring back to Crouch’s rhetorical question, with the glorious power of God in this world, why would we settle for anything less? Is 100% power still less? Yes, because power can fail.

Conclusion

Power, along with process and time, turns something from good to very good, even to glory. With this power, comes miracle. However, the source of power and miracle are God, which will be given by grace, yet requires obedience as the step of faith. Some people believe that the source of power is the universe, and human as the ruler of the universe. Power is in human’s thought, and by recognizing and optimizing how to use it, there is no limitation to make impossible become possible. In other words, human can get what they want with their own power. However, it is still less than the source of power itself, God, because human’s intention and desire corrupt, and power can fail, but grace remains.

TO BE MORE LIKE CHRIST

An Essay

Romans 3:23 said, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” This verses best describes the basic concept of Christian spiritual formation, that refers to “the process of shaping our spirit and giving it a definite character,” according to Willard (2014, p. 53). We were created and broken, before, but then redeemed and restored (Estep & Kim, 2010, p. 17). Willard continues, that spiritual formation in Christ is the process when we as an individual applies the quality of Jesus Christ’ character into ourselves. This can only happen because we are now justified by Christ.

My own theory of Christian formation basically is about the three dimensions of our being. It starts with our Spirit, which is first transformed when we receive Christ. Then it will affect our soul, which is our emotion, desire, and feeling. The transformed spirit will make a significant change over those areas, which then brings impact to our body, which represents us to the world, through the way we talk, behave, and act.

I am going to evaluate two theories that I find very interesting. The first one is from Dallas Willard. According to him, spiritual formation happens to everyone. It is the process when our human spirit is given a “definite form or character”. He believes that the most wicked and the most popular people have had spiritual formation. People’s hearts are shaped and formed so it results in who they are now, which can be a terrorist as well as saint (Willard, 2002, p. 2).

Willard (2002, pp. 7-9) states that everything comes from people’s heart as the central core, therefore it needs to be “renovated”. To do so, human needs God. Specifically, we need Christ, because He is the way to our heart or spirit. However, Willard emphasizes that letting God invade our lives should not be taken as an “alternative lifestyle option” (p. 5) which can be simply added to our busy schedule.

According to Willard (2002, pp. 67-185) there are six key elements in his theory regarding Christian formation. First is transforming the mind: our thought of life, which determines the orientation and shapes our feelings toward this world. Our thought is the first and most important because it is the source of everything and our feeling is also directed by thought. Second is transforming the mind: our sensation, emotion, and desire through our feeling. Feeling is natural yet it is the most powerful and essential to life. It is very important to master our feeling and take a good care of it.

Third is transforming will and character. He stated that will is the core to who we are as an individual, and the most dangerous thing is when we human falls into duplicity and deception. We tend to do what we want, and we need spiritual disciplines to overcome this. Forth is transforming the body. Willard suggests that we release our body to God, and warns us not to idolize and misuse our body. It is really important because inclination exists in the part of our body. Instead, we should honour and care for it.

Fifth is transforming social dimension. He mentions about being sure of others as the necessary thing for a healthy life, therefore community is really important. We cannot keep our formation to ourselves and God, but we need to interact with others. Sixth is transforming the soul. He states that soul is the centre of human being, and when people keep their heart well, their soul will be “properly ordered under God and in harmony with reality” (2002, p. 169).

The next theory is from Diane Chandler. She defines Christian spiritual formation as “an interactive process by which God the Father fashions believers into the image of His son, Jesus, through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit by fostering development in seven primary life dimensions” (Chandler, 2014, p. 19). She starts the theory talking about imago Dei, that we are created in the image of God and it is because of God’s love for us. Because of sin, this image was broken, but now it is restored by Jesus Christ. Therefore, when we acknowledge that Christ died for us, that He paid the price for our sin, and we receive Him through faith as our Saviour, the restoration process begins, as stated by Chandler (2014, p. 17). 

Chandler (2014, pp. 20-21) presents these seven formational dimensions mentioned in the definition. They are in order and will affect each other. First is formation of the spirit. This is our faith journey with God, how our spirit grows closer to the image of Christ because the Holy Spirit dwells in us. Second is emotional formation, when we reflect the image of Christ through our feeling, passion, and desire. It is related to the freedom of our past hurts and wounds, too. 

Third is relational formation, where we can reflect the image of Christ through our relationship with other people through social interactions. Forth is intellectual formation, which is about the development of our thought, to have a worldview that honour Christ, by reflecting biblical knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. Fifth is vocational formation. It is the development in our gift, talent, ability, and skill that bring glory to God.

Sixth is physical health formation, which encourages us to take care of our physical body as the temple of Holy Spirit. By doing so, we can maximize God’s purpose in our life. Sevenths is resource formation. This is about how we manage our resource on earth to bring glory to God, including finance, material possession, and time.

The theories presented by Willard and Chandler basically are pretty similar. I try to find the parallelism and group them to three dimensions of spirit, soul, and body so that it will be easier to discuss when we associate them with the concept of power. They are strongly related because we are talking about change. There must be power behind changes, even if it is big or small. 

First is Spirit. Chandler (2014, pp. 67-70) states that our spirit is the most foundational formation dimension. By restoring the human spirit, we are formed spiritually inside out. Why is it important to restore our spirit? Chandler explains that before the fall, Adam and Eve were tempted to doubt God. Once they started to doubt, they were deceived, which led to “illegitimate desire”, which then led to “wilful disobedience”. There was when sin entered human heart and we became corrupted. Therefore Christ came to redeem humanity and we who believe in Him can have our spirit transformed. Then the process of the formation itself is ongoing, through the power of the Holy Spirit. In my opinion, this dimension belongs to God’s sole power and grace. 

Then we have soul as our second dimension. This includes our thought, desire, feeling, will, and emotion. Chandler (2014, p. 84) defines emotional formation concerning “the capacity to identify, understand, express and reflect upon one’s and other’s feeling, desire, and passion in healthy and God-honouring ways”. Willard (2002, p. 81-93) also suggests that thought and feeling are the most important parts for spiritual formation. Both of them believe that this dimension is controllable, which means that we have the power and responsibility to master them. 

This dimension is very broad and related to each other. It can be said that everything comes from our thought. Therefore “the power of positive thinking” term is really popular in secular context. Willard also mentions about this, that we need to apply our thinking to the word of God (2002, p. 74). Then we have to master our feeling, too (p. 92). Chandler also reminds that it is important to heal the emotional wounds (2014, p. 96) and we are the one who can make them happen, because it cannot occur without acting and doing something about it (pp. 102).

Willard states that everyone should be active in this process of transformation to be Christlike, although the initiative comes from God. This transformation is actually a gift from our justification before God, only by His grace. However it does not mean that we can be passive about this. 

Willard (2002, p. 81) also mentions about spiritual disciplines for our formation. As long as it does not become legalism, I agree that we also need to actively take part in becoming more Christ like day by day, because although God has the initiative, He does not force us since we have free will of choice. However, just as Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love Me, keep my commands,” we should do it out of our love to Jesus, not because anything else. 

The third dimension is body. Both Chandler and Willard agree that we need to take a good care of our physical body because it is our responsibility. We are not allowed to misuse and idolize our body (Willard, 2002, pp. 138-139). I understand that we have power over our body. We can decide whether to eat healthy food, exercise regularly, sleep well, or vice versa. However, sometimes we are also powerless about it. There are times when our body betrays us, which is understandable because we live in a broken world and we are part of the brokenness, too. 

These three dimensions impact one another, including our life purpose and calling, talent and gift, ability in handling material resource, and so on according to Chandler, especially our relationship with other people in the community. Basically both of them believe that we have power in our own spiritual formation and it will be seen through our relationship in social dimension. They highlight that spiritual formation cannot happen without interaction with other people.

The formation theories that they both suggest look like focusing more on individual development. It is important to be aware that we see it through the corporate perspective, but I believe that we need to deal inward first before we deal outward with other people. Therefore, formation starts from us, but it has to be within the community, church, in this case, because it shapes us. 

I think when spiritual formation happen in each individual, the church is in the process of having their spiritual formation together. This is something beautiful, and also important because together, we have the power to represent Christ better to the world. After all, we are more than an image bearer. We are His icons (Crouch, 2013 p. 87). Although the process might not be easy. Willard (2002, pp. 21-23) mentions about “rotten church” and “mean Christians”, while Lawrenz (2000, p. 16) also mentions that heresies happen when spiritual formation happens without formative teaching and discipline. He believes that formative growth will result in constructive change. He symbolizes it like the process of planting, watering, and growing (p. 31).

The process of growing sometimes happen through suffering and crisis. Just like the parable of a coal that needs pressure to turn into a diamond, Chandler (2014, p. 81) mentions that “through the ages, men and women have been shaped into Christlikeness through suffering”. This power that presses us, then, will shape us spiritually depending on how we deal with it. So there is also power from our thought, feeling, action, and so on that we have formed spiritually, that will then face this pressure of suffering, and will result in whatever we turn out from that pressure.

In conclusion, there is power that make spiritual formation happens. It is the power of Holy Spirit, the power of our thought, feeling, action, relationship, community, and so on that shape and form us. Those aspects then make change to our spirit, thought, feeling, action, relationship, and community, not only in a parallel way, but also orderly and progressive. I imagine this as the same principle as Christ lives in us and it is reflected outward, so does the spiritual formation that happens within us that impacts our community and the world.

LOTR 2012

Date: October 19, 20, 21

Leadership Orientation Training 2012

Inauguration as HIMSI's members

Inauguration as HIMSI's activists

Rian's inauguration to get the Shield Badge

Have fun time!

Last, me wearing my university jacket (almamater) proudly

LOTr is my favorite event and I never miss it.

Since 2008 as the participant

2009 as the project manager

2010 as the guest

Feb 2011 as the disciplinary committee

Dec 2011 as the advisory board

Oct 2012 as the alumnae

It's an event no matter what you are, you will always learn.

LEADERSHIP ORIENTATION TRAINING 2011

October 21, 22, 23 - 2011

Villa Mozes, Cilember

THESIS DEFENSE PREPARATION

Melihat wajah-wajah dan status-status galau sidang bikin gw jadi flashback pas gw ngalamin itu juga. Pertama kali liat jadwal sakit perut pengen poop, berhari-hari mau sidang jantung berdetak cepat, pas hari H sekitar 1 jam sebelum sidang makan nasi setengah aja ga abis. Sekarang aja ngetik tentang sidang bisa sakit perut lagi. Haha. Jadi kalo gugup, takut, deg-degan, sangat amat wajar sekali. Tapi jangan sampe kita jadi stress ato depresi. Bukan waktunya soalnya hehe. Apalagi klo yang jadwal sidangnya udah mepet, sekarang waktunya prepare the best. Nah karena saat itu gw mempraktekkan beberapa cara dan sepertinya lumayan berhasil, ada yang mo gw share juga, siapa tau bisa berguna. Mari kita mulai:

Thesis Defense: Sambut dengan bahagia, ini bukan hari eksekusi, ini hari kebebasan.

1. Waktu nemu kesalahan, paniknya sebentar aja

Biasanya setelah kita bener-bener baca soft cover dengan saksama, baru keliatan kesalahan-kesalahan kecil yang kita buat sebelumnya. Tapi semua udah terlanjur karena soft covernya udah dikumpul. Jadi tindakan antisipasi yang bisa kita lakukan adalah dengan menyiapkan perbaikannya. Misalnya kalau Bibliography kita ternyata masih berantakan dan belom diurutin, ya kita print revisi yang benar untuk dibawa di hari sidang kalau itu dipertanyakan. Akui kesalahan dan kecerobohan dan kasih yang revisinya.

2. Tandain vocab yang susah

Baca baik-baik seluruh isi soft cover dan cari arti semua vocab susah yang kita ga tau ato lupa artinya. Tulis di bawah softcover dan inget-inget artinya.

3. Latian presentasi

Kalo ini mah udah pasti yah. Nah langkah pertama yang paling penting adalah:

a. Buat rancangan presentasi. Bukan cuma draft atau outline loh, tapi bener-bener kalimat apa yang mau kita omongin sepanjang presentasi. Ini bukan untuk dihafal, tapi untuk dipake latihan supaya kita ga belepotan dan kelamaan mikir mau ngomong apa nanti. Juga untuk pilih vocab dan ngontrol grammar supaya ga terlalu acak-acakkan. Ga perlu dihafal, tapi dengan kita ulang-ulang kita otomatis jadi inget sendiri.

b. Latian teknik. Yang perlu diinget juga hal-hal standar yang udah berkali-kali kita dengar. Tapi memang ga bisa dipungkiri kalo lagi deg-degan di depan penguji semua teknik presentasi yang udah kita siapkan jadi kacau. Tapi yang udah ga bisa ditawar (alias perlu latihan berkali-kali dan sungguh-sungguh kalo mau bagus) adalah:

(i) Kontak mata

Ini udah ga da pengecualian, kalo sepanjang presentasi gada kontak mata, berarti kita ga melakukan presentasi yang baik. Entah apakah penguji lagi sibuk nulis atau ga merhatiin kita, gapapa, tetep kontak kepala sama penguji (alias mata kita liat kepala beliau aja kalau beliau lagi sibuk nulis) dan penonton juga. Kalo bisa jangan terlalu sering arahin mata ke atas waktu berusaha mengingat-ngingat.

(ii) Body language

Bagi yang kebiasaan garuk-garuk kepala atau goyang-goyang ga jelas, mulai latian di depan cermin. Bukannya harus diem kaya patung, itu juga jelek. Tapi coba bayangin klo saat kita ngeblank kita garuk-garuk kepala sementara penguji lagi ngeliatin kita. Ouch. Emang bisa reflek, makanya kita perlu latian. Kalau mau hilangin nervous, gerakin tangan aja. Bisa dengan megang Q card (kalau bawa) atau nunjuk slide. Jadi misalnya lagi nerangin tentang 1 point atau tabel, tunjuk tabelnya dengan tangan. Kaya marketing perusahaan yang lagi jelasin produknya ke klien gitu. Hehe. Oya usahakan ngomong dengan senyum dan pasang tampang bahagia.

(iii) Nada bicara

Jangan bicara dengan nada datar kaya lagi baca buku pelajaran, karena presentasi kita lumayan lama (10-15 menit) dan kita akan bicara terus-terusan. Jadi bisa bayangin kan gimana bosennya dan tidak tertariknya penguji klo kita ngomong dengan nada males-malesan, diulur-ulur, atau datar tanpa semangat. Tapi juga jangan sampe berlebihan sampe setiap kata ada nada beda-beda. Yang enak didenger kaya kita lagi ceritain sesuatu yang menarik ke sahabat kita dengan antusias (tapi ga lebay).

(iv) Tempo dan Volume suara

Cara paling efektif buat latihan ini (termasuk nada) adalah dengan rekam suara kita sendiri saat presentasi. Jangan males buat ulang-ulang, gw tau rasanya enek banget tapi kita ga akan rugi kok. Dengan mengulang-ngulang selain bisa dapet nada, tempo, dan volume yang paling pas, kita juga bisa hafal dengan sendirinya apa yang mau kita omongin. Kalo volume agak gampang ngaturnya, tapi yang agak susah adalah tempo. Apalagi klo kita gugup, bisa jadi terlalu cepat, merepet ga jelas, keburu-buru, atau malah saking blank-nya, terdiam beberapa saat. Inget untuk ambil nafas, kasih jeda, dan kapan melanjutkan.

c. Atur waktu. Ini yang ga kalah penting. Jangan kurang dari 10 menit dan jangan lebih dari 15 menit. Yang paling efektif ya balik lagi ke tempo dan latian dengan rekam sendiri (atau pake stopwatch). Ulang sedemikian rupa sehingga kita bener-bener ada di range waktu yang aman. Maksimal usahakan saat kita latian dengan lancar sekitar 12 menit. Sisanya untuk jaga-jaga kalau saat sidang kita blank dan terdiam beberapa saat.

d. Bikin list pertanyaan

Ini terserah kita mau prepare berapa. Mungkin ada yang tambah penat kalau kebanyakan. Kalau saran gw, siapin pertanyaan yang kira-kira bakal keluar kira-kira 10-20 pertanyaan, berikut antisipasi jawabannya dalam bahasa Inggris. Lagi-lagi, dengan antisipasi ini kita bisa prepare vocab yang kira-kira bakal kita pake saat jelasin bagian itu. Jangan anggap ini sebagai beban karena kita harus mengingat lebih banyak, tapi anggep aja ini persiapan yang cukup. Kaya kalo berangkat perang lebih baik kita bawa 20 granat (walaupun jadi berat tas-nya) daripada tas kita enteng tapi ga bawa apa-apa kan? Nah selain kita sendiri yang menerka-nerka pertanyaan apa yang bakal keluar, minta dosen pembimbing dan temen-temen yang mau bantu bikin pertanyaan.

Inget, sesi tanya jawab mungkin sesuatu yang tidak bisa kita kontrol 100% karena kita ga tau apa yang bakal ditanyain dewan penguji, tapi PRESENTASI 100% DI TANGAN KITA. Sesuatu yang bisa kita kontrol. Kuncinya cuma 1, LATIHAN.

HARI H

Pas presentasi kan kita mempraktekkan hal-hal yang udah kita praktekkan di atas. Nah berikut yang perlu diperhatikan:

• Sapa dewan penguji dengan nama yah, jangan cuma dipanggil the examiners aja.
• Kalo keseleo lidah dan salah ngucapin sesuatu, gpp ulang aja sambil ketawa.
• Kalo ada yang lupa, tetap tenang dan kalau perlu liat atas sekilas untuk inget-inget lagi gpp, tapi jangan kelamaan liat atasnya, atau sedikit-sedikit liat atas, itu keliatan banget klo kita menghafal mati presentasi kita.
• Kalo pas ditanya usahakan untuk konsentrasi, karena akan menyebalkan kalo kita pardon pardon mulu dan minta penguji ngulang pertanyaan berkali-kali. Namun kalo emang ga ngerti ya gpp minta ulang dengan sopan, daripada ga bisa jawab. Nah kalo ga yakin sama pertanyaannya, tanya ulang untuk konfirmasi. “So, you mean why I choose two instead of one?” Jadi ini menghindarkan kita dari kejadian “udah terlanjur jawab panjang-panjang ternyata ga nyambung” dan juga memberi kita waktu sekitar 3 detik untuk siapin jawaban.
• Oya, jangan tergesa-gesa menjawab. Ambil nafas 2 detik sambil bilang “Okay” sembari mikir jawaban yang paling cocok. Gpp kok klo kita diem dulu untuk mikir sejenak (asal jangan kelamaan) daripada kita langsung jawab tapi malah ngaco.
• Saat menjawab, jangan malah pake nada kaya bertanya. Misalnya kita ditanya “Why do you use this theory?” nah tidak direkomendasikan bila menjawab dengan, “Because it suits my topic?”. Menjawab tapi bernada ga yakin, balik nanya, dan minta persetujuan. Do not ever do that.
• Kalo kita kebiasaan “arr.. err.. arr.. err..” saat lupa mau ngomong apa,  ganti aja pake kata-kata misalnya, “So,…” di awal kalimat, atau kalau ditengah, “we know”. Coba praktekin dulu pas latian, “kata-kata ngeles” mana yang paling cocok.
• Kalo ditanya, jangan menjawab yes or no, apalagi kalau pertanyaan Why, jangan cuma jawab dengan 1 kalimat. Memang ga boleh berbelit-belit, tapi setiap pertanyaan Why kan membutuhkan alasan, nah biasanya setiap alasan itu ada explanation atau contoh yang bisa dipake untuk memuaskan penguji dengan jawaban kita. Jangan jawab sekalimat lalu diem untuk ngeliat apakah penguji mancing atau nanya lagi. Apa yang perlu dijelaskan ya kita jelaskan dengan lengkap.
• Dilarang muter-muter. Memang ini susah dikontrol ketika kita kesulitan menjelaskan apa yang kita maksud, jadi yang paling enak adalah pake contoh yang mudah dimengerti semua orang.

Nervous pasti, tapi tetep senyum dan relax di depan penguji. Jangan anggap pertanyaan mereka sebagai serangan, anggep aja itu cuma curiosity atas karya kita.

Defense dengan keyakinan, makanya kuasai setiap millimeter skripsi kita. Sehingga kita ga mudah digoyahkan. Kalo kita sendiri ga yakin sama skripsi kita, gimana mau yakinin penguji? Buktikan kalau kita yang udah tidur sama skripsi ini selama 5 bulan, kita yang paling tau seluk beluknya. Namun kalau kita ga yakin dan akhirnya memang salah, akui dan minta maaf jangan debat lagi haha. Bilang kita akan revisi kesalahan kita dan terima kasih untuk inputnya.

Sekian dulu kayanya, hehe. Kalo ada yang mau ditambahin feel free to comment. I hope it can be useful for you guys. All the best for you. Fighting!