What are you doing this Christmas? Thinking about how to spend your holiday? Only want to go on a trip? Right now, do you happen to be faced with some changes, and are feeling bewildered by the many decisions you have to make?

      Here is an invitation from the Lord Jesus to you: “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” (Mark 6:31). The action “come” arises from a desire and willingness within the heart. It is a voluntary act by which people come before Jesus to listen to His teachings. When you come “by yourselves,” you free yourself from the matters and the people bothering you and focus on letting the word of God reset your being and your doing. “A quiet place” is somewhere away from your familiar environment, away from the resources you used to rely on, in order to train up your simple faith in Jesus. Finally, “get some rest” means to let your soul rest and reposition yourself in a safe environment where you can reconnect with the source of strength.

      The theme of the 15^th Winter Camp is “Order in Chaos, Confidence in Life.” In the past three years, we have experienced fear and felt lost in “a world that fell short of expectations.” It is as though our city was hit by some turbulent wind, leaving the streets littered with yellow leaves. Does this happen to represent our weary and exhausted inner life? In such a state of chaos and disorder, we still need to catch up with the pace of resuming normalcy. But where can we find strength?

      The name of the prophet Ezekiel means “The LORD strengthens.” In his times, the prophet’s hometown was ruined and the Israelites were exiled to Babylon. All hopes were gone with the grief of the fall of the nation. Yet, God gave Ezekiel the vision of dry bones coming to life again. This led the Israelites to recall God’s acts and His presence in history and regain the promise of revival! Under the slogan resuming normalcy and not the old ways, we need to take one step further – to revive! Believers in the post-pandemic times face a number of difficulties in faith: Being abandoned within their community, leaving God in church, being unfaithful in their covenant, and seeking short-cuts while waiting. At the Winter Camp, speaker Dr Johnson Yip will bring out the themes of his four sermons based on four key words (bewilderment, reversion, remembrance and waiting) on selected readings from the Book of Ezekiel: Experiencing God in Utter Despair (Ezekiel 1-3); Experiencing God amid Strife and Judgment (Ezekiel 11); Experiencing God in Going One’s Way (Ezekiel 16, 23); Experiencing God in Waiting on Him (Ezekiel 40-48).

      Early bird enrolment for the Winter Camp is about to begin. The Camp is free, and freewill offering is encouraged. The organizing committee of the Winter Camp sincerely invites you to reserve Dec 25-26 for joining us in the NPAC family to find “Order in Chaos, Confidence in Life”!

      “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27)