“Reflections from the Crossings Conference” by Preacher. Admond Tan
I was assigned to attend the 2025 Crossings Conference (19-22/1/2025) with no idea what it would be like or what profile of attendees it would attract. It was supposed to be in an international setting. But after the conference started, we realised that the only attendees with the global status were Pr. Allan, me, and a gentleman from Ethiopia. Hearing Christ: The Gospel for an Exhausted World was the heading, and the aim is for the laity and clergy to contemplate the true meaning of the Sabbath.
A pleasant experience I had was that each day, we would have our morning and evening prayers in the chapel using the Taize meditative prayer method (adapted from a French youth Christian pilgrimage) of repetitive singing of small verses with no notion of when to stop singing before moving on to the next. In the middle, there were short scripture readings. Taize’s meditative prayer was certainly very foreign to me, but somehow, it put me into a very prayerful mode, and the moments of silence in between put me in a mode of rest in the presence of God and His people. It wasn’t anything fancy or elaborate set of a very structured prayer to go through. It was unrushed and certainly restful.
The speakers for the conference topics about the Sabbath were undoubtedly insightful, but some could be intellectually dense and difficult to follow. Speaker Steve Turnbull’s presentation of the Sabbath as a Day of Reign gave a fresh perspective that the Sabbath is not to be viewed only as a day of rest but also to know that God is the subject, and the Sabbath is the practice of God’s reign in heaven and earth. Six Sabbath explorations were presented through the lens of creation, the Torah, the prophets, the Gospels, the Pauline writings, and the rest to come as written in Hebrews 3-4. Jason Santos spoke about how the Sabbath is Shabbat in Hebrew, which means to halt/to cease and what it means to stop. He emphasised that observing the Sabbath means ceasing from those activities linked to our subsistence on this earth to experience a different kind of reality—the breaking of our life rhythm and how God could offer us holy freedom while at it.
In practical learning, Crossings introduced the Crossings Template, which breaks down scripture into six steps for preaching the Law and Gospel: three steps for diagnosing the problem in the passage and three steps of prognosis in offering the Gospel. I feel I could learn to adopt and internalise this in the future. While breaking down the scripture passage seems easy from looking at the template, once we were tasked to exercise it on a passage of Luke 13:10-17, many blind spots were revealed that I could not have realised if I had not applied this template.
The conference was held at the Pallottine Retreat Center, which is away from the hustle and bustle of downtown. Other than the learning portion of the retreat, what was valuable to me was the conversations I had with many of the participants. Yes, I made many new friends who were hospitable and warm to the only Asians at the conference. This conference is undoubtedly memorable (besides the harsh low temperatures), and may I value and know how to find my rest on Sabbath. The Crossings six steps for the preaching of the Law and Gospel will be something I could rely on for the future of my preaching ministry.
《Crossings 峰会的反思》——陈健成传道
我被指派参加 2025 年 Crossings 峰会（2025 年 1 月 19 日至 22 日），但对峰会的内容或与会者的构成一无所知。峰会本应具有国际性。然而，在峰会开始后，我们才意识到，真正具备国际身份的与会者只有Allan传道、我，以及一位来自埃塞俄比亚的先生。峰会的主题是 “聆听基督：给疲惫世界的福音”，其目的是让平信徒和牧者们共同思考安息日的真正意义。
让我感到愉悦的是，每天早晨和傍晚，我们都会在礼拜堂进行（Taizé）冥想式祷告。这种祷告方式源自法国基督教青年朝圣，以不断重复吟唱简短经文的方式进行，没有固定的停止时间，而是在适当的时候自然过渡到下一段。在祷告过程中，会穿插简短的经文诵读。(Taizé)的冥想式祷告对我而言非常陌生，但它让我进入了一种非常虔诚的祷告状态，而其中的静默时刻使我能够在上帝和祂子民的同在中得享安息。这种祷告方式既不繁复，也没有严格的结构安排，而是宁静、从容且充满安息的体验。
峰会的重点围绕安息日展开，内容极具启发性，但有些部分较为深奥，难以理解。其中，史蒂夫·特恩布尔（Steve Turnbull）牧师的安息日作为统治之日的讲解带来了新的视角——安息日不仅是休息之日，更是让我们认识到上帝是主宰，安息日是上帝在天地间施行统治的实践。这从六个不同的视角探讨了安息日，包括创造、律法、先知、福音书、保罗书信，以及《希伯来书》第 3-4 章所描述安息的应许。贾森·桑托斯（Jason Santos）则分享了“安息日”在希伯来文中是 Shabbat，意为“停止”或“歇息”，并探讨了“停止”的真正含义。他强调，遵守安息日意味着停止一切与生存相关的活动，以体验一种不同的现实——即生命节奏的中断，以及上帝如何在其中给予我们圣洁的自由。
在实际学习中，Crossings 会议介绍了 Crossings 模板，它将经文拆解为六个步骤，以便讲解律法与福音。其中，前三个步骤用于分析经文所揭示的问题，后三个步骤则用于阐述福音所提供的解答。我认为自己可以学习并内化这一方法，以便在未来的事奉中加以运用。虽然从模板来看，拆解经文似乎并不复杂，但当我们尝试应用这一方法分析 路加福音 13:10-17 时，却发现了许多盲点——若不亲身实践，我根本不会察觉这些问题的存在。
此次峰会在 帕洛廷静修中心（Pallottine Retreat Center） 举行，远离城市的喧嚣。在学习之余，令我最珍惜的是与众多与会者的交流。我结识了许多新的朋友，他们对我们这些为数不多的亚洲与会者展现出极大的热情与友善。尽管会议期间天气异常寒冷，但这次经历仍然令人难忘。我希望自己能够真正理解并珍视安息日的意义，并学会如何在其中得享安息。此外，Crossings 的六步讲道法也将成为我未来讲道事工的重要工具。
