Alpha Course: Anjo's House

Before exploring this post, here's a short primer on the context the following events stem from:
The Alpha Course consists of a series of talks addressing key issues relating to the Christian faith. The Alpha course is a 15-session practical introduction to the Christian faith designed primarily for non-churchgoers and new Christians. The course also serves as a refresher course for both practising Catholics and those who have lapsed in their faith.

Alpha is for everyone, especially:
• Those wanting to investigate Christianity
• New Christians
• Newcomers to the church
• Those who want to brush up on the basics

Alpha runs in every type of church, including:
• Anglican, Roman Catholic, Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Salvation Army, Free Church, Pentecostal, Assemblies of God and House Churches
• All the churches provide the same material, making alterations only to suit local culture. Alpha is run in different contexts: Alpha for Prisons, Alpha for Students, Youth Alpha, Alpha for Forces and Alpha for Catholics.

We conducted our first Alpha session away from the kindly hospitality of Tita Carmen Borja at the Cipriano home on 6 Sparrow, Greenmeadows. Other than the generous portions provided by Anjo (who was a remarkably sensitive host, and a worthy successor to rich hosting legacy established by Tita Carmen), we feasted on a rather spirited discussion on both the torments of the damned and the promised blessings of those who have accepted Christ. Here are some of the highlights:

Geography's never been this much fun! Thanks to Bong, Franco, Tin, Anjo and myself, we resurrected alternative meanings to different countries, such as JAPAN (Just Always Pray at Night), and ITALY (I Trust and Love You).

Some people loom larger in the imagination when they aren't around; let's call it "presence by absence". Ralph's first no-show in Alpha prompted everyone to share their Ralph stories, from Tin's untimely revelation of the final episodes of Lost ("Are you following the series?", "Yeah, but it's okay...") to Anjo's inadvertent "blackification" of Ralph's musical tastes ("What sort of music do you listen to?", "Alternative, but I'm getting blacker by the minute...").

Hanniel's pronunciation of the word "garage" led Tin to commit, dare I say it, sin. Actually Tin more or less prefigured our resultant discussion on Romans 3:23, which reads "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God..." Well, as Tin's caustic observation of Hanniel's educated British accent shows ("Ga-rage? Isn't it garage?"), some "fall shorter" than others. Still, Tin could've let it slide. Bong was shaking his head in mock dismay at Tin's galling display of unChristian behavior.

Bong cites George Michael's song, "Faith" to underscore the fruits of being in Christ, that "you gotta have faith". Almost against my will, I sing the bridge to that song. Much like the scorpion of anecdotal lore, I couldn't help it; it's in my nature to respond to iconic 80s pop culture references.

Hanniel reminds the group not to think about "perfection" at this point. I would qualify that: it wouldn't do, at this point, to discuss "perfection" as "the condition, state, or quality of being free or as free as possible from all flaws or defects", but to recall that in its original conception, from the Latin (per- ‘through, completely’ + facere ‘do.’), perfection, essentially, is a process.

We ended the night on a beautiful note though, and it wasn't my rendition of George Michael"s "Faith". We willingly accepted Hanniel's euphemism on homework, "homefun"; coming from a group of strong-willed individuals who are or were most creative in avoiding any sort of formal study, this was a fantastic development.