NOT particularly of the season but my neighbor of the Jehovah’s Witness invited me to join them in their Memorial of Jehovah paying with Jesus a ransom for the sin of Adam. Two of the units in my Apartment house two prominent groups at Victory Chapel, and I used to wear my clerical collar at Immanuel Korean Methodist Church.

So I went to the Memorial of Jesus institution of the Eucharist in the Roman tradition, at the World Resort’s Taga Room on Beach Road. Similar to the Communion, the term for the Eucharist among Protestants, I witnessed among the JWs a well-crafted placement of Jesus’ 144K heavenly remnants, and the ekklesia, the household of Jehovah on Earth.

I was a guest so I choose to be up front a couple of pews behind the elders. When the elements came down, like a good Methodist, I took one of the pieces of the unleavened bread and dipped it into the red wine when it came along. It appears that I was one of two in the whole audience who did that, signifying my membership in Jesus Remnants.

The clear distinction of Jesus being a Jehovah God’s sacrifice to redeem humanity from the original sin of Adam that condemned humanity ever since, was a nice way of eschewing the old “divinity of Christ” doctrine, derived from the Johannine “I and the Father are one!” Thus, Jesus’ regal entourage to heaven was different from Jehovah’s reign on Earth. Not surprisingly, congregants meet in Kingdom Halls and the focus is on the Jehovah God rather than the Jesus of idolatry.

If the Jehovah’s Witnesses were almost sedate in their clean-cut mental cognition, the decibel of emotions was up to the max at Victory Chapel. The fellowship is of the Church of God Pentecostals where the “presence of God” allows one to be with fire in the Holy Spirit, revved up in whole and more, on body and soul. Incidentally, the root word for “holy” is the same as “wholly”, in fullness, en toto.

There is nothing shy or polite about the “Praise the Lord, Amen, Hallelujah,” liberally bandied about, punctuated every other line at Victory’s pulpit. “Experience the power of God,” with the accent on the “experience” followed closely by the “power” where the incidence of “miracle” is a daily occurrence. In fact, the pre-revival service I attended emphasized what is a truth in psychology that the draw of “expectations” translates easily into “reality”. It is not unusual thereby to many Christians of today to latch on to the promise of “hope” in all their undertakings.

Poor Jesus. He probably never had the slightest idea how his little maneuver at self-giving would turn into a magnificent architectonic structure of redemptive salvation.

Though down-to-earth in the image of the “Jehovah’s household on Earth,” ekklesia, the encouragement of being “on fire” as a sign of being before God resonated at Victory Chapel without the appearance of being loud as it was in being full and whole, but our earthiness sense went the way of the kimchi, bulgogi, lumpia and seaweed soup at the grounds of the Immanuel Korean Methodist Church.

The Kingdom Hall predominates with Pinoys, Victory Chapel was of Palau and Yap-Chuuk, and Immanuel is Hangul Saram (Korean). I am no stranger to their kimchi, having served the Immanuel English congregation ages ago, and had been to Seoul, Suwon, Inchon and Pusan. Still, as I remain “Pastor” to many Pinoys, I remain a Moksanim to the Koreans; I self-defrocked more than a decade ago.

The Kingdom Hall male denizens wore neckties and the patent patriarchy in symbol and form in spite of the dominant females in the World Resort crowd. But that is an internal matter for the group to resolve. The group’s structure is definitely hierarchical and the Governing Body out of Brooklyn might all wear neckties!

Victory’s hips could harvest the breadfruit with a hump, and uproot the taro with a slump. Our Pacific Islanders delight in their ability to dance, a good symbol of being on fire with graciousness. We’ve chastised Pentecostals through the years because they give raw emotions full expression in their worship, toned down considerably by heirs of quietist and monastic Christendom. The Pastor observed, we shout till hoarse for the Soccer team at the Football field but not in the presence of God.

The JWs and the VCs look skyward, to the stellar constellations, with the heavenly realm not a metaphor but cosmology. The conflict between good and evil, of God and Satan, marks an eternal conflict. I expected the Koreans to be less sky gazing but Methodist missionaries in Korea are from the U.S. Midwest and South Korea is the 51st State of the Union.

It is the DEED (done deal) of each group that, to me, counts. Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse military service and the Pentecostals would rather worship than go to war. I share the same wavelength. As for Hanguk, strong man Syngman Rhee (of Vietnamese-descent) prodded Uncle Sam’s to arm them against Chosun. All I can say to Hanguk is, Kamsa Hamnida (TY), Sarang Hae (I “heart” U).