Bishop Terry Kee was installed at a ceremonial service which was attended by Christian leaders and representatives from Lutheran Churches worldwide.
THE LUTHERAN CHURCH IN SINGAPORE (LCIS) has a new bishop. Bishop Terry Kee, who succeeded Bishop John Tan, has become the second bishop of the mainline denomination since it was established in 1997.
A former missionary to ailand for about 10 years together with his wife Sally, Bishop Kee is an epitome of the denomination’s outreach to the ai people.
He was installed at Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer at Duke’s Road at a ceremonial service on May 24. Among the guests were mainline church and Christian leaders and representatives from Lutheran Churches worldwide.
In a sermon delivered in Mandarin, simultaneously translated into English, Bishop Tan spoke of the importance of faithfulness in service to one’s leaders.
Taking a passage from the fi rst few verses of Chapter 6 of the book of Isaiah, he emphasised that the motivation to serve should arise not on the basis of the performance of human leaders, which is unpredictable, but purely on the basis of the glory of the Lord, whose throne will always be highly exalted in the heavens regardless of worldly circumstances.
Like Isaiah himself, who had served a mixture of righteous and evil kings throughout his life with unremitting consistency, a believer should seek to serve his or her leaders remembering that one’s object of service is God and not human persons.
The message of faithful service was given added force because it was being given by a bishop who had served 12 years in his capacity as the first Lutheran head.
Bishop Tan added that Christians from clergy to laity are not faithful primarily because they are not captured by the vision of the Lord of eternal glory.
Bishop Kee was bestowed his stole, pectoral cross and mettle as symbols of his new office. Just before the service ended, he acknowledged his predecessor with words of appreciation and a gift of flowers.
Bishop Dr Robert Solomon, representing the National Council of Churches of Singapore (NCCS), in his impromptu congratulatory speech to the new Lutheran bishop, reaffirmed the fellowship between the NCCS and the LCIS.
He also highlighted the seriousness of the Episcopal responsibility, relating accounts of how, according to the traditions of the early church, the bishops- elect were usually unwilling to take up the position of bishop and steps had to be taken to ensure they were duly installed.
He expressed his heartfelt gratitude to Martin Luther and the Lutherans for the key role their founder had played in the conversion of Methodist founder, John Wesley, who in his diary wrote that he had felt his heart “strangely warmed” while hearing Luther’s preface to the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans being read out at a meeting held at Aldersgate Street in London 271 years ago.