There is a bit of a coolness in the air here now so we're wearing sweaters and feeling like it is right to take the bus to school each morning. Last Sunday we tried out a second English language worship service and hear the Advent I texts but missed the hymns we associate with the season. I'd purchased a two-CD set of St. Olaf Christmas Festival in anticipation of the season, but used it as a gift for the Bishop of the Arcott Lutheran Church in India. Nonetheless, I did not get up at 5:30 Monday morning (our time) to join a few students for the simulcast of this year's festival.

After sharing in the festivals of other religious traditions in Egypt and India it is a bit odd to find our own being marked here. The malls are filled with grand decorations. Our hotel lobby has a tree and a bank of poinsettias. Nonetheless Hong Kong people tell us that this is all a commercial opportunity with nothing religious about it. Perhaps this is an opportunity to consider what is religious about my own observance of the season. Why did it seem such a good idea to lug home from Park-n-Shop the ingredients for a cranberry punch and a blue box of Danish cookies? Neither have much to do with the incarnation beyond the truism that incarnation requires dwelling in a particular culture and those are part of mine.

This is one aspect of the sorts of issues students are wrestling with as they begin work on their third essay for my class. The question: how can people of different religious traditions live together well. Based on what I've read in smaller assignments and heard them say in class, I anticipate that these will be thoughtful and thought provoking essays.

Beyond these deeper matters we are enjoying Hong Kong in every way. Last Saturday we took the Star Ferry to the island. There we took in an exhibit on planning and infra-structure while waiting our turn for dim sum at Maxim's Place in the City Hall. After that wonderful lunch of small packages we took the tram up to Victoria Peak for the view and found another shopping mall. Back down only to ascend the famous combination of moving sidewalks and escalators that take commuters and tourists through SoHo neighborhood. By the time we finally got home we were very grateful to have found Chicken-on-the-Run, an Australian take-out place where we'd secured a roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and peas! So you see Hong Kong is an international, cosmopolitan city in many ways.