Listening to the accounts of mission and challenges in
Taiwan, Hong Kong and Pakistan, it became a struggle to affirm the points in
our own culture where the Church was a true counterpoint to our society. In
contrast to churches surrounded by traditional Eastern religions and
superstitions (Taiwan), or having the looming strength of communist rule on its
doorstep (Hong Kong), or living with Islamic neighbors who are themselves
caught between moderate and radical tendencies (Pakistan), we became very aware
of how we blend into society. It was hard to state initially where we allow the
Gospel to make us distinct and how we have impact that makes a difference. In
some ways, ours is a more subtle task. I found myself thinking, and sharing
with my table group, about our Chapter conversations across the Diocese on hope
and in particular the way we had been led to consider the question of dystopia
and its many manifestations in literature and film. All, in some way, carry a
message of hope connected with self-sacrifice, with which the Gospel of Jesus
Christ connects. I thought, too, of the beginning efforts to develop Gospel
confidence in our young adults not only as leaders but also as recruiters for
and interpreters of the Gospel to a society they are much closer to than I feel
that I am.
The Diocese of Taiwan started in 1954 as
Episcopalians among the US Armed forces personnel on the island sought to
practice their faith tradition. The Bishop of Hawaii came to help organize the
Diocese with General Convention’s blessing from 1953, and by 1961 the
Missionary District of Taiwan was formed. Four years later James C. L. Wong was made its first Chinese Bishop. Dying before his project of building Advent Church
in the campus of St John’s University, he was actually buried under the altar and the Church was constructed around
him. Bishop Lai is the fifth Bishop of Taiwan.
Bishop Lai, like so many, is a first-generation Christian. Some families see this as a
betrayal and Christians are actually disowned. This makes fellowship and the
sense of being a distinct community important to the churches. Often it is the
witness of Christian marriage and burial ceremonies that open the way for
family members to look afresh at the God in whom their Christian member
believes. It is important for the Taiwanese Christians to stress the
distinctiveness of the God revealed in Jesus Christ, and the hope He brings and
contrast this with the traditional ancestor worship. It means that Christians
often fear for their parents who pass on. Their focus on the ministry of
kindergartens is another way of creating a teaching bridge with the parents of
the children. Every two months, the Diocese holds exams for its members based
on the lectionary texts of daily prayer for that two-month period! One large
challenge is to resist the notion that every religion is the same and simply
has a moral goal—kindness or peace. “We know the God in whom we believe,” is
their response, and God has been distinctly revealed in Jesus Christ.
As we talked about our own way of distinctive impact, I
learned of the practice requested by Bishop of Arizona Kirk Smith on his clergy to take one day a month a devote it to chaplain duty in any aspect
of society except a hospital. In modeling his request, he has begun a monthly
chaplain duty at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. These stories
are how we get our apostolic imaginations expanded!
The mission and challenges of the Churches of Hong Kong and
Pakistan display the careful balance that must be exercised. The concept of
loving your neighbor takes on a much more sober depth in their circumstances. Listening
to The Rev. Peter Koon
from Hong Kong, I was reminded of the title “Discretion and Valor,” which was a
comprehensive report on the life of the Churches in communist lands during the
Soviet era. Those words express well the survival attributes required when
“singing the Lord’s song in a foreign land,” as the Psalmist wrote. In that
context, however, we heard of an interesting theological model based on the
notion of the Garden of Eden as the place where God
was abandoned rather than a philosophical question of good and evil was
posited. Linking with the concept of Garden in the salvation story at Gethsemane, recognizing connection as the key idea in both Garden scenarios, and making
Holy Week the central week of the year of formation to the priesthood, a three-stage
model for theological education has been implemented in the Hong Kong Seminary.
This includes daily work—academics in the morning, fellowship and prayer over
the arch of noonday, and afternoon work of practical formation and field
location reflection. “I tell you this because I want you to know how your two
Seminarians are being formed,” said the seminary professor, Gareth Jones. Again,
this was a broadening comment because the two Seminarians were from the Diocese
of Taiwan, and yes, they were “ours” as coming from a Diocese of our Church. It
took, however, a momentary stretch of the imagination to get there.
The Primate of Pakistan, Samuel Azariah, invited us to listen only as disciples of Jesus Christ. “Our apostolic role
and discipleship should not have geographical or denominational limitations,”
he said, “for the purpose of Shalom, hope and reconciliation.” He called us to move from the
self-centeredness which gives rise to economic exploitation, religious piety
that can lead to extremism, the environmental crisis, and the exploitation of
people’s dignity. He asked us to move to a place where we give thanks when
another rejoices, and when one suffers, where we also feel the pain. This was
his understanding of the Gospel.
His testimony was from a Church living in a Muslim context,
again seeking that balance of discretion and valor. When asked how he managed
to love his enemies, he replied that he prefers to talk only about loving his
neighbors, which he defined as the recognition, in all humbleness, of the
quality of otherness that the neighbors carry in themselves. Increasingly even
in our own diocese, he said, we will need to learn how to negotiate with Islam
and seminaries should introduce its study to our future clergy and leaders. As
disciples, we face trouble but this leads to a greater understanding of God’s
faithfulness. “Loving our neighbors is of absolute importance, for it leads to
peace and the right of every individual wherever they belong.” Later he added, “A church without a cross is
not a church. You all here have to identify what cross God has for you.” An example might be seeking to become a person
of reconciliation, “even if you get slapped every morning for trying.”
On Monday we will resume the stretching exercise with
testimony from the Philippines, Japan and South Korea. In the meantime, we
intend to go on organized sight-seeing over the weekend. I hope to take a trip
around the island by boat. I say “hope” because a typhoon is heading our way—another
new experience, but perhaps one closer to home. On Sunday we are scheduled to scatter
around the Diocese for worship at local congregations.
