Posted by gpowell001 on 1/25/2011 7:12 AM
Somebody commented on my post about learning from other religious perspectives asking me to say something about the concept of quiet, and since I'm up at 7 am with a serious case of jet lag, I think I will approach that topic now that I've had a bit of time to decompress.
I'm still proceessing this whole experience, but one of the things that I've been thinking about in retrospect is this idea of listening through silence. We had an experience at a Taize service, as Lydia mentioned in a previous
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Posted by gpowell001 on 1/21/2011 9:00 PM
Our time in China is drawing to a close and I have mixed feelings about that. On one hand, I can't wait to leave behind squat toilets (or trenches), mystery meats with lots of bones, and poor air quality for my poor asthmatic lungs, but I have so enjoyed all of the various experiences that I'm sad to see it end. We've gotten to meet with a lot of high level officials and religious leaders, learn from John LeMond and Peter Shen about all sorts of interesting cultural and religious things, see fantastic
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Posted by lnelson001 on 1/21/2011 6:40 AM
My foot is almost good as new! Which is good because we have been doing some more walking. Yesterday morning we visited doctoral students and a professor of Religious Studies at Sichuan University here in Chengdu. It's very interesting that only one student is a Christian - the rest are studying for cultural reasons. We also ate lunch at a nice place on campus. Beau was really excited that Rick, one of the students, was a fellow "trekkie."
In the afternoon, which was sunny and slightly warm,
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Posted by Beau Nelson on 1/19/2011 7:19 AM
Where do I begin with some of my reflections on what we have seen in China? There has been so much to observe and process that it is somewhat overwhelming. I am very thankful for the wonderful group of 7 that we have on this trip, but I am also thankful for the gracious hosts and guides that have been with us: the Rev. Dr. John LeMond in Hong Kong, and the Rev. Dr. Peter Shen in mainland China, not to mention the numerous others who have been so wonderful in leading us and looking out for us. I have
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Posted by gpowell001 on 1/17/2011 2:15 AM
Today we began our morning with a trip to a Buddhist monastery to sit down with a Buddhist master and ask him questions about his religion and practices and relation to the people of faith in China. We heard a bit about the training that monks go through and what their lives are like, and even heard a bit about how the people of faith here in Sichuan are tryiing to work together for the same goal of bringing some goodness into this world. A question that I thought of later, which was sort of touched
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Posted by lnelson001 on 1/16/2011 6:32 AM
And up and down and up and down...
Today was certainly a day of many learnings. We have definitly left the glitter and lights of Hong Kong for rural China, a rare experience for Westerners. Nothing here is familiar - food, houses, roads, towns, driving, churches, language... all new and strange. This morning after a delicious breakfast of various new kinds of food, we traveled for an hour on the bumpiest road ever to church. There are many things that we take for granted living in the US, and good
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Posted by Emilly W. on 1/15/2011 7:41 AM
Today was a travel day as we left Hong Kong to enter mainland China. We are now in Xixong in the Sichuan Province. After one minor-ish hiccup (almost not having a plane ticket for Emily-the other, wiser one), we took a roughly two and a half hour flight followed by a three hour drive in a small bus, or more like a van. We're pretty tired.
Once we arrived at the hotel, we had dinner with members of the Religious Affairs Bureau in the province, a few local pastors, and one of the
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Posted by Theresa F. Latini on 1/14/2011 9:21 AM
Every so often (and perhaps not as often as I'd like), I am moved profoundly by persons whose lives exude compassion and tireless solidarity with those who are trodden under foot. Yesterday was one of those days.
Annaliese has been a mission worker with the Chinese Rhenish Church, Hong Kong Synod, since 1974. She and her team provide holistic care for foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong. Arriving (mostly) from Indonesia and the Philippines, these 280,000+ women leave their families and homeland
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Posted by Theresa F. Latini on 1/14/2011 5:44 AM
"Hong Kong was once called 'the Pearl of the Orient', now it is a massive shopping paradise and a land developers' gold mine." So began Dr. Kwok nai-Wang in his lecture on the history of Hong Kong and the church in Hong Kong earlier this week. Our visit here would make such a claim hard to dispute.
We have visited the night-time Temple Street Market . . .
the Flower Market . . .
the Bird Market . . .
and we have traversed through a number of malls on our way from one gathering place to
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Posted by lnelson001 on 1/13/2011 6:44 PM
Tao Fong Shan Chapel
Every Friday at 7 AM this center holds a Eucharist service in the chapel, and this morning we were invited to join them. It was a simple but deeply meaningful service, very familiar in some ways but also very fresh and new in others. The reading of Scripture from Isaiah 52:7 -
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."
This was followed by 20 full
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