China Adventures - Part 2

Once we left Guang'an we quickly found ourselves in a more rural China. The impossibly dense urban environment quickly fades to farms, mountains, and muddy brown rivers. It seems as though the cities are packed beyond conceivable capacity which gives way without much transition. There are no suburbs or city outskirts to speak  of, the city stops and rural China begins. We received a warm welcome in Guang'an and enjoyed meeting with the leaders and pastors. I was invited to preach on Sunday morning and had a good time doing that. It was difficult to get used to preaching through a translator. The cadence is stilted a bit and you essentially end up delivering a sermon of one-liners. I think overall it was a good experience. There were not that many people in church that Sunday because of a midweek holiday. If they took to the midweek holiday they had to make it up over the weekend and go to school or work. So that particular Sunday was more like a weekday than would typically be the case. Nonetheless there were still quite a few people there in church and it was fun to see their smiling faces. We also had a good time teaching the lay school classes. The entire church structure heavily relies on lay leaders. Many of them are uneducated, or slightly educated, farmers who work hard for a living and volunteer their time as church leaders. They preach and lead worship at preaching points.  Pastors make the rounds and visit the preaching points, which are connected to larger city churches, as they're able, but the lay leaders really do the heavy lifting week to week.

We left Guang'an for Xichong and stayed there for three nights. We were able to visit with many of the leaders we saw last year. The church that we worshiped with last year, the cotton warehouse turned sanctuary, is in this are and we were able to visit there as well.  We visited some rural water projects the ELCA is considering sponsoring.  Both projects seemed viable and likely to receive funding. The were both projects at would increase irrigation water supply for rice farms. The projects would directly benefit two small towns that rely on rice farming. The villagers live in houses around the farmland and work together cooperatively in the fields.  They were very excited to see us and in at least one of the villages it was claimed we were the first westerners to visit. In fact the further we get from the major cities, Beijing or Shanghai especially, the more of a spectacle are. In a city park in Xichong we were looking at some of the monument artwork and drew quite a crowd. It started small, curious folks just gathered around to see what we were looking at and quickly we became the focus of attention. Before we knew it we had an entourage of around 100 people, maybe more, following us around the park. Some wanted to say, hello, or shake our hands, most of them were content to quietly gawk at our presence and whisper quietly to their neighbors. Again, one of our Chinese friends remarked for many of them it was their first time seeing a westerner in person. It was a strange feeling to attract such a crowd.

Xichong is not the hottest tourist destination but it is a beautiful place to visit and I really enjoy this city. It isn't as big or difficult to get around in as some of the bigger places we've visited. The churches we've visited are all excited to see us which is fun. We visited a small start up worshipping community that is trying to find a permanent place to worship. They rent a garage-like space and gather there. A group of them came to see us on Thursday and most of them walked around an hour to get there to see us. They numbered around 300 that afternoon.

We stopped and visited with the church leaders at the church we worshiped with last year and ate a wonderful lunch they'd  prepared. They are working on a new building and the old cotton warehouse sanctuary will be demolished by the end of the month. They hope to have their new facility completed by Christmas. The architectural renderings they showed us looked beautiful. It will be a large building with a spectacular view of the rural farming hill country. When I get back home look for pictures.

As I write this I'm on the bus headed to Chengdu. I've probably forgotten a lot that needs to be written about but I'll work on filling in the story when I get back. I am just hoping to keep you a little updated on our travels so far.  We will be in Chengdu for two nights and I'll try to write more from there. Hope you're all well.   

China Part 1

I am happy to report that our trip is going well.  All of my traveling companions are in good health and in good spirits. We arrived in Shanghai after a very long travel experience. I was going to write, "after a long travel day." But once you've crossed the dateline just saying a "travel day" doesn't quite seem to capture the essence of it. Traveling to China is a travel experience for sure.  

We arrived late on Thursday evening local time and stayed in the airport hotel.  It was so nice to roll our luggage away from the baggage carousel, down the hallway, and into the hotel. It's hard to describe my fist night of sleep here. I was exhausted by traveling so far and being awake for so long yet I was wide awake at 3am local time after just a few hours sleep.  While I was laying in my bed, more on that later, at 3am wide awake I was keenly aware this was not a good thing. I was so tired but my body was so out of rhythm sleep didn't make sense. It fades with a few days and you start to ease into a sleep cycle that is restful.

The beds in China are different. Not bad different but just different. I find a lot of China to be this way, different. This is not a bad thing it is just not the way I am used to finding things or existing in the world. The beds are hard, even in hotels.  They are very firm and at first I wondered how in the world am I going to sleep on that. You do. It's strange, but I sleep just fine on these seemingly impossibly hard mattresses.

We spent our first real day, Friday, touring Shanghai. It is a beautiful city, even in the outing rain in which we experienced it. We saw a cultural museum with a vast collection of Chinese historical artifacts. It was a neat way to see a glimpse into the complex history of this complex nation. We did not have a lot of time to see the city so we took a bus tour. It was a nice way to see a lot of the city in a relatively short amount of time. I have a feeling we did not see the city as it should be seen. It needs to be explored and discovered on foot, intimately. It is rich in culture and history and riding a bus around listening to a pre recorded English version of the city tour, while efficient, is no way to properly see a city like Shanghai.

Our next day was more travel. We flew from Shanghai to Chengdu and from Chengdu drove to Guang'an. It is a beautiful drive through the Chinese countryside.  It doesn't take long to get out of the densely packed urban setting and into the rural farm country. We have spent the last few days in Guang'an and have had a very good time. I preached on Sunday at central church and had a great time. On Monday I, along with my fellow travelers, taught the lay school classes in the morning. In Monday afternoon we went to the "grand canyon" of Guang'an. It was a beautiful rural area and it was so nice to be out of the noisy city for a while. The countryside is beautiful and rustic. We followed a river through a deep canyon gorge for about 2 miles.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers so far. I'll try to keep in touch as I can and look for pictures when I get back. 

The Steeple has Landed

Here is the video of the steeple being removed from the building in Ballard

It is now safely tucked away at Mt. Si Lutheran Church awaiting its new location!

What are Jesus' Commandments anyway?

Ok, this has been a work in progress but here it is in some version of a final form.  The formatting isn't quite right yet but it will get there soon.  I preached a sermon this Sunday about Jesus commandment: Love one another as I have loved you.  He says, "if you love me you will follow my commands."  Well I got curious and went through the entire Gospel of John and tried to pull out all of Jesus' commands.  Any time he told anyone to do anything in a command form I wrote it down.  For most of them I tried to include some context.  I think it's a powerful thing to read and perhaps see a pattern in the nature of Jesus' commands.  Also notice what's not on this list?

Here is the list:

ps I may have missed some, let me know if you find any!

1.39 “Come and see.”

This is Jesus first commandment to anyone in the gospel of John.  He tells this to a group of people who are asking where he’s staying and what he’s up to.  I think this is an interesting place to start.

1.43 “follow me”

again, interesting—come and see followed by “follow me”

1.50 “you will see greater things than these.”

 Jesus’ ministry is just getting going and people are getting pretty excited and he says, oh just you wait—we’ve got one heck of a grand finale!

2.7 “fill the Jars with water…now draw some out.”

This is Jesus first miracle in the gospel of John; he turns water into wine at the wedding in Canna. 

2.16 “take these things out of here! Stop making my father’s house a market place!”

Jesus’ temple tantrum.  He’s literally turning the tables and things upside down. 

2.19 “Destroy this temple.  In three days I will raise it again.”

Jesus was talking about his body, not the actual temple—but again wow.

3.7 “You must be born from above.”

Jesus is speaking with Niccodemus, he wonders what he must do.  Jesus offers mysterious advice. 

4.7 to the woman at the well, “give me a drink”. 

Remember the scandal that was, to talk to a Samaritan woman, a stranger, and ask for a drink.  Jesus is breaking the rules, extending grace to people outside the bounds of the establishment.

4.50 “Go your son will live”

 Jesus heals an official’s son, not a Jew, not a Christian, just a guy who asked for help.  Jesus didn’t even go visit this boy, just commanded him to go and his son lived.

5.8 “stand, take your mat and walk.” 

Jesus heals the blind man at the pools of healing—on the Sabbath!  Scandal!

6.10 “make the people sit down”

then he fed them with fish and loaves.

6.12 “gather the fragments that were left over”

so that nothing may be lost!

6.20 “It is I do not be afraid,”

This as Jesus walks on the water towards the boat some of the disciples are in.

6.27 “do not work for the food that perishes, but for food that endures for eternal life, which the son of man will give you.”
After Jesus teaches and feeds the crowds he is left with the disciples and these are his words in private to them.

 6.43 “do not complain amongst yourselves.”

One of my favorites.

 8.7 “let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

I hope just those words raise in you that amazing story of grace, compassion, mercy and forgiveness. 

9.7 “go wash in the pool of Siloam”

again, Jesus heals

11.39 “take away the stone!”

Jesus’ mighty command at the grave of Lazarus!

11.43 “Lazarus, Come OUT!!”

powerful words to a dead man, call him to new life.

11.44 “unbind him, and let him go”

Jesus’ command to the community around Lazarus, you have work to do too in the business of new life!

12.7 “leave her alone.”

Jesus says to the disciples who question Mary’s anointing Jesus’ feet!

13.27 “do quickly what you are going to do.”

Jesus’ words to Judas before he betrays him.

 13.34 “I have given you a new commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
This is really the only time Jesus directly offers a general, straightforward command.  Jesus’ command is to love one another—love so deep—love like Jesus has for us.

14.1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled believe in God, believe also in me.”

John 15.4 Abide in me as I abide in you.

John 15.12 ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

John 18:11 Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword back into its sheath.

John 20:17  Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” ’

 John 20:27 “Put your finger here and see my hands.  Reach out your hand and put it in my side.  Do not doubt but believe.”

John 21:10-13 Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.’¹¹So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn.¹²Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ because they knew it was the Lord.¹³

Jesus meets Thomas, the one who doubted and sets him back to faith and belief. Famous and beautiful story we know well. 

21:6 “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some [fish].”
---So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.

After the resurrection the disciples go fishing…nice work guys…they weren’t catching fish.  Jesus appears to them on the beach, only he’s too far away to recognize.  He gives them a hot fishing tip and they catch more than they can haul in.  Abundance.

21:15 “Feed my lambs”

Jesus asks Peter, “do you love me?” yes Lord you know that I do.

21: 16 “Tend my sheep”

Again, Jesus asks Peter, “do you love me?” yes Lord you know that I do.

21: 17 “Feed my sheep”

A third time, Jesus asks Peter, “do you love me?” yes Lord you know that I do.

21: 19 “Follow me”

This is Jesus final command in the gospel of John.  Jesus is still talking to Peter only now he is indicating the kind of life he is to lead, and the death he will die.  Peter’s life is no longer he own, but now is joined to Christ. 

Day 5:

Our trip to China has been amazing so far.  The days are going by so fast and it's hard to believe Sunday is here already.  Although we lost a day somewhere over the Pacific Ocean...We woke up early to drive out to a rural congregation for a worship service.  Below is a picture of our trusty van.  This van carried us all over China from Chengdu and the surrounding country side.  The van and driver came together as a package deal.  I'm absolutely amazed the van made it into all the places we went.  It did die in the parking lot of the hotel over night but with a crack team they got it going again.  Rather than jump in and help push I grabbed my camera.  

It was a long and bumpy road but we made it to church.  The hillside on the right side of the photo came down a few years ago in the earthquake.  That is a tiny road that goes by the church on the right side.  This was an old cotton warehouse/factory that was converted into a church building.  This congregation doesn't have a full time pastor but is served by a larger city congregation and their pastors.  

 Here is a picture from inside the gate and the courtyard. No parking to speak of.  Everyone at worship walks about 30min to get to church.

The congregation typically starts to assemble an hour before worship begins. As they gather they sing hymns.  The hymns are led by a song leader and accompanied by a keyboard.  Very simple.
Below is a picture of Pastor Wei, and Pastor Peter Chen, entering the sanctuary.  There were several doors like this down the length of the building.  They remain open during the service, so the outside temperature is essentially what you get inside as well.  It was about 45F that morning, pretty chilly.  You can see the congregation is all bundled up!

Gathering for worship and singing. 

One of the pastors who often preaches at this congregation.  This is also his home town.  You'll see a picture of his grandmother later.

We were asked to preach at this congregation.  Peter tirelessly translated for us as we each took a turn proclaiming the good news.  

This is a picture of the assembly that morning.  There were about 800 people in worship that morning.  And this is considered a fairly small rural congregation.  It was absolutely amazing to preach and help serve communion with these folks.  

This their "fellowship hall" the corridor outside the sanctuary.  They had tea and coffee and milled about for a while.  Looks familiar when you see it that way.  

You can see the pastor form the earlier picture here, he is standing next to his grandmother.  She is responsible for Christianity taking root in the Sichuan Province.  Now that sounds like an incredible claim, but apparently during the cultural revolution she and her family carried the spark of faith and kept it going.  Once things freed up a bit, she began to work and invite people back to church.  She spent 40 days in jail, not too long ago, for converting others.  

The countryside in china is beautiful. I really enjoyed being out in the rural areas.  The big cities are like any big city but the landscape out in the country is great.

This is a bridge the ELCA built.  We talk about building bridges as a euphemism for building relationships and partnerships.  But this is really a bridge we built as well as a relationship and partnership.  The original bridge was damaged by the earthquake and two kids were killed trying to cross the unsafe structure.  The ELCA stepped in and rebuilt the bridge to connect the town again. 

The rivers still mean life in the rural areas.  Here are some folks doing their laundry.  It was mind blowing to see extreme wealth and extreme poverty right next to each other.  

For example, here is the restaurant we ate dinner in.  Very nice, beautiful building.  I was grateful for the wonderful meal and great experience but also mindful of those who go without.  

Here is our group and our hosts for the evening.  This was the lobby of the restaurant.  It was very ornate and all done in a traditional Sichuan style.

Tomorrow we visit more churches and hear more about the incredible ministry happening in China! 

Day 4: The time is going so quickly and by this time in the trip I'm starting to notice a lost day. It's a 16hr time difference from the Pacific Coast time zone. My first few days in China I was so out of whack I didn't really think much of it but now I'm waking up pretty consistently at 3am. Interesting to note that the beds in China, at least the ones I've seen, are all hard. More like sleeping on a box spring than a mattress that we would be familiar with. My first night I thought, "that's strange" and then slept fine. We are not running into too many tourists this time of year and we're starting to notice every where we go we stand out more and more. We left Chengdu this morning and traveled to Xi-Cong. Each time we pick up and move it feels like we're getting deeper and deeper into China. The country side gets to be a bit more rural and the towns in between see a bit smaller. Now that being said these are still huge cities by our standards,and they're not far from population centers of millions of people.

 Here is a church outside Xi-Cong. It started with prayer. Really, it started with the prayers of 1 woman, then 10, then more and more, and the word spread and a church was built.

This is the sanctuary. The building used to be a candy making factory and they've now converted it into a church. The founding members got a great deal on a government foreclosure deal. They're prayers we answered a thriving church was born.

Here are some of those faithful church ladies.  They pray for their church and their community.  They are excited and grateful to be a part of a church.  

Another picture of the women of the church.  

This little boy kept popping up in places to keep an eye on us.  He eventually came out of his hiding spot to be our friend. 

Classic scene of meat drying in a small village market.  From what I heard it is fairly common but more popular for New Year celebrations.  

Here is a picture of a farmer in the fields.  We are still pretty close (relatively) to a huge city but you don't have to travel far to get out into rural China.  Food production for a country this big is important and we saw a lot land in production.  

This picture was taken from a balcony in one of the restaurants we ate in for lunch.  There were two weddings going on at the same time on either end of the hall.  It seemed to be a strange mix of ancient marriage ceremony, western marriage, and a show or production.  The wedding pictured here even had pyrotechnics!  The service was fairly short, there was a lunch and that was that.   

Our trip has been amazing so far.  We've seen a lot and we have a lot yet to see.  I am so inspired by the church and its sense of mission.  The people here seem to be excited to do the work of spreading the good news in word and deed.  It's been a great joy to see and be a part of what's going on here in China!

Day 3:
Woke up in Chengdu this morning. Got fairly early start and went off to the Panda research center. It was incredible to see Giant Pandas up so close. This is not the typical tourist season, and it was fairly chilly, it was not very crowded. The animals were active and out and about. We saw Red Pandas and the more familiar Giant Pandas. They had a small museum about the Pandas and the work the research center has done to preserve them. It was neat to see the and the whole facility was well done.

We were really close to this little guy. S/he was putting on quite a show.

Life looks rough doesn't it?

We stood and watched these three navigate this tree for quite a while. It was amazing the branches held!

After our time at the Panda research facility we went to the Buddhist temple. It was a neat place to see. Several people were burning incense and asking for blessing for the new year. Our trip was right before the celebration of the Chinese New Year so there were lots of decorations out. I think this was an especially busy time at the temple. It was a funny combination of a reverent and casual environment. On one hand people were there to ask for blessing, burning incense, and leaving fruit on alters. And on the other there were people casually milling about talking on cell phones as if they were on the city street. There was a strong incense fragrance throughout the place.

Outside the temple there was a beautiful busy street full of shops and restaurants. Because it is the new year there is an extra excitement in the air.

After our time at the temple we went and visited a large protestant church in downtown Chengdu. Going over to China I was really curious about how the church worked with the government. We hear all these stories of persecution and government crackdowns on the church. I wasn't even really sure about how public a person could be about being Christian. Well, the church is not underground--at least in Chengdu. From what we saw the church was open, welcoming, and not living in fear of any government retaliation or interference. In fact what we saw was a church that worked with the government to create healthy communities. Not to say the whole thing is perfect, I believe there are still some interesting issues going on over there but we didn't see any overt conflict. Below are a few pictures of a beautiful and impressively large church facility. This church took up most of a city block.

There were a few buildings that made up this facility. Off to the right of the picture below you can see a roof line from an old building. This building was the original church building that was built as an Episcopal mission in the early 1900s. It followed a more traditional chinese architecture while you can see the new structures are entirely modern looking. All around the facility there are bright red crosses and classic sunday school pictures of a Norwegian looking Jesus.

You can see the worship space is quite large. I forget exactly how many people gather here for worship each Sunday but I believe it's between 1800 and 2000. There is seating in the wings to the right and to the left as well as an upper level.

Here is our travel group at the front of the church. Between me and John is Pastor Wei. He is the chair of the Sichuan Christian Council and a great leader of the church. He was with us through the rest of our trip.

After our church visit we stopped at a section of old town. You can see the beautiful new years decorations going up.

I was easy to spot in a crowd. Several young people stopped me and asked to take a picture with me. You'll also notice another Starbucks. Again I'm not sure how I feel about this but it was nice to have another latte...

We ate dinner in a local hot spot. Because we were traveling with locals we got more of an inside scoop of the town. I'm pretty sure I'd have never found this place on my own. It was packed with a lot of end of the year parties. You sat around the table that had a burner in the center. They put a huge bowl of oil (and other things) on the burner and you sort of fondued an assortment of vegetables and meats. Groups around us were constantly standing and toasting one another. The entire table would stand up and people would all have a shot of something. Lots of toasts equals lots of drinks. Needless to say there were some tables that were quite toasty.

Another great day in China. It was really good to start seeing some church work and learn more about the Chinese Christian Church. The people we have meet and talked to so far are welcoming and friendly and I'm excited to get to know them more. See you tomorrow!