I went with more than 30 students from Norway to Wong Tai Sin Temple last week and it brought me many childhood memories. I had spent many a Sunday there as my grandma had a stall there selling incense and other offerings. I don’t know how this incense selling business sounds to people in Denmark, but certainly in HK, it has got me into trouble. I had worked in a mission organization for more than 4 years. My boss had no trouble hiring me as an editor. But once she and another colleague found out the nature of my grandma’s business, I was “asked” to confess my sin and repent. They thought that my family had some kind of connection to the evil. Perhaps it was really evil to make money and make a living. I was sorry that these mission people didn’t really care that even though we were selling incense in a temple, it was straightly business. For all the years I spent in Wong Tai Sin Temple, I never went in to worship any idols. The visit there last week was actually the first time I stepped inside and took a good look.
My Christian faith probably started when I was a student in a Protestant primary school. I learned the Lord’s prayer though I had no idea what it was about until much later. I learned most the hymns I know now from that time as well. The hymns we sang were not local composition. We sang the same tunes with people in the UK (our colonial master, remember?) but the words had been translated into Chinese. Since the translations very often didn’t really work, so very often our Lord became a pig. (The word Lord and pig have the same pronunciation in Cantonese except for their different tones). So for a long time, I sang: “pig” Jesus loves me. I don’t intend to blaspheme here; but maybe the above experience has taught me the need of localization and contextualization in our faith.
I didn’t go to church until I was a secondary school student. I was probably 16 or 17 at that time, studying in a Buddhist secondary school. There was indeed a Buddhist monastery next to our school and we had a Buddhist nun teaching us Buddhism. Buddhism remains a mystery to me and I see it as a philosophy more than a religion. Even though we had Buddhism lessons, no one really tried to convert us into Buddhism. I remember one of my teachers who was a Roman Catholic. She asked us to be respectful of this school religion even if we were of other faith. And that Buddhist nun teacher had also mentioned something about respect. She told us that when she went to a Christian church, she would do exactly what others did. I didn’t like this nun very much but I must say that I respected this attitude of hers.
So what do all the above lead us to? Now I am a Christian. I am leading a fairly active life in a congregation at TFS. And I met Eva there. I am a seminary student who is quite serious about her studies and wants to know more about the Christian faith. I believe that God was with me even in that sunny Sunday more than 20 years ago when I was playing around Wong Tai Sin Temple. I believe that God was still there even when I chose to go to a Buddhist school after my education in a Protestant one. Some of my Christian friends in HK would be horrified if they knew that I was going to a Taoist temple. At least one of my Christian friends would say going to a Buddhist school is a bad idea (and he’s teaching in one!). One of my teachers at the seminary is into interfaith dialogue. I had gone to a Sikh temple with him lately. I have seen too much exclusion and too little care in local churches. If God is love, is that love only for Christians? Or does God love all? If God loves the Jews, does God also love the Danish and Chinese?
Last but not least, thank Eva for inviting me to share my story. And I’d like to send my warm greetings to my dear brothers and sisters in Lord in Denmark. Though I haven’t met you, I believe that Jesus has called us to be one.
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