Video projectors prompted congregants to a hymn, "Tread Softly." They rose, filling the sanctuary with their voices. "Be silent, be silent! A whisper is heard.... Tread softly, tread softly! My Lord is here."
If quiet reserve was one message of the morning, unity was another. When it came time for the sermon, lay pastor Ye Sen did not refer directly to what had happened six days earlier just up the road in this eastern coastal city: After a tense, weeks-long standoff, government wrecking crews had torn down the massive Three Rivers, or Sanjiang, Protestant church.
Ye's Scripture of inspiration, though, from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Philippians, emphasized the need for Christians to stick together amid adversity. "Stand firm in one spirit," says one verse, "contending as one man for the faith of the Gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you."
The assembled flock, however, could not help but betray some unease. "You must be careful whom you talk to," cautioned two women from a Beijing-based religious publication in town to investigate the demolition. "There could be government spies among the people here." Keep reading
No comments:
Post a Comment