October 2003

Finding grace in Yichun

Dear Friends,

October 1 is National Day in China, and almost the whole country gets a week off to celebrate. It’s the second biggest travel season of the year, and I chose to spend it in a small town called Yichun, six hours from Jiu Jiang. I have two South African friends, Jody and Michelle Marshall, who teach English at the university there.

On Sunday morning, we found the church with minimal problems—it helps when the cab driver knows exactly where to go. And my cross came in very handy, since he didn’t seem to understand my Chinese. Of course, it was raining (it seems to rain every Sunday) so we tried to get into the church building as quickly as possible. At the door, we met a presbyter—and we knew that because that’s what he called himself, in English! I wondered if this congregation has Presbyterian roots, but I didn’t have the words to ask.

Our beloved presbyter made certain we had excellent seats. They were a bit too nice for my taste though, because it meant I ended up with my feet under the Communion table! It was a nice church—smaller than the warehouse where my own meets, but still packed. The organ was up on stage, and I quickly discovered that it was the old-fashioned pump organ type like my aunt has. It’s the little things like this that make me feel more at home.

During the service, I actually paid attention, some. The preacher was a very animated woman. Unfortunately she spoke very quickly, so it was difficult to catch what she was saying. Instead, I spent most of the service watching a mentally handicapped child who was also sitting in the front pew, on the other side of the aisle. I was actually a bit surprised to see him. Often in China, handicapped children are discarded because of the one-child policy. If parents are only allowed one child then they want it to be a “healthy” one.

During the hymns the old lady would lapse a bit, as she couldn’t be bothered to pull herself from the singing. On one excursion, the little boy came over and stood by us, directly in front of Jody actually. Jody, not yet a father but still fatherly in nature, rested his hand lovingly on the boy’s shoulder. They stood like that, together, through the rest of the hymn.

Then, with the child practically in front of me, swaying to the music under Jody’s influence, I noticed his clothing. Often, Chinese people will wear clothes with English or Chinglish (Chinese-English or somewhat garbled English) script on them. Thus, I wasn’t surprised to see an English word scrawled across the back of his jacket. But the message it carried was dramatic. In one word, it explained why this lone child, handicapped though he may be, was included in this church community. Grace.

In big bold letters, the word “grace” accounts for his presence. None of us are whole without grace. And God doesn’t have a one-child policy. As history shows, He would never choose to discard one of His children because it wasn’t “healthy.” In fact, the one perfect child He had, He sacrificed to make the others whole. That’s what grace means, and it’s offered to all, including this poor handicapped child in Yichun.

While there are so many differences between the Chinese people and Americans, I am constantly reminded that there are so few differences between Christians, whatever their nationality. It doesn’t matter that the majority of Chinese people would find this child’s life to have minimal worth. The Chinese Christians know that they answer a higher court than society’s opinion. Jesus called us to attend the sick and poor. And when the little children were turned away, he declared that the kingdom of heaven would belong to ones such as these. In caring for this boy, the Christians of Yichun are doing their best share their grace with others. I hope and pray that elsewhere in the world, all Christians strive to do the same. Please join me in this prayer.

Mizpah,

Becky