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Last Saturday, the Presbytery of San Gabriel installed Rev. Ming Yuan Hsu as pastor of Good Shepherd Taiwanese Presbyterian Church.\u00a0 It was a joyous occasion, as Taiwanese Presbyterians gathered from all around, to worship and sing in Taiwanese and English\u2014and in one song, in Spanish!\u00a0 And we heard the Word proclaimed by Rev. Hong Tiong Lyim, General Secretary of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan.\u00a0 His role is equivalent to J. Herbert Nelson\u2019s role as Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA).<\/p>\n
I love events like this, because I see a glimpse of the strength of the Taiwanese church.\u00a0 When I was growing up, people from the Japanese Presbyterian Conference (JPC) churches would gather like this, but that network has fizzled out.\u00a0 The Taiwanese Presbyterian Church (TPC) is still very active, and as the second-largest Asian church in the PC(USA), their congregations are planted all around the USA.\u00a0 You may recall that our own Presbytery has four Taiwanese congregations, and there is a possibility that we may welcome more.<\/p>\n
The Presbyterian Church has played a special role in Taiwanese history, standing in solidarity with the Taiwanese as they have striven for sovereignty, first against Japanese colonialism and now dealing with the rule of mainland China.\u00a0 This is why, I believe, that Taiwanese Presbyterians are especially opposed to worship in Mandarin, even though Mandarin has become mandated in Taiwanese government and schools since the dominance of the \u201cOne China\u201d policy that attempts to absorb Taiwan into the jurisdiction of mainland China.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Taiwanese Presbyterian church reflects this commitment to human rights in a few ways that I have witnessed even through my very slight knowledge of the church.\u00a0 The church has a strong commitment to the indigenous peoples in Taiwan, such that one of the three Associate General Secretaries is always an indigenous person.\u00a0 The church members are called \u201cco-workers,\u201d reflecting the generally egalitarian ethos of the church, even in relationship to the pastor.\u00a0 But the strongest characteristic is the commitment to upholding Taiwanese language and tradition, over and against the worldly dominance of mainland China.<\/p>\n
I have discussed this with others at times, because I have been troubled that too often the Christian faith has resulted in the subjugation of majority world (non-Western) people.\u00a0 So I am thankful that in Taiwan, the Presbyterian mission helped the Taiwanese people to retain a stronger sense of their identity and their rights.\u00a0 When I mentioned how the Taiwanese church is one of a very few churches that have aligned with sovereignty and human rights movements, a friend once responded, \u201coh, like the Church of Scotland.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
In his sermon last Saturday, Rev. Lim reflected on the church name and Ming\u2019s new role as Good Shepherd.\u00a0 But he also gave a little background on the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT), and thanks to the very able translation by Elder Henry Liao, I learned that the PCT was founded by Presbyterian missionaries from Canada and Scotland.\u00a0 In my US-centered myopia, I assumed that the church was started by missionaries from the United States!<\/p>\n
So it clicked in my mind that from the same root, the Taiwanese inherited the fire for God\u2019s justice for all peoples that we have claimed here in the PC(USA).\u00a0 What an affirmation of the gospel\u2019s work in many nations, and the common roots we have with people all around the world.<\/p>\n
One of the greatest blessings of my ministry is the ability to hear the stories of our churches.\u00a0 We have in our midst such wonderful stories of faith, and struggle, and wisdom, and justice, and mercy.\u00a0 Our churches can tell the stories of surviving poverty and war, of raising their children under the specter of ever-changing and increasingly inhumane immigration policies, of showing the love of Christ to their dominant Muslim neighbors, of learning from their own experience of unjust detention and racism to reach out to others facing unjust detention and racism, of reconciling with descendants of a brutal colonial power by sharing the gospel, of tending the faith even in light of abusive churches and finding healing in the justice and mutual respect in Presbyterian polity, of finding connections and shared experience even with people who look nothing like ourselves\u2026and these are stories that I just hear in passing doing Presbytery work.<\/p>\n
This Sunday is World Communion Sunday, when we traditionally receive the Peace & Global Witness Offering.\u00a0 This special offering is shared three ways:<\/p>\n