The Conclusion of Christmas Activities

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we distributed a little over 600 bags of candy and literature as we caroled in our two communities. Santa Claus trailed closely behind us in the markets! We were happy to be accompanied by several members from Songshan church in Taipei. We couldn’t have done it without them!

Christmas Truck Announcement:
  On Wednesday I had the truck announcing the birth of Jesus written up in previous posts drive routes in the northern portion of our neighboring township. Unfortunately, when I went looking for him, no one in the 4 villages I asked in the target area had seen or heard the announcement. Later, when I called the driver, I found out he had meandered off the

agreed-upon path! Soon thereafter, a worker at a tea stand as well as a friend in another village called to say he had passed by.

Christmas Eve and Day the truck drove back and forth in my township. In order to give people a chance to hear the message, he drove extremely slow. He passed through the majority of villages only one time as a result.

I received feedback from one acquaintance yesterday that the volume was not loud enough… if we choose to do this again, perhaps I should pay to have a more professional recording done.

The Influence of the Biblical Story

Two weeks ago in our adult English class as we were reading a simplified version of a story about the birth of Jesus, I asked students how they would feel if an angel appeared to them. One of them replied “lucky”, while the other said, in all honesty, he would ask the angel for money. Slightly different from the fearful response of the shepherds! But these are probably typical responses as to how someone rooted in Taiwanese culture and religious practices might respond to their understanding of an angel. 

Similarly, last night I was reading stories about Jesus from Luke with a friend. When I asked him what motivated Jesus to heal the sick and deliver the oppressed, he responded that Jesus was only doing those things in order to spread his fame. Again, honest answers from someone with a traditional Taiwanese cultural and religious background.

Yesterday I was reading form Lesslie Newbigin’s Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt, and Certainty in Christian Discipleship. In the first chapter Newbigin delineates four principles which provided the foundation for the subsequent development of science in Europe, a science which far outstripped the brilliant thinking of India, China, and the Arab world. What set these principles apart is that they were based upon faith in biblical revelation: “Science developed in Europe in a way that far outstripped the work of ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Indian science because it was willing to take as its starting point affirmations rooted in the biblical revelation of God as creator and redeemer.” (p. 11)

Newbigin continues: a long long time ago, the medley of barbarian tribes and petty kingdoms which then constituted Europe began to be shaped and influenced by a network of monastic communities which eventually took over the whole of Western Europe. These communities had at their center the continual reading of the Bible, both in study and in the worship rituals of the community. The biblical story came to be the one story (emphasis added) that shaped the understanding of who they were, where they came from, and where they were going. … “It was this story that shaped those barbarian tribes in the cultural and spiritual entity that made Europe something other than simply a peninsula of Asia (p. 13). Though one might effectivly argue that Europe was never thoroughly  “Christianized” – the veneer was superficial in many places – nevertheless, the development of science in Europe was directly influenced by the faithful telling and retelling from generation to generation of bible stories.

I find great hope in that. Evangelism, when you get right down to it, can be very simple: telling the story of the bible.  As I introduce people like those mentioned at the beginning of this blog entry to the biblical stories of creation,the life of Jesus, as well as the other narratives, poetry, and  biblical prophecies of God’s Word, they will- if they come with an open heart-- be influenced. I will be influenced. Indeed, over time, entire cultures will be transformed! As I was reminded again in my devotionals this morning: 

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:10-11

Ready for Christmas

We’re in the final few days before our flurry of Christmas activities gets underway (well, not including the stories we’ve already been sharing the last few weeks of adult and children’s English classes). This evening, I went to check on the progress of our truck Christmas broadcast. The poster’s ready!

 

Unfortunately, prospects aren’t so bright for our first outdoor activity. Temperatures are expected to reach a new low for the winter Saturday night. Furthermore, construction has just begun in the area in front of the temple where the night market is usually held. Who knows where we’ll eventually set up our table with Santa Claus…

Coarse-Sounding Language

Last week I was chatting with some elderly women who are friends with my neighbors. They cannot read, and only speak Taiwanese, so communicating with them in my low-intermediate level  Taiwanese is difficult at best.

Without intending insult to them or Taiwanese culture, which I love, I used a term to communicate that when I first came to Taiwan, I found the Taiwanese language disagreeable to hear, not pleasing to the ear, coarse, etc. My point was that it sounded that way to me because I could not understand it.

Oops. That comment really stuck with them!

Today when I walked back to the house after visiting with a neighbor,  the two old ladies flagged me down when I said hello to them. Today on the television, they said, was a foreigner who spoke really good Taiwanese. He said that when he first started learning Taiwanese, he found it very beautiful to the ear!

台灣人本土意識很強。 Next time I’ll try to smooth things over by emphasizing how lovely I am finding the Taiwanese language now that I am finally beginning to understand more of it.

Christmas Caroling Truck

I wrote in the previous post about the truck advertisements for local election candidates, and the resulting idea I had listening to them every day.

Translating that idea into reality for Christmas took far more time and energy than I expected. Because we have 4 other Christmas activities we’re preparing for I had to put in a lot of overtime.

Here’s the poster we’ve created to post on each side of the truck:

And here’s a clip from the track I mixed in modern Taiwanese (very different from what is used in Presbyterian churches), repeating every 30 some seconds. I also mixed in a Christmas greeting.

I am hiring the truck and driver for two full business days. Amazingly, they still use old-style tape cassettes instead of mp3s. So I had to save my recording in that format, which reduced the clarity, but I think both the music and message will still be heard.

Now everything is in the hands of the advertiser so I’ll prayerfully await the opportunity to observe the truck driving through every little street and alley of every village in our township (30,000 people) on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! May Jesus Christ be lifted up where He is not known!