I am a subversive patriot because, despite the progress we have made as a nation, America is not my best hope for "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." My ultimate allegiance is to a King who gave up his own life, liberty, and happiness to redeem us from the tyranny of sin.
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Our tithe is an exercise of our duty and privilege as citizens of God’s Kingdom, much like voting in an election in America. Whether the government approves of our giving or not, whether we get a tax deduction or not, it is an honor that our King above has made us citizens of his kingdom, and he deigns to use our two copper coins to advance his kingdom on earth.
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GEM’s album and love-story are consistent with Mandopop themes. Much of Mandopop’s music laments the despair and pain of a love lost, which is what makes it so appealing to young people seeking to make sense of heartbreak. What makes this album refreshing is GEM’s unabashed celebration of a love found, or more accurately, a love that finds us.
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Although they know Christ is with them now, they still live under a grim reality. They are still marginalized, still face police harassment, some of them may still go to jail....What sustains them in China is not just knowing Christ suffers with them, but knowing they suffer in Christ.
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The irony of the day not only consisted of us intentionally visiting cemeteries on Easter Sunday, but also in showing us how little my two worlds related to one another. Almost none of my relatives knew that earlier that morning I had just preached at a predominately white church. If they did, they would assume that my vocation as a pastor only reflected how much I had assimilated into the white Protestant culture. On the other hand, most of our church friends had probably never even heard of a holiday called Qing Ming. They do not know much about that side of my life. But for us, the differences between East and West, and the contrast between life and death, all converged in our little family on that Easter Sunday.
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Christ has called us to a higher allegiance than that. God's Kingdom has no need of successful political parties or earthly nations in order to grow and thrive. Our brothers and sisters in China remind us: we have thrived through significantly worse times before, and Christ the King is still on the throne.
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The assistance from China and the Chinese community highlights the common bond of humanity broadly. When people in China suffered, many Americans immediately acted to provide for their medical and financial needs. Now that China is catching a reprieve from this virus, Chinese are immediately sharing their resources and expertise with other nations.
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While most American churches are exploring this uncharted territory in the U.S. in the last couple weeks, our Chinese brothers and sisters have been using Zoom and other online platforms to provide pastoral care and discipleship training over the past several months during their own Covid-19 quarantine, and some for even longer due to periods of persecution.
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Ancient Chinese tradition says that the deceased can somehow take worldly possessions into an unknown next world by burning paper replicas of material goods, but we Christians have the sure hope of resurrection, where God will breathe new life into our ashes and raise these dry bones into imperishable bodies. The world as we know it will be restored to its fullest glory. The bad things we see in this world will be undone; the good things will never be taken away; and the best is yet to come.
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Despite increasing pressure from the government, house church leaders continue to plant churches and gather for worship because they see the church as the scaffolding of the kingdom of God. One pastor even said to the police officers, "The church belongs to God, I don't have the courage to shut it down. If you have the guts, you can do it yourself."
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