Hey schaut hin! Look there!

by Rachel from Hongkong

What should we, as church or christian pay attention to? Asking “what should we see” is asking the question “where should our church be present” or simply “where is our church?”

Perhaps you may know there has been a huge and long demonstration in Hong Kong fighting for democracy and one of the motto is “Be water”. It comes from the philosophy of Bruce Lee who was a famous Kungfu master. When he talked about his philosophy he said “Don’t get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” The Hong Kong demonstrators adapted this philosophy and keep fighting each in his own way. Some of the churches open the door to let demonstrator take a rest and charge their phones. Some christians and pastor stood in the middle of the policemen and the demonstrators singing the song “Sing Halleluja to the the lord” whole night long to preserve the peace between them. Of course, we pray for Hong Kong. Inside the church or during the demonstration. So, where is our church? Is our church only present in the building inside those walls or it can be like water. It flows.

After the demonstration, now is the dangerous coronavirus from China. People are crazy fighting for masks. They are lining up in front of the stores to buy the mask. Some pharmacy raise the price of the masks to nearly 100 euro for 50 pieces. Still people are willing to buy them and the supply of the masks are not enough. And in this situation, the poor people do not have a chance to get a mask. Even though they are under high risk working on the street. Friends of mine in the church organise an activities to ask people in the church to donate masks for the poor. Maybe we don’t have many but each of us can still try our best. Jesus fed his followers with only five loaves and two fish. And each of us can only donate one or two masks. Our target is 500 and at last we gather in total one thousand seven hundred and sixty three masks. Because of the virus, it is better to stay in home to lower the risk of infection. There are no schools and classes. So, some of the church provide live video streaming during service through Facebook and Youtube. Therefore, people can attend service even in home during this critical situation. So, Where is our church? Does our church only happen in churches or it can be on Facebook and Youtube?

Don’t get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend. Be water, my church.