It's a really big day around the The
Church on Nathan Road, as I toddle off first to Newcomer's Luncheon, which I actually have to cough up
money for.
The lunch is not bad as I meet a young
Brit
whose wife is off in Cambodia doing
charity work with young kids, teaching them computers
and photography, and not only that
the enterprising philanthropist raised all the funding by herself
before she left the USA.
Will I ever get to this stage, instead
of
taking the HK Metro for three hours
to teach
one hour, since it is stabler working
teaching kids private lessons than doing training centres?
At the minute I doubt it.
***********************
Well, the best part of the day came later,
when I met Laura, my beauty salon owner friend.
we atended the evening service, and both the songs
and the sermon seem to be quite lengthy.
The songs are usually recently written ones,
and I like the old Bible-thumping
guts-and-glory hymns.
I studied the December schedule with more approval,
as onyone raised as a Christian child, knows
that December is the apex of the year.
There is a full round of activities
with Christmas Candle Carols on December 11,
two services, one at 5 and one at 7,
and free mince tarts and coffee as well.
There will be gift box creations, for both the
old
and the homeless, of many small practical items,
socks, gloves, shampoo, soap, etc.
There is also Christmas Choir, which repeatedly
requests More Male Voices.
I see too that the men of the church have rural
retreats, which do not exist at all for the women.
Since many of the activities otherwise involve
Uphill Climbing, a favourite of the Ex-Pat Crowd in Asia,
and I despise Uphill Climbing, with my asthma,
I will take December as a rare month to be active.
Laura and I talked to the other Christian sheep
out in the terraced area, and I spotted two
best-seller style covers on the Theology
Books table.
The youthful volunteers explained to me that the
books had caused a hullaballoo in the church world
with tales of life in a small town torn apart
by Angels and Devils.
Laura and I then walked up Nathan Road to the
Oliver's Sandwich Shop on a side street.
She began talking quite emotionally about
a cancer victim that her group had invoked global
prayers for, by use of the Internet.
She told me how much she cared for this man,
though he was in his fifties, married,
and had a boring job.
We were going to give up on him,
she said, and Then I kept seeing an image of Abraham.
Abraham of the Bible?
Yes, Abraham and I wondered if I should
tell the group what I saw, but I kep seeing Abraham and Isaac, and hearing the words his only son, and remembering that we
should never give up, she continued, I didn't know if I was remembering the story correctly.
I forget the story too.
i urged them to keep prayer going for him,
with the same attitude that they had begun with. And then, only a few days ago, I saw him with his wife, and he had
a miracle of a turnaround.
I told Laura I liked her because she was deep.
I told her about the Hong Kong Fashion Maven,
who actually criticized Mainland China
for not having a sense of fashion and style
after the Shanghai of the Forties.
They weren't aplying their lipstick properly when
Japan was invading them.
They weren't following Paris during The Cultural
revolution.
They weren't having their hemlines lowered fashionably
during The Civil War.
So this is why I have a Hong Kong friend who sees
visions of Abraham and Isaac, because at least
she is thinking about something of this life
and this world at a deeper level.
****************
Then we went on Chinese and Western men, and had
our fill of this topic too, ending up
screaming cheerfully
we never wanted to touch on it again.
It's always the same problems,
I said, arguing that there are Cultural Differences.
Laura says no, It is mostly money.
You never have any wanring of the problem, and
suddenly it hits you, and there is whole group around the Chinese person - a huge amount of relatives.
We talked about some we had loved, and
would possibly never see again.
I mentioned
the beautiful and brilliant and mysterious
James Qiang of Shenzhen, who seemed to know
what was happening in my life before even I did.
Why don't you read your letters from your
father?
he would ask.
Phone him, said Laura, Maybe
he would like
to hear from you.
No, I said sadly. After Joseph,
I am just sick.
Why is Joseph calling you so much,
she asked, When he ran off so suddenly?
Two or three long-distance calls a day,
I said,
I just don't know.
A lot more was said: I can't write it.
Artists fear this sort of narrowness,
as the author Peretti was smart business-wise,
and following only a classical tradition
of Good versus Evil.
He deserved his success, and the thought of a
religious book with exciting Forward Momentum stands out.
