From an email I sent out to some people this evening
Dear friends,
One of my students recently attended a Tuesday night service. I didn't get any feedback from her until today, but what she said jarred me. I shared it with my team here at school, and I think the insight behind her statement is worth forwarding to some of you. First, let me preface this with some background information:
Earlier in the semester, one of my students stood up to speak about the assigned topic of, "FAMILY." He related the story of his grandfather, who had been captured by Japanese soldiers. He was put to work in a camp, escaping only by killing two of them. As the student recounted that event, the class broke into applause and smiles. I ached. After his presentation, I slowly made my way to the front and spoke for a few minutes about how grieved I was that the loss of life - though that of an enemy - was celebrated. I reminded my students that life is still life. In that same breath, I encouraged them to consider that generational hatred puts them in more of a prison than those who represent a bitter past.
Fast forward to today (Monday). I had class with the same group of students. Today's assignment was to discuss the outcomes of a unique assignment given two weeks ago. Each student received a piece of paper with 13 activities/destinations throughout Harbin. One of the 13 had to be chosen and completed. It was done with intentions of giving freshmen students an opportunity to get to know their city. One of the options was to attend a service at [ ]; that's why you may have seen several new faces with us on recent Sundays and Tuesdays.
The young lady who was present last Tuesday spoke about how friendly the people were and how interesting she found the video series that we've been watching At the end of her presentation, she said, "But there was something that confused me. In the video, they talked about Moses leading the Hebrews out of Egypt and G opened the water to let them through. He punished the Egyptians, though, and drowned them in the sea. When that happened, everyone in the room clapped. But didn't we learn that we aren't supposed to celebrate the death of our enemies?"
Her memory was spot on, and her insight stunned me.
I knew the timing wasn't appropriate to discuss anything with her, so I allowed the presentations to continue. I did, however, mention this to my team at today's meeting. They, like me, could only initially reply, "Wow." In discussing this with my team, we concluded two things which I will mention to that young lady:
1) Cs make mistakes. Our response to the video caused confusion for at least one person and may have hardened her heart against us and, ultimately, the One we represent. We asked that this not turn her away from any interest that she may have about learning and seeking.
2) Perhaps people clapped because of G's demonstration of His sovereignty over man and nature. In the story of the young man's grandfather, He was not mentioned. It was man against man. However, in the events of the Red Sea, there would have been no victory without His miraculous presence and hand orchestrating it so. In that case, perhaps the applause was for Him and not so much for the lives lost.
I and my colleagues found this a very thought-provoking moment of the day. May it help us to be more sensitive to the perceptions of newcomers and to those who are watching and listening to our everyday responses.
