wfn.org | Seminarians use weapons to celebrate Reformation Day

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

>      Taiwan Church News

>3010 Edition

>November 2~8, 2009

Seminarians use weapons to celebrate Reformation Day

>Reported by Fang Lan-ting

>Written by Lydia Ma

Have you heard the news that you can’t attend church service  without carrying weapons?

Apparently, this is what happened when Tainan Theological College  and Seminary (TTCS)

held its communion service on October 28. Two ushers at the door  of the school’s chapel

stopped every attendee to inquire what kind of weapons they were  bringing to the service. If

attendees couldn’t answer this question, they’d be asked  to get a weapon and come back

>later.

This creative idea was orchestrated by TTCS worship team after a  lot of brainstorming on how

to celebrate Reformation Day this year and the intention was to  remind every teacher and

student that Christians must be prepared when sharing the gospel  with others because it’s a

>spiritual battlefield.

“My weapon is the Bible!” replied one professor.  “My weapon is the Holy Spirit!” said another

student confidently. However, there were also many clueless  students who were unaware of

this interesting entrance requirement. “What? I didn’t  know we were supposed to bring

weapons. We can’t attend the service without one?” asked  one student. After someone

explained the situation to him, he confidently held up his Bible  and hymnal to imply those two

>books were his weapons.

The speaker of the day was Rev. Lo Kong-hi, who took out a black  stone and a white stone to

use for an object lesson. He also took out a long cane and wore an  Aborigine outfit. Lo said

the two stones represented the Old Testament and the New Testament  and he spoke on the

relationship between communion and building a new country. Lo  emphasized the best

weapon Christians have at their disposal is God’s presence.

Lo underlined during his sermon that our weapons must be used  against anything and anyone

that acts as an enemy of God, including oppressive regimes that  don’t respect human rights,

cultural traditions that turn a blind eye when it comes to  infidelity, and powerful countries that

abuse weaker ones. As soldiers of Christ, we must die to self and  live out Christ’s sacrificial

love in our everyday lives. Most importantly, we must not act as a  group of elite club members

>halfway through the battle.

TTCS New Testament professor Rev. Liang Che-mao led professors and  students in the

Lord’s Supper. He said the central theme of the Holy  Communion was awareness that God’s

kingdom was very near and used the jeans he wore on that day to  allude to the importance of

>a soldier’s agility in battle.

One interesting note about that day’s Holy Communion was that  the bread was replaced by a

piece of traditional cookie eaten typically by soldiers when  serving in the military because it is

very filling and can be eaten on the go. The wine was replaced by  a cup of water mixed with

honey – also a typical military drink. The two items were meant  to remind attendees of their

partnership with Christ in God’s kingdom and in the battle  for human souls. Furthermore, these

items weren’t placed on a table as usual during Holy  Communion, but rather, on the ground to

remind partakers that God’s kingdom was truly on Earth.

Liang invited attendees to slowly chew the cookie they were  eating. He emphasized half-

jokingly that these changes in the Holy Communion elements  weren’t because TTCS ran out

of food; rather, they were especially designed to make communion  last longer so that

everyone could really reflect on Christ’s Passion and  sacrifice for all those who are

oppressed. Liang urged attendees to imitate Christ’s courage  and sacrifice when sharing the

>gospel and serving God.

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