PCT pastors give their take on living out the meaning of Easter

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

3086 Edition
April 18-24, 2011

Headline News



PCT pastors give their take on living out the meaning of Easter



Reported by Sam Lee

Written by Lydia Ma



Though churches are approaching Easter season with much celebration, the 
majority of news headlines in Taiwan in recent weeks have been far from 
celebratory, including news about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the 
direction of pending policies such as Eastern Development Act and Kuokuang 
Petrochemical Plant proposal, nuclear power plant regulations, and the death 
penalty.

The death penalty eliminates all chances for lawbreakers to repent and start 
anew, while the two environmental policies only drive a bigger wedge between 
humans and the environment – neither enhance hope and mutual respect.

At the center of Christianity is the belief that Christ’s resurrection restores 
the relationship between man and God, man and the environment, and man and man. 
This is the hope and message of Easter that Taiwanese churches hope to proclaim 
in Taiwan.

As PCT Church and Society Committee chairman Chen Ching-fa pointed out during a 
seminar on April 6th, 2011, there’s more to Christian ministry than declaring 
the gospel aloud. Instead, Christians must ask themselves what they have 
actually done in deeds to proclaim the gospel. He urged Christians to get rid 
of language, racial, and religious barriers or stereotypes and imitate Christ. 
He alluded to various PCT ministries as illustrations of how to promote peace 
and justice and live a life of love and righteousness.

Tainan Presbytery Moderator Rev. Sung Hsin-hsi reiterated that a Christian’s 
response to the recent nuclear energy crisis and their take on issues such as 
organ donations are instances where Christians can demonstrate the spirit of 
Easter. He elaborated that his church had been promoting organ donation in 
recent years and he encouraged fellow church members to sign an organ donation 
card because through such an act, a donor not only enables others to get a new 
life, but also shows how life ultimately overshadows death.

The importance of times of solitude

According to McKay Memorial Hospital Suicide Prevention Center’s director, Fang 
Chun-kai, many diseases afflicting people today, including heart diseases, 
liver diseases, stroke, obesity, diabetes, depression, etc., are results of 
living life in the fast-lane for too long.

“People nowadays are too impatient, too accustomed to fast food, don’t know how 
to observe life, and lack times of solitude,” he said. Having visited people 
hospitalized for mental diseases many times, he concluded that a great majority 
of them were ill either because their lives had been too smooth and they were 
ill prepared to cope with sudden failure, or they were too impatient to wait 
and thus put too much pressure and stress on themselves.

Fang quoted the book of Ecclesiastes by underscoring that there’s a season for 
everything under the sun. He encouraged people to have an intimate friendship 
with God and retreat often to a secret place to be with God. He believed that 
such instances would help people renew their spirits and lead them to a unique 
resurrection experience with God’s help.



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