Church

In the U.S. which is ethnically and racially very diverse it's said that the most segregated hours are Sunday morning. Most churches, compared to society, have little diversity. For me in Korea the exact opposite is true. In the midst of an incredibly homogeneous society where, from day to day, I may see at most a handful of non-Asians, church provides diversity. As might be expected the largest number of congregants are Americans, Canadians, Brits, Australians, and New Zealanders. We, along with Europeans whose first language may not be English but speak that language better than Korean, make up about half of the congregation on any Sunday. The remainder are Africans and Asians. Just as is true of the Westerners, the Africans are both students and those who have moved here for employment. Some of the Asians may be non-Koreans but most are Koreans who attend the English-language service because they're married to a non-Korean speaker or because they like the service and want to enhance their abilities in English. No matter why people elect to attend the English-speaking Mission at the Anglican Cathedral, it makes for an interesting and diverse group of people.


This issue is actively on my mind because today, Easter, is the end of Holy Week, and I have spent a lot of time at church. Last Sunday was Palm Sunday; we marched around the outside of the Cathedral waving palms. The English Mission held Good Friday services, and I also attended the Easter Vigil Service on Saturday evening at the Cathedral, which was all in Korean. It was a lovely service although had less music (chanting of the psalms) than I expected. But they did have baptisms -- 13 of them. Three of those being baptized were children, of about 10 to 12, but the remainder were adults, ages ranging from their 20s to, I would estimate, 60. I sensed a real commitment on the part of these catechumins and a real happiness and acceptance on the part of the congregation.

Korea is an anomaly in Asia in that it has a very large number of Christians. Some estimates put the number as high as 40% of the population. Yet Christianity does not have a majority of the population as adherents nor is Christianity a part of the Korean history and tradition since there were many hundreds of years of Korean history before Christianity entered on the scene, much less became so prevalent. So, as I see it, Korea does not face the issue of "nominal" Christians, those who would mark that box on a hospital admittance form but have no real church affiliation nor strong belief set. A Korean Christian, on the other hand, would be an active member of a church, going to services at least once a week, for many people multiple times per week. Those joining the church, as those thirteen baptized on Saturday were doing, are making a real commitment to a set of beliefs not held by the majority of the population. They are setting themselves apart, yet they have the support of quite large group of fellow believers.



The Easter Sunday service I attended this morning was, at the direction of the new Bishop, a joint service of the English Mission congregation and the Korean congregation held in the Cathedral, a beautiful sanctuary. It was largely in Korean, but English was used in some of the readings, and the sermon, preached by the Vicar of the English Mission, was given in both English and Korean. He's been taking lessons for a couple of years -- is clearly advanced way beyond my level. I was, however, able to sing the hymns in Korean. I didn't know what I was saying (although assumed the text was somewhat similar to the English versions of the hymns), but I've gotten pretty good at knowing how to pronounce the characters.















After the service the English congregation had a pot-luck brunch. A good time was had by all. And my deviled eggs were all consumed. (Making anything in my pint-size kitchen with no equipment is a challenge; hot dish was out of the question!)


It really was spring weather, actually almost summer, for Easter here in Seoul. It was nice to have flowers and sunshine (even if through the smog).

On Easter Sunday afternoon HaeJung, MinJu, and I met for lunch and a short walk. I have a cold so didn't want to do too much, given that I wasn't feeling great and had lots of studying to do because I haven't been feeling well. So we stayed in my neighborhood. At Toksugung Palace there is the opportunity to try on traditional Korean clothes -- which MinJu did.