The 6th Sunday of Easter
Scriptures: Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5; John 14:23-29
Key Verse: “And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.” (Revelation 22:5)
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Hello, This is Jade.
Welcome to Yi.kigai
A space for all to explore the intersection between faith and daily life
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Easter Blessings. It is the 6th Sunday of Easter.
What are your thoughts on the well-known quote, “We see things not as they are, but as we are”? How true it is that we all would like to think that we have the ability of seeing things or peoples as they are; unfortunately, we all are blinded to our own prejudices and biases. So, my question is: what can help us see things or people as they are?
I still remember the bus ride that I had to take when I was in elementary school. My schoolmates always envied me because the bus started its route right in front of my house. It meant that I would always have a seat. However, I often ended up standing on my way to school. What happened was that a group of people would get on the bus at the second and the third stops and take seats even if there wasn’t enough space for one more person. Instead of being squeezed, I chose to stand, which made me very unhappy. These individuals were part of the Hakka ethnic group that tended to be stereotyped as thrifty and stingy by the Fukien ethnic group.
There were four main ethnic groups in Taiwan. The biggest was Fukien, which made up about 73% of the population, and Hakka was about 12% of the population. The Hakka and Fukien people migrated from China to Taiwan during the 14th–17th century. Then another group called the “mainlanders” migrated from China to Taiwan in 1940, and they made up about 13% of the population. The last 2% was aboriginal people who had lived on the island from the very beginning. It wasn’t hard to see which ethnic groups experience the most discrimination: the aboriginal and the Hakka, then the mainlanders.
I was always categorized as another kind of minority by my school teachers and our neighbors as far as I could recollect. Even though my mom was a descendant of Fukien, the ethnicity on my ID was marked as a mainlander because of my dad. I could never figure out why I disliked the Hakka when I was little. I believe that it had to do with my own identity. Whenever the bus passed by the Hakka village, the feeling of anxiety would sneak into my heart. And whenever my schoolmates were bad mouthing and making jokes about them, I found myself in silence even though I didn’t agree with everything they said.
As I grew older, I learned that some of my classmates and friends were Hakka and aboriginal people. They were kind and lovely people. They deserve to live with dignity, grace, and integrity just as much as I want it for myself. I give thanks to Jesus who taught me to see things and especially peoples the way God sees them. Who am I to hold prejudices and biases against anyone that God loves so much to die for? The verse in Revelation 22:5 teaches me that only our God can be the true light for us to live, to see, to grow our body, mind, and soul but not the light of lamp or sun that only enable us see the things and peoples as we are.
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May your coming week be blessed by God’s grace
As together we explore the intersection between faith and daily life
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