The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1927, Page 28

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28

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

“I am contemplating a visit to Cleveland next
summer, and I may then stop off at Napoleon and
pay you a visit. Then I shall be able to tell you
and the Walther Leaguers of your city more of our
wonderful Sanitarium.”

ee

Christmas in China.

(From a radio address given by Rev. L. Meyer
over KFUO.)

Early on Christmas morning, a number of
years ago, I was on my way to one of our little
outstations on the Han River, near Hankow, to
preach the Christmas-story to a small flock of
Christians in a village about twenty miles from
Hankow. As I sat huddled in the prow of the little
rowboat, covered with a blanket to keep out the
cold, I noticed a procession slowly wending its way
from a little village on the river bank called Lo
Chia Teng. The people were all dressed in white.
They were on their way to the village burial-ground,
carrying one of their loved ones to the grave.
Leading the procession was a number of Buddhist
priests chanting their prayers and pounding their
tomtoms. Then and there I resolved to include the
village of Lo Chia Teng in my preaching itinerary.

Lo Chia Teng is a village of about four hundred
homes. Teng means village, Chia means home,
and Lo is a family name. Lo Chia Teng means the
village of the house of Lo. The Chinese still ad-
‘here to the old custom of living in clans. The
members of the Lo clan had called this their home
for many centuries. The oldest living male mem-
ber of the clan, by virtue of his age, was the
acknowledged head-man and ruler of the clan.
A number of village elders acted as advisory council.

_ It was’ on a cold, clear evening, a few weeks
later, that my journey brought me again'to Lo Chia
Teng. The many shaggy, lean, hungry village dogs
soon announced the arrival of a stranger. As there
was no inn in the village, I went to the heathen
temple, where the Buddhist priest bade me welcome.
While I ate the supper he hospitably put before me,
coarse rice, steamed bread, and hot tea, I made
known to’him the purpose of my visit. Soon the
village head-man appeared, and before long the vil-
lage elders came in. Every one was curious to know
who’ the late-coming stranger might be. By the
time T had finished my repast a little audience had
assembled, and soon I was in the midst of the old,
old story of the love of God in Christ Jesus. Late
into the night I spoke to them about the God of

Love who had sent the Christ-child into the world
that peace on earth and good will toward men
might reign in the hearts of men belonging to the
sin-laden world.

This story of the God of Love was a strange
story to them, for they had learned only about gods
full of wrath and vengeance. To hear of the God
of Love was something they could not understand;
it was foolishness to them. Silently, one by one, my
hearers stole away from our open fire back into the
night and into their little bamboo huts scattered
about the village.

At dawn the next morning the whole village
knew of the strange white man who was sojourning
in their temple and telling of the strange “God of
Love.” It was not long before another and a larger
audience had assembled, and the sun stood high in
the heavens before I left the village of Lo Chia
Teng, having sown the first seeds on virgin soil.

After that first visit I often went to Lo Chia
Teng. During the first months, services were con-
ducted in the courtyard of the heathen temple.
Sometimes a number of boys from our college and
seminary in Hankow would accompany me to sing
our Christian hymns. Those were strange services!
Usually the whole village would assemble for a ser-
vice. At first the message of the crucified Savior
bewildered them; but gradually the power of the
Gospel manifested itself in- the hearts of some of
the members of the Lo clan. Slowly, but irresis-
tibly, one by one, the Gospel drew them ever more
closely to God. Through patient instruction they
came to know the God who made heaven and earth
and in whom we live and move and have our being.
The story of Bethlehem and Golgotha became a
reality in their lives. After many months the first
small class was baptized, and the nucleus of a small
mission-congregation was formed at Lo Chia Teng.
The power of the Gospel of Christ had drawn them
out of their superstition and sin, out of their moral
and spiritual pools of filth, into the marvelous light
of the love of God in Christ Jesus, —

Again it was Christmas. Four years had
passed. During those years a goodly number of
immortal souls had learned to worship the Christ-
child and were living the message of peace on earth,
good will toward men. ‘Their former fear of the.
wrath of the gods which had dominated their lives
had given place to that peace of God which passeth
all understanding and that comes only to those who
have accepted the blood and righteousness of Christ
Jesus as the only means of their salvation. ‘The