Project Arctos Contributor - Hua Ou
Background image by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Massachusetts, USA
Favorite hymn/worship song:
Many hymns such as “Silent Night” by Joseph Mohr.
I have SO MANY favorite hymns, which all touched my soul and marked the love of Jesus in my life. One hymn that corresponded to my initial encounter of church experience and echoes bright in my heart is “Silent Night.”
It was Christmas Eve in Shanghai, China, 1988. I peeked with a large crowd standing outside the church building through the window to the candlelight service, mesmerized by the music.
“Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright, round yon virgin mother and child...sleep in heavenly peace.”
Type of church context:
It was love’s pure light that brought me into the first experience with a church. It was an official church run by the government, newly opened after the Cultural Revolution. There were about three services each weekend: Saturday evening, Sunday morning and afternoon. I bought a Bible and a hymn book from the church store and started to attend weekly. There was a choir at each service with pianists. And three hymns were listed on the board each week. Despite the governmental scrutiny on hymn and sermon content choices, God spoke. He conveyed to me His mighty love and salvation, conviction of sin, and undeniable revelation and provision.
Commune:
Jesus encountered me through the gospels. I still remember the moments when I was deeply amazed at His teaching about judging others. “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged” (Matthew 7:1-2a, NIV). I was greatly inspired, or challenged rather, with a totally new level of knowledge of understanding of loving fellow human beings. Jesus entered into me and my world, where I found judgments announced everywhere. I felt irresistibly drawn to Jesus, and His teaching. I started to read the Bible daily and became convicted of my sins. In my great needs and brokenness, God mercifully provided and gently embraced me into His sure salvation and kingdom. To Him I owe eternal thanksgiving and praise.
Dr. Elizabeth Fondong comments that we are a VIP to God, a “Very Intimate Person” (Freedom from the Spirit of Rejection). The Triune God created in me the deepest desire to be close and near to Him. I like to claim Him as the psalmist did:
“I love you, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold…” (Psalm 18:1-2, NIV).
To me, He is my Sustainer, Savior, Kinsman Redeemer, heart’s desire, life, my Father, my Older Brother, my All in All. He creates His reality in me and through me, in my ministries, at home, work, in communities, and the world.
One reality in God I recognize increasingly is my surrender and obedience requested to Him. At the same time, I recognize it is a real struggle in my journey. By His grace, I stumbled into obedience in the past. And I pray for His mercy to continue to bind me to surrender my all, and obey my King, my LORD, my God.
Connect:
I feel eternally grateful for the Body of Christ, sourced out of God’s infinite wisdom. My first church community group accepted me warmly into the family when I arrived in Boston from Shanghai in 1992. I was baptized into God’s kingdom, taught, and trained in different ministries. I learned about and experienced first hand the Body of Christ—living as Christ lives. One way to be sustained and strengthened is through Christ’s undying Body. I pray one thing for the church is that we become authentic and vulnerable with who we are with each other. Kindness and love are manifested so people can truly feel safe to confess sins and weaknesses so we can be healed. I pray that it starts with me and you with courage and faith. I believe that Christ works renewal in His Body, and that even with all our human flaws and failings, Christ does not fail in His Church. We are going to be presented to Him as pure and flawless one day.
Articles written by Hua: