Jesus in Seoul

By Bobby Neal Winters

We went to church in Seoul this morning.  We went to the Myeyongdong Catholic Cathedral, though none of us is Catholic.  It was within walking distance; it had a service in English; so we went there.

One of our party had never been to a Catholic service before, so I offered my advice.  Sit toward the back.  Stand when they stand, though they won’t stand all at once because they are doing the same.  They stand when they pray just like Methodists stand when they sing.

And you’ve got to watch out, because the priest will say, “The Lord be with you,” and you will want to reply with, “And also with you,”(because why wouldn’t you), but the congregation will say, “And with your spirit.”

That worked out pretty well.

Though it was an English language service, virtually everyone there was Asian.  The exceptions were the priest and the readers.  There were four readers, none of whom were Korean, but only one of which was a native English speaker.

One of our party who had been to a Catholic service before noted that there were no kneelers.  During the times when Catholics at home would’ve been kneeling, the Koreans bowed.

The Psalm was read by an African man, who had a strong but very understandable accent.  He read, 

“Kindness and truth shall meet;/

justice and peace shall kiss./

Truth shall spring out of the earth,/

and justice shall look down from heaven.”

And we responded, “Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.”

The priest gave his homily on John the Baptist.  If I were to guess from his accent, I would say he was Spanish--the priest, not John the Baptist.

It was wonderful. There we were more than 7000 miles away from home but united with Christian brothers not only from Korea, but from all around the world.  

Christ told his disciples to take the good news to the whole world and make disciples of every nation.  He also wanted us to remain united.  One is tempted to say that two out of three ain’t bad. The truth is that the first two are wonderful, but the lack of the third is shameful.

When time came for the people to receive the eucharist, the priest pointed out that only baptized catholics could partake, so my little group of protestants remained in our pew.  Then one priest can and looked at us--looked at me in particular--and invited me to come and receive.  Rather than refuse and stay in my pew, I stepped out and when I came to the priest I crossed my arms on my chest as I’ve been taught to do to signify that what God has created to be One has been broken by Man. 

The priest blessed me--which is never a bad thing--and I returned to my pew.

In my heart, that hymn from the 1960s plays,

“We are One in The Spirit,/

We are One in The Lord./

We are One in The Spirit,/

We are One in The Lord. /

And we pray that all unity may one day be restored. /

And they'll know we are Christians by our love, /

By our Love, /

Yes they'll know we are Christians by our love.”

I am on the opposite side of the world from my loved ones, but Jesus has preceded me here, and it’s okay.