Praying and more eating

   This morning I attended a prayer meeting with my hosts it included an update from Korean missionaries in India who run a college in Bangalore. There were about twenty people who were there at the meeting, and they meet regularly dedicating themselves to pray for missionaries. The meeting started with singing, and praying, and reading a passage of scripture. We prayed for the hosts of the house where the prayer meeting took place, praying Korean style which means everyone all at once all at the same time, until the leader says Amen. I would have to say Korean's are very fervent in their  praying. If there is a person who is leading the praying there is a lot of 'Amen's' and indeed sometimes the leader may raise their voice slightly in order to express their passion. There was updates on the college,  and then a time when the members of the group gave updates to answered prayer in their own life. It was quite difficult to concentrate as it was all in Korean, and it reminded me how much we rely on language to give meaning and expression in our lives.

   After the meeting I had lunch with a Korean pastor, Kyoung Lee, who was a student at the same time as me in Trinity college Bristol. We haven't seen or been in touch with each other for seven years, and thanks to a mutual friend we were able to make contact. We had lunch together and shared perspectives on Korean and British churches. Kyoung Lee is probably the first pastor who has spent time in the UK that I have met so far who isn't too pessimistic about the UK church; which was quite refreshing. We talked about Korean cultural influences on the church, and the powerful prayer base of  Korean faith ( this theme is coming out more and more). We then looked around the Foreign missionaries cemetery and museum. A couple of things struck me; how many missionaries were sent to Korea, how fervent their faith was even under difficult circumstances many of whom lost children or wives, and how the missionaries set up hospitals and schools and thus modernised Korea. I think you can see the seeds of that within the churches a link between modernisation and faith, and the ferventancy of faith and prayer.

   So eating and praying seem to be important features in Korean faith.