Jeonju: Day Two

July 14th 2016

Today started out with examples of hybrid religions:

• We visited a Presbyterian Church built in 1909 in the shape of an L so that male and female worshipers could not see each other which was part of Confucius practices. 
• Then we went to a temple that I would best describe as unitarian, supporting teachings from multiple religions. 

Then we visited Go Baek PROK church. This church was founded 50 years ago, modeled on Bonhoeffer's confessing church. They were founded with three main goals 1. to confess the trinity, 2. to support their community and 3. to work for Korean reunification. (I personally have deep appreciation for the clarity of purpose described by many PROK congregations). The Go Baek Church is pastored by a husband and wife team. We had met the male pastor earlier in the week at the PROK reunification committee meeting, today we were hosted by the female pastor, Rev. Kangsil Lee.

She told us a story about her husband's work for reunification. The congregation had been praying for movement on reunification by August 15th 2000. On June 15th 2000 the presidents of north and south Korea met for the first time. This date, June 15th, became an important day to celebrate the work of reunification. By the year 2010 South Korea had a much more conservative president who banned all unofficial travel to the north. The pastor felt it was important to continue to build church relationships (remember these have to be in person because phone or email communications are limited to the north). He decided to cross into the north to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the June 15th 2000 meeting of Korean leadership. He spent 70 days meeting with church members, laborers  and teachers. He then walked back through the Demilitarized Zone and was promptly arrested by the south for not receiving government permission to travel. He remained in jail for three years. Released in 2013 he continues to work for reunification.

Rev. Kangsil (who had spent time at Andover Newton Theological Seminary) spoke about some of her research in New Zealand on reconciliation and believes that there is possibility for a formal reconciliation process to take place between the north and south using principals of restorative justice.

She took us to have tea with a very well known monk. He was the person who invented "Temple Stays" a very popular way for tourists and curious individuals to spend a few days living in a temple and experiencing the routines of a monk. We had a very robust conversation with the monk, Rev. Kangail Lee and our host pastor Rev. Soon Tae Lee about U.S. hegemony in the region. They asked for our prayers for Korean reunification and we asked their prayers for gun violence and racial tensions in the United States

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We discussed Buddhist philosophies of the lotus flower as emerging from the mud to be something clean and beautiful and of impermanence; meaning that everything is constantly changing.

After the temple we went to a Senior Center (Rev. Soon Tae Lee is the chair of the board). Visiting senior centers has been an important part of our trip because this is an emerging ministry for the church. Historically there were deep roots in children caring for their parents, however, now with the increased migration to cities for jobs families are not all geographically located close together and the family system of support is eroding, opening up clear ministry needs for seniors.  This particular center offers 200 free lunches a day to seniors, provides counseling, continuing education, group activities, job training and preventative health care. A partnership between the UCC's Council on Health and Human Service Ministries (CHHSM), Retirement Housing Foundation (RHF) or United Church Homes with the PROK programs serving the elderly could be very fruitful.

Our dinner program was filled with both sadness and hope. There was a PROK pastor serving as a missionary in China. He was doing excellent work both with the Chinese community as well as North Korean Refugees in China. Tragically he was killed in a traffic accident. His fellow pastors have started a foundation in his honor in order to continue this vital work. We listened to their compelling
stories. They would very much like to find a conference within the United Church of Christ or Disciples of Christ with whom to partner in order to strengthen this ministry.