Mr. Kim came to Canada; he had dreams; did he realize them?

 Joseph H Chung (정희수), Ph.D.

Professor of economics Quebec State University in Montreal (UQAM)

(지난 호에 이어)

“Mr. Minister, I and my family thank you for your kindness and considerations. I am grateful to God for having given us the chance to meet you and know your congregation,” replied Kim.

There were, inside the church, about one hundred people who were singing hymns along with a leader standing on the podium accompanied by piano. The ambiance was very friendly. Kim was saying to himself:  “This church looks all right, if the sermon is acceptable”.

After singing along for twenty minutes, the minister took over and made the congregation to recite the usual Credo; then they all read a passage from the New Testament Luke10:25-37.

This message is one of the most famous ones. It is the story of a good and friendly Samaritan who helped a poor fellow beaten by a thief and who was ignored by a priest and a Levite.

The minister spoke with soft voice; he was not an eloquent speaker. But he seemed to believe in what he was saying; Kim listened eagerly the sermon; he thought that the sermon touched the essence of Christianity. The story teaches how to love neighbors.

He appreciated the sermon; it was a good contrast to what Kim had heard in Korea during the Sunday services.

In Korea, the sermon is focused on the salvation of each individual; the love of neighbor is not important. In Korea, the sermon put great importance to the dedication to the church and the minster who says that such dedication will bring blessing and wealth.

During the hours of church news, the minister introduced Kim and his family; they were greeted by loud applause. The sermon was followed by the “hours of fraternity”. There were about one hundred people who were separated by sex and age. There were tables for men of different age groups; there were tables for women of different ages.

 But the tables for the youth were mixed-sex tables. Kim was surprised to see that Koreans, though they now live in Canada, are behaving as if they were still in Korea.

Kim shared a table with six other men of similar age. One of them broke silence and asked Kim.

“When did you come?”

“Yesterday” replied Kim”

“Where are you from?’ asked another man sitting beside Kim.

“We are from Seoul” said politely Kim.

“How old are you?” asked a third man.

“I am 45 years old” confessed Kim.

Kim was amused by these questions. He was surprised that no one asked about his university degree or his career in Korea. Usually, Koreans are very curious about other’s university degree and profession.

Kim knew the hidden purpose behind these questions. The Korean society is hierarchically organized. This is the result of long tradition of Confucianism.

In the Confucian society, the behavior of individual is defined by the status and the position in the society; the key determinants of status and the position of individual are the age and the education level. But, the home town of birth and the profession are also important variables.

The questions Kim received were designed to determine the place of Kim in the church so that the congregation decides appropriate attitude towards him; the intention was not to make a critical appraisal of Kim, but to “know him better”.

Kim remembered a humorous way of describing a Korean. Two Korean meet. If they are from the same clan, they are 40 % friend. If they went to the same high school, they are friends 20% more. If they are from the same town, they are friends 20% more. In short, if they are from the same clan, the same high school, the same home town, they are 80% friend.

These questions settled the position of Kim in the church. Now the people sitting around the table introduced themselves. They were the leaders of the church; they were elders or senior beacons. One of them was Mr. Lee who had come to the airport to pick up the Kims. They told Kim their stories of survival as immigrants in Montreal.

What Kim wanted to hear from these church leaders was their perception regarding the mission of the immigrant church.

“Elders, how do you perceive the mission of your church for the Korean community in Montreal?” asked Kim, though he knew that the question was a little delicate.

“I think that the primary mission is obviously the redemption of the congregation. This can be done through the gospel. So our mission is to spread the gospel and make the congregation to live a life as prescribed in the gospel”, said one elder.

“But, we have the mission of helping the Koreans of our church in their daily struggle to survive in Montreal” added another elder. Kim was glad that he could have their help.

These statements gave Kim the impression that these elder were limiting the beneficiary of the gospel and immigrant adaptation service to the members of their church; they seemed to ignore all other Koreans in Montreal; they seemed to be little interested in social justice and suffering humanity. But, in general, Kim was happy to have met these elders and the minister.

Mr. Lee organized, in the evening, a welcome party for the Kims.  He invited twenty persons, some of whom were not the members of Lee’s church. Kim was tired because of the trip, but he was grateful to Lee’s family for their consideration and generosity. It appeared that the party was intended to provide some basic information of immigrant life in Montreal.

What was interesting to see was that everyone brought something for the occasion. Some brought cooked rice; some, rice cakes; some, soup; some vegetable; some fruits. It was a custom Kim could not see in Korea. Kim thought that it was a good idea.

After all, in immigrant life, everybody is busy; it is just too much to prepare alone meals for twenty people. Some brought Kalbi-ztim which he adored. It was tender and very tasty. There was also a bottle of wine. Christians are not supposed to drink alcohol drink, but being a special occasion, it was allowed. (다음 호에 계속)

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