A-tat Does Ecumenical Work

Taiwan Church News 2583 2nd September 2001 Written by David Alexander A-tat Does Ecumenical Work 10 year old A-tat lives in a small residential neighborhood surrounded by an industrial district. He believes in Jesus and loves to go to church. In his neighborhood there are three churches. One is Roman Catholic, one is independent charismatic, and one is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan. There is a large infrastructure construction project happening in the neighborhood. Many of the laborers are from Thailand. When A-tat sees them, he presses his hands together and says, "Sowadee." In the industrial zone there are workers from the Philippines, A-tat greets them by saying "Kumusta". A family with a very sick grandmother has hired a young woman from Indonesia to help care for her. A-tat has learned the Indonesian woman's name, he also learned that she is a Muslim, so he always greets her with a "A-pa-ka-bar". A-tat does ecumenical work. Not only foreign people live in this neighborhood. There are also Taiwan Aborigines from the mountains of Pingtung County. On Dragon Boat Festival he traded some Taiwanese Rice dumplings (Bah-chang) for some Paiwan rice dumplings (Cinavu) with them. A-tat does ecumenical work. Every year in the summer each of the churches in A-tat's neighborhood holds Vacation Bible School. A-tat attends at his own church, and at the other churches, too. All year round, when any of the churches has a special celebration or rally, A-tat is sure to be there in the crowd. He sings loudly and prays loudly. A-tat does ecumenical work. This year when A-tat heard there had been earthquakes in India, El Salvador and Peru, like the "921" in Taiwan in 1999. He prayed for those people. A tat doesn't even know where El Salvador is, but he prayed, especially for the children. A-tat does ecumenical work. A-tat has many friends of all ages. Old Chiang is a retired soldier who lives in a little house nearby. Sometimes A-tat sits with old Chiang and listens to stories of life in the army, or life when building Tseng-Wen Reservoir. Big brother Lin is another of A-tat's friends. He is 17 and doesn't go to school. Last year he went away for four months. When A-tat asked what happened to him, people said that because he got drunk and raced a motorcycle, he was sent to jail for some time. When Brother Lin returned to the neighborhood, some people avoided him. Not A-tat. He took a baseball and invited him to play. A-tat does ecumenical work.

In the house next door to A-tat's family there is 18 year old Miss Yu. She's so beautiful. Recently she began working at a betel nut stand as a spice girl. A-tat heard some people saying she's a "bad girl." He doesn't believe it. Not so many years ago A-tat and big sister Yu used to sing songs together. So A-tat went to her house, knocked on the door, and when she opened it, invited her out to sing. He also taught her some of the songs he learned at Sunday school. A-tat does ecumenical work. A-tat is only ten years old. He doesn't know that he is doing ecumenical work when he learns to greet people in their own languages, or attends different churches' events, or makes friends with marginalized people in society. He doesn't know that there is an organization called the WCC, or the CCA, or the CWM, or the WARC. He doesn't even know there is such a thing as the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan. A-tat does ecumenical work. His work takes him across the boundaries that divide people. He has no passport, and has never left his homeland, but he has crossed many borders. Borders of family, race, class, language, and denomination. He prays and shares things of his faith. A-tat does ecumenical work. Do you?