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In my parents’ baptism, I practiced cultural respect
Before coming to Canada nearly 20 years ago, my father was a strict ancestor worshiper, and my mother was a Buddhist nun. They understood Christianity to be a white religion and anything about Jesus to be Western. So they thought Christianity had nothing to do with them. And I didn't have much right to tell them the gospel because I was their son. My parents lived with me and my family. We had family meetings once a week, we had prayer with our meals, we had sharing among our children, we had devotions. My mom last year confessed to me, "I have learned through the life I have lived with you and with other Christians in the church. Anything that you do is not for yourself — you think of others." With her religion before, my Mom would always pray for herself. Anything she would dedicate to the temple, she would expect something better would return. What she believed and practiced before was never enough until she learned to give. Peace and happiness had come to her heart. She talked to my dad and said, "I want to get baptized." He said, "Actually I wanted to get baptized before you, but I didn't want to do that because I thought we would argue." I told them that I would find someone to baptize them who is older than them, to respect the culture. Plus that person needed to be unrelated to them. The younger need to respect the older, and for a child or younger relative to put their hands on an older person’s head is disrespectful, even a curse [in their culture]. But my mom said, "No, I want you to baptize me." And she talked to my father, and my dad said, "I will do that too." My parents allowed me to do that and understood that baptism does not come from me but from Christ. Kuaying Teng is minister of Asian Ministries for Mennonite Mission Network. In this issue: Features Highlights Viewpoints |
