In a recent Christmas celebration gathering for the women at Zion Lutheran Church, the Korean women in the congregation wore traditional Korean dress and sang Korean songs to share a glimpse of the Korean culture with the American women in the congregation.
Zion Lutheran Church, located in Belleville, IL, has already begun celebrating Christmas with its special Christmas meeting on December 9 for the Korean and American women in the church congregation. In this bi-cultural celebration, women from two different cultures and backgrounds were able to come together to celebrate the diversity in their different cultures with members of the Lutheran Women's Missionary League (LWML).
The event began with a welcome from the LWML. One committee member said he was "pleased to see Korean and American women gather together in Zion to have a Christmas celebration."
"I pray that Korean and American women will work together for God's mission," he added.
Pastor Jin O Jeong, who leads the Korean congregation at Zion Lutheran, shared a presentation on the topic of "Jesus Christ in Korean Culture," during which he explained the indigenization of Christianity in Korea.
First, Jeong defined indigenization of Christianity as the idea that "when the gospel is preached to the nations, it should wear the cloak of the culture of each respective nation."
"The meaning of the gospel"”that Jesus Christ came here to die for our sins on the cross"”is never changed," Jeong said. "The form is the culture. The way to express the gospel is different in different cultures."
Jeong also showed examples of paintings of how some stories in the Bible are portrayed in a Korean culture as opposed to a Western culture. The Korean paintings have clear inclusions of the culture, including the traditional Korean clothing.
The event also included performances by the Korean Women's Choir, which was conducted and led by Sarah Jeong. The Choir wore Hanbok, a Korean traditional dress, and sang "By the Love of God," and "Arirang," a Korean traditional folk song.
Meanwhile, the women also celebrated the American traditions in celebrating Christmas by decorating ornaments and eating American food together for dinner.
Through the sharing of these aspects of culture, the Zion Lutheran Church women were able to celebrate the diversity of the church, and take steps closer to becoming a church that becomes even more united in Christ.
"Thank you Lord for giving a valuable opportunity for Korean and American women to gather here in one mind to celebrate the wonders of the birth of your only begotten son, Jesus Christ," Jeong prayed during the event. "Even though we speak different languages and come from different cultural backgrounds, we are all of one mind in giving God thanks for sending your Son Jesus Christ, whom you so graciously sent to earth and offered as the sacrificial Lamb for our sins. By this meeting, I hope that we are one in Jesus Christ, and love one another."
