Matthew 9:9-13. Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Burnaby BC, June 3, 1999

Lai, AlanKaLun

English

Wilfrid Laurier University

ConsensusVolume 26Issue 1 The Baptismal Journey: Adventures on theRiver of LifeArticle 115-1-2000Remembering the Tiananmen Square massacreAlanKaLun LaiFollow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensusThis Sermons is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by anauthorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended CitationLai, AlanKaLun (2000) "Remembering the Tiananmen Square massacre," Consensus: Vol. 26 : Iss. 1 , Article 11.Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol26/iss1/11Remembering the Tiananmen SquareMassacre'Alan LaiPastor, Qrace Lutheran Church,Burnaby, BCText: Matthew 9:9-13doesn’t stand still, time moves on.Tiananmen Square is not the same ten years later, and it will be dif-Iferent ten years from now. It was a sunny and hot spring. TiananmenISquare is a famous place for all kinds of people, like visitors, politicians,' filmmakers, and normal citizens. The only difference this time was that itwas occupied by a large crowd of students and citizens. Students had:occupied the Square since May 13, 1989 asking for political reform; thisstandoff lasted until June 4^*".June the 3'"^ was a peaceful night just like tonight. However, on June4^^ just past midnight, peace began to disappear. The tanks moved in,crunching over barriers which started open fires. Many people screamed,fled, wept, and died. The situation was extremely confusing. This wasnot a Hollywood movie, but real ammunition being used against realpeople. When daybreak came, the most horrific scene was exposed.Bodies upon bodies soaked in blood lying on the streets and some werecarried to the hospitals. Human beings have never looked so cheap.Some say that the student movement had gotten out of hand. Somesay that the students had asked too much from the Chinese govern-ment. Some say that the style of protest these students were demon-strating defied Chinese custom and the Chinese government was notready to be changed that way. All that might be true. But all these don’t108 Consensusjustify the use of force to kill unarmed citizens. It is unimaginable of anycountry to ask the army to kill its own people. It is like seeing fathers andmothers kill their own children. It is the ugliest scenario we ever want tosee. Yet, it is an avoidable human tragedy.It shocked me not because I am Chinese, but because I am a humanbeing. Seeing those people being crushed and dying heightened myawareness of the fragility of human existence. Pain knows no nationalboundary. Tears have no color. If it hurts, it hurts, no matter who youare. I was in Kitchener-Waterloo when the incident occurred and I stayedtuned to the TV for very long hours everyday. 1 expressed little emotionbecause 1 didn’t know how to feel. Not that I didn’t care; rather, I wasstunned.Where do we go from here? Does what happened ten years agomatter to us today? In last Saturday’s edition of the Globe and Mail,there was an article about Tiananmen Square. It records the conversa-tion of several Chinese students now studying in Canada. They defyanything called Tiananmen Square Massacre. One of the students says,“We have not seen these pictures and, even if what you say is true, whatdoes it matter today?” “What does democracy mean to me? 1 don’t careabout democracy. I want to make money.” The newspaper continues tosay, “His friends nod in agreement.”Is making money more important than seeking justice? Do we carefor people’s lives anymore? Does China need democracy? If so, whatkind of democracy? How can we tell the difference between Americani-zation and democracy?Democracy as a political and sociological ideal is bound to be imper-fect. Like any other system, it is built by human hands and human wis-dom, and we are too human to build any perfect society. There is greatdanger to worship the “tolerance spirit” and “individual right” in the ex-pense of truth. In the name of rights, we have the opinion that my rightscome over and above other people’s rights, and concerns can be putaside. If what I have just described were human right, China doesn’tneed human right.We need a new way to see our co-existence together. The beginningof change is to see that all human beings are precious and deserve to berespected. Our dignity is rooted in the image of God, not in the moneymarket. We need to see that we are precious human beings created by109! Remembering the Tiananmen Square MassacreIGod. It doesn’t matter what language we speak, what culture we claimwe belong to, what social status we are in, and what kind of education wereceive. We are all equal in the eyes of our Creator.Have I said, “Equal”? Yes! Equal. We are equal not because theCanadian Constitution says so. But our Maker proclaims it. We aremade to support one another, serve one another, and help one another;not to kill one another. Our differences don’t justify discrimination withone another. In our Gospel reading for tonight, Jesus gives us a pro-vocative lesson to be learned: How are we going to treat those whomsocieties declare unworthy, unclean and undesirable (Matthew 9:9-13)?Which is: To show mercy.How much we desire to live in peace and in harmony. How much wewant our streets to be safe. How much we want our schools to be goodplaces to learn. How much we desire discrimination and violence to beturned into humble services. How are we going to do it? Is there a wayout? It will not be easy. I don’t presume to have all the answers, but atleast we can dream dreams.Let me propose: Unless we see that we are not the masters of theuniverse, we will continue to mistreat others. We will continue to pre-sume that we are better than others because we speak a certain lan-guage, belong to a certain nationality, master certain skills, possess cer-tain power, and the list goes on.The Tiananmen Square Massacre exposed the destructiveness ofpower. We cried out:There is a limitation to our human power.Our weapons and machinery have to be used some other ways.They should be designed to serve us, not to kill us.There must be other ways, better ways to live our lives together onthis planet earth.We urge not just the Chinese government to change, but all govern-ments to listen to their people: Develop listening ears to listen to whatthey have to say. Hear their real life experiences. Respect each indi-vidual.It is not about Americanization. It is not about westernization. It isnot even about politics. Rather, it is the basic survival skills of humancommunities that we all miss in the name of individual achievement. It is110 Consensusthe common sense that we miss so dearly in the name of scholasticexcellency.It is possible that our presupposed ideologies kill our passion forjustice. It is possible that our preoccupied mindset blinds our eyes tosee the truth. It is possible that our prejudices destroy our love of ourneighbors.What is in common between Tiananmen Square ten years ago andthe event in Kosovo now? 1 think it is unavoidable to make mistakeswhen we try to make any parallel and comparison between the two. But1 think we can say that both are confusing situations. In both situations,we ask: Who is telling the truth? Why do normal citizens have to put upwith their governments? Is force necessary? And if it is, does it have tobe that way?Our hearts go out to the people in Kosovo and also in Yugoslavia.Both sides suffer in this tragic event. Both nations are victims of thisimperfect world. All of us wish the peace of God to embrace us onceagain.Tonight, we stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who arein suffering. We are here not to lay any blame to anyone. We are herenot to start another revolution. We are here, because we refuse to forgetwhat had happened. We are here because we refuse to let materialismdistort our appetite for truth. Our own existence will be in danger if weallow history to slip away without reflection. We refuse to let the tragicpast haunt our lives on earth one more time.Time doesn’t stand still, it moves on. Tiananmen Square Massacreis forever on our minds. We will not forget it. We refuse to forget it. Noway! It must be remembered. But we are not just to remember whathappened, rather to learn from it. How much we want China and theworld to change. But only God knows when and how. But one thing weknow: China is not going to be the same after Tiananmen Square. Theworld is not going to be the same after the air strike in Yugoslavia. MayGod have mercy on us. Amen.Note^ Preached at the Candlelight Service for the Anniversary of TiananmenSquare Massacre at Grace Lutheran Church,Burnaby, BC, on June 3, 1999.

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