The Lily of the Valley

I have found a friend in Jesus,
He’s everything to me,
He’s the fairest
of ten thousand to my soul,
the lily of the valley, in him alone I see
all I need to cleanse and make me fully whole…

Everyone in the church joined in the singing of the hymn “The Lily of the Valley.” While I wondered if God would know that I was not singing when everyone was supposed to, I assured him that he would not want to hear my off-key performance. I was in the congregation of Jennies Branch Baptist Church—the church my sister-in-law and her family belong to. Though I had taken the New Testament as my religion course a year ago, I still have not felt at ease with the idea of going to church—maybe because I was afraid that God would know I am a skeptic.

Jennies Branch is a small community church with a long history. Through my brother-in-law's explaining and after reading through the church’s website, I learned that the church was organized in 1895 and acquired its name from a nearby creek. With the congregation’s support and contributions throughout its 112-year history, Jennies Branch modestly expanded its size while preserving a family-oriented environment.

Passing through a small open foyer, I was immediately attracted to the eight Tiffany-style stained glass windows in the main sanctuary. Each of them told a different story from the Bible with the unique colors and figures—some were harps and doves, and others were angels and books. At the far end of the sanctuary, over the altar, another four stained glass windows formed a large cross. These windows seemed to deflect everything from the outside world so allowed the sanctuary to be immersed in a soft and warm atmosphere from the lightings above.

Church members greeted each other like family—I suppose they are the ultimate family for each other because they are all Christians. The one-hour service started with birthday and anniversary announcements and special prayer requests for many members’ loved ones. A couple brought flowers in memory of their beloved parents, and almost everyone made a donation to support a church member, who was battling cancer. An interesting part of the service was that, after the hymn “The Bond of Love,” everyone walked around the church shaking hands and hugging one another. I did not even leave my seat—many people came to me and my husband to introduce themselves and greet us. I was a bit overwhelmed by the welcome.

After two hymns, one anthem, and one doxology, Rev. Stephens started his sermon--Resurrection Proofs. Pastor Stephens was very knowledgeable about the story of Jesus Christ’s resurrection and its historical evidences—in addition to many other sources, he cited the records of Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian, and the book Who Moved the Stone?, which was written by Frank Morrison, a British journalist and lawyer.

However, I wondered why it was important to prove or emphasize the factuality of the resurrection. Religion is a belief, not a science, so a scientific approach was unnecessary. Why cannot we read the Bible as one of the greatest literatures in history and recognize that Jesus’ teaching contained essential messages to his readers and followers? Whether Jesus was truly resurrected from the dead, in my opinion, should not make much difference in his contribution to the Christian faith and to the development of world religion. Just as I do not believe everything Confucius (a Chinese philosopher) and Mao Zhe Dong (the communist leader and strategist) said or written, I do believe each of them had their own contributions to the Chinese culture and society—some of their teachings or sayings have the insights that were important for us to reflect on.

Though often quoting a statement from a TV commercial (oh yes, I do quote from commercials)—“I don’t even know enough to know that I don’t know,” I do know enough to know that, in this case, I do not really know enough about Christianity. I recognized that four months of study in the New Testament did not make me an expert in Christian religion (probably did not even touch the surface); however, I did realize the reason that many people found a friend in Jesus and his sanctuary—to many:

...He is the lily of the valley,
the bright and Morning Star;
he is the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.