Hongkong – the fragrant harbour

At the airport I was met by my colleague, Dieter. He was primarily there to meet a Swedish church group visiting Hongkong. I could accompany them in the bus. First stop was Tao Fong Shan Christian Centre. Founded in 1930 by the Norwegian Karl Ludvig Reichelt.

Tao can mean either "the way," or in the Chinese translation of the Bible, "Logos," referring to Christ as the word of God. Fong translates as "wind" or the “Holy Spirit”. Shan means “mountain”. So, Tao Fong Shan can be translated as "the mountain of the Christ wind." It’s a wonderful place. So beautiful.

After spending some time with the Swedish group (from Lund) Dieter showed me his work place: The Lutheran Theological Seminary. Also a beautiful place. On the same mountain, next to the centre.

On Saturday morning we met John Lemond, who has been working with dialogue in Hongkong a very long time. He is a colleague of Dieter, who says that John knows almost every Rabbi, Imam and Hindu priest as well as Buddhist leader in Hongkong.

It was so interesting to listen to him explaining the meaning of the symbols in the Christ Temple. In front there are three bible quotations in Chinese, alluding to the name of the Centre:

The Word became flesh … (John 1:14)

The wind blows wherever it pleases … (John 3:8)

… the word was with God. (John 1:1)



I am happy that I was able to experience this unique place. It gave me a good start fro the Assembly in Busan.

Flying with SuperSport

The first part of physical journey to Busan so far has not been so dramatic. At the airport in Pietermaritzburg they were unable to check in my luggage all the way to Hong Kong, because our travel agency had spelled my surname Goranzon instead of Goeranzon. Reason: In Swedish it is spelled: Göranzon (with a so called um-laut). The system did not accept a spelling different from the passport.

On the same plane was also a bunch of men dressed in blue tracksuits. I understood them to be soccer players, so I asked one of them for the name of the team.

SuperSport!

OK, I said – on which level do you play?

The highest level.

Another person in the queue turned towards me and said:

You are supposed to take autographs!

Well, I have heard of the team but in church people mostly speak about Orlando Pirates and Kaiser Chiefs. I now know that SuperSport is one of the top teams. But no, I didn’t take any autographs.

The flight from Johannesburg to Hong Kong was nice. About 12 hours. But the seat was OK, as the food. I slept well!

I will spend 1½ day with our colleague Dieter, a theologian seconded by Church of Sweden to the Lutheran TheologicalSeminary in Hong Kong. After that I will travel a few hours the night between Saturday and Sunday and arrive in South Korea early Sunday Morning.