Beauty & Pain

By Alan Yeo

Friday . 23 May 2014

 

Can beauty and pain coexist together? When the peacemakers had planned to visit Tunghai University in Taichung, we never realised the significance of its connection with the tragic event that took place in Taipei the day we left for Taichung. News of a university student who went on a stabbing spree aboard the subway train flooded Taiwan and travelled swiftly overseas. It was on the day of our visit that we learnt the suspect was a student at Tunghai University.

 

The peacemakers were pleasantly surprised to learn of the spiritual heritage of this educational establishment, being founded by Methodist Missionaries in 1955. The university has 9 colleges, 35 departments and more than 17,000 students spread out in its spacious campus ground that covers some 1,333,096 square feet. What struck us most was the beauty and tranquillity of this place.

 

Surrounded with lush greenery and flowering trees, it was an ideal learning environment for students. Everything seems to be pretty normal except for the media vans with huge satellite dishes converging near the famous campus landmark of the Luce Chapel.

 

 

The Luce Chapel, a spectacular architectural masterpiece with world-renounce architect I.M. Pei leading the design in collaboration with C.K. Chen was an awesome sight. I.M. Pei, the architect of the glass pyramid that serves as the main entrance to the Lourve Museum in Paris has certainly left an impressive mark in Tunghai University. Apparently, if you view from the front, the two sidewalls of the chapel resemble two praying hands. Everything in its design seems to draw your eyes to look upwards. Those who are seated in the pews inside the chapel would be drawn to whom they worshipped. I was delighted to discover that at a certain angle seen from the back, one could capture the likeness of an angel watching over the chapel in a photograph. Outside the chapel, they even had a path laid out with the last sayings of Jesus in Mandarin on display.

 

Surrounded by such beauty and spirituality, it is hard to fathom the horror and pains of this tragedy that had taken place in Taipei. It is in such moments that we paused to reflect on what it means. It is one thing to recognise beauty and in this instance, there is no doubt that the beauty in this campus clearly points its audience to God the Creator but yet we know that not everyone embraces or acknowledges the beauty that surrounds them.

 

May we be transformed by the beauty of Jesus that does not come from his appearance according to Isaiah 53 but "Surely he has borne our grieves and carried our sorrows… But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities…"

 

Our prayers go out to all who are undergoing the pains of this tragedy and may they find hope and beauty in God, our loving and compassionate Saviour!