The churches changed their system of practicing the church life several years ago. This kind of change in system, however, should not be merely a change in outward practice but a change in our living. In the past we elderly people were filled with either our daughters and sons or with our sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren. If we are filled with them, we will have nothing to say when we come to the meeting. Sometimes our body is in the meeting, but our mind is thinking about our children. Even in the Lord’s table meeting when we are remembering the Lord, we are still thinking about our children. Apparently we are breaking the bread and drinking the cup, but what we are thinking about and remembering inwardly is not the Lord but our children. What a pitiful situation this is!
Blessed are those who do not have children. When they remember the Lord, they simply remember the Lord. Although some elderly ones who are like this may be lonely, they do not have any anxiety. When they break the bread and drink the cup, they remember the Lord wholeheartedly. Aside from the Lord they have no one to remember. They are like the psalmist who said, “Whom do I have in heaven but You? / And besides You there is nothing I desire on earth” (Psa. 73:25). The elderly Simeon was like this, simply loving the Lord and looking to the Lord. If we all lived in this kind of condition, we would spontaneously open our mouths to praise the Lord when we come to the meeting. When those who always think about their children in their hearts open their mouths in the meeting, there is a danger that once they open their mouths the content of their speaking will be their children. Matthew 12:34 says, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
Simeon not only pointed out that Christ is our consolation and our salvation, but he continued to say in Luke 2:32 that Christ is “a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of Your people Israel.” Christ’s coming to us is light and glory. If, like Simeon, we think about Christ, speak Christ, and even dream about Christ at night, our change of the system will surely be successful. Our changing the system in these few years is not to change the way of our meetings or merely to change a method. The change in system requires us to dream of Christ, receive a revelation of Christ, and be touched by Christ so that once we open our mouths, we will speak Christ. Christ is our patience, and Christ is our joy. Yesterday what we thought about was Christ, and today what we think about is also Christ. When we go to work, we should be think about Christ, and when we go home to do our laundry and cooking, we should still be thinking about Christ. What we think about day and night should be Christ. I hope that we all would be encouraged to rise up to be a Simeon.
The account concerning Anna shows us more about our experience of Christ. The Gospel of Luke tells us that this elderly sister was “serving God with fastings and petitions night and day” (v. 37b). She not only prayed but also fasted and petitioned. Eventually she saw Christ. Once she saw Christ, she spoke concerning Him to all the people. Verse 38 says, “She came up and returned thanks to God, and spoke concerning Him to all those waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.” Her speaking must have been something remarkable; otherwise, Luke would not have recorded this.
When Anna spoke about Christ, she could not stop. All elderly people, especially sisters, like to talk about their children. Whenever they talk about their children, they cannot stop. They gossip and make critical remarks about people’s appearances, and in the end they lose Christ. However, Anna was not like this. She spoke Christ to everyone. I hope that we all, especially the sisters, would exercise not to speak about our children but to speak about Christ. If people ask us how our sons or sons-in-law are doing, we would say, “I thank the Lord that everything is fine. Let us talk about Christ.”
Anna not only spoke about Christ, but her prayer was filled with praises of Christ. The main point in considering Simeon and Anna is that if all the elderly brothers were like Simeon and all the elderly sisters were like Anna, when we all came together, we would not be without anything to say. We would also become those who love to meet, because we would realize that it is not very enjoyable to speak merely to our family at home. We would realize our need to be with all the saints and to speak Christ for the building up the Body of Christ.
In our meetings in the past, we always had one who stood on the platform and spoke. Moreover, we have never been trained to speak for the Lord in the meetings. As a result, we do not know how to lead people to speak for the Lord, and the most we can do is to encourage them to give their testimonies in the meetings. If we consider those who are mothers, we will realize that what they worry about is that their children will not know how to speak. It is universally known that if a child does not begin to speak by the time he is a year old, his mother will begin to worry about him and try to make him speak. All mothers know that it is their important task to make their children speak. In the beginning when a child is learning to speak, the more he speaks, the happier his mother is.
When people come to our meetings, even though we do not have a sign saying, “Please remain silent” or “No talking,” the form of our meetings is already like a sign, causing those who come to the meetings to not speak. Even though they have Christ within, they do not speak, because everything we do in the meetings—including our singing, reading of the Scriptures, praying, and listening to the messages—already has an invisible arrangement and agenda. Thus, it is hard for people to be free in the meetings.
We deeply understand that changing the system is like changing one’s habit and that to do so is not easy. We have been meeting for more than thirty years. In the meetings over these past thirty years, there were some who called hymns, some who prayed, and some who spoke. The messages released in the meetings were rich, so when people came to the meetings, they did not need to function and only needed to wait for those who were taking the lead. This is the habit that has been developed. Now, however, we are suddenly saying that we have to change this system and get rid of the old way. Surely the saints will not be used to such a change.
Owing to the influence from the West, my mother sent me to an English institution in China to study English after I finished elementary school. Later, I was admitted to an American school in China. Everything in the school was American. Even our textbooks had been imported from America. Among all the teachers there was only one who was Chinese. This teacher taught Chinese literature. The rest of the teachers were all American. The students were of many different nationalities. Although we were studying in an American school, none of us dared to wear a suit, because if we wore suits, we would be scolded. At that time if someone were to walk on the street in a suit, people on the street would scold him for conforming to Western fashion. Even though we all learned English quite well, we did not have the boldness to speak English because if we were to speak, we would also be scolded.
After I graduated from school, I worked in a company with people of seven different nationalities—German, French, British, American, Greek, Norwegian, and Russian. Because I had also studied some foreign languages, I worked among them for seven and a half years. At that time I still wore a long gown every day while walking among them. In 1949 when I began to preach in different places I did not have a suit or a shirt. All I had were long gowns. It was not until a year later when I went to the Philippines that I started to wear suits. Therefore, I know that it is extremely difficult to change one’s habit or system.