The Gospel Song in the Jungle
Poem★★★★Christ’s spirit still has power to quicken and trans- form. In the midst of how much darkness has light shone when Christ was carried far across the gulfs of space and knowledge and language of men!
An American soldier trekking through the jungles of New Guinea came to a clearing in which a black-skinned native was working on the roof of a thatched dwelling. Upon hearing him sing in his native tongue the soldier stopped to listen. The music was that of Charles Wesley’s hymn, “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.” ‘The words were in a South Pacific Poly- nesian language.
Quickly the soldier called the black man down; together they sang the hymn, each in his own tongue. A friendship was made that day between man and between nations because somewhere before him the pollen of the living Christ had come into the jungles of New Guinea.
The point
Christ's transforming power reaches across space and culture: an American soldier in New Guinea encounters a native singing Wesley's hymn, creating brotherhood across differences.