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It might have been any Sunday morning on the Taiwanese church.
Aged {couples} held palms and shuffled into the chapel.
Pastor Albany Lee led the Lord’s Prayer, illuminated by blue gentle from the stained-glass window behind him.
However every week earlier, the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church had been shaken by an unimaginable act.
A person opened hearth at a luncheon after the morning service, killing one particular person and injuring 5 others.
The suspect, 68-year-old David Wenwei Chou of Las Vegas, has been charged with homicide and tried homicide for the taking pictures at Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, the place the Taiwanese church rents house.
Like many of the church members, Chou was born in Taiwan. However his mother and father had been from mainland China, and prosecutors say he was motivated by his opposition to Taiwanese independence, a trigger that the Presbyterian church in Taiwan has lengthy espoused.
On Sunday, 140 or so church members got here to worship, their religion shaken however not damaged.
“We can’t management folks’s evil, however we are able to depend on your good,” Lee preached in Taiwanese, a dialect that was as soon as suppressed by the Kuomintang authorities. “As a result of we deeply imagine: God’s good will overcome folks’s evil.”
Bi-khim Hsiao, Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to america, attended the service together with Louis M. Huang, director normal of the Taipei Financial and Cultural Workplace in Los Angeles.
In a brief speech to the congregation, Hsiao pledged the Taiwanese authorities’s help.
“Our hearts are with the members and the wounded members of the group,” Hsiao stated after the service. “We condemn such violence, and our work has at all times been to construct democracy the place folks can categorical variations in peaceable methods.”
A choir of about 20 aged women and men packed tightly collectively in entrance of the pulpit, their voices booming even with out microphones.
After singing “O Come, All Ye Devoted,” the churchgoers learn a verse from the e-book of Hebrews: Jesus Christ is identical yesterday and at the moment and endlessly.
John Cheng, a 52-year-old physician, died from gunshot wounds after he tackled Chou. Cheng was not a daily member however was accompanying his mom to the luncheon in honor of the church’s former pastor, Billy Chang.
Chang then hit Chou with a chair and hogtied him with the assistance of others on the luncheon.
“I can solely really feel at that very second, the wonderful second when Dr. Cheng selected to tackle the shooter, defending the remainder of the church fellows, he have to be the angel despatched by God,” Lee stated as he led a prayer, his voice rising.
An aged worship chief wiped away tears as a photograph of Cheng lighted up a display.
“He deeply believed in God, as a result of God is reliable, so Dr. Cheng additionally made himself reliable in defending the church,” Lee stated.
Peggy Huang, a Yorba Linda councilwoman whose mother and father are members of the congregation, stated Lee’s sermon was reassuring.
“We all know God welcomed Dr. Cheng into heaven,” stated Huang, who’s operating for Orange County Superior Court docket choose. “We imagine and we all know we are going to see one another once more in heaven, and we are able to all say to Dr. Cheng that you just did effectively.”
The oldest sufferer, a 92-year-old man, continues to be in a hospital, whereas the 4 others have been launched, stated Huang, who has been serving to the church with media relations.
After the service, church members declined to speak with a Occasions reporter, saying that the tragedy remained “too uncooked.”
Many stayed within the chapel for a trauma intervention program.
“Bear in mind that having [post-traumatic stress disorder] isn’t due to your personal psychological standing — it might occur to anyone,” a handout stated in Chinese language. “When an excellent extraordinary occasion occurs, you are feeling helpless. It might take you a very long time to take care of it.”
The service, Lee stated afterward, was a primary step towards therapeutic.
Lee had ready a lot of his sermon earlier than the taking pictures, because the final a part of a sequence on faithfulness. This week, he added materials about how folks like Cheng practiced their faithfulness in actual life.
As folks heal bodily and emotionally, the lifetime of the church will proceed.
A brochure listed upcoming Japanese courses, Bible research and choir practices. On Wednesday, Lee will lecture on synthetic intelligence — a part of a weekly “evergreen classroom.”
Particular correspondent M. Benson Huang contributed to this report.
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