Psalm 23 Li Xi

Although I'm unable to read Chinese (neither ancient nor contemporary Chinese), I still cherish this little red lucky money envelope that I received on my last Sunday at our church in Oakland Chinatown.

It was a gift given to me by the board of admin and trustees of our church, on behalf of the entire congregation. Inside was a monetary gift for which I am grateful, but more valuable and important to me was the fact that both our senior and our associate pastor had searched far and wide for this very special red lucky money envelope. I am incredibly lucky, to say the least.

As some of you know, the traditional lucky money envelope comes in all shapes, sizes, colors, and textures. (The traditional red represents luck, good fortune, wealth.) Some of you already know why red envelopes are given, and on which occasions. For me, for this particular event, the church wanted to give me a little luck and a lot of blessings on my new adventure. So, our pastors found a red lucky envelope on which is inscribed the words (in Chinese) of Psalm 23 in the shape of a chalice.

Chalice, vessel, goblet: a drinking vessel with a foot and stem; the eucharistic cup from which we drink, reminding us Christ shed his blood to make us united as one, to re-member us into the body of Christ.