The
Acts of Paul and Thecla is an apocryphal
book that is much better known in the Eastern
Church. In the
Syriac text we get a description of what the Apostle Paul looked like, "he
was a man of middling size, and his hair was scanty, and his legs were a little
crooked, and his knees were projecting, and he had large eyes and his eyebrows met, and his nose was somewhat long, and he was full
of grace and mercy; at one time he seemed like a man, and at another time he
seemed like an angel."
Pastor Lian Taithul was a man of middling size, with scanty hair, large eyes, and bushy eyebrows, full of grace and mercy. At one time he seemed like a man, and at another time he seemed like an angel. Three years ago he came into my office asking about holding church at Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church. This past Christmas Eve we celebrated with the Zo Presbyterian Church and Shalom International Ministries and it was a miraculous event in its own right. In his message on Christmas Eve he said that the day would come when his work was finished and God would call him home, “I will fly away.”
Pastor Taithul was true to his word. Like Paul he seemed to be both a man and an angel, filled with glory and mercy. The man who translated the entire Bible into the Zo dialect, the man who formed the first Zo Presbyterian church in America, the man who watched over his people with all of the love, passion, and dedication of Paul, died in car accident in Clarkston. He created a Beloved Community, expanded ours, and returned to God. To God be the glory!
