We arrived at an ancient city somewhere outside of Taiyuan. (I apologize as the name has escaped me. It was something Chinese, I guess.) The city was like a few other ancient cities I'd seen in China. Still, I was enjoying poking around the nooks and crannies and snapping pictures where I could. Now if you're expecting something really exciting from this post, you'll be disappointed. What happened was actually a quiet moment that passed rather quickly and quietly. I was alone, wondering through an area that was marked as housing this particular city's courts and prison. As I aimlessly wandered I found myself in the prison. I poked my head in one the cells; barren brick walls with a tiny barred window. Not overly inviting, I thought to myself. I came to the last door in the building and read the plaque. "Condemned Cell". An ancient death row. I ducked through the low doorway into the room. It was the same as the others; barren, cold brick, a tiny window, and low ceilings. The only difference was a doorway on the right hand wall. As I walked along the middle of the room inspecting the lifeless brick, the doorway into the side room came into view. I stood still, quietly grasped by what I saw. A long narrow room. An empty cross illumined in a shaft of warm light from a hole in the ceiling. A prison door standing wide open.
Immediately the lines of one of my favorite hymns came to mind. "Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound by sin and nature's night. Thine eye diffused a quickening ray. I woke, the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off, my heart was free. I rose went forth and followed thee." This 'condemned cell was a picture-perfect representation of those words. It portrayed visually what I often struggle to express verbally on my own. I was condemned to death. Christ came in and was condemned in my place. And I am set free.
I stood, snapped a few more pictures, pondered the lines of that song a few more times, and then left. It was just another ancient Chinese city. Yet, because of a quiet moment in a back corner death row cell, it's an ancient Chinese city I won't soon forget.
Ps. For you Intervarsity folks out there; it's number 88 in Hymns II.
Full hymn text here.