SAN FRANCISCO—Pastor Chris Gravesen and his wife, Brenda, had long wished to attend a Shen Yun performance. On Jan. 4, they finally got their chance and enjoyed a matinee at the War Memorial Opera House.
Having gotten seats close to the stage, the couple was able to see every expression of the performers, and Mr. Gravesen thought, “That’s wonderful.”
“We love these seats. [The dancers] are wonderful and they’re so talented. The precision is amazing,” he said. “Chinese culture has always interested me. I never had any exposure quite like this—it’s a wonderful thing.”
For 5,000 years, China’s civilization flourished under the shared belief that the divine will bless those who uphold traditional moral values. Tragically, within just a few decades of the communist party’s violent takeover, these beliefs were erased and replaced with atheism.
The mission of Shen Yun artists is to return to the world’s stage—the glory and beauty of China’s 5,000 years of divinely inspired culture.
As a pastor, Mr. Gravesen was fascinated to find many shared values between traditional Chinese spirituality and Christianity. It was a beautiful and amazing discovery.
“It was visually stunning,” he expressed. “[Shen Yun] talked about the Creator and talked about returning to heaven. There are so many ways that God reveals himself to us, but it’s different in every culture.”
Mrs. Gravesen said that the message was “very powerful,” and she feels “sad for the Chinese people that don’t get to share in this kind of experience.”
Commenting on Shen Yun’s story-based dances that highlight the ongoing persecution of people of faith under the communist regime in modern-day China, Mr. Gravesen said it’s tragic.
“The stories that [Shen Yun] is telling are just so amazing. The one with the young man in modern China and what he endured—it was such a beautiful ending,” he said
“The idea that you’re being persecuted because you believe in truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, and having joy in believing that—it’s just tragic to me. The communists are not good people.”
“Just go, go see it,” Mr. Gravesen said. “You have to see it to experience it, and you have to experience it to really understand it.”
“An exquisite performance,” Mrs. Gravesen added.