October 30th Where are Bob & Chris in Japan?

"God's Fingerprints in Japan"

We worship a God greater than anything in the universe. After all he created it all. So surely the God who came to the Hebrew people must have in others ways come to other people. Our God is not culturally limited. This is the premise behind some work of Rev. Danile Kikawa and a video that has come from his colaboration with other religous scholars. "God's Fingerprints in Japan" is a video that reveals the results of their work. Bob & Chris were in a lecture given by Dr. Toshifumi Uemura, Professor of Christian Studies at Japan Lutheran Theological Seminary on October 30th. This video and it's implications were the heart of the lecture. It was a fascinating look at how God is not culturally limited. God has been understood within the Japanese culture in ways tantalizing similar to the understandings as recorded in the Bible from creation. The video revealed writings in oldest known Japanese book on relgion, the Kojiki. These writings seem to have a striking parallel understanding to creation as recorded in the Bible. The implication is that God in both is the God we worship in the first person of the Trinity

The lecture and the video also went on to show parallels in the Tea Ceremony and Holy Communion. The practices from the washing of hands and vessels to the act of eating both bread or a cake and wine or tea bore interesting similarity. The tea ceremony is known to have been used during the 200 year period when Christiantiy was illegal in Japan as a secret way to celebrate Holy Communion by underground Christians. This and many other parts of the lecture were fascinating for Bob & Chris. The video that was shared is availble from a website at Aloha Ke Akua Ministries. A google search for anyone interested would be well worth your time.

Keep praying,

Zen Ben

October 26 and Where in Japan are Bob & Chris

Ichigaya Lutheran Church

Why they are in worship in another church in the East District of the JELC of course! This Sunday, Reformation Sunday they worshipped at Ichgaya Lutheran Church. It is unique because this church worships in the same building that has the offices for the JELC. The worship area is also used by the JELC as a concert hall rented out to the public. The income from the concert hall supplements the financial needs of the JELC. This means the congregation must set up and take down everything needed for worship every Sunday. The altar, lectern and pulpit are all set up and taken down each time the congregation worships. The service was different from others that Bob & Chris have attended in Japan. This was the 1st time they saw a children's sermon as part of the liturgy in a JELC church. It was wonderful. The children even had their own reserved seats for the rest of the service! Another wonderful part of this service was the fine choir of Ichigaya Lutheran Church. They filled the room with the presence of the Holy Spirit when they sang. After worship there was a fine congregational lunch where Bob & Chris were asked to speak briefly. They also met the parents of Pastor Sato, the pastor from the JELC currently at St. Andrews Lutheran Church in Columbia, SC. Take a long look at the picture with this blog. It shows a unque part of the concert hall used by Ichgaya Lutheran Chruch. How many crosses do you see?

Keep praying,

Zen Ben

Where in Japan are Bob & Chris ?

Deep in Japanese

Bob and Chris today, October 22, 2008 are at the completion of three weeks of language study at Lutheran Language Institute in Tokyo, Japan. Their teacher told them she would miss them; they were fun to have as students. They were not sure if this meant fun to teach or amusing to watch. It was ok either way. Bob and Chris will miss her too. She was a good teacher and demanding enough to be inspiring. This was especially true in light of the brief time for their studies. In additon to the regular primer and workbook that most students use their teacher provided many materials tailored to the Church, a very helpful thing for the coming months. At the last class the teacher also provided enough work materials to keep Bob and Chris in language study for most of the rest of their time in Japan. After three weeks they both agreed that they have learned just enough to appreciate the vast nature of the language and what they do not know. They have therefore resolved to spend the beginning of each day working on lessons and the end of each day talking to each other in Japanese. This will have many benefits for them as students and as a couple. As students they are bound to learn more and even perhaps to begin to understand some conversations of native speakers and to respond. As a couple they will be able to reinforce each others learning and at least in the early months they will do so without any fear of conflict or disagreement. They don't have enough vocabulary for such matters!!

Keep Praying,

Zen Ben

Where in Japan are Bob & Chris

Worship at Tokyo Lutheran Church

October 19th found Bob & Chris in worship at Tokyo Lutheran Church; a worshipping community, one of the largest in the JELC. This church will celebrate 100 years in 2012. Bob & Chris worshipped at the Children's Service 9:30 am, the English Service 10:00 am and the Regular Service 11:00 am. The current building is clearly new and beautiful. It was build in 1996 to respond to needs to replace the prior stucture with something better able to withstand the challenges of earthquake stresses. Each service style this Sunday was what folks back in South Carolina would recognize as traditional. The children's service used a liturgy of the Word. The other two services were Word and Sacrament. Though the 11:00 am service was the largest, all were well attended. Included in the staff of three ordained pastors is Rev. Eric Hanson. Rev. Hanson's first call is to Tokyo Lutheran. Though he conducted the English service on October 19th he has already given his first sermon in Japanese. Bob & Chris heard of it in complimentary terms from one of Rev. Hanson's former teachers at the Lutheran Language Institute where he studied to learn Japanese after arriving in Japan. This week Bob & Chris actually understood and even sang a few words in Japanese at the 9:30 am and 11:00 am service. But most of all they experienced the love of God communicated in smiling faces and warm bows and handshakes exchanged with the their brothers and sisters at Tokyo Lutheran.

Keep praying,

Zen Ben

Where in Japan are Bob & Chris ?

Worship at Musashino Lutheran Church

On Sunday, October 12 Bob & Chris worshipped at Musashino Lutheran Church in Asagaya City part of Tokyo Japan. The church used to be the church for the Japan Lutheran Theological Seminary until the seminary moved to it's present site in Mitaka City, also part of Tokyo. The building, recently rebuilt to meet earthquake specfications is designed to resemble Noah's Arc. Worship was a spiritual wonder for Bob and Chris. Yes they struggled at times with language; but the liturgy was familiar in the components. Since they had a romanji translation they tried to keep up in Japanese. It was a very special Sunday at Musashino. The invited preacher was Rev. Chushianta, a missionary from Finland retiring in March after serving in the Nagoya area for the past ten years. She began her ministry in Japan while in her fifties, learning the language while worshipping at Musashino. There was also an adult baptism. Since the candidate was an adult the rites for Baptism and Confirmation were both part of the service. The woman baptized had faithfully checked the Finnish pastor's sermons for proper Japanese during her ministry. After reading so much proclamation of the Gospel supplemented by conversations with pastor the Holy Spirit brought her to faith. Today was her baptism. Pastor Bob was invited to help distribute during Holy Communion. Though he asked for the words, "The blood of Christ shed for you." in Japanese he was told with a warm smile by Pastor Oshiba, the pastor of the church that folks would understand his English! The chalice and it's contents communicate a truth not bounded by language! It was a wonderful day for Bob & Chris as they enjoyed a two hour worship service to start the Sabbath of October 12, 2008. After a congregational meal following worship they returned to their apartment back in Mikata about 4:30 pm; a little tired.

Keep Praying,

Zen Ben

Where in Japan are Bob & Chris ?

Learning Japanese at Lutheran Language Institute

After spending hours of time to study the lessons from language class of the previous day including trying to write and memorize the beginnings of the 107 letters and combinations that make up the Hiragana symbols Chris and Bob are right back the next morning at Lutheran Language Institute each day about one hour from their apartment by bus and trains. You might be asking yourself why? Why try in three weeks to cram language and why try to add to the effort by actually learning 107 symbols of Hiragana? The short answer is to do something about the very real fact that in this culture Chris and Bob are illiterate. Degrees and certificates and all the rest from the United States mean nothing when you are not able to speak or read and write! So even though they will have translation help they are trying to become as literate as possible. Perhaps a true story of one American pastor will illustrate..

Pastor Phil from the St. Paul International Lutheran Church here in Tokyo told this story while visiting with Bob & Chris after their very first day of language training. As the story goes, an American pastor who had been in Japan for some time and was very proud that he was beginning to really get the Japanese language down was excited in worship one Sunday. On that Sunday he announced to his Japanese congregation his joy that this Sunday during worship they would have a baptism in the congregation. While his language ability may have been improving he still needed some work. Inflexions are important in Japanese. His was just a bit off.

When the pastor announced that this Sunday during worship there would be a baptism in the congregation his inflexion actually announced something quite different. He actually said in rather loud Japanese for all the members to hear and with great joy, “During worship this Sunday there will be nude bathing in the congregation.” Inflexions are important! Literacy is important in any language. According to Pastor Phil the pastor who made this mistake never knew of it. When the major "oops" left the pastor’s lips his congregation did not react. Maybe a slight smile here or there; but they remained quiet and their pastor therefore did not even realize that he had made an embarrassing mistake. Such is the respect of the Japanese for another's dignity. Such was their respect that day for their pastor. According to Pastor Phil the congregation made no mention of the error and most likely he speculated, simply prayed that their pastor's Japanese would improve; especially his inflexions!

Keep on praying,Zen Ben

Where in Japan are Bob & Chris ?

Welcome to Apt 23 Guesthouse

Japan Lutheran Theological Seminary, Tokyo Japan

A kitchen that works just fine!

A good living area to study Japanese and write home!!

Chris hard at work at our table.

Bob and Chris are now "at home" for the first two months one of orientation and one of serving the East District of the JELC at the Japan Lutheran Theological Seminary in the western part of Tokyo, Mitaka. The apartment is cozy and they consider themselves blessed to have such a fine place to begin their exchange ministry.

Keep praying,

Zen, Ben