Friday, May 25, 2007

From Beirut, Lebanon

Looking out through a shattered window of Ashrafieh Church, Beirut

Packing. I'm at it again, like I was when I last posted to this blog. Then I was in Tokyo; today I'm in Beirut, Lebanon. I've done no shopping since coming here, but two "new" items are going into my suitcase as I return to Japan: a piece of jagged, charred metal and a 50-cent-sized piece of broken glass. Needless to say, these are not the usual souvenirs travelers take home from Lebanon.

The hand-sized metal piece with razor-sharp edges used to be part of the chassis of a car—until two evenings ago. That was when the car exploded in the parking area outside a new multi-level shopping mall in the eastern (and Christian) side of Beirut, igniting a destructive fire. Fortunately, the mall was closed for the evening and there were no casualties there, although a wall in a nearby house collapsed, killing one woman.

The major damage from this terrorist act was sustained by buildings all around the area whose windows were blown out by the force of the explosion. Little more than a stone's throw away, the Ashrafieh Church of God was among these buildings damaged. The broken glass I have packed in my suitcase used to be part of a window in this church.Last night, I gathered at the Ashrafieh Church with a small group of 50 people. We could not meet in the sanctuary. Broken glass is everywhere there, with furniture, Bibles, and song books destroyed by flying windows, window casings, and shards of every size and shape. Instead, we met in a fellowship hall. Even there, small bits of glass crunched under our feet and mosquitoes irritated, undeterred because there are no longer any window panes to keep them out.

Nevertheless, nothing could have dampened our voices of praise to God for his protection and faithful presence in the midst of it all. We met in a show of solidarity with the Ashrafieh congregation and to pray that God will empower them to reach out in his name to meet the needs of the community that has been scarred by this horrific event. We were reminded that even if the Ashrafieh building had been reduced to a mere pile of rubble, it would not have been the end of the church, for the church is not a man-made structure. Rather, it is the people of God, and the people of God were most definitely in that place last evening. At the completion of the worship service, we lit candles and walked silently to the entrance of the yet cordoned off parking lot to pray—in front of armed soldiers—for peace in Beirut and in this nation that teeters on the very edge of civil war.

Despite our prayers, we awoke this morning to news that a second car bomb had exploded in another section of Beirut. Then again, perhaps it was prayer that guided the soldiers who discovered four other car bombs during the night elsewhere in the city. They were diffused before they could add to the tragedy. News reports also tell of bombs exploding in Tripoli, Lebanon's second-largest city. With tension thick in the air, the talk everywhere is about how precarious life is right now in this nation.

My flight leaves in the early hours of the morning. By the time you read this, I will be safely home again in Tokyo. Despite what my passport says, one thing I know most certainly is that the person who will board that airplane is not the same woman who came to Lebanon one week ago. Now a most important question challenges me: what am I going to do about it?

Thursday, May 17, 2007

From Reading the Newspaper

Something’s wrong here. Terribly wrong.

Despite the fact that I’m to be on an airplane in just a few hours, I can’t rescue my mind from what I read in yesterday’s newspaper in order to think about packing. Two items in particular captured my attention and have troubled my heart.

On the front page of The Daily Yoimuri was a photo that, at first glance, seemed so uninspired that I almost skipped the caption. But I didn’t—and I’ve not been the same since. The photo was of two melons in a white box. Nothing extraordinary, except for the price at which they were auctioned at a wholesale market in Sapporo earlier this week. Unbelievably, those two cantaloupes went for a whopping 2 million yen!

I shook my head and read the caption again. Surely I’d misunderstood. Never having been good at mathematics, I used my calculator to translate the figure into dollars. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as it had seemed in yen. But it was. In fact, at more than 8,250 dollars a melon, it was even worse than I’d imagined. Nothing could be that delicious.

A few pages later, a headline called to me: “For Poor Women in Rural China, Suicide Is a Bitter Way Out.” Curious, I read the article and learned about the amazingly high suicide rate in impoverished China. These backwater areas of the world’s most populated nation know nothing about the incredible boom China is experiencing as it reinvents itself as a world economic power. Instead, rural households frequently scrape by with a median per capita income of 13 dollars a month, and women often bear the brunt of the fight for survival. Yet somewhere in Japan, people are eating an 825 dollar cantaloupe!

According to a study by the Beijing Suicide Research and Prevention Center, poverty and the growing distance between China’s “haves” and “have nots” is fueling the surge in suicides to a rate more than two times that of the United States. Even more amazing is the fact that “attempted suicides outnumber completed suicides by 10 to 1,” according to the center’s director.

One can fly from Tokyo to China in only about three hours. But right now, China feels galaxies away. It doesn’t take an economist or sociologist to know that something’s terribly wrong in our world. What, I wonder, is my responsibility as a Christian? Surely it’s more than pledging not to eat overpriced melons (if I could afford them) or even praying sincerely for China’s poor (not to mention the 800 million people in the world suffering from hunger and malnutrition, according to the United Nations). Jesus’ words are reverberating loudly in my mind: “I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me” (Matthew 25:45).

I do have to pack my suitcase, but I cannot escape the questions that have been stirred up like a hornet’s nest in my mind.

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Call to Prayer: International Day

Bernie shares his precious cowboy hat collection with
Tamagawa Seigakuin students on International Day 2006

It’s hard to believe that anyone in Japan could have been as gullible and uninformed as to believe Bernie. He was only joking when he told the Saga high school girl that American men get pregnant and have babies, not their wives. But more astounding than this image was the fact that she believed him—at least momentarily.

Then there was the group of Japanese university students that joined in a summer camp with participants from an American school. Afterwards, the Japanese were asked to write about what they learned from their experiences. Imagine my shock to read the essay of one of my students who wrote, “Americans have two arms and two legs, just like we do!”

Certainly we’ve had many opportunities in our 28 years as missionaries in this country to help educate Japanese about the world outside their borders. But what we most want to share with them are the truths of the Bible, beginning with John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Unfortunately, a common misconception of Japanese is that Christianity is a western religion. “We Japanese,” as they say in typical group talk, “are Buddhist or Shinto.” (Or both, or neither, I might add.) It is always a challenge to discover how to convey the message that God’s love is for the whole world, including Japan, in ways that will stir interest and kindle a desire for a personal relationship with God among people who, although religious, generally have no concept that this is needed or even possible.

On May 16, we hope to change this for Tamagawa Seigakuin third year junior high school students as they participate in the 4th International Day program on campus. Bernie has helped recruit nearly 40 Christian volunteers from more than 20 nations to come and introduce their countries, cultures, and languages, giving the girls opportunities to practice using their English conversation skills. But what will be highlighted uppermost is the international nature of the church—that the truth of Jesus’ death and resurrection is being proclaimed and accepted in countries all around the world. This wonderful day of sharing will begin with a worship service featuring gospel songs in several languages, testimonies, and an evangelistic message.

Please join us in praying for our guests as they prepare for International Day. Pray also that the Holy Spirit will move among the students, touching their hearts to consider their own response to the Gospel message. May it be true that May 16 was “the time of God’s favor” and “the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2) for many at Tamagawa Seigakuin who participate in International Day.

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

At the Beginning

The cross at Tamagawa Seigakuin

Walk the high places
“The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights” (Habakkuk 3:19).

Thank you for praying for Tamagawa Seigakuin, the girls’ junior/senior high school where Bernie is principal. As with all Japanese schools, Tama Sei began a new school year at the beginning of April. One month later, we can say that things are off to a good start with 1,080-plus students and more than 100 faculty and staff. Activities for 2007-08 are being planned around the theme, “Walk the high places,” based upon the above verse.

Within this first month of school, Bernie already has been reminded several times about what an amazing mission field Tama Sei is, one that reaches not only students, but also their families. At the first PTA meeting, for example, Bernie spoke from the Habakkuk verse to some 900 parents. Days later, at the school’s annual Sports Day, he brought a gospel message to more than 2,000 people. When we remember that the average-sized Japanese congregation is around 35 people and that a church of more than 200 in Japan might be compared to a mega-church elsewhere, we are overjoyed and occasionally even overwhelmed by the privilege of proclaiming the gospel at Tama Sei.


Tarumi Church in Kobe

Bernie baptizes Fujita-san


We were also overjoyed to spend Easter with the people of Tarumi Church in Kobe, the congregation we pastored for 20+ years. Not only did we rejoice in the risen Lord, but Bernie had the privilege of baptizing two new sisters in Christ, Kaori Fujita and Teruko Mizutani. Fujita-san first started attending worship services after being introduced to the church through the English-Bible classes that are taught by the Kansai-based SAM (special assignment missionary). In Fujita-san’s case, SAM Randee Doe picked up with the English-Bible program where Stephen Stull left off when he completed his assignment in 2004. Lots of loving care by Randee helped to bring Fujita-san through the unexpected death of her teenage son and to accepting Christ as her personal Savior.

As for Mizutani-san, Cheryl was especially thrilled to learn in her baptismal testimony that it was Cheryl’s Christmas Eve message at Tarumi Church last December that finally helped Mizutani-san decide to hold back no longer and to accept God’s gifts of forgiveness and salvation. (By the way, these testimonies are a wonderful tradition in Japanese churches that we think would greatly enhance the celebration of baptism in the U.S.) The only thing Cheryl can remember about that message is that her tongue was tied in knots and her language ability that night was poor. Thus, Mizutani-san’s testimony was a wonderful reminder of the truth of the Lord’s challenge in 1 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Praise the Lord!

Please pray for Fujita-san and Mizutani-san as they seek to grow in Christ. Pray also for Tarumi Church as it continues to struggle without a pastor. On June 1, it will have been four years since we left Tarumi. During this time, there have been four pastoral candidates who haven’t worked out—two by the choice of the congregation and two by the decision of the candidate. Needless to say, the church is both discouraged and tired. They are especially needy in the area of pastoral care, which is why we began visiting Tarumi one weekend a month from March. We will continue this pattern through March 2008. Please pray for safety on the road as we travel generally the second weekend each month and also that God will encourage the people through us. More than anything else, please pray that God will bring a Japanese pastor to Tarumi Church during this time.

Other ways to pray
In addition to the above and the specific requests of last month’s newsletter—which still need your faithful prayers—here are some additional ways for you to pray:

►That God will call some youth to full-time ministry at the national youth convention, May 3-5, in Okinawa;
►For safety in travel for Cheryl as she goes to Lebanon, May 17-24, to participate in the dedication of the Johnson Chapel at Mediterranean Bible College; and,
►For God to begin to reveal the specific ways he wants us to become more involved in church work after Bernie steps back from some of his responsibilities at Tamagawa Seigakuin from April 2008. Pray also for God’s wisdom for the school’s executive committee, of which Bernie is chair, in creating a new leadership structure for the school.

Food for thought
“Beware of harking back to something you once were when God wants you to be something you have never been” (Oswald Chambers).