Let us pray. Lord, your Word is a lamp to our feet and light to our path (Psalm 119:105). May your Word be revealed to us, take root in us so that we can live as you call us to. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Good morning church! As some of you might now, and others might not, our church will be having an election for our church council - those who are elected to serve the church and represent the congregation - at our Special General Meeting on June 19, three weeks from today. Some of you might wonder what a church election is anyway. Church elections are different from political elections in a number of key ways. Political elections are often all about the candidates themselves; assessing their personal qualities and skills and things like that. Candidates for political office campaign by highlighting themselves, focusing on their image, and doing everything they can to make sure that people see them as the best person for the job, and at the same time they try to show any other candidates in a poor light. And when it comes to accomplishing that goal, (unfortunately) anything can happen - we all are familiar with corruption in our political system in one way or another. We see sometimes lobbying, bribing, and great manipulation all being used in order to win that vote. Church elections, on the other hand, aren’t and should not be about the individual at all. There isn’t any lobbying work, campaigning, or connecting behind the scenes that should be done in order to ensure that one candidate or another gets the most votes. The discernment process isn’t about which candidate is better, either in terms of skill or personality. Because a church election isn’t about whom we elect, but about discerning who God has called to serve. Church elections are where we come together as a people to check whether those who feel an inward call( a desire to serve in a particular way), or those who have been nominated by others, are affirmed in that call by the recognition of the community. As we live in a world where political elections are such big things, it is important for us to keep in mind that our focus in a time of church election isn’t primarily choosing, but listening - listening to God’s will being expressed within our community. An election, like the one happening in a few weeks in our church community, is about how we respond to God’s call, and how our whole community discerns together the ways in which God’s will might be realized through someone’s obedience to that call. Who is God calling, and what might God like to do through people who are obedient to such a call? These are the things that we are meant to pay attention to. But this is so much easier said than done! Whenever God calls someone, there is an initial struggle - a sometimes painful journey towards accepting that call. The prophet Jonah is one really good example of this, and Jonah’s story is a great example of how difficult it can be to respond to God’s call. The book of Jonah begins with the prophet Jonah, serving in Israel during the time of King Jeroboam II, when he receives a call from God. God tells Jonah, “Go at once (immediately) to Nineveh, that great city and cry out against it for their wickedness has come up before me.” (Jonah 1:2) That’s a pretty straightforward, clear, specific call. So, once he heard it, what did Jonah do? He went down to Joppa (Jonah 1:3), a city in the south of Israel, found a ship and bought passage on board towards Tarshish, which is thought to have been a city in Spain. So, once he heard the call, Jonah basically tried to go as far as possible in the completely opposite direction of Nineveh, the place God had specifically told him to go. Now Jonah knows exactly what he’s doing here, and exactly what his actions mean - after all, Jonah is at this point a well-established prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel (2Kings 14:25). Even more, Jonah actually tells the people on the ship that he is running away from the presence of the Lord, specifically running from his calling from God (Jonah 1:10). Well…you can’t be more obvious than that when it comes to refusing a call from God, right? Jonah basically said, “No thanks!” directly to God. And you kind of have to wonder…how can anyone talk to God like that? Well, to be honest, I actually have talked to God like that. When I first married my husband, Don, his very first job after graduating college was as a missionary, teaching and preaching at a Christian high school in Tokyo. And it was a good job. Sure, we weren’t billionaires or anything, but being rich was not our goal so that did not bother us. And his job provided us some real consistency in life, real security. And I really wanted to cling to that security because as long as he stayed at that high school, I understood the direction our life was going and I could start some planning. But when I saw him serving in church, I knew that God had called him to something else entirely. I saw his face shine for the joy of serving the Lord. To make a long story short, almost as soon as I started praying in earnest for Don and his future in ministry, and when I invited my friends to pray with me, his teaching job ended suddenly and without warning, and with it went our housing and his working visa. At the same time, the doors opened up for him to go to seminary - something he had always wanted to do, but had never been able to find a way to do. I was terrified at the loss of security, worried about how our life would change, but I also felt enormous peace beyond human understanding. I thought that the door that meant to be closed closed. I realized that my strong desire for stability and security was getting in the way of the journey God had called Don on and, over time, I came to realize that what I was being called to do, in this situation, was to stop pushing my own agendas and let God work in ways that God wanted to. But I didn’t get there all at once. Like Jonah, I had to find my way to it; I had to struggle with it. I had to come to a place of acceptance, and surrender my agendas to God when God called and God’s calling challenged what I expected my life was going to be. Whether we do so vocally, or in much more quiet and subtle ways, whether we admit it publicly or not - whether we admit it to ourselves or not - no one, including myself, is capable of following God’s call with perfect integrity and without any fear at all. And in the same way, no one is ever really capable of supporting someone’s call perfectly either. If we were, then the world would not be so full of corruption, malice, hatred, evil and calamity. Jonah’s story shows us the effect that one person’s disobedience to God, one person’s refusal of God’s calling, can have on the innocent. The people on the ship Jonah took to Tarshish were innocent, but they encountered calamity because of Jonah; they were about to die in a terrible shipwreck just because Jonah was disobedient to God and unwilling to embrace everything God wanted to accomplish through Jonah. Look at everything that is happening in our world today - in Ukraine, Russia, Syria and Texas to name a few. When people are disobedient to God’s call for peace and justice, when people embrace their own personal and financial security instead, it is the innocent, ordinary people of the world who wind up suffering. Think about the shooting that just happened in Texas. Because of the refusal of lawmakers to take action, because of the refusal of police officers to interfere, because of so many who embraced their own security and safety over God’s call to care for the most vulnerable, so many precious, innocent lives - lives which God had lovingly created for a good future - have been lost. We need to realize the weight that disobedience to God’s call can place upon this world, the calamity that can come upon the innocent when even one of us chooses to ignore our calling. God asks of us hard things, challenging things, sometimes even confrontational things in order to prevent calamity from happening. This is what a call from God looks like. And by the way, when I talk about “calling”, it’s easy to think that I’m just talking about the big thing such as a call to be a pastor, prophet, or other type of church leaders. It can be easy to think that is something that only a rare few have to wrestle with. But the truth is that God calls on each of us, again and again throughout our lives, asking us to do things both big and small to change God’s community and world for the better. Repenting, reflecting, trying again, forgiving, letting go of our desire for control and security, letting go of our plans, and our fears, making amends, reconciling, loving no matter what, and putting God first in our lives –these are all things God calls us to do. The thing about God’s calling - when God reaches out to you with an invitation to do something - is that God is persistent. God doesn’t mind repeating that calling over and over again, sometimes in much louder and bolder ways if we failed to listen the first time. As humans, it can be hard to discern whether the voice we’re hearing is God’s persistent whisper, or our own human wants and desires. Those things can change as the situation around us changes, but God’s call is persistent. Unchanging. Always nudging us to do a righteous thing for God while surrendering some of the safety, security, pride, fear, self righteousness, or other things that we depend on rather than trusting in God’s plan. In Jonah’s case, God called him directly at least twice. The first happens at the very beginning of Chapter 1, which we read today. The second happens in chapter 3:2, where God spoke to Jonah just after the great fish had vomited him up onto the dryland, saying “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” (Jonah 1:17 and 3:2) Then, in Chapter 4, after Nineveh repents, Jonah complains to God, angrily, because he knew that God would forgive the people of Nineveh and spare them from destruction. And this was not the direction Jonah wanted things to go. So we see finally how Jonah has really been interacting with God’s call to save Nineveh, even before he left Israel. Jonah was wrestling between the call God was giving him, and the call Jonah was giving himself. And as I said before, only one of these remains persistent and unchanging. Jonah’s first response is to say “No, thank you!” to God, feeling deep within himself that Nineveh shouldn’t be saved. Then, he takes action by running to the port city, Joppa. Then, he buys a ticket to Tarshish. And as the situation changes, he keeps changing his approach, trying to avoid God’s calling and respond to his own desires instead. Finally though, Jonah realizes that while his own desires have called him to do bigger and bigger things to get away from God, God’s voice has been patiently and persistently calling him to do the exact same thing, again and again. Jonah isn’t happy about it, because Nineveh is an enemy city, and sparing them threatens his safety and security and those of his nation. But after sailboats, storms, and the unique experience of being swallowed by a big fish and staying in there for three nights and three days, Jonah has to admit that responding to God’s persistent and unchanging call was the right thing to do in the end. Can you see what a roller coaster it was for Jonah to keep wrestling with that call? Can you see the troubles that came not just for Jonah, but for everyone around him, when he fought against what God was calling him to do? God’s call is rarely something that makes us feel safe, comfortable, or secure. God’s call is disturbing. God’s call shakes up the status quo. God’s calling on our lives isn’t always easy to accomplish and it’s often something that you, in your human wants and desires, definitely don’t want to do. I remember the first time the idea was given to me that maybe I should become a pastor. I laughed it off almost immediately, shaking my head and pretending that this wasn’t a calling from God. I ignored it and tried to do other things instead, because I thought it had to be wrong - God wouldn’t call me to do something I wasn’t good at. I don’t like public speaking. And there are already so many great pastors out there in the world, what could I offer beyond that? When God calls us, there is this internal “cost/risk analysis” we do within ourselves where we ask whether it’s worth listening to God’s call given what that call will ask of us. What are the risks of responding to this call, and what are we likely to gain for ourselves in return? Certainly Jonah seems to have done this sort of analysis. He realized that should he listen to God’s call the cost might well be the salvation of Nineveh - a nation of bitter enemies who might just as well kill him as listen to him. In order to respond to God’s call, Jonah would not only have to put himself at risk bodily, but mentally and spiritually as well - he’d have to move beyond his understanding of who God’s chosen people really were, and accept that God’s salvation might actually extend to those who attacked his nation, and who he found personally offensive and sinful. He knew the risks that came from not following God too. As a prophet, he knew that disobeying God came with great, often terrifying consequences; after all, his whole job as a prophet was to tell people what was coming when they disobeyed God! And when the storm fell upon the boat, and the ship was about to be destroyed, Jonah says to them “I know it is because of me that this great storm has come upon you.” So “pick me up and throw me into the sea.” (Jonah 1:12) Jonah believes so strongly that God’s salvation does not include Nineveh so not only he constantly pushes against God’s calling, but even when that calling has been fulfilled, he decides that it is better for him to die than to see the city saved. (Jonah 1:12, 4:3 and 4:9). Can you feel the depth of Jonah's hate and bitterness towards Nineveh here? Can you feel the weight of his determination to choose his bias, his hatred, his bitterness as the way that God’s people would move forward in the world? Sometimes, our belief in what should happen is so strong in our minds that it can blind us to the persistent calling of God in our lives. When we read the book of Jonah, we often forget that the point of this story is not the conversion of Nineveh, nor is it Jonah coming to a place of peace and forgiveness regarding Nineveh either - the story actually ends in chapter 4 with Jonah still sitting in his anger and misery, arguing with God. The point of Jonah’s story is that very human wrestling with the call of God upon his life - the realization that God’s call on ourselves or our community may take us to uncomfortable places, may ask us to make decisions which threaten our safety or security, or even sense of peace and ask us to place God’s desires ahead of the desires of our own hearts. Friends, what are things God is placing in your hearts lately? You try not to think about it because it makes you uncomfortable. It disturbs you and it stresses you out, but it won’t go away completely? When you hear God patiently and persistently insisting on something within your heart, don’t dismiss it, don’t run away from it, and don’t fight against it. But also, don’t jump into following it immediately either - talk to God. Wrestle with God. Be honest with God, and in so doing take the time to discern whether that calling in your heart is the persistent whisper of God, or the slow rumblings of your own biases, wants, desires or agendas. When I feel like God is calling me to do something difficult, I often find myself saying in prayer, “majidesuka ariemasen!” “Are you for real? This can’t possibly be right!” But then, I pray more. I share my concerns with God, and talk with the people I trust. I ask people to pray for me, and I begin to discern my own understanding of what this calling might be and, as I do this, through dialogue and prayer, more is discerned and more is revealed. Responding to God’s call just one time isn’t always some great turning point - often, responding to God's call requires making baby steps and each time choosing obedience to God. Even as I discern, I still ask, “Lord, does it really have to be me? Can’t it be someone else?” And sometimes, even after responding to the call, I still find myself saying just what Jonah said; “This is why I didn’t want to do this, because I knew this would happen!” But every time I struggle, I come back to God’s word in the book of Romans, 11:29: God’s call is irrevocable. It cannot be changed. Nothing can be added to or subtracted from God’s call. So through a long process of trial and error, lots of complaints, many attempts of almost giving up, I chose the path of obedience again. I am Jonah. We are all Jonah. But God is God. God’s call will not change for our own fears, biases or insecurities. God’s call is unchanging and persistent. God continues to speak, continues to be with us as we listen, discern, and respond. I pray that our church can be a community which takes the divinity of our callings seriously. I pray that our church can be a community that moves forward on the discernment of what has been initiated by God, called by God, and approved by God. I pray that we can be a community that is always God-centered, and not focused on our own plans, our own fears, or our own wants for this church or the world, but to follow God’s call with obedience and faith. May we strive to be a community that listens to God, wrestles with God’s calling in our lives, and works together to support each other in understanding God’s call on ourselves and our community through many many trials and errors like Jonah. But God is merciful as long as we choose obedience. Amen.
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Good morning, dear KUC friends! I am very grateful to the Lord for this opportunity to share the Word with my dear KUC family. I still cherish fond memories of my time here at KUC from 2009 to 2013, and indeed, it was a life-transforming season in my life. It is so good to be home! Thank you, Pastor Claudia, Pastor Akiko and dear KUC family for having me.
Today’s message is from the time when Jacob was running for his life. Jacob deceived both his older brother Esau and their father Isaac. Esau was furious when he found out what happened – Jacob received the blessing from Isaac that was intended for Esau. His parents, Isaac and Rebekah, advised Jacob to escape and seek refuge with his uncle Laban in Haran until Esau’s anger would subside. Jacob began a long journey toward Haran. Jacob had a long day, and he was so tired! He was tired from a long walk, tired from running for his life and tired from fear. The sun was setting, so he had to stop for the night in a desolate place. Jacob was in the middle of nowhere. Darkness was closing all around Jacob and loneliness was consuming his soul. Jacob took a stone and put it under his head for a pillow. Then he laid down on the cold ground. What a dark night for Jacob! But God is so gracious. God met Jacob in the middle of nowhere. Jacob fell asleep, and God met him in a glorious dream. Heaven opened, and there was a stairway, which reached from earth to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. Then, Jacob heard the word of the Lord speaking to him. God gave Jacob His blessed assurance, “I am with you and will watch over you.” What a night! It was, indeed, Jacob’s life-transforming encounter with the living God. About 2000 years later from that night, God came down the ladder. God came down the ladder and became man in the Person of Jesus of Nazareth who is also called Immanuel, which means “God is with us.” One day in Galilee, the conversation took place. Jesus first called Phillip to follow him. Phillip was very excited about Jesus, so he quickly became a witness to his friend Nathaniel. At first, Nathaniel was skeptical, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Philip invited Nathaniel to “come and see” Jesus. After Nathaniel confessed Jesus as the Son of God, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” Here in John 1:51, Jesus implied that He is the true Jacob’s ladder. Jesus is the Mediator between heaven and earth. He is the One who descended from heaven to fill the gap between the holy God and us sinners. Jesus is the true Jacob’s ladder. The bottom of the ladder is set on earth because Jesus is true man. The top of the ladder reaches to heaven because Jesus is true God. Jesus is the only ladder God ever put down from heaven. God became man in the person of Jesus to live among us, to die for us to save us from the power of sin and death. By Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice on Calvary and His resurrection, we see heaven open and receive John 3:16 Promise: “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.” By Jesus’ ascension, we see heaven open and look up to Jesus who sits at the right hand of the Father. Because Jesus lives and reigns, we see heaven open and we get blessed by the presence of the Lord. Let us go back to Jacob’s dark night. God met Jacob in that desolate place when he least expected it. Heaven opened, and God gave Jacob the vision of the stairway – a type of Jesus Christ who bridges the gap between heaven and earth, between God and us. Then, Jacob received the blessed assurance - God’s promise to protect him and to watch over him. Jacob had a foretaste of glory divine, a foretaste of Jesus who is also called Immanuel, which means “God is with us.” When he woke up, Jacob was totally lost in wonder, awe and adoration, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven (Genesis 28:17).” Other translations say, “How frightening is this place” “How fearful is this place.” Indeed, it was a life-transforming experience in Jacob’s life. Jacob was a man who used to manipulate situations, to do whatever it takes to make things happen. He even played the game to receive God’s blessing. But Jacob learned a lesson: God is God and I am a helpless sinner in need of grace. After encountering God, Jacob began to see his own sins – His sin of deceiving both his father and brother, his sin of doing his own things, his sin of pride, his sin of unbelief and his sin of ego…. Jacob used to be a runner, but now he is running into God. And God is so gracious – He didn’t leave Jacob with condemnation and guilt. God gave Jacob sufficient grace. God’s grace brought Jacob closer to Him and transformed his life. God gave Jacob His blessed assurance, “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.” “Stop running, Jacob. Stop doing your own things. Humble yourself and trust in Me. Then, you will be all right.” This coming Tuesday is a significant day for our church history. John Wesley, founder of Methodist Church, experienced assurance of his salvation on May 24, 1738. John Wesley was an earnest, conscientious and serious-minded young pastor. After experiencing many failures and disappointments, Wesley began questioning his own faith. But God met him when he least expected it. On that evening, his friends urged Wesley to attend a society meeting in Aldersgate Street. Wesley wrote this famous account on his journal: “In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate-Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation: And an assurance was given me, that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.” Wesley’s Aldersgate Experience not only transformed his life but also changed the trajectory of history. A year after his Aldersgate experience, Wesley began his field-preaching to proclaim the Good News of salvation to the crowds in the open air. As a result, souls were saved, hearts were touched and lives were transformed by the Gospel of Christ. Eventually, revivals swept through England. Speaking of encountering God in the least expected place and time, I think of Olive Branch Mission where I work. Olive Branch Mission is the oldest rescue mission of the United States. In 1867, Olive Branch Mission was born out of Wesleyan revival movement. The Spirit-filled, courageous Free Methodist women started the rescue mission to minister to the poorest of the poor in Chicago, to care for both physical and spiritual needs. Just like Nathaniel, many people would say, “Olive Branch Mission in hood! Can anything good come from there?” Throughout our history, quite a few people described Olive Branch Mission as “the gateway to heaven.” Throughout those 155 years, thousands of weary travelers have come through the doors tired and broken. They were sick and tired of being sick and tired. But many of those travelers have encountered the living God at a least expected place called Olive Branch Mission. Souls were saved, hearts were touched and lives were transformed because they had heard about Jesus at Olive Branch! They have seen “the gateway to heaven” in the middle of nowhere during the lowest point in their lives. Their hearts were “strangely warmed” by the Gospel of Jesus, and their lives were turned around! Hundreds of thousands people were set free from despair, addictions and homelessness. Even today, we have a privilege to see heaven open before us in our midst. In these days, we have seen an increasing spiritual hunger among our clients and people at Olive Branch Mission. When we pray with some individuals during the week, the Lord invites us into holy moments in the midst of pains, hurts and challenges they face. Sometimes, we see how the Spirit of the Lord transform our ordinary place into the gateway to heaven. We see heaven open, and the Spirit of the Lord fall upon us. We see heaven open, and people begin to see hope. We see heaven open, and people encounter with Jesus in new and profound ways. Dear KUC friends, maybe you are in Jacob’s shoes this morning. Maybe you are finding yourself in the middle of nowhere. You are in a desolate place emotionally and spiritually. You go through adverse circumstances. You feel attacked. You are going through difficult situations at work. You are facing a health challenge. You feel intense loneliness because of this prolonged pandemic. Maybe you are facing your own “Esau” as people come against you. You are going through tough family situations. Sometimes, getting through just one more day is too much. Perhaps many of us are living like Jacob. We are seeking God’s will, but how often we run. We are trying to figure out our way so desperately. We are running all the time to get things done. We often take the matter into our own hands instead of fully trusting in God’s plan. Albert Einstein once said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” In this sense, you and I are nuts in so many occasions. But God is so gracious. He is willing to meet us when we least expected it. As a matter of fact, Kobe means “God’s door” or “God’s gate” in Chinese character. I sincerely believe that the day will come when God reveals the gateway to heaven to the multitude of people in Kobe through the ministry of Kobe Union Church and other churches in Kobe. What a glorious day when many people would declare, “How awesome is this place called a church in Kobe City. This is the gate of heaven. God met me here and I was saved. I received Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior.” “How awesome is this place called KUC. God met me here in such a profound way, and I had an “aha moment.” He truly gave me a new perspective that changed the course of my life.” Thank you, Jesus the true Jacob’s ladder, who connects heaven and earth. Because of Jesus the true stairway to heaven, God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Because of Jesus the gateway to heaven, we see souls are saved, hearts are touched and lives are transformed. Because of Jesus the true Jacob’s ladder, we hear God’s assuring voice. Because of Jesus, we feel our hearts strangely warmed. Then, we can sing this old hymn with all our hearts and with all our souls: Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. Perfect submission, perfect delight! Visions of rapture now burst on my sight; Angels descending bring from above Echoes of mercy, whispers of love. This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long; This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long. This is one of my favorite Gospel stories. This story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, just days after Jesus’ crucifixion on that first Easter day, is part of our larger faith journey.
We have these two virtually anonymous followers of Jesus one of them goes nameless (and this is the only time we ever hear of the one named Cleopas). They were walking the road to Emmaus trying to make sense of what had just happened in Jerusalem….the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday, the shared meal, the betrayal, the arrest and trial and crucifixion. Then the empty tomb, the testimony of the women saying that Jesus had risen but they didn’t believe it. As far as they knew, after three days, Jesus had been crucified and was still dead. So they were leaving Jerusalem disappointed, sad, and discouraged. As they discussed what had happened and were still grieving, a stranger walked up to them (Jesus) and he was like, “Hey what are you guys talking about?” They did not recognize him and they said in Aramaic something like, ”Dude, are you the only one in Jerusalem who does not know what has happened?” And so they told the story of Jesus’ life, ministry and death. They shared their disappointment and anxiety as they said, “We had hoped he was the one who would redeem Israel.” Sad words. “We had hoped he would be the one…We had hoped….” We know how that feels, don’t we? So many things we may have hoped for in our lives that didn’t turn out the way we had hoped. Maybe a loss of someone special to us or a loss of a relationship or a the loss of a job or loss of an opportunity or a loss of education or school you didn’t get in or the loss of a friend or reputation or even a loss of faith. There are many things in life that may have caused us to have felt disappointed, sad, regret, shame or failure. We all may know then of what some of these disciples were feeling as they made their way to Emmaus. But they meet Jesus. They don’t recognize him at first. Sometimes, we get so blinded by our sadness and our frustration and our anger and our disappointment that we miss the very presence of Jesus among us. See, when Jesus walks these disciples on the road to Emmaus and starts to talk to them about Moses and all those prophets and about how all of it pointed to a Messiah who suffers and then enters into glory, it wasn’t the first time they had heard this. This was what Jesus had been preaching and teaching and promising all along. He breaks bread with them, again, and then their eyes were opened and they see him for who he is again – their Messiah, their Savior! They now have a reason to live despite all that had happened! But it does seem hard to believe that they didn’t recognize him at first. Again, we can be blinded by so much going on in our lives or our feelings that we miss the very presence of Jesus among us. Sometimes we miss the truth even when it is there in front of us or in this case, beside us. There is also the possibility that Jesus didn’t look the same as he did when he was when them before. He might have looked different. Maybe we will look different too when we go to heaven. Also, Jesus had appeared to these disciples out of context. He had been dead-crucified and placed in a tomb. They thought he was gone. They were not expecting to see him as they walked that road to Emmaus. They could not recognize him except by the Holy Spirit which was when their hearts burned. We also need the Holy Spirit to recognize Jesus. It was in the breaking of the bread that their eyes were opened. Just like the song, “Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord” and their eyes were opened. After that, they remembered how their “hearts were burning within” as Jesus had talked with them. (31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”) Earlier on Jesus had told them that he must go to Jerusalem, undergo great suffering at the hands of their elders and chief priests, and be killed – all before being raised on the third day. But on that road to Emmaus they didn’t see him. They had forgotten that death leads to new life in the kingdom of God. They had forgotten that God can transform struggle into celebration; brokenness into wholeness; darkness into light; sin into forgiveness; grief into joy; anger into peace; and the list goes on. And don’t we forget that, too, too much of the time? Life can be really hard. Even as Christians we still face uncertainties, suffering, and disappointments. There was never a promise of easy living as followers of Christ. Lutheran Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber makes it a practice of inviting people new to her congregation to expect to get their feelings hurt; to expect for someone in the church – to expect even that the pastor – will upset them, hurt their feelings, make them mad at some point or another along the way. And what she invites her people to do – on this side of that anger, disappointment or hurt, before it gets ugly – is to decide to not leave and not give up when things gets tough. Because if we just give up, we will never get the chance to witness the ability of God’s grace to transform all of that bad stuff into something beautiful and new and worthy of our time and energy and devotion. And that’s as true for churches as it is for every area of our lives, really – families, relationships, careers, whatever. If we just give up, or just sit back and criticize, we will never get the chance to witness the ability of God’s grace to transform the bad stuff into something beautiful and new and worthy. Kobe Union Church may be your place of joy and salvation or it may be a place of hurt or disappointment. Maybe there have been ups and downs and different feelings at different times. That is what church is. But, Easter’s good news is that, in the midst of suffering or disappointment or hope lost, it is God who still walks with us. Jesus reminds us that God’s grace – and the new life that has and will come – is bigger and more powerful than our deepest struggles. That doesn’t take them away. But it gives us courage to endure. It gives us hope for the more that is to come. It gives us faith to wait and to see, to work, even, to let the worst of it all be changed… to be redeemed… to be transformed right where we live, right before our eyes into something holy and new by God’s amazing grace. As a church, we walk together. We try to look for ways to be in unity in Christ. We may disagree at times. But we are called to show grace as Christ’s followers. As a congregation, especially one as wonderfully diverse as ours, we learn to walk together and share our gifts. Some people might need to be carried and some may run ahead rather than walk. But we are not walking alone. Jesus is beside us. An old African proverb says, “if you want to walk fast, walk alone. If you want to walk far, go together with others.” I want you to know that Pastor Akiko and I are both committed to walking together with this congregation (tomo ni) into KUC’s future in the days to come. Will you walk with us? Let us walk in the light of God! Our Church Council is walking together asking the Holy Spirit’s guidance. We want to glorify God and along with God we want the best for KUC. Let us, leadership and the members and pastors and friends all walk together as servants of Christ. As Christians, we are a people of hope and promise. Let’s look at the good things happening here at KUC! We have started to gain people back at now that in-person worship has started again. The children are back. We have a number of people watching the services online and attending classes. Some people may still choose to wait longer until the pandemic is over. God’s grace is so necessary in these times. Things may not be perfect. You will be disappointed sometimes at church. Pastor Nadiya also tells her new members; “Sure, we’re going to mess some things up,” she said. “But when we mess up things up and then still come back the next week, that’s where the grace happens. That’s when church gets real and the dead are raised.” Pastor Nadia once asked the congregation to write down their grief, pain, bad memories, etc. on post-it notes. Then they put all the notes on a big board, looked at them and realized they were ALL broken people. At the end of the service, they built a fire and threw all those post-its into the fire. The looked at their broken parts, outward to embrace God’s love and grace. We may not be perfect and we may be broken but God loves us. So let us work together. It is tempting to complain or criticize but let’s be kind and loving. Help your church. Take action and walk together. This is our church. We have an AGM (Annual General Meeting) today. We will discuss issues that relate to our future and listen to ministry reports. We (the KUC congregation) will also vote on the slate of the Church Council members. KUC has been here 150 years and God has not given up on us. Let us walk forward in grace and unity. Let us walk together with Jesus Christ for the future of Kobe Union Church. Amen. Let us pray. Meet us, Lord, on the road to Emmaus, guide us on the path toward our destination, and renew our strength as we continue to walk with you. Open our hearts and let your Holy Spirit burn within us to inspire us in new directions. Open our minds to your wisdom and love. Open our eyes, so we see the signs of your presence around us; Open our lives and empower us to pass on to others the grace you have shared with us so freely. Amen. Good morning church. I'm Anne Morimoto. And I'm a sophomore in high school. I've been attending KUC since I was 2 years old. Currently, I'm part of the Youth group. Last year, I participated in a nationwide English speech contest for middle schoolers. This contest is held every year in honor of the late Prince Takamado. To my surprise, I came in 5th place! I've never studied overseas. My parents don't speak English. So, I'm grateful that KUC was the place for me where I got to learn English. Today, I would like to do that speech in front of you. I love singing! In fact, I'm pretty good at it. I also like sharing my gift with others. So, in the past couple of years, I visited more than 40 nursing homes to give volunteer concerts. Now, with the outbreak of the coronavirus, it’s not easy anymore. But I do hope that I get to do more concerts soon. My concert program usually consists of nursery rhyme songs and old favorites. For example... (note: Hum the melody of "Sukiyaki Song"). Does it sound familiar? Yes! It's the Sukiyaki Song! It’s everyone’s favorite! The elderly especially loves it! The residents of nursing homes quickly open up to me just after visiting them a couple of times. They treat me as if I’m their grandchild. Some of them really remember details about me. Once, this friendly old man said, "You’ve grown taller! And, oh! Did you change your glasses? They look good on you!” Wow, he surprised me! He remembered so well! Each resident in a nursing home has a different care situation. A few of them are suffering from serious dementia. They can’t even remember the names or faces of their family. There is one lady I cannot forget. Her dementia made her unable to show any facial expression. She also could not talk nor walk. One day, she came to my concert with her daughter. At first, the lady was just watching me with a blank stare. But then, as I started to sing an old nostalgic song, something seemed to change in her. She leaned slightly forward in her wheelchair. She was listening to me. She even began clapping in rhythm to the melody. And then, she smiled! After the concert, her daughter brought her up to me. The lady clutched my hands. She had tears in her eyes. Her daughter started crying, too, and said, "It's been so long since I’ve seen my mother smile. Thank you so much.” Hearing this, I almost cried myself. My singing had brought a smile to this lady’s face. Think back to when you were a child. I’m sure there is a song you remember. I’m sure everyone has a favorite childhood song. Just thinking about it makes you smile and you feel warm inside. Why? Because that’s what music does! One song is all you need to start feeling positive again. That’s the amazing power of song! That’s exactly why I want to continue giving volunteer concerts. Maybe one day, I will become a singer. Who knows? But one thing I am sure is that I can make people smile if I sing for them. I want as many people as possible to experience the amazing power of song. And, I know I can do that if I keep on singing. This experience made me realize that singing is a gift God gave me. I would like to continue increasing this gift I received from Him. Praise God for loving me and encouraging me. Good morning everyone. My name is Jonathan McCurley and I serve with the United Methodist Church at the Asian Rural Institute. My sending body is the same organization as Claudia, who is my senpai. It is good to be with you this morning. Two weeks ago was Easter. When I was a kid, I always remember Easter was a fun event and of course we would go to church but I didn’t really understand why. Not because I didn’t know about Jesus’s resurrection or the cross but I think because the church I went to talked about Jesus’ death and the cross and resurrection every week. So, I didn’t really understand why we needed to get new Easter clothes and why there was special food or a special program at Easter, but I know I enjoyed the marshmellow candies and Easter eggs (really the choclate ones, not the real ones) and I aways have a memory of it being a happy time. But as I grew up and started to believe in Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior, by myself, for myself, I began to understand that Easter is really so important. I think that message of Easter is truly what needs to be always preached and so today we will also learn some from the Easter Story. Most scholars say that the scripture passage that was just read for you is one of our earliest written accounts of Easter. We know that Paul was active and sent letters to churches in the 50’s and 60’s AD and so about 30 years after Jesus rose from the dead, Paul is now writing down the facts about Easter, which is what would have been shared in sermons and testimonies, by word of mouth and was well known to Christians until then. He wants them to know that really, in all that he is saying, the most important message he has to share with them is this. Let ‘s read verses 3 and 4 again. This my friends is as simple as the message gets. According to scriptures, Christ died for our sins, He was buried and He indeed rose again. It was promised, it happened and it is why we are here. Amen? While this is of course what we always preach, this Easter season is when we remember that it is historical and true. The most amazing story in history. Paul continues in the passage though and in verse 5-8 talks about all the people who witnessed Christ. Some by name like Peter, known as Cephas or James, and some are within groups, like the 500 believers or the twelve disciples. This fact that Jesus died and rose was witnessed by so many people and finally Paul says he himself was one of those who experienced the risen Christ. Have you ever imagined what that must have been like? Imagine being there when Jesus did what no one before or after him has done, Resurrect…. Actually the passage you all read last week has part of one of these encounters in it. Last week I know you focused on Thomas and looked at faith, but at the beginning of that passage there is a look at the other disciples and how there fear was changed to joy. Let’s look at that experience over in John 20, verse 19-23. Here, it’s still Easter day. But instead of being a day of joy, for Jesus’ family and followers it was a day when they were still in shock. They were still trying to understand what had went wrong the Friday before. The week before there had been a triumphal entry into the biggest city of Israel, Jerusalem, by Jesus and his disciples. They were overjoyed at what the Kingdom of God that Jesus was talking about would like and what role they might play. They were sure that Jesus’ time had come and finally all that was wrong with the world was going to be made right! Hallelujah!!! Then Thursday and Friday came and the triumphant leader that they knew was going to be king had died, like a bad bad criminal and they were in shock. All their dreams and plans were now meaningless. It is at that point that we find the disciples. They are not excited like I was as a kid that Easter had come, no verse 19 tells us that they were afraid and had locked themselves into a room. This makes sense. After all it was the religious leaders that had captured Jesus and had pushed Pilate, the Roman governer to kill Jesus. I can imagine these disciples thinking, If they so easily killed Jesus, why would they not also do the same to us, his followers, his closest friends. I am sure They thought that for sure that they would die, just like Jesus. Maybe suffering even more… It makes sense that they locked the door and were pretty much in hiding. After all Sabbath is finished and now the authorities were probably looking for them. In the middle of that fear and confusion, in the middle of a locked room where no one was going to come in or probably go out, our of seemingly nowhere, the resurrected Jesus just appears! Now as we read in Corinthians so many people saw Jesus alive and so we have maybe aren’t too surprised to hear Jesus appeared but believe me they would have been extremely surprised. Jesus coming back to see them after dying on that cross may sound great now but if I was in that room I would have been scared to death and probably have even thought it was his ghost that was coming to haunt me because I didn’t stand up for Jesus. I would have probably remembered at that moment how when the guards came to get Jesus, when the soilders took Jesus to the cross, I was hiding… If you were to look over in Luke 24 you would see how the disciples were not only shocked but really frightened. But we read here in John how Jesus met the disciples. It says that Jesus greeted them, showed them the scars from the cruicifixion, proving that he was not just some ghost but alive as he said he would be and then we see the response. In John it says they were filled with Joy. Luke talks about the disciples hearts burning within them, Matthew talks about people falling at Jesus feet. In other words all the fears, all the shock, all the sorrow just seemed to disappeared when people realized that Jesus, the same Jesus that they had walked with and talked with and dreamed with was among them. Yes he had died and yes he was buried, and now he was Risen! Hallelujah! My friends, I believe that this is what Easter and the resurrection is all about. This is what Grace is, God’s true unending Grace, that never gives up, that is amazing, that is all consuming. The presence of Jesus just overcoming all the fear and shock that we could ever have. I think we all can relate to fear and shock. Over these past two years our society has lived in constant fear of this virus that we cannot see. We don’t understand why it is here at this time and why it has continued to haunt. We are also in shock. Just think about it, anytime someone starts coughing or gets a fever or sneezes we kinda automatically take a look at them and at some point have probably thought the virus had come and we were in trouble! At the end of last year, the WHO said that around the world there has been a 25% increase in depression and mental illness since the beginning of the pandemic. That is not something that usually happens with 18 months, it is not normal. It may have happened even quicker in a place like the Ukraine as they continue to suffer from the war and onslaught of Russia, but it should not be so in a place that is supposed to be at peace. It should not be. War also should not be. So we can definitely relate to the shock and fear that the disciples and so many that loved Jesus must have had at his death. My question is, do we also know their joy. I had us look at that John passage a moment ago, there is one more verse I want you to hear. It is verse 22, and there John says “Then Jesus breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” When Jesus came back to visit, he didn’t just say hi or tell them what it’s like to die… no, he came back to continue the mission that He came to earth for. The mission that scripture says God has been on since the beginning of Creation. The mission is to have the rule of God be the rule of God. I believe the point of the resurrection is this. Jesus died and rose again and appeared to the disciples to show them and tell them that the way the world has been, the way fear and death have reigned until now is not the way it will be going forward! The Kingdom of God has indeed come and the world will be different because of Jesus and his Resurrection. Although God breathed his Spirit into humans at the beginning of time, Satan and the Kingdom of this world had tried so hard to seperate us from our Creator. But now, in the power of the Holy Spirit, the same power that rose Jesus from the dead, the disciples will spread the Kingdom of God and the miracles and wonders of Jesus’ ministry will continue. And it has continued! For some 2000 years now, it has continued! My friends, we being gathered today, We are proof that Jesus is indeed alive and that the Holy Spirit has changed the world. That fear and death no longer reign. The disciples were faithful to their calling and in the power of the Holy Spirit have continued to spread the word about Jesus and his power to the ends of the earth. I mean you can’ get much further East in Asia than Japan… God has worked miracles so that now even you and even me have received the Holy Spirit and even accepted this same calling. If we have confessed faith in Jesus Christ and sought to follow him than we too now have the Holy Spirit and we too continue to mission of sharing about the Kingdom of God, telling people that they too can be forgiven! Anyone, from any family or any where in the world CAN come to know the love of Jesus Christ, have their sins forgiven and not have to live in fear of anything because not even death will defeat us! Hallelujah! Jesus is Alive! Let us pray! |
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