Some of us here today were raised in a western Christian culture that emphasized the “sin nature” of humanity and how Christ came to this world to give his life to be an atonement for the sins we commit. Those of us who have worked in the very different cultural context of Japan, however, recognize that the theological formulations we in the west grew up with are not such a natural or comfortable fit. So, what I would like to do this morning is to have us think about how people in non-western cultural contexts such as Japan receive God’s gospel message.
The huge variety of cultures around the world each have their own formulations of how to understand the human experience, but one way anthropologists have traditionally tried to give general categories to these cultural understandings is to categorize cultures into “guilt cultures” and “shame cultures.” Those categories are still helpful even with all the cultural mixing going on today, but one should add that no culture is 100% one and 0% the other. Western cultures are in the “guilt culture” category, but that doesn’t mean people in such cultures don’t experience shame. It’s just that guilt has traditionally been much more emphasized than shame. Although I was raised in a western “guilt culture” context, I’ve spent most of my life in Japan, which is considered a “shame culture,” and so I’ve seen firsthand how our western theological formulations can become a barrier to the effective communication of the message of Christ in that context. If I try to communicate the message in terms of “you are a sinner and you need to receive God’s forgiveness,” the typical Japanese will usually not perceive that as a message relevant to their situation. For one thing, the language itself has not developed in a way that clearly communicates such a concept. The word used to translate “sin” is “tsumi,” but that same word can also be translated as “crime.” There is no clear distinction between the concepts of our sin before God and criminal activity. You can, of course, explain the difference, but the concepts themselves — namely “sin” and “crime” — are not differentiated by different words in the Japanese language. Thus subconsciously, a typical Japanese will react to a sin and guilt-oriented message with indifference, because, after all, “I’m not a criminal.” Likewise, when it comes to the concept of guilt, there is a similar disconnect linguistically. As I was thinking how best to translate “guilt culture” into Japanese, I realized that in addition to not distinguishing between sin and crime, the only words available to translate “guilt” are words using the character for “tsumi.” In fact, if you do a search for how to translate “guilt culture,” all you find is “tsumi no bunka” — “sin culture.” In English, sin and guilt certainly do go together, but they are not the same thing. There are several other concepts that are crucial to the biblical message for which there are no unambiguous words in Japanese. “Yurushi,” for instance, can mean both “forgiveness” and “permission,” depending on the context. Thus, I suppose “tsumi no yurushi” could be understood to mean “permission for crimes” instead of “forgiveness of sins.” I doubt it is very likely that someone would make that mistake, but it is possible. At any rate, the point is that the term is vague and so this can lead to miscommunication. On top of that, the very concept of God becomes a linguistic problem as well. The word “kami” means “god,” but the language itself does not have the equivalent of the English articles “a” and “the,” and there is no equivalent to capital and lower-case letters in their writing system either. There isn’t even a clear distinction made between singular and plural, and so “kami” could mean “god” or “gods” with a lower-case “g”, or it could mean “God” with a capital “G”. You can see why talk of “kami” can become rather vague and why there is often such a gap between the message someone is trying to communicate and the message that the hearer perceives. It can literally get “lost in translation!” I think it was Lewis Carol in "Alice in Wonderland" that coined the well-known phrase about words "meaning what I want them to mean." On one level that is true, and in our everyday lives, we often encounter semantical games where the meanings of words are being twisted, and people are being manipulated. Or take an example from the international scene. How about the term "Democratic People's Republic?" The North Koreans give a far different meaning to those same words than what we normally use them to mean in Japan or America. So, words do mean what we want them to mean — to us, that is. But when it comes to communicating the gospel message — or any other message for that matter, where we try to persuade people to incorporate that message into their lives — the very opposite is true. It means what they want (or at least perceive) it to mean. Whenever we try to communicate a message through words, actions, body language etc., the meaning that actually gets communicated is only what the receiver of that communication interprets it to mean. So, if we want to get our intended meaning over as accurately as possible, we need to understand the cultural and personal experience framework of our audience and how they are likely to perceive our message. Now, obviously, this can get to be pretty complicated. It's really much easier to let words "mean what we want them to mean" and leave it at that. But then, if it is important to us to get our intended meaning across, that just won't do. To reiterate what I've been saying, the meanings we want to communicate to someone else can never be communicated directly. We can only put those meanings into words, tone of voice, gestures, etc. and hope that the other person can decode all of that and put the meaning we intend to that message. But the person receiving that message can only do that within the framework of his or her own culture and personal experiences. When thought of in these terms, it is a wonder that God’s message, as interpreted by these fallible human instruments called “missionaries,” has gotten across cultural barriers as well as it has. Even in western culture, however, many misunderstand the biblical concept of sin, but traditionally at least, even if a person has not accepted Christ, subconsciously there is still the concept of doing something wrong that is wrong because it goes against some sort of absolute standards. Even if a callous conscience allows a person to do sinful things, there are still the underlying cultural norms that predispose such a person to understand when confronted with, “You are a sinner. You must get right with God. Repent and receive God’s forgiveness.” Now obviously, we can’t take for granted nearly as much as we used to that even in western cultures that approach will communicate what is intended. What happens, however, when this same approach is used in presenting the gospel to someone from a shame-oriented culture such as Japan? The concept of absolute standards revealed to humanity by God the Creator did not play any role in traditional Japanese culture. Instead, morality and ethics have been governed by their effect upon society or the family or other significant group. The difference between shame and guilt orientations is not that great when one is talking about crimes such as murder and robbery since these are clearly harmful to society. But the difference becomes much greater with the more subtle “sins.” So long as one’s actions do not bring shame to one’s group, then the psychological sanctions that would inhibit “sinful” actions are rather weak. From early childhood, children are disciplined with the phrase “warawareru yo” — “You’ll be laughed at.” In other words, “Your acting like that will produce shame.” In a group-oriented culture, this fear of shame provides for strong social control, but the tendency is towards a situational ethic type of thing where I don’t need to worry about it as long as nobody knows — as long as I do not bring shame on the family, etc. To give you a concrete example of how the fear of shame is used as a societal control mechanism, when you get or renew a driver’s license in Japan, you have to watch a dramatic presentation of an inattentive driver causing a bad accident and how the shame it brings on the whole family forces them to move to a new location in order to try to escape the shame. Suffice it to say that no matter how one categorizes Japanese culture with respect to shame and guilt, when it comes to communicating the gospel in traditional western concepts — such as all human beings being guilty as they stand before a holy God and therefore needing a Savior to take away their sin so that they can be made acceptable to God — when presented like that, adequate communication is rarely achieved. When there is no concept of a “Last Judgement” before an almighty, transcendent, holy God for the sins one has committed, then an evangelistic approach based on that — no matter how “biblical” and true it is — will bear little fruit, since the cultural soil has not been prepared to receive and nourish that kind of gospel seed. Thinking of this in terms of the analogy of the seed and the soil, which Jesus often used in his parables, the two possible approaches to overcoming this problem are to either find a more culturally acceptable kind of “gospel seed” or to work on the “soil” so that it can more readily accept the traditional western “seed.” The latter approach has been by far the more common of the two, and certainly it has not been without its successes. Many forms of indirect evangelism, such as through education and hospitals, have acted as a sort of “fertilizer” to make the native soil more receptive to the western-style seed. While this can be a good thing, the key to reaching people in such cultures lies more with the other approach. One Japanese seminary professor answered the question of how he became a Christian with, “First, I had to learn to think like a westerner.” Typically, however, that is not a realistic option for most people. Sin and the forgiveness of sin are central to the Christian message. But as I mentioned earlier, in the Japanese language, there is no distinction made between the concepts of sin and crime, and similar shame cultures as well. When it comes to Japan, Christian mission has had to limp along with no accurate translation for “sin” that gives it anywhere near its biblical meaning. Thus, for the typical Japanese with little or no biblical understanding, using this aspect of the gospel as one’s basic evangelistic approach will produce little fruit. Well, in thinking of how these linguistic and cultural barriers can be overcome, I've experimented with using an approach involving the concepts of “shame” and the “covering of shame” to present these same gospel truths. Shame is a very important aspect of Japanese culture, and it is also an important word in the Bible, as it appears in various forms in more than 200 verses. It is interesting to note that the bulk of these references occur in the Old Testament, where the Hebrew culture represented is a very group-oriented culture similar to Japanese culture in this and several other respects. One is struck by the fact that the Old Testament laws are filled with references to ritual uncleanness and defilement and how they can be cleansed. The shame of one was the shame of the entire group and was dealt with corporately. The rules of Leviticus detail the various rituals of cleansing and offerings that would cover the transgression or ritual defilement involved. Thus, sin itself was seen more in terms of defilement and uncleanness to be removed by purification than has usually been recognized in the West. These all point to a shame orientation rather than a guilt orientation, and thus shame is a far more important concept in the Bible than most western readers have been aware of. A look at a few references will give us an idea of how the Bible deals with the concept of shame. Traditionally, western theology has talked a great deal about the “original sin” that taints all of humankind. It is interesting to note, however, that the term “sin” does not even appear in the Genesis narrative until Chapter 4, when Cain kills Abel. The “Fall of Man” narrative does not use this word, but instead describes humankind’s disobedience of God in terms of the symbols of “shame” and “nakedness.” It is, of course, quite natural to talk of this event in terms of the guilt it caused because of their great sin of trying to “become like God,” that is, to become a god unto themselves. Even so, the Fall narrative makes very good sense in terms of its original concepts of disobedience, shame and nakedness before God. Thus, instead of “original sin,” might we not just as well formulate the effects of Adam and Eve’s disobedience in terms of “original shame?” After all, it is rather difficult to think of a newborn infant as “sinful,” since, to use the biblical symbolism, that child has no “filthy rags” of his or her own deeds yet. All of us, however, are born into this world totally naked — exposed before all — and that symbolism naturally points to humanity’s “original shame.” Hebrews 4:13 points to this when it says: “There is nothing that can be hid from God; everything in all creation is exposed naked and lies open before his eyes. And it is to him that we must all give an account of ourselves.” Returning to the symbolism of Adam and Eve’s physical nakedness, we can say that it also refers to their spiritual condition before God. Before their disobedience, they were in perfect harmony with their Creator and had nothing to hide. Afterwards, however, their feelings of shame led them to try to cover up with the only thing available to them — fig leaves! This is very symbolic of all humanity on the spiritual level, as we try to cover up our shame before God with our own efforts. It is just like trying to make clothes out of fig leaves. They fall apart at the first move! As the narrative continues, however, it is God who takes the first step to solve this dilemma. He does not banish Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden naked, but instead clothes them with “garments of skins.” This is only the first step in God’s great plan to solve this problem of shame and to restore harmony again to his creation. It does not say so specifically in the text, but it is obvious that animals had to be sacrificed in order to provide a symbolic means of covering Adam and Eve’s shame. From that time on, then, the ritual sacrifice of animals became a central part of the worship of God. With the establishment of the Levitical Law during the period of the Exodus, God instituted through Moses an intricate sacrificial system with various festivals and numerous kinds of sacrifices for a variety of situations. The purposes of these sacrifices were multifold, as they served as object lessons through which God could communicate truths about himself to this newly formed people. Some also served as reminders of God’s mighty acts in the past. They all, however, in some sense pointed back to that original sacrifice in the Garden of Eden, where God took the first step to cover humankind’s shame and restore harmony between himself and his creation. They also pointed ahead to that final sacrifice on that hill overlooking another garden, the one with a freshly hewn tomb, where God would complete what was necessary to give us eternal garments to cover our shame, our spiritual nakedness before him. Isaiah 61:10 uses the symbolism of being covered by the robe of righteousness to symbolize salvation. “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall exult in my God: for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness.” This verse is only one of many that use this symbolism of being covered by the “robe of righteousness” to describe salvation. On the other hand, then, our own righteousness in the presence of God, becomes nothing but “filthy rags.” Sin is often described in this very way. In Zechariah 3:3-4, it says: “Now Joshua was standing before the angel (of the Lord), clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to those who were standing before him, ‘Remove the filthy garments from him.’ And to Joshua he said, ‘Behold, I have taken your sin away from you, and I will clothe you with rich apparel.’” Here, the filthy garments symbolize sin, which God removes and replaces with his “robe of righteousness.” Shame is similar to this, except that instead of filthy rags, its symbolism involves the nakedness beneath those rags. In this sense, we can see that it is the more fundamental of the two. It cannot be removed but only covered. As we stand before God, if we say we have no sin, and in this symbolism take off our “filthy rags,” what is left is the shame of our nakedness. Either way, the only covering that will do the job is the robe of righteousness Christ offers us in faith. In Rev. 3, Christ counsels us to receive from him “white garments to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen.” Those “garments” are Christ’s “robe of righteousness” which we receive by faith. To go along with this theme of “shame and the covering of shame” (in contrast to “sin and the forgiveness of sin”), there are numerous other biblical themes and concepts that can be expressed in terms of themes found in Japanese culture — and indeed, in any culture. The Bible is filled with such a variety of symbolisms and stories that serve as vehicles for God’s message to humankind that it speaks to every culture when those seeking to communicate its message do so within the cultural framework of those they are trying to reach. I’ve used these concepts whenever I’ve had the opportunity to present the gospel message in Japanese sermons, etc., and numerous Japanese Christians have commented to me about how much more at home they feel with such a formulation, because it makes it sound so Japanese. One lady said to me that she only wished her late father had heard the gospel presented that way. He had been a seeker, but had stumbled, among other things, over the concept of original sin. Apparently, his interpretation of the message he had heard made it sound to him so utterly unreasonable that he “threw the baby out with the bath water.” I gather that he thought the doctrine of original sin taught that a newborn infant is inherently evil and a born criminal or something like that. Thus, as has been demonstrated repeatedly in the history of the Church, Christians can have a biblically grounded theology and still not be able to communicate that understanding to others in such a way that they are drawn closer to God. We must first understand what false preconceptions other people already have about God, Christian commitment, etc. and communicate our message in a way that doesn’t just reinforce those false preconceptions. And, of course, since our actions and lifestyle are an integral part of the message we communicate to others, that must also be in harmony with our words. In closing, I want us to focus back on how much richer our worship of God is when we acknowledge and celebrate the rich diversity of cultures God has created around his world. As Paul said in his discourse with the Athenians, “From one man he made all nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.” (Acts 17:26−27) And then there is that glorious description of the vision John saw concerning the close of this present age, when God creates the “New Heavens and the New Earth.” “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’” (Revelation 7:9-10) Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!
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Sermon title: “Lord, Teach Us to Pray” / Scripture: Luke 11:1-13 / Preacher: Rev. Claudia Genung7/24/2022 My friend in Hawaii has a very young daughter, Leilani, and she was around age six when I heard this story. She was very proud of herself because she had memorized The Lord’s Prayer. She told her mom one day that she even knew God’s name. Her mom asked her, “Really? You do? What it. It? The little girl said, “Harold.” Her mother asked her, “How do you know it is Harold?” Little Leilani said, “Our Father who are in heaven, “Harold be thy name…” ☺
When I was young, The Lord’s Prayer was one of the first prayers that I had memorized along with another prayer I said at bedtime which began with, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep….” Who taught you to pray? Your parents? Your grandparents? Your teacher? Your friend? A pastor? Have you ever taught anyone to pray? Children, perhaps? Or a friend? I’d be interested to know how you learned how to pray so you can email me. ☺ Memorized prayers can be a comfort when people lack the words to pray. I often talk about the breath prayer - a short prayer you say in a breath. But I also see value in praying scripture one has memorized or The Lord’s Prayer. Often when I visit people in the hospital, after we have prayed for whatever illness the person has, we will recite together The Lord’s Prayer. Praying a pray you know by heart can be comforting. It is also a prayer prayed for over 2000 years and was taught to us by Jesus so this makes it pretty special. There are so many ways to pray as I said in my last sermon (July 10th) on prayer. Sometime people might just pray a prayer without thinking deeply about it. But I believe a prayer prayed from the heart, be it memorized or not, is internalized within us and will still bring us closer to God. Let your prayers be your heart-language to God What I like about The Lord’s Prayer is it a prayer of a community and not of an individual. If you notice, the pronouns are plural. Our Father…not My Father. Let’s look at more examples. Give us…our daily bread…forgive us our trespasses (sins) as we forgive…. Lead us….deliver us… In today’s reading, in Luke 11:1, Jesus’ disciples, who often saw Jesus in prayer, ask him something. “One of His disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.” What follows in a short version of The Lord’s Prayer. The Lord’s Prayer longer version is found in Matthew 6:9-13 in the Sermon on the Mount. (That is the one we pray on Sundays.) Jesus taught his followers how to pray, and he made time for it himself, no matter what needs and demands pressed on him. Do we also make time to pray? John Wesley, who apparently spent three hours a day praying, and justified it by saying that he was so busy he couldn't possibly pray less. Our Father The Lord’s Prayer starts off with Father or Abba in Aramaic. However, when I was in the Holy Land for a Pastors’ Conference about 25 years ago, I remember overhearing people speaking Hebrew and using the word “Abba.” Many modern Israelis call their fathers Abba as one would use "Dad" or "Daddy" in English. Jesus uses Abba in his prayer. “Abba” is used only three times in the New Testament—Mark 14:36, Romans 8:15, and Galatians 4:6. Something interesting I found in my sermon prep was that some scholars believe Abba does not mean “Daddy” which I thought it did but is more of a word for “Father” implying obedience. (https://rsc.byu.edu/vol-6-no-1-2005/why-abba-new-testament) So maybe it is something like, “Father, I will obey you” “Jesus prayed Abba as a word of intimacy and obedience…. But Abba is not just a feeling word, but also a discipleship word.” (https://himpublications.com/blog/meaning-abba/) I have another interpretation, theologians Amy-Jill Levine and Ben Witherington III in their book, The Gospel of Luke, suggests that the term “Father” is possibly political. For in 2 BCE, “the emperor Augustus accepted the title “pater patriae”, “father of the fatherland.” To call the God of Israel “Father” thus indicates that the emperor of Rome is not the ‘father’ to whom one prays or on whom one relies” (Amy-Jill Levine and Ben Witherington III, The Gospel of Luke, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018), pg. 132312.) Jesus starting the prayer with “Father, hallowed be your name,” is a way he completely destroys the power of the emperor and honors God instead. I never knew that this word “Abba” could be so packed with meaning! “Your kingdom come they will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” I have mentioned before in my sermons that I prefer the word “kin-dom” since we are all “kin” or God’s family. We are a community. We are striving for a kin-dom of justice and compassion, love and liberation for all people. It is a call for us here on earth to bring about God’s reign and God’s “shalom” just “as it is in heaven.” We don’t just think of heaven as somewhere we will go to be with God when we die – that is true – but let’s look at what are we going to do in the meantime. We can work together to bring “heaven” to this world. When we pray “your will be done on earth,” we are praying that God’s will for shalom - for peace and justice and compassion – to be manifest in our world. (e.g. with international relations, governmental actions, our churches, in our community, etc.) It is something we can work for and pray for and hope for now in our world. God can do God’s will by using us. I am reminded of the words of Teresa of Avila, “Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.” “Give us this day our daily bread…” Bread was a staple back in the time of Jesus. Bread then was like rice is for Asia. Bread was usually barley bread and eaten at every meal. “Grain for bread was ground by the women on two grinding stones, the lower one fixed, the upper one rotating the grain was mixed with water, and then fermented dough, kept for this purpose, was kneaded into the dough, which was left to rise. Then the thin, flat circles of dough were slapped onto the hot stones in the fire, or placed in a bread oven if the family had one.” (Food: What People Ate In Nazareth. https://www.jesus-story.net/food-in-nazareth/) “Daily bread” reminded me of the manna the Hebrews were fed in the wilderness, and how they were only to collect a day’s ration, (except on the day before the Sabbath, when they were to collect enough for the next day as well). If they took more than their daily’s quota of manna, it would spoil. This challenges us to limit our own consumption to what we really need. If we take more than the rest of the world with our resources, then we perhaps better rethink our lifestyles. Jesus is also referred to himself in scripture as “the Bread of Life” (Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.--John 6:35.) Bread is life. Jesus is life. I realize all the many ways I am fed by the bread by God. Time with God is what sustains me. I am nourished by prayer and God’s Holy Spirit. "And forgive us our trespasses (sins), as we forgive those who trespass (sin) against us." Asking God to forgive us may be easy but asking others to forgive or to forgive others is not so easy. Jesus says we will forgive not that we should forgive. For some, it takes time to forgive and cannot be rushed. There are cases where the crimes were so horrendous that forgiveness might be a difficult challenge. We forgive not just for the other person. We forgive for ourself. A friend of mine in Hawaii had a daughter who was killed and it took my friend sometime before she could forgive the person who had done this to her daughter. She did it for herself so she would not carry the hate within her for the rest of her life. A son of another friend in California had his life ruined by cyberbullying but he forgave and moved on. However, he also sought justice for the crime committed. Many of us have stories or testimonies of forgiveness or when we have forgiven. There is not a day that goes by that we should not be mindful of the forgiveness, grace, and compassion of God. Our sins have been forgiven and we have already been set free. We can pray for God’s grace, especially to have a forgiving heart. There are a number of scriptures about forgiveness in the Bible - on our forgiveness and forgiving others. They are not had to find. Here are a few. (e.g. “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” -- Matthew 6:14. “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”-- Colossians 3:13. “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” –Mark 11:25. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” –1 John 1:9) Forgiveness is about letting go of the anger and any desire for revenge. We will struggle to forgive unless we have been given have God's strength. (Psalm 29:11). The Lord’s Prayer in Luke 11 is followed by a parable. This parable is about a friend who goes to a close neighbor in the middle of the night to ask for bread for another friend who has just showed up in the middle of the night. Maybe he wasn’t expected until later or the following day. But this friend is there and he is hungry and there is not enough bread in the house to feed him. A big problem in those days. Hospitality was so important back in the days of Jesus and is still important in the Holy Land. I recall when I was in Israel at a Palestinian’s home, the family gave me drink and food and they didn’t even really know me! So that when a guest arrives— even unexpected, even at midnight —hospitality must be extended. So when the man in the story finds himself without enough bread for his guest, he goes to a friend and asks to borrow some, even though he must wake up his friend’s entire household. Back then, doors had big beams to close them and everyone slept in one room so it would have been quite noisy to remove the beam and open the door. “Do not bother me,” the friend answers from within his house. “The door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything” (Luke 11:7). We might think the person knocking on the friend’s door is rude but back in those days it was the person who was not answering his door who was considered rude because he was not helping out his neighbor. He needs help to meet the requirements of hospitality. The woken-up friend would incur dishonor if he failed to help his neighbor in this obligation. Jesus says that the man will eventually respond to his friend’s request, not because he is a friend, but because of his friend’s persistence. (Luke11:8). So he will respond. Jesus’ parable shows us that we can be persistent in prayer. You should not give up so easily but trust God! God will help us and give us what is good. God wants to hear our prayers. God never tires of hearing our prayers. God will respond but not always in the way we expect. But keep praying. Jesus continues in today’s scripture with these words, “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened” (Luke 11:9-10). This is passage is difficult and raises some questions. Why? Well, because our experience contradicts Jesus’ words. So often we, or someone we know, has asked and not received; searched and not found. We may have prayed hard for someone or a situation and we do not visibly see improvement. Here are some examples: We prayed hard but we lost Pastor Chuck to cancer. I lost a good friend to a senseless accident when she fell down her stairs going to her basement. The Marletts in our church lost a 5 ½ year old daughter to an incurable illness. Out of these incidences some incredible things from God have happened later on. But what about our world? We still have gun violence in so many parts of the world. There is hunger, drought, and floods. In spite of the fervent prayers of people around the world, the war rages on in Ukraine. If God is like a loving parent who desires to give what is good and life giving (John 11:11-13), why do so many prayers seem to go unanswered? I talked about this in my sermon on July 10th and there is no simple answer to this question. Scripture bears witness to God’s will that we will have peace, everyone have enough to eat, and that violence and war cease. When? We do not know. But we can work for God’s kin-dom to come now. God does hear our prayers and God answers but maybe not in the way we want or expect. But we can persistently pray to God for change in this world. We can do prayer and take action. John Wesley once said that “pray and action” go together. One way to take action is to help others. We can actually do prayer in action. We are a community of faith and have been taught as Christians to love another. If there is a need, help. A simple example is the story told by Mr. Rogers, who was an educator for young children on public television from 1968 to 2001 (He was also a Presbyterian minister.) He said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news,” “my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” This was a comfort for children. As for us who are adults, God will guide us to be one of the helpers. Your actions and service can also be part your prayers. We are a community and when we pray The Lord’s Prayer, we are connected with our world. If we are to pray The Lord’s Prayer as prayer as we do each Sunday at KUC and perhaps also in your own homes, then we must understand that God intends to use us for the goodness of this world. God intends to use us for the sake of humanity. God intends to use us so that all people can be part of shalom and wholeness and peace. We can pray and make our world a better place - “...on earth as it is in heaven.” God can use us. We are God’s hands and feet. We are the helpers in the world. We are the one who persist in prayer. We are the ones who can make changes with prayer. I pray we will all be used by God. Ask yourself the next time you pray, where does God intend to use you right now? Listen for his answer. “For thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the glory forever.” Amen. Sermon tite: “Boundaries” Luke 10:38-42 (NRSVUE) July 17, 2022 Preacher: Rev. Akiko Van Antwerpen7/17/2022 Let us pray. Lord, as we listen to you, help us to turn our attention to your Word. Help us not be distracted. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.
I don’t know how many of you are familiar with the calendar of the Christian year. I’ve asked for it to be put up on screen here any second now and, if you look at it here, you can see that we’re in this larger season after Pentecost, which is called “Ordinary Time.” During a year in the life of the church, there are three major holiday seasons we celebrate: Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. And each of these seasons highlight one particular aspect of the Christian journey. During the Christmas season, we celebrate the fact that God is with us, the fact that Jesus Christ, Emannuel, which means “God with us,” came to participate in the human experience in a way that we could connect with and understand. Our God chose to come in the form of a human, just to be with us. During the Easter season, we celebrate the fact that God is for us. We realize in this time that we are sinful, that we are a people who cannot form a direct relationship with God on our own, because we are a people who can’t make salvation happen for ourselves. What was necessary for us to be saved was for Jesus who knew or committed no sin to be hung on the cross to die for us so that, through his death, we can be once again reconnected to the goodness of Almighty God. During the Pentecost season, we celebrate the fact that God is in us, God’s own spirit is poured out on us and lives within us even now. Because God has made a dwelling within our hearts, minds, and bodies, we are continually renewed, given the ability to strive to be more Christlike every day. So while these are the major celebrations, the seasons we mark in the faith journey of each Christian year, you’ve probably noticed something interesting about these seasons. These major seasons; Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost; seem awfully short for something that’s called a “season,” don’t they? In fact, these big green parts which are marked as the “Ordinary Time” sure seem to be much longer. As you can see, the “Ordinary Time” makes up the largest portion of the church calendar. And right away we can start to understand that while the “big moments” such as Christmas, Easter and Pentecost in our Christan year are important, in our overall journey, that time after the arrival of Jesus, the time after the salvation of Easter morning, the time after the descent of God’s own Spirit; these times are just as important too. It’s mid-July now and as you can see from the image on the screen and I said earlier, we are in the time called “Ordinary Time.” . While the name might cause you to think that this time is nothing special, it’s actually very important to our lives as Christians. As humans, we love to mark the big days of the year, like Christmas, Easter and Pentecost, and in the same way we like to mark Sunday as the big day of the week too - the day when we set aside our daily routines of the week and come together to worship God, study the Word deeply, and be in prayerful fellowship with all of God’s family. But as important as these times are, ordinary time is just as important. What we say and do in our daily lives, when we’re not at church, really matters. The relationships we have at home, at school, at work; these ordinary relationships matter. In today’s Scripture, Jesus enters into the everyday life of two women named Mary and Martha, sisters living in a town called Bethany, a few miles outside of Jerusalem. While he’s on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus stops by their home for a visit. In the 1st century Middle East, having a guest over was kind of a big deal, requiring a great deal of preparation which was typically put on the shoulders of the women in a household. Martha, as was expected of a woman in those days, was busy doing all the things that would need to be done in order to properly welcome Jesus and his followers into the house; all the hospitality, meal preparation, and everything else that might be necessary. Her sister Mary, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be busy at all. She’s just hanging out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, and listening to all the things Jesus is saying. (Luke 10:39) Seeing this, Martha complains to Jesus that it isn’t fair that she’s the only one doing all the work, and she even criticizes Mary for leaving her to do all the work needed to host Jesus and the others. (Luke 10:40) In her frustration, this is what Martha says to Jesus: “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?” (Luke 10:40) In Martha’s mind, Mary isn’t doing anything, just chilling and hanging out with Jesus, skipping all the hard work so she can just do the easy and fun stuff. But, for just a moment, let’s step back and think about the time and place where today’s Scripture passage takes place. In the 1st century Middle East, women were expected to handle all the household tasks, and when a guest arrived, it would be the women who would prepare everything in the house, including cooking the food, while the guests were present. In those days, men and women were not supposed to mingle at all, and definitely not while there were still preparations to be made. (https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-16-3/commentary-on-luke-1038-42-3) And what’s more, taking a position at the feet of Jesus was a significant act; taking that place was assuming the position of a disciple, listening directly to the Master, Teacher’s instruction, in a place was also reserved only for men. But, as you can see in today’s passage from the book of Luke, Jesus is perfectly happy to break this cultural practice, and doesn’t turn away a woman from sitting at his feet. And in this space, not only is Jesus’ permission important, but Mary was doing something significant too. She wasn’t just chilling, hanging out and having fun with Jesus and the guys. In this space reserved for men, she was being actively present, studying the Word of Christ and learning how to be a disciple. And Jesus totally welcomes that! Jesus welcomes Mary into this traditionally male space, and accepts her presence as a student, learning more about his ways. In this way, their relationship is publicly defined as that of a teacher and a student. Mary sits at Jesus’ feet and listens, showing that in Jesus’ world there is no boundary between the worlds of men and women. Everyone is welcome to come to Him and learn. So, while this powerful, radical thing is happening in the living room, Martha is in the kitchen totally missing out on this big-picture moment. She doesn’t actually even seem to realize that anything important is even happening! And this is because Martha is distracted. Her focus isn’t on what Jesus is saying, or what Jesus is doing; it’s somewhere else entirely. Her focus is on Mary’s behavior, what Mary isn’t doing right, and how Jesus is making no effort to correct Mary’s wrong behavior. Martha actually confronts Jesus directly, saying that he doesn’t seem to care about how overworked Martha is, how overwhelmed she is with all the things she is asked to do. She asks Jesus to tell Mary to get back in the kitchen and come help her! And how does Jesus respond to that? Jesus calls out…Martha. He points out that she is distracted, and not by just one thing…but by many things. (Luke 10:40-41) It’s interesting, I think, that Jesus so easily calls Martha out for being distracted, but Martha herself doesn’t have that level of awareness. In fact, from her perspective, she’s doing all good things, all the hard work necessary to serve the Lord. Martha says “my sister left me to do all the work by myself.” (Luke 10:40) The word used here for “work” in the Greek, actually means serving. In Martha’s mind, everything that she is doing is a service to her Lord, Jesus Christ. She is doing all good things, in service to God! She doesn’t even phrase it as “work,” but as a kind of service - acts of charity and kindness done for the Lord, centered around welcoming Jesus and all those who came to listen to his teaching. She’s serving! But Jesus calls all her service just a distraction; something unnecessary, which doesn’t really serve either his needs, or the needs of his people. Jesus makes the point, at the end of this story, saying that Mary chose the better part (Luke 10:42). Mary chose this one thing, the only thing that she ever needed to do to make Jesus feel welcome in her home. And that thing wasn’t necessarily welcoming people in that human way, by meeting their needs and making sure they have everything they want, but by welcoming Jesus in her heart and mind, by listening and learning at the feet of Jesus. That choice between welcoming and teaching can be tough and, in a church community, this choice can be a source of tension. As followers of Jesus, we welcome all people - young and old, men and women, black, white, yellow, brown, Christians or not Christians, single, divorced, married, criminal, poor, widowed, disabled - everyone. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that in order to welcome them, we ignore Jesus sitting right there in the living room. It doesn’t mean that we burn ourselves out trying to accommodate every want and need that might arise in our community. It doesn’t mean that we have to respond to every single comment, complaint and request that arises in our community. It is Jesus who breaks down those boundaries, and welcomes everyone to sit at his feet. First and foremost, our task is to listen to God, pay attention to the teachings of Jesus, and carefully discern what exactly we are called to focus on in our community at the moment. Sometimes, a church faces challenges when we focus too much on doing every little thing we can to make people feel comfortable and welcome in our house. Don’t get me wrong; I am very aware of the importance of the radical welcome Jesus showed in allowing Mary to cross those cultural boundaries and take her place at Jesus’ feet as a student. But my point is this: while we invest ourselves in being a wonderfully welcoming community, the boundary between being a welcoming community and being a community who focuses on welcoming is so very thin. If we invest ourselves too much in filling every cup, answering every little complaint, making sure that everyone feels comfortable, and making sure that everyone gets exactly what they want, soon enough, we will have missed the chance to listen to Jesus while we were busy focusing on these things instead. Think about what happened to Martha. She thought that all the serving she was doing was so important, so absolutely vital that she couldn’t drop anything. In fact, she even asked Jesus to tell Mary to help her because she couldn’t risk anything not getting done. This kind of desperation is what Jesus calls “worry”. Jesus says in Luke 10:41, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things.” Worry is a powerful feeling, a kind of desperation which can blind us, and take our focus away from the things we should be focused on. It makes us feel as though we have no other choice but to keep doing what we’ve been doing or, even worse, somehow try to do more than we’ve been doing. When the church begins to decline in membership, when finances start to look tight, it’s quite understandable that there would be worry. Is our church going to be ok? Is it ever gonna grow again? Many churches around the world, even before the pandemic, have been experiencing this anxiety. I hear this concern echoed by other communities in my denomination, and even other union churches and, let’s face it, we have the same concern for our church too. When we’re wrapped up in this kind of worry, it can be very tempting to try to offer more programs, add more options, and try to accommodate and respond to every single need expressed by every single person in the community. When we find that people like something, there’s a temptation to do that thing even more - to keep doing only what people like. When people say they felt challenged by something, or that they didn’t like something, out of that desperate worry that we might lose even more, we’re tempted to pull back from doing that thing, whether the thing that challenged people was actually good for their spiritual growth or not. Soon enough, rather than being a church which focuses on the teachings of Jesus and acts on them, inviting everyone to share in the welcome that Jesus himself extends to us all, we can become a social club instead, doing only those things that people like, and avoiding anything that people don’t like. The simple truth is that we are not God. We have to remember that we are not Christ; it’s not up to us to accommodate every want and need of God’s people. And while we are a church which is welcome and open to all, that welcome doesn’t come from us. It comes from Jesus, and is made real as we listen to the teachings of Jesus, and do as he taught us to do. Welcoming people is important to us because it is what Jesus taught us to do, not because it’s a good way to get people to come back to our church. As members of the church, members of the body of Christ, our role isn’t to connect people to ourselves, to our human ways of thinking and doing, but to connect them to the teachings of Jesus, and to give people support to help them follow those teachings. This is the hard truth of our Christian journey. We are not here to say yes to everything. In fact the Scripture is clear. We are to let our yes be yes, and our no be no. (Matthew 5:37) Drawing boundaries, discerning where our focus ought to be, and prioritizing accordingly is not un-Christian. But oftentimes we think that way, because we feel like saying no is unloving. But, as we see in today’s text, and as Jesus warns us, there are distractions in this world. There are ways of thinking, expectations, and worries that can distract us from hearing the teachings of Jesus, and which can tempt us away from following his teachings. They blur our focus, and make it hard for us to know how to choose the better things for our spiritual growth. This also means that sometimes, we receive a ‘no’ in the church community. Sometimes we have to say no to things, and sometimes we have to accept receiving a ‘no’ from people for the things we ask for, for the things we desire for ourselves. As a church we have to discern well whether the classes, activities, and opportunities we offer are indeed spiritually nourishing people. Are people feeling welcomed and accepted for who they are in our community, or just being invited to activities they might enjoy? Because this detail is very important. We need to create a base of trust, love, kindness and respect for one another before we get on the hard journey of learning and following Jesus teachings. But once that base has been established, we need to keep asking the larger question; Are people being challenged in their complacency, being confronted in how they are living their lives, and inspired to reform the actions of their faith when they aren’t in line with Jesus’ teachings? Are people being encouraged to choose and live differently, and are they getting all the support they need to do so? If not, if all we are doing is just encouraging the status quo, then we’re no better off than Martha, doing all the distracting things that were expected of her. Sometimes, we have to be willing to let go of things, to let things change, and to say no to things. But as Christians, how we do that is very important. Look at how Jesus confronted Martha. He didn’t nudge her, nor did he tell her exactly what to do in that moment. He simply stated the fact that Martha was worried and distracted by many things. Using Mary’s example, Jesus indicated there was an entirely different way of being and serving the Lord in that time and place. Jesus did not tell Martha what to do, but let her choose her own priorities in the end. Are we a church community that encourages each other to choose what is the better thing for our spiritual growth? Are we a supportive community that encourages people to reach for maturity in their faith, challenging preconceptions and expectations so that we can all sit together at the feet of Jesus, listening to his teachings? Removing distractions in our spiritual journey and growth is not easy. We all have something that distracts us from focusing and following the teachings of Jesus, both as individuals and as a church community. But I want us all to remember that Jesus loved both Martha and Mary equally (John 11:5), even though he had to call Marth out for her distraction. I hope we can be a community that is comfortable calling out distractions lovingly, challenging ourselves boldly, and choosing to focus on Jesus, even when there’s a million other things we feel like we can do. Let us pray, Lord, your truth can be hard sometimes. You always ask us to choose the better thing, to challenge ourselves so that we can become more like you. Help us to discern, Lord, what that better thing is for us as your children individually, and also as a church community. Unite our mind with your will for us and for our church. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen. (inspiration and parts of this sermon are from http://stmichaelsgideapark.org.uk/sermons/how-to-pray-differently-colossians-11-14/ (In addition, for a good over view of Colossians, please see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXTXlDxQsvc)
A number of years ago, a movie called “War Room” was popular among Christians. Did anyone see it? It came out in August 2015. I do not know how popular it was in the theaters in Japan among the Japanese speaking people but it became one of the highest-grossing Christian film in the United States. I will show a short clip towards the end of my sermon. In 2016, Robin Shaw, who was our KUC’s Women’s Ministry leader back then, led a prayer and study group on Rokko Island for KUC’s Oasis Women’s Bible Study on “War Room.” They used the “War Room study guide and watched the movie. The women were touched by the prayer life of Miss Clara, the elderly woman depicted in the movie. I will share just a little of the story. Miss Clara had a special closet in her home that she had dedicated to praying, which she called her “War Room.” She was doing spiritual battle by praying for people and the world in that small room which was really a closet. In the movie, she says she shares her prayer life in that room because “in order to stand up to the enemy, you need to get on your knees and prayer!” In this movie, Miss Clara prays for a family who seem to have everything - nice house, good jobs, lots of money and a a cute little daughter but things are not as they seem on the outside because the parents are really broken badly on the inside. So, Miss Clara does what she is does best -which is praying! And she does not stop praying for this family throughout the whole film. We all need someone who prays for us. I hope you have someone who has not stopped praying for you. I pray that we will not stop praying for one another. We pray as a church community as an individuals. And I pray that we will not stop praying for our world. All prayers are all heard by God. Prayer changes things. Prayer is a priority for our lives. Rev. Daniel Kirk at St. Michael’s Church said that someone has said: ‘If you want to discover a person’s real life priorities, there are two questions to ask: what do you spend most money on, and what do you most often pray for yourself and others?’ Apostle Paul’s spending habits are not known to us. However, his praying habits are known to us through his letters to the churches that he wrote to at the time. Prayer was a priority. We can safely say that Paul was a man of prayer. He prays for the Colossians in verse 9, “…we have not stopped praying for you.” That is where I got my sermon title for today. In today’s reading, Paul begins his prayer with gratitude to God. Paul talks about his disciple, Epaphras who was one of Paul’s disciples and who is the one who brought the Gospel to the Colossian Church. You could say that Epaphras is their spiritual father and shepherd. Paul describes him as a “dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ.” Paul writes in verses 6-8, say, “…the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world… You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.” Paul knows that Epaphras has taught them well. Paul loves and respects Epaphras. Paul, who referred to him as a “fellow servant,” “faithful minister,” and “servant of Christ Jesus” (Colossians 1:7; 4:12). In earlier days, Epaphras had apparently been imprisoned while in Rome visiting Paul so they were companions in prison as well. Paul says, “Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings” (Philemon 1:23) In his letter, Paul told the Colossians about how Epaphras truly cared for their spiritual growth. Epaphras had committed to praying for the Colossians, “always wrestling in prayer for [them]” (Colossians 4:12). It seemed Epaphras wanted the Colossian Christians to stand firm in their prayer life, stand firm in their convictions and stand firm in their faith. Paul gave testimony that Epaphras was working hard for the church in Colossae, just as he was for the believers in Laodicea and Hierapolis (“I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis.” (Colossians 4:13). Aside from the letter to the Colossians, Epaphras’s name shows up in Paul’s personal letter to Philemon. : “Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings” (Philemon 1:23) Epaphras may not be so well known to us but he certainly was important to Paul. The book of Colossians (aka the Epistle to the Colossians) consists of only four chapters but has a lot to say. Pastor Akiko preached from Colossians last week and I choose it for this week. Coincidence? God-incidence? Well, maybe but one reason is that we just finished studying it in WOW (Women on Wednesday). At WOW, we did a chapter a week for four weeks. Another reason is that Pastor Akiko and I pray about what we will preach on and we were led through the Holy Spirit to choose these verses. Each week is spent in prayer for our sermon preparation. We value prayer prep. For sermons. Paul knows the value of pray. Indeed, he is the one who said, “pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) “Pray without ceasing,” Paul said; “in everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Do not quench the Spirit.” (1 Thes. 5:17–19.) I agree! Do not quench the Spirit and pray! Give thanks to God not matter what happens and pray! Back in those days, Rome’s subjects were worshipping the Roman Empire and the Roman emperor. However, Paul says his only allegiance was to Christ not to Ceasar. Paul and the Christians worshipped Jesus and no other deities. Like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a theologian during the time of Nazi Germany (who also wrote a book called The Cost of Discipleship), Paul knew how costly it was to believe in Jesus Christ at that time. It was counter-cultural. To be a Christian might cost one his or her life. Especially because the Colossians were rejecting all the other gods and worshipping Jesus. This letter to the Colossians challenges us. What is the cost to be a Christians nowadays? It teaches us today is that Jesus really is Lord and we are to not only to pray but to dedicate our whole lives to Jesus. Paul gives thanks for successful evangelism and prays for their spiritual growth and he prays for deepening discipleship. (verses 3-14) Evangelism and Discipleship are words we hear at KUC. Both are important and go hand-in-hand. We have a ministry called E&D ministry which Roy Mislang is now leading. If you have E&D ideas, talk to Roy as he is happy to hear from you. We pray for all our ministries at KUC and that they will be “bearing fruit in every good work…” (Colossians 1:10). Let us bear fruit in our ministries at KUC! When I did a slow meditative reading of Colossians, I did what was called Lectio Divina which means “divine reading” in Latin. It's a meditative way of reading the Bible letting the Holy Spirit guide you. This phrase Colossians spoke to me from the Spirit: ‘The love that they had for all God’s people’ (v.4) The words “love” and “for all God’s people” were what I kept coming back to in my meditation. They loved one another and they also loved others. The faith of the Colossian Christians had produced “love for all people” which they could do through the Holy Spirit (verse 8). That is how we can love one another. Through praying that the Holy Spirit shows us. There are so many verses in the Bible about loving one another. (John 15:12) “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. (Luke 6:31) Do to others as you would have them do to you. (Corinthians 16:14) Do everything in love.) Back then, Christianity was viewed as strange and an odd religion because not only did they not worship Roman Gods but they also really loved one another. They shared things among themselves and gave to the poor. They also showed love for their fellow human beings and not just for other Christians. Larry Hurtado, an American New Testament scholar, historian of early Christianity explains how Christianity was viewed by the pagans in ancient Rome: “In the eyes of many of that time, early Christianity was odd, bizarre, and in some ways even dangerous. For one thing, it did not fit with what ‘religion’ was for people then. Indicative of this, Roman-era critics designated it as a perverse ‘superstition.’” (Larry Hurtado, Destroyer of the gods (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2016), 2-3. Rev. Daniel Kirk said, “One of the Roman emperors complained that the Christians not only loved and helped their poor but also the pagan poor in a way other pagans didn’t.“ This was very unusual at the time to love others who were not in the same group. But Christian were like family (kin) and also extended their love and kindness to others as well. In other parts of the Bible Paul had said “Do good to all” “especially (note: not only) to the household of faith” (Gal 6.10). Early Christians benevolence extends further out. “Do not return evil for evil, but always pursue the good to one another and to all” (1 Thess 5.15). The love and compassion of early Christians was (quote) “radical and costly and impacted their society deeply.” (Rev. Daniel Kirk) Love for those who are different from us (be they Christian or not) is so counter to human nature that it surely points to this being from the Holy Spirit’s work. It is not easy to do and can only be done by prayer. We often do not love those who think differently from us. We are asked in scripture to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. (Matthew 5:44) When we bear grudges and can’t forgive others or hurt one another, we are not following the words of Jesus. Paul thanks God for the ‘Hope stored up for them in heaven’ (v.5.) Christians are people of hope. Our hope is in Jesus. We have hope that if we live as followers of Christ we can change society. We have hope that the gospel – the good news of Jesus - is spreading and “bearing fruit all over the world” (verse 6). We have hope that lives will be transformed by the love of Christ. We have hope for a world of peace. Prayer and hope can help us to grow spiritually. Paul wanted the Colossians to grow spiritually. Therefore, Paul kept on praying for them. We can keep praying for one another. That is what we can do as a church - keep on praying and hoping. As Pastor Chuck often said, “Let us be better than before.” Do not stop praying. Pray as much as you can and also for our church. Let us hope for and pray for us to be better. John Wesley once said, “we going on to perfection” but we have not made it. But as people of hope, we can continue to live better than before and hope for change. Here is our mission statement written on the our KUC Constitution and By Laws: “Kobe Union Church is an interdenominational, primarily English-speaking church, serving the love and needs of Christians through worship, fellowship and nurture, and empowering its members to serve and share Christ among those living in Japan and throughout the world.” The vision is “To be a grace filled and Christ led church that is welcoming, growing and sending body of Christian believers in Kobe.” This mission and vision cannot be accomplished unless we pray. This mission and vision may be adapted and change as we grow. If we want to grow as Christians, if we want as a church to make an impact on our community we need to grow in our understanding of what God’s purposes are for us are. This comes with prayer. This comes with ongoing spiritual disciplines of reading scripture and prayer. To grow spiritually we need to be constant in our searching for God, spending time in the scriptures and in prayer with God. Then we will live meaningful, purposeful lives that honor God. Let’s look at a clip form the movie “War Room” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WpfkFyG5qQ 0.34 to 2.55 In watching this scene, we are reminded that we are standing in the need of prayer. The film puts it this way, that we are in spiritual warfare so we need to pray. Paul was well aware of that as he wrote his letters. Jesus taught his followers in Mt 6.6: ‘…when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father in heaven, who is unseen…’ I believe you can pray anytime, anywhere, any place with each breath you take. Pray can be done everywhere. But, for some people, it might also be nice to have a special place to prayer. Years ago, there was a KUC church member who is now living in another country. She had a special room to pray and put scriptures all over the wall in it. It was her bathroom. She said it was the quietest room in her apartment and she could pray without being disturbed. Other people that I know have made a special corner of their bedroom or somewhere in the house to put a cross, a candle, and a Bible as a sacred place to center themselves and pray. Some people like to go outside to do prayer walks. There are many ways to pray and many styles of prayer. Other ideas are to find a prayer partner, or, small prayer group. There are also opportunities within our church community to pray. Last night from 6 to 8pm, Takayo and Ayami, along with some other church people gathered downstairs in Gamblin Hall to pray and sing their praises for Jesus. They are hoping to make “Praise for Jesus” a monthly event so talk to them if interested in praying and singing together for Jesus. Music and singing is also a form of prayer! We are all in need of prayer! Let us pay a pray adapted from and based on Colossians 1:3-5, 9-11. “We thank you God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, because we know of the faith in Christ Jesus of this community of Kobe Union Church and of the love they have for God’s people— their faith and love which springs from the hope stored up for them in heaven and about which they have already heard in the true message of the gospel that came to them. For this reason, since the day we heard about KUC, we have not stopped praying. We continually ask you to fill Kobe Union Church with the knowledge of your will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that they may live lives worthy of you Lord and please you in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of You, being strengthened with all power according to Your glorious might so that they may have great endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks to you, their Father”. We ask this in Jesus Christ’s name. Amen.” Let us pray. Lord, let the words of my mouth and meditations of our hearts together this morning be pleasing in your sight O Lord, your are our rock and redeemer. By your Spirit, help us to die to ourselves and rise again with you. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
It is July! And it’s hot!!! I hope everyone is doing ok despite everything that is happening in our world. As far as the life of the church goes, there are a couple of things happening here at KUC that speak of new beginnings. First, we have a new staff member in the church office! Ted, who preached in our worship on Father’s Day last month, is now working as the facilities and property manager for our community. We also have a newly-elected council, which began their term of service on July 1st. We hope to be able to introduce the new members of council in an upcoming worship service, so we can pray for them and give our support as they take on God’s calling to church leadership. All these new beginnings makes me think back to when I first started studying and working in America. When I was 20 years old, I went to America to attend college, and that was certainly a new beginning for me! New country, new town, new friends, and a new school - everything was new! In Japan, I had been living with my parents and my older brother while attending a Japanese university but, in America, I was on my own, away from my family, living in a college dormitory and sharing a room with someone I had never met. I loved this new beginning! I had always wanted to study abroad in an English-speaking country, ever since I first discovered how much I enjoyed learning English. But it was more than just wanting to study and improve my English; I wanted to study everything I could in English. I loved how direct the English language was - very different from my native Japanese, where many of the details are intentionally left vague, abstract, and indirect. It was almost like I unlocked a whole new version of myself when I spoke in English. I was more direct, more confident, and more assertive, and I started to discover that I liked this version of myself better than who I was when I spoke Japanese. Things hadn’t been working out so well with my life in Japan before this. Back home, I had been struggling with some level of hikkikomori, social withdrawal syndrome. Looking back, I think I was already struggling with depression, though I hadn’t yet been diagnosed with it. I found myself dwelling in places of sadness, often feeling hopeless. I hid the fact that I felt no real joy in my life, which made it very hard to be authentic. I didn’t want to go to school, or spend time with friends. Deep inside, I didn’t want to have any social interactions of any kind, so I hid myself away as much as possible so I could avoid interacting with people. So, in the midst of this dark time in my life, I thought that going to America would change everything! In those days, the only times that I really liked who I was was when I spoke English, so I thought that if I just lived in an English speaking country I could be like this permanently, and things would only get better. Of course one challenge lay in the fact that my parents wanted me to stay in Japan, concerned about the safety of living alone in a foreign country. To make a long story short, after about a year of begging and pleading, trying to convince my parents to let me go, they finally gave their approval and decided to support me in moving to America. So, I packed up my stuff, and transferred to a college in Missouri. And, it turned out, life in America was so great! As I mentioned early, I was in a new country, a new town, with new friends, new routines and a new apartment - a new everything, including a new me! All the challenges that I associated with my life in Japan, my hikkikomori, my depression, all these things were gone now that I was in America. I could live my life as a brand-new Akiko! There was no one here who knew who I had been in the past, so I could create a new me in whatever way I wanted! But this new, positive, happy me didn’t last long because, soon after I arrived in America, my mother started to get sick. And only 10 months after I moved to America, my mother died. This loss brought back my depression, and brought it back hard. Now I had to come face-to-face with what was lying deep within my heart, and confront the root cause of my sadness and depression, rather than just running away to a new country. When we hear words like “new” or “newness,” it is easy to imagine this as a complete departure from our past, a separation from who and what we are now. We think that “new” means building something completely from scratch, starting over. This idea of “newness” can easily give us the illusion that, because everything is new now, that the problems of the past are gone and things will work perfectly from here on out. Our Christian faith is all about being made new! When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are made new! As 2nd Corinthians 5:17 says “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.” When we become Christian, we say goodbye to our former ways of being, and build a new identity in Christ. In today’s Scripture reading, the writer of this letter, Paul, talks about being made new in terms of the contrast between the old self and the new. Paul reminds the people of Colossae, a Mediterranean city under Roman occupation with a growing community of Christians who had accepted faith in Christ only a few decades after Jesus' resurrection, about one of the important lessons in the Christian journey. That is, that being made new in Christ through faith is just the beginning of the journey! Paul says in Colossians 3:9-10, “you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self…” I think it is interesting that Paul contrasts the old self and new self, but, Paul does NOT contrast old practices and new practices. Do you see here, how Paul says “you have stripped off the old self with its practices….and have clothed yourselves with the new self” Here, he makes no mention of the practices of the new self. In a country where often it is said that less than 1% are Christian, we tend to think coming to faith in Christ, the act of being converted, is the hardest, and most important step in the Christian journey. But what today’s passage from Paul suggests is that the journey after becoming Christian is harder! In talking about stripping off the old self and being clothed with the new self, Paul is explaining the change in identity that comes when we accept Christ. The old self, who we were before we knew Christ, is gone - just like taking off a piece of clothing. And, in the same way, the new self comes into being just as though we had put on a new piece of clothing in its place. But while the identity, our own understanding of who we are as a person changes, the challenge doesn’t necessarily come with the shift from non-believer to believer. When we read today’s scripture more closely, we can see that changes in behaviors, changing our practices to be better in line with this change in identity, is the part which requires the most dedication and commitment for a Christian. And it requires all this dedication and commitment because changing our identity like that means that we have to put all our old, self-seeking desires to death, placing them up on the cross. It means we have to get rid of all those things like anger, wrath, malice, slander and abusive language (Colossians 3:5 and 3:8). Knowing this, we can see that the focus of today’s passage isn’t about the sudden and dramatic conversion from old self to new - it’s not just about our changed identity in Christ. Rather, It’s about what comes after that. Once we have accepted Christ, what do we do next? As Christians and as a Christian community, what do we do as a people who are made new in Christ, given a new identity in Christ? Paul’s answer to these questions would be the process of renewal. As Christians, we are and should be “renewed” daily. We need to not only become a new person in Christ, but be continually renewed, moved to grow more and more Christlike, day by day. Paul says that the “new self is…renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. [And] In that renewal, there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, scythian, slave and free.” (Colossians 3:10-11) This famous quote by Paul emphasizes the sameness, the unity in Christ that the people of a Christian community strive for, regardless of their differences in race, theological belief, or social status. But again renewal is the key word here. Unity is achieved through this process of renewal, by which each and every one of us are molded into being more like Christ every day. Just being a Christian doesn’t achieve or guarantee unity within a church community. Simply coming together because of our common faith doesn’t automatically make us united - that only begins to happen when we embrace this process of renewal, where the differences between us are diminished and all God’s people grow towards that point where all we can see in ourselves and each other is that “Christ is all and in all.” (Colossians 3:11) This unity only begins to happen when everyone in the church community takes seriously the call for renewal, for a daily walk together with Christ. But being renewed, being regularly shaped into a more Christ-like person, is no easy or simple task. In verses 12-17, we hear more about the way one ought to live as a Christian who is now being renewed, and it asks for a LOT! Renewal in Christ means practicing compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. It means bearing with one another, forgiving each other, practicing love and letting the peace of Christ rule in our hearts. This also means getting rid of all things within us which work against these virtues we are to embrace as renewed Christians. (Colossians 3:12-15) I wonder….Have we been doing that? Do we regularly and prayerfully reflect on our conduct as Christians? Do we regularly reflect on our remarks and behaviors as Christians, and ask whether we are reflecting that Christ-like attitude to our family, friends, the people around us and in our church community? When you heard today’s scripture reading, did some particular remark or action come to your mind, some quiet call to renewal in your faith whispering to you about certain patterns of thought or behavior that you needed to work on? For me, almost everything we hear from God through Paul today speaks to me, personally. For example, I know that when I am under stress, I have a tendency to blindly insist on my own way with my family, pushing my own plans over anything anyone else wants. And my words can be sharp, lacking in love, when I do not deal with the frustration, fear, and anger within me well. In my head, I know that these are bad things, things which hurt the relationships I have with the people around me. But I also find it difficult to get rid of these worldly things within me. That is why I rely on God. Because God’s Word is truly transforming. God’s Word guides us into paths of renewal. It can really change us, if we let it. This week I had an irregular schedule due to some unexpected incidents, and a few minor emergencies that came up. If I had just responded as my natural, human self I could easily have responded to these things as a grumpy, mean, tired wife and mother at home. But, thankfully, I had these words from Colossians to help me through the week. I was able to be more intentional and aware of myself, better able to choose kindness rather than anger and frustration. I was more deliberate in choosing to act with forgiveness and compassion, rather than anger and judgment. As Christians, we are called to live and act in certain ways, and this includes embracing the work of renewing ourselves under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We need to regularly examine our words and actions, following the example set by our Creator God (Colossians 3:10), seeking to understand how our words and actions can better reflect God’s goodness and love for all people. And when we miss this, we can hear the call of the Spirit nudging us back towards much needed change and renewal. It’s not enough for us to simply be Christian. The change worked within us by God and God’s grace isn’t meant to happen just the one time. That change has to be ongoing, a process that is part of your new self which embraces the idea of continuous renewal. If you feel burdened in your spirit, if you are feeling the call to self-reflection and renewal as weary and burdensome this morning, I want to remind you that this is work you cannot do and you shouldn’t do on your own. This renewal only comes when we invite God into the process with us, and embrace it together. We cannot simply change ourselves, nor can we change our family, friends, siblings in Christ or our church community with our own might. The work of renewal is initiated by the grace of God, and we are guided through it by God’s mercy and love. God is incredibly patient with us, believing that as adopted children of God we have it within ourselves to grow daily more like Christ. God gives us everything we need to do this - the Holy Spirit, the Word, teaching and advice we need to hear, and a humility and openness of heart which allows us to become more like Christ. And let’s not forget, there is support for one another in a church community. Embracing that grace, mercy, and love is how we begin this process of renewal and, as a community, one way we do that is through the practice of communion. Today is the first Sunday of July, which means that we will be taking communion. Even though we have not yet met Christ face-to-face and Christ is seated at the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1), communion gives us a physical, visible reminder of the hope we have in Christ that we can be renewed beings while we are here on earth. As we take the bread and the cup - which represent the body of Christ broken for us, and blood of Christ shed for us - we can embrace our calling to become more Christ-like. We take these elements, recognizing through them the sacrifice made by our Savior for our sins, acknowledging the need for Christ to be alive within us. It has a significant meaning that we take communion together as a church community. It is a simple yet profound reminder that all of us are sinners in front of God. No one is righteous, not me, not you - none of us. As God’s adopted children, we all are made new by God’s grace, but again and again, we fall short of God’s glory. We do not always practice what God has taught us, and haven't always embraced the renewal that God calls us to. So we take communion together, remembering how we need that grace from God again and again. We take it through bread and cup, humbly accepting Christ’s sacrifice of our sins. And when we do so, we witness this same offer of renewal and restoration being offered to all our siblings in Christ. Just as you have been forgiven, so also have your brothers and sisters in Christ been forgiven. Just as you are renewed, being grafted to Christ once again, so also are your brothers and sisters in Christ. As we embrace communion for ourselves and for each other, we find that God’s spirit lives within us as well, guiding us to a renewed self in Christ. Communion is not a ritual. It’s not something we do as Christians just for the sake of doing it. It means so much more to us than that. It is a symbol of our renewal, the process through which we are renewed and reconciled to Christ despite our many, many failings. This morning, I want to call our attention to an invitation by God, and encourage us to take seriously our call for renewal as Christians. Are we a people who are satisfied just because we have accepted Christ into our lives? Did our journey stop there? Or have we begun to recognize the need for daily, weekly, monthly, yearly renewal, pushing us closer and closer to a Christ-like self even as our sins continue to pop up and challenge us, day in and day out, both in our own lives and that of the community? I hope that we can all embrace God’s invitation and process of renewal, and explore this journey towards a more Christ-like renewed self together, exploring every day what it means to be a more Christ-like community, reconciled to God and constantly engaging in the process of growth and renewal. Let us pray. Dear Lord, We are sorry that we have been part of the corruption, evil, and brokenness of this world. Forgive us for being satisfied just for having faith in you, and failing to acknowledge our need for renewal in our faith, and in ourselves. Forgive us for continuing to embrace our earthly ways, living unchanged in our practices and living. We are in the world, but we know that we are no longer of this world. Help us to become strong in our faith, healthy in our hearts, and ready to face the challenges of this world in which you call us to live with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience, bearing and forgiving one another in love. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen. |
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