This Sunday is November 1 -- All Saints' Day. The term "saint" is widely used. People use it to refer to hard-workers in the church, anyone who has died and to certain honored dead in the Church's history. But by definition, if you are a believing Christian, you are a saint.
All Saints’ Day is special day for some churches and countries. Myriam here in our congregation and der Evangelische Kirchengemeinde Kobe-Osaka (EKK) said it is called “Allerheiligen” in German. The Germans remember deceased relatives and visit their graves on this day making All Saint’s Day a public holiday in Germany in Protestant areas. John Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement, enjoyed and celebrated All Saints Day. In a journal entry from November 1, 1767, Wesley calls it "a festival I truly love." On the same day in 1788, he writes, "I always find this a comfortable day." The following year he calls it "a day that I peculiarly love." All Saints' Day during Martin Luther's Day, was an empire-wide Holy Day. That is why Martin Luther, a priest and a scholar, approached the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, and nailed a piece of paper on October 31, 1517 containing the 95 revolutionary opinions that would begin the Protestant Reformation. He knew lots of folks would be at church on November 1, 1517 so he wanted to get his message out! Martin Luther was a priest and professor of moral theology in the early 1500s at the University of Wittenberg, Germany. (Incidentally, Martin Luther King, Jr. was named after Martin Luther and my son, is now in a Lutheran Seminary studying to be a Lutheran pastor. And, of course, the Lutheran Church is named after Luther.) He became famous, or perhaps according to Pope Leo who later excommunicated him from the Catholic Church, infamous) after he posted his 95 Theses. The 95 Theses where he gave the summary and expressed the feelings of many of his peers already had about the corruption of Christ's teachings and that eternal life could not be earned by good deeds or buy buying and selling indulgences. (People back then also thought they could buy their way to heaven.) His 95 Theses portrays two central beliefs—that the Bible is the central religious authority and that humans may reach salvation only by their faith and not by their deeds. The Catholic Church back then was divided, and the Protestantism that soon emerged was shaped by Luther’s ideas. His writings changed the course of religious and cultural history in the West. Luther did not believe in praying to saints but he did believe that we had much to learn from the examples of the saints and their faith. We are inspired by saints, past and present. That's what this All Saint's Sunday is about - to set aside a Sunday each year to remember and to thank God for all those saints down through the ages but also a time to remember those who are still alive and still play an important part in our lives today. Think for a moment- who were or who are the people who have inspired your faith? For me there are many: my mother – Ruby Genung, Toyohiko Kagawa, John Wesley, my good friend in seminary Susan, my son’s godmother Phyllis, and Mrs. Day who was my Sunday school teacher in 3rd grade. All are in heaven – and are part of the “great cloud of witnesses” - these faithful men and women who paved the way for us. They have been formative influences on my faith journey. Who in the great company -- the “great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) -- was most influential in the formation and fostering of your faith? That the cloud is referred to as “great” indicates that millions of believers have gone before us, each bearing witness to the life of the faith we now live. I hope you can also remember the saints - special people in your life – who may have inspired you, prayed for you, and have encouraged you. Some are in heaven but some are still living. And some of these people may be sitting in the church pews here right now! Who in the great company -- the great cloud of witnesses -- was most influential in the formation and fostering of your faith? You can you look around and try to identify or separate saints from sinners. It is far more difficult (if not impossible) to discern who the forgiven sinners are! We are all forgiven sinners! When you start meeting saints you find out that they are not “saints!” ☺ They can be odd or quirky or flawed or broken and they may struggle or maybe even make mistakes. They are not distinguished by their goodness but by their love of God which shines through them! You do not have to be perfect or famous or dead to be a saint! You just have to love God and love your neighbor and love the world! You just have to be the person God created you to be! Let the love of God shine through you! We are saints, forgiven sinners, only through the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. By His grace, through faith, God has made us saints. Let us pray that through prayer, study and serious effort He will also make us saintly! Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber is founding pastor of a Lutheran congregation in Denver called House for All Sinners and Saints. She wrote a number of books and my favorite among her books (and where I got my sermon title for today) is “Accidental Saints Finding God in All the Wrong People.” Sharing about her quirky and weird church in Colorado and how God shows up in the least likely of people. Even people she may want to avoid end up being bearers of grace. She describes her encounters with grace as a gift that feels to her less like “being wrapped in a warm blanket and more like being hit with a blunt instrument. “ But by this grace, people are transformed in ways they couldn’t have been on their own. Pastor Nadia also says, “What we celebrate in saints isn’t the godliness of the person but God’s ability to do beautiful redemptive stuff through the most broken means possible which is through a flawed human being.” There are saints – maybe accidental saints - in our midst right now. Just look around. We have interesting people here whose love of God shines through them. There are members in our past -- people with great faith – what are an example for us all. e.g. Yuri, Martel, Dorothy are just some of the saints I have known at KUC and whose Celebration of Life Service I have been blessed to help conduct at KUC. This might be a good time for me to share that we do have a church columbarium where ashes can be placed. It was paid for by KUPC our Kobe Union Property Committee. Rev. Tabuchi is the chairman of KUPC. Two weeks ago we had a blessing of the columbarium and dedication service. EKK- der Evangelische Kirchengemeinde Kobe-Osaka (EKK) ( the German -speaking congregation) was there. Myriam is the president of EKK by the way and she has been working on a German video of the 150th year anniversary for our church which is in 2021. (See the slides here of the dedication service for the columbarium and you can ask Rev. Tabuchi more about it.) I want to share about the Apostles’ Creed that we said together earlier in the service today “…I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints….” This communion is the spiritual solidarity of those of us on earth and the saints in heaven who are bound in the Body where Christ is its head. This solidarity of believers -both living and dead- is the community of the blessed who share in Communion, the foretaste of the reign of God. We, who are alive are saints, just as those who are in the “cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) and the ones who have helped us on our faith journeys. This is what All Saints Day is also about. It is like a big hug uniting heaven and earth. It is a testimony of the multitude in the trust that it is possible for one to act on nothing else but God’s power and love to rely on. It is the celebration of the relationship that goes on when you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind and with all your understanding, and with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. It is about remembering those past and those present who show you God’s grace through their lives. All Saints Day is an opportunity to give thanks for all those who have gone before us in the faith. I close now with a story of a saint. In a book by Barbara Brown Taylor she told a story of a woman by the name of Oscola McCarty who was an African American woman who washed clothes for a living. She had dropped out of school at the age of 6th grade to help in the family laundry business. For over 75 years she worked from sun up to sun down. No one knew who she was until she was 87 years old. That was the year she gave $150,000 dollars – her life savings- to the University of Southern Mississippi for African American scholarships. The year was 1999. News reporters shared her story and business matched her gift. The young woman who was awarded the first McCarty scholarship was so excited. The one question Oscola McCarty was often asked was why she did not spend the money on herself. It was said she would smile and say, “I am spending the money on myself,” We find God in the most unexpected ways and in the most unlikely people! Let us prayer: Almighty God, whose people are knit together in the one holy Church, the body of Christ our Lord: Grant us grace to follow your blessed saints in lives of faith and commitment, and to know the inexpressible joys you have prepared for those who love you; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
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Last week, Tabuchi-sensei said something that really resonated with me: “lately, our world is full of dark, difficult news.” The COVID-19 pandemic continues, and even worsens in some areas of the world, taking precious lives, affecting jobs, stability, and security for many people.
With more time being spent at home, incidents of domestic violence and child abuse have increased. It is harder for hungry people, such as our homeless neighbors, to find regular access to food. The hungry have gotten hungrier, the lonely have gotten more lonely; the depressed have gotten more depressed. And, as many of you might know, depression is a particularly big risk factor for suicide. Suicide has long been a big social problem, especially in Japan. According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, suicide is often ranked among the top five causes of death from people as young as 10 years old, to people as old as 64 in Japan. For people aged 20-39, suicide is the number 1 cause of death. According to the Japan Times, Japan’s primary English-language newspaper, the number of suicides in August this year increased to 15%; a total of 1,854 people. This number is close to the total number of lives lost to COVID-19 in Japan so far. This means that every month, we lose the same number of people to suicde here in Japan as we have lost to COVID-19 during the entire pandemic. Suicide is a very personal topic for me as well because, at one point in my life, I struggled with suicidal thoughts myself. Many of you already know this about me, but one of the most painful moments in my life happened when I was 21, and my mother passed away. She died on October 24th, 2003. It was my first year of ryugaku, when I came to the United States to study in college. It was early in the morning when I received a phone call from my brother. My brother is quite shy, especially on the phone, so it was very unusual for him to call me. Right away, I felt that something was weird. He said hello, and we went through the usual greetings, but the next words that came from his mouth changed my life forever: He said, “Listen carefully, our mom died.” The person in my family who I was closest to was my mother. She was one of the kindest, most giving people I knew. I shared with her all the ups and downs I experienced with my life, and she was always right there for me. When I was 5, I had an emergency appendectomy, and was hospitalized for a while. At night, I couldn’t sleep because the hospital room was too dark and scary for me. It was my mom who slept on the couch the entire time I was in the hospital, and held my hand all night. When I told my parents that I wanted to go to college in America, my mom was my very first supporter. She said that women in this world also need to take advantage of opportunities to go and study abroad, to learn broader perspectives and different ways of thinking. The thought of not having my mom around to love and support me was just...unbearable. I could not take this loss; it just didn’t make any sense. She had just turned 51, and had such a great future ahead of her now that her kids had finally left home. The grief I felt was so great, and so painful. I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat; I couldn’t even think straight. I didn’t want to talk to anyone because I knew that, if I opened my mouth, I would just start crying uncontrollably. I felt that I was becoming someone that I was not ready to be. So I isolated myself. I skipped school, and I would just spend most of my time in bed, in my dorm room, alone with my thoughts. I would look out of my window, and stare at the birds in the sky. I wished I could be like the birds, that I could fly away. I thought to myself, “They look so free, without a care in the world.” And I wanted to be just like them. My college became deeply concerned about my mental state, and asked me to start seeing the school counselor. After meeting with me a few times, my counselor told me that I had temporary depression coming from the traumatic loss of my mother. Seeing the counselor regularly helped a little, but when I wasn’t with her my sadness and misery deepened once more. When I was alone, the thoughts of despair grew and multiplied. I was alone in this dark, lonely world, and it felt like nothing could help me. I reached a point where I just couldn’t take it anymore. Seeing that my mental state was getting worse, my counselor asked me if I was thinking about killing myself. My answer was “maybe, I don’t know.” The reality of the situation was that I was so exhausted, so spent and depleted, that I didn’t even want to make the effort to think about answering that question. My pain had numbed me completely, and taken away from me the ability to think, or even feel. When she heard that, realizing that she wasn’t able to fully guarantee my safety, my counselor decided to send me to a psychiatric hospital. There I had the unique experience of not being trusted with my own life. All my belongings were checked and taken away. There was no door on the bathroom, no nail clippers, no hair ties, no silverware; nothing. There were cameras on me from all angles. I was monitored at all times. I imagined that this must have been how prisoners lived. I spent every day laying down in my bed crying. I was so miserable and hopeless. The hospital gave me a notepad to write down whatever was going on in my mind. I remember writing repeatedly, “Please help. I can’t take this any more. This is too much.” Truly this was a cry from the deepest pit of my soul. It was a very real act of lamentation. Today’s scripture comes from the book of Lamentations. Much like my outcry, a “lament” is an expression of grief. And the book of Lamentations is itself a great expression of communal grief and sorrow. (Grief and Sorrow that God’s people in Israel went through as a community.) The writer of Lamentations spends a full five chapters just talking about grief! The book talks about the grief of God’s people after they lost God’s city. In 586 BCE God’s holy city, Jerusalem, was conquered by the Babylonian empire. Through prophets like Amos, Isaiah,and Jeremiah, God had been warning the people that this dark time was coming, should they not repent. But, despite multiple warnings from generation to generation, through different prophets, the people of Israel did not return to the way of the Lord. Both kings and people continued to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord, engaging in idol worship and exploiting the marginalized. Finally, he Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, brought his military to bear on Israel,and took Jerusalem by force. After conquering the city, and destroying a lot of it, the Babylonians took Israel’s king, priests, and government officials; all the artisans, all the smiths, all the warriors, and anyone of the high society; some ten thousand people in total, and took them to Babylon as captives. (This happens in 2 Kings 24:14). They also took all the treasures out of the house of the Lord and king’s house, all the items used in the temple services. They took gold, silver, and everything else that had any value in the courthouse and throughout the city. And finally, once everything had been taken, the temple, their spiritual home and the center of their personal and religious identity, was destroyed, taken down the ground, as a final act in the total and complete destruction of the city. Jerusalem was left with nothing, no one, and not even any of the earthly signs of God. All that was left was the poorest of the land (2 Kings 25:12). And these poorest of the poor were left hungry and destitute; infants and babies fainted in the streets of the city (Lamentations 2:11). The writer of Lamentations stops at one point to ask, “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?” (Lamentations 2:15) Look and see how this survivor is trying to find somewhere to place blame. He blames God, claiming that God has made him go through all this physical and emotional suffering. He cries out, saying “God has driven and brought him into darkness without any light. (Lamentations 3:2) God has made his flesh waste away and broken his bones. (3:4) He has put heavy chains on him. (3:7) ” And there is no way out. But, alas, this attempt to make sense by placing blame doesn’t even work, because he still finds his soul bereft, lacking of peace (3:17). “Glory and happiness are all gone,” this survivor says. Everything he had hoped for from the Lord is also gone, (3:18) leaving nothing but darkness. But then, there comes a turning point. The survivor remembered at last this simple truth about God. “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (3:22-23) In front of the survivor’s eyes, everything had collapsed. Everything changed. The survivor’s beloved city of God does not even look like how it used to. No more king, nation, or place of worship. No more treasures, money, stuff that he used to own. Home, families, friends, communities were all ripped apart. Everything is gone...except the Lord. The survivor remembers that God’s love, mercy, and faithfulness had existed long before he even came into this world. In fact, God’s love, mercy, and faithfulness were present long before the people of Israel even found their home in Jerusalem. The stories about God’s love have been passed down from generation to generation, since even before that other time of exile that God’s people had gone through. God’s people had escaped from slavery in Egypt, and found themselves in exile as a consequence of that escape. And during that difficult time of exile, the people of Israel betrayed God’s love by worshipping other gods, complaining and doubting the faithfulness and providence of almighty God. They doubted, wondering if God would be able to provide them enough food and drink to survive, let alone take them to the promised land. But no matter how many times God’s people were unfaithful or doubtful, God always answered in mercy, reminding them that God is slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness (Exodus 34:6). The survivor in the book of Lamentations remembered that the love of the Lord was always there for God’s people. And as he remembers, you can see how his cry goes from the loss of hope in verse 18 to the regaining of hope in verse 21, to the determination to hold on to hope in God in verse 24. (not sure if there is any good way to show and compare these verses… Do you see this transition to hope? The loss of hope, to the regaining of hope, to the decision to remain in hope? This story of hope in Lamentations, is my story too. When I was in the psychiatric hospital, I was crying in bed every day. My sadness, my depression, continued to worsen and it didn’t seem as though it would ever get better. But then, one day, one of the nurses who was working came to my bed, and she said something to me that I would never forget. She said, “Akiko you will be ok. You will be happy again. Because everything happens for a reason and God will not give you more than you can handle.” This was my turning point, because what she gave me were words of hope. Her words were like light in a tunnel. I thought to myself that if what she said was true, and this happened for a reason...maybe there might be a reason for me to live. Maybe, this is meant for me to overcome, because this is not something I can’t handle. If this is true...maybe I will get better someday. And maybe I can help those who go through this same kind of grief. In that moment, her words were to me just like the survivor remembering the love and mercy of the Lord. And this was enough for me to start living again. From that day, I changed. I acknowledged and accepted that I had experienced depression. I began attending classes and learned more about depression and depression management. I learned to identify the feelings I was experiencing. I talked about them with my counselor and learned how to face them and process them. Of course, this was not easy; it took years of counseling. I had to come face-to-face with feelings of anger, guilt, jealousy, misery, extreme sadness, fear, doubt, revenge, my own judgmental thinking, and low self-esteem, forgiveness. The list could go on and on. But despite all of this, despite all these emotional challenges, there was one thing that remained constant throughout; God’s love was there for me, always. God sat with me in all these deep, emotional places I went. God never judged the feelings and thoughts I struggled with; God was there for me, embracing all my emotions. Because I knew that God’s steadfast love had been there long before I faced my difficult feelings, I found the strength to face them. I knew God would not give me more than I could handle with God by my side. God’s love gave me hope. As Romans 5:5 says, hope never disappointed me because God’s love had been poured into my heart through the Holy Spirit. Today’s passage has a lot in common with my story, and probably with many people’s stories. The journey of grief is a long, winding road, with many places where we get stuck or stopped, and feel like we just can’t go on anymore. But at every stop, God waits for us. To express grief is to be in touch with the deep cries of our souls, but in that cry we are never alone. God’s deep, abiding love is there with us. To be in touch with grief is to be in touch with the deeper love of God that awaits us. In the darkness, we encounter Emannuel, the God who is with us. As the survivor of Jerusalem did in the book of Lamentations, we could spend twenty verses giving voice to our desperate cries of pain. Our God allows us to do that. Our God is such a good listener especially, when it comes to our cries of hurt and pain. But no matter how long or deep we cry, God’s love has power. Those few verses reminding ourselves who God is are more than enough to sustain us and carry us through, taking us to a place of hope. Having hope in God doesn’t mean that all our problems go away. After all, the city of Jerusalem was held in captivity for another 50 years or more. For myself, even after years of counseling, I realized that I still have a tendency towards depression when faced with challenges in life. I still have depressive days where I just want to hide in bed, and cave in. But just like God sent an angel to Elijah and told him to eat, drink and rest when Elijah thought there was nothing hopeful in his life and ministry (1 King 19:4-7), I also take time to rest and eat, knowing that tomorrow is another day. God’s love never ends. God’s love reminds us that God’s mercy is new every morning and God is faithful. God’s love gives us hope and strength to face the difficult time and difficult days. God says that “nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Roman 8:39) God tells us that God’s love is always here and that’s all we need. All the grief and despair I had, God met me with steadfast love. Those who know me well know that I cry a lot. But I know that with every tear I shed, God is with me. God’s steadfast love brings me healing and wholeness. I do not thank God that my mom died, but I am thankful for what I went through after that, because despair brought me to Jesus. Despair brought me to hope in Jesus Christ. Despair brought me to the steadfast love of the Lord. Despair gave me a heart to be sensitive toward people who struggle with grief and mental illness. Despair brought to me a calling to bring the message of the Gospel as a comfort to those who suffer. Grief comes to us all, whether that is through the loss of someone dear to us, the loss of home, the loss of income, identity, relationships, or something else of equal importance in our own lives. We all face it at some point in our lives. As we meditate Lamentations, and the lamentations we encounter in our own lives, may we seek to be people of hope, a people who are defined by their hope in God’s steadfast love. (Singing) The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning new every morning. Great is they faithfulness O Lord. Great is they faithfulness. Friends, hold onto this promise of God. And as God’s people of love and hope, may we have the strength to face all that we go through in life, and as we do, may we also bear together all the joys and burdens of life together as a community. God is with us. Amen! Good morning, and how are you, especially this October, frankly or honestly speaking I am somehow tired of watching Japanese TV news shows and moreover the United States, particularly on politics. What makes me feel worse is many people simply call their opponents as Left wing or Right wing, simple division and never listen to their opponents opinion, just insisting on their own stand point of view, without reflecting it from the other persons’ view.
I was not a political science major student, but what exactly does it mean “Right wing” or “Left wing? It started in the 18th century in France, and in its parliament the people who sat on the right wing side supported the traditional royal government, and at the left side, the members who supported a more progressive, democratic style of politics. Since then the right wing has follows conservative way, and the left pursue the liberal way. And now, it has somehow escalated to result in the division of the social class, racial groups, economic standards, even academic intellectual situations. We seem to be living in the divided society, experiencing the conflicts of each interest. Since we are living in such a social environment, it is more than interesting and rather important to listen to Jesus' message. In the very early days of his mission, Jesus told his message in very short form and his all other message seemed to be condensed in these short passages. “The time has come, The kingdom of God has come near, repent and believe the good news.” These are the core of his Gospel. In one word, we are now going to live an utterly different age from our former days. We are now living in the kingdom of God. The word "kingdom" is not a very precise translation from its original Greek word. It has no meaning in any territorial or power-political sense but simply signifies “rule”, that is we live under the rule of God. Yes, we have been living for many centuries under the rule of the human-being. Emperors, kings, presidents, prime ministers, governors and so forth. But now we are heading to a totally different time and age under the rule of God. It is remarkable to find the word “repent” is used here, and it is understood by many Christians and non-Christians alike as regretting from past wrongdoings, remorse themselves and confessing our sins or crime, total surrender of our old self. The original word, this time in Hebrew “SHUB”, means “turn around”, “turn back” or “change the course of your life up until now.” Then where we have to turn to, where we have to head back to. It is where God rules, God reigns, and the kingdom of God. That is the place God created in the story of Genesis. to which God said it was perfect. The rule of God prevailed, and human-being were created in the “image of God” to be trusted to govern the whole nature according to God's will. By the way, what is the difference between God's rule and Human rule? It is the society that has the criteria or standards based on God's will or Human will? Which do you want to live, the life with richness and plenty of properties, or a humble, modest or even poorer situation? Japanese society is renowned over the world as one of the most education-oriented societies and almost 100% kids under 15 years old are enrolled to some kind of school. And many of them want to proceed to the university education and if possible, they want to get into prestigious Universities like, Tokyo, Kyoto National University, or Keio, Waseda and KwanseI Gakuin hopefully included and many others. Japanese people are so eager to pursue such a way of Education, since good education (school) will promise materially good life for their future life. Rissin-Shusse, (Social Success) Promotion in the society will promise you a good income and stable life. Materialistic richness is the proof of successor of their life, May be, it is common thinking not only in Japan but many other societies over the world. To be rich is the goal of our preferable life, and it is interesting to find that in some Japanese middle or even primary school teach how to invest your funds, and are do day-trading in the stock market. A German-born Jewish philosopher and psychological analyst, who escaped his home country from NAZI’s persecution to an English-Speaking society, Dr. Erich Fromm wrote a book titled "TO HAVE OR TO BE.” You can easily know the contents of that book from its title. There are two basic ways of human value or standards of life. Most crucial matter in your life should be, TO HAVE to possess as much as possible on one hand, and TO BE, that is to be yourself whatever the situation you are in, on the other. This TO HAVE style deeply rooted agricultural society like Japan, and TO BE style in a non-agricultural society, that is “bedouin” (shepherds like), if we may borrow the idea of the Dr Max Weber, also German thinker, who founded the theory of Sociological thinking. Farmers can rely on their products from the earth and spend materially rich life if their harvest is promising. But shepherds live the life of uncertainty, since if their flocks eat up the grass, they must find the next place for their sheep wandering in the wilderness without knowing where they could find a place. They have to rely on their ability to lead and protect their flocks, these talents were only given and bestowed to themselves by God, and they are the people who fundamentally trust in God at all circumstances. Now, you may realize that those images of the bedouin -shepherds are doubled with the image of original Israelite people, depicted in the Old Testament’s, as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants. Here, we may recall Jesus’ teaching, “do not worry about tomorrow,”(Matthew 6:34) or ”life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” (Luke 12:15) It seems to be natural for us to seek stable and wealthy lives. But if it goes too far, we will be very self-centered and lose sight of seeing our neighbors who are in need, suffering, or sick. Or just claim my own right and justice to attack other people as my opponents. That is why Jesus concludes this morning's short Bible message with “believe in Good News,” (Mark 1:14) “Good News” is “Evangelio (the Gospel)” in the original Greek word, as you all know. “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” (John 16:12) I had served as a chaplain at Kwansei Gakuin University nearly 40 years, and that school has been keeping the principles of Christianity from the time of its foundation in 1889, following the Methodist tradition. What is Methodist? It is a denomination of the Protestant Christianity, Claudia-sensei could explain much about it since she is a Methodist Missionary to Japan. The founder of the Methodist Church, Rev, John Wesley once said, “Earn (make,) all you can, Save, all you can,” How to do you think about his idea, as it is a common idea in this secular society, but the last part of his remark is stonishing, “Give, all you can!” Yes, wealth and richness itself is not a bad idea, but how to use it for the good of your community. Mr. Wesley encouraged us to live wisely and rightly in front of God by following Jesus’ Gospel. ”The time has come, The kingdom of God has come near, repent and believe the good news.” Yes, Time is now to live under the rule of God, changing our thought and course of our lives according to the Gospel of Jesus, that is love each other! Let us pray, Gracious Lord, thank you for your reminding us where and how we should live now in this world. Just accept us when we return to your arms and bosom, and protect, nurture in our soul, mind, and body to serve one another with love and understanding. We are indeed members of your body, that is the ideal family. Give your blessings and peace to us for this week and after. We pray in your name Jesus Christ. Amen Passages:
Psalm 103:2-5 Amplified Bible 2 Bless and affectionately praise the Lord, O my soul, And do not forget any of His benefits; 3 Who forgives all your sins, Who heals all your diseases; 4 Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you [lavishly] with lovingkindness and tender mercy; 5 Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the [soaring] eagle. Deuteronomy 4:9 Amplified Bible (AMP) Moses parting talk 9 “Only pay attention and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen, and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your grandchildren [impressing these things on their mind and penetrating their heart with these truths]-- Luke 22:19 And when He had taken bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Hi from Long Beach Calif where we are still stuck due to covid but I’m happy we are still connecting all week with people. If you have not been zooming in for SS or other events during the week you should! We’re having fun! Ok, so today’s message has about 5 titles in my head- I could call it “Remembering to not forget”; how to remember stuff, Memory Mechanisms (like this bracelet- which I bought just for this message today!) So, all these titles or phrases are about how do we remember important stuff in our busy lives and especially. how do we do so with our spiritual lives Ok, so what about this Kanji principle. This is from an “Ah Ha moment” I had maybe 20-30 years ago. Here was the moment First, I guess everyone knows Kanji are the Chinese characters used for writing in Japanese and Chinese. They can be pretty fun and also a bit intimidating. Someone asked me one time how many Kanji I knew, and I said – oh maybe 100- ok. So, then they asked me if I could do some of them for them- show them, it was then I realized that the number of Kanji I could correctly write was like 10 – not 100! And this was my moment! Just cuz you recognize it doesn’t mean you know it- I’ll say it again cuz that makes it sound deep- Just cuz you recognize it does not mean you know it Well, I really sat with this truth and found many ways where it applied- like after that someone might say, Well, things were tough- it was a learning experience.” And I would just have to say,” “Oh really what do you learn?” - did you learn it well enough to recognize it or did you master it – could you prevent that from happening again or beat that situation!? So, this issue of forgetting is a life challenge. Like most of you we all have ways we try to remember stuff and /or not forget stuff. For me this has always been a challenge I enjoy meeting. I have always had day timers or organizers and to do lists- even as a kid- some people are List People and I am one of those. For 20 years we lived full time in Kobe, and we used to spend summers back home in the US. Of course, it was both fun and stressful as many of you know. We lived out of suitcases and with 4 kids we were a lot of people. One of the things I did early on was make a check list and folder for Summers home Because we went home once a year it was a lot of time between visits – BUT I knew we did not need to relearn certain things- I had printed maps for stores we always visited and what to pack and all the usual but I also had a special secret sheet with names of families we stayed with and what mattered to them- so each family where we stayed we had figured out what upsets them and what they appreciate- Kelly’s folks were the easiest to stay with but we did need to remember to restock the fridge and especially the things we drank, we needed to make all our beds each morning- ok- you get the idea maybe. So, what I do in the natural mostly works and I am proud of some of these sheets and systems- this is my travel check list folder- with kids, without, summer, winter, domestic, International- I love sharing it because these are some above average check lists for travel! BUT here is why this is sermon worthy- what about God stuff? I mean can we share on this aspect of forgetting and remembering? In the Bible we see how this played out many times in many ways You could say there was a pattern in the OT of God’s people remembering the right things to do and not do and doing well and then forgetting- so many times- basically they just forgot! Big bad stuff can happen from just forgetting! There are many great verses on this issue- like Psalm 103:2-5 which reminds us to not forget all the great things we enjoy from God. I love the passage in Deuteronomy 4:9 where Moses is warning everyone before they enter the promise land says: “Only pay attention and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen, and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your grandchildren [impressing these things on their mind and penetrating their heart with these truths]-- So how do you do that? How do you make sure you are remembering and not forgetting in your spiritual life? We have had many urgent moments over the years- some tough challenges which weirdly can make us the most forgetful right when we need to be the most remembering! It’s like the Israelites when the spies went to check out the land, they had been promised in Numbers chapter 13. The land God was given to them- they had lived through all sorts of crazy miracles to that point- God was visibly- visibly – with them and yet- when the 12 came back it’s like they suddenly forget who was on their side; they forgot that God was leading them; they forgot all He had done for them- and that cost them big! The ones who could not remember well, who forgot who God was to them- they did NOT get to enter that promised land- BIG consequence! It matters what we believe, and it matters what we can remember! I think we too see consequences of forgetting OR remembering-so how can we remember better and remind one another? In the OT there were practices like making a pile of stones in places to remind everyone of an event where God had come through for His people. There was a system of what people wore with tassels to remind them of things of God. Jesus gave us communion as an example of a way to remember what He would do for us and how key that was /is for us. “Do this in remembrance …” Meaning don’t forget about this! So, if you are like me this is an area where I feel the need to do better. Kelly and I have been trying to gather all the good stuff worth remembering. Our own miracles and those we were part of. We also have gone back to gathering the key Bible verses which feel relevant for our situation so we can read and memorize them- like the Kanji principle- not just nod in recognition when they are read BUT be able to cite them from memory. We also love a couple of websites where they show video testimonies of people who have had challenges and God healed or helped them. One group I really admire is the 12-step program and people who do one of those groups. Attendees will often go a meeting daily – not weekly but daily- to remind each other of what they were and what they did and who they are now and that is worth it to walk a certain way and avoid certain things. Very inspiring. In second Peter he writes in verses 12 and 13: “Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them and are established in the truth which is held firmly in your grasp. 13 I think it right, as long as I am in this earthly tent, to inspire you by reminding you, I guess we can say we need to develop and have systems for reminding ourselves and reminding others. I think we can share some ideas and ways to do this – let’s talk at SS! I think we can agree- one thing that helps a lot is having a friend or friends where we agree to be honest and open and remind each other of what the costs are for going one way and what the good results are of walking another- crazy how quickly we can forget the yucky effects of bad choices. I guess if someone asked me to summarize, I would say: It’s scary how easily we forget stuff- important stuff and especially and often stuff related to God. And yet we know and can agree we want to remember and know we do better when we remember God’s promises and his words and what he has done for us. We need to remember! It’s amazing how many people I know (I’m one!) where the difference between a good day and a bad day is based on what I think about, what I choose to remember or remind myself of. When we remember God is not just with us but for us and in us- that’s powerful --- if we can remember that! When faced with a challenge- I promise you whatever that challenge is- there is at least one Bible verse and actually many- which you can use as a tool, a weapon, - if you can remember it- or at least get to it quickly! (Show some 3 x 5 cards) So, I challenge you to do this- here are 3 pretty easy ways to start or restart or do better at remembering things we know we need to walk our best way with God.
Our #1 default passage is Philippians 4:4-7 4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
OK, so I genuinely hope and pray that this week, maybe today, you take some steps to improve your Godly memory- actually let me pray now for us all ok God, I do pray that we will not be like the passage in James - I know you know it, but I will say it out loud to remind all of us: 23 For if anyone only listens to the word without obeying it, he is like a man who looks very carefully at his natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he immediately forgets what he looked like. Help us God to remember who we are in you- I mean to remember the power you have given us to positively change our own lives and those around us- help us remember …what a friend we have in Jesus- for real- just like that kid song says Help us to be brave in sharing with one another and to be honest and transparent so we can be both reminded and reminders to others of how we are loved no matter what and that we are no alone but a family. In Jesus name – amen Ok- see you in a few minutes at Sunday school- go! There are 3 classes so pick one! Ephesians 4:3-5
3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism. 1 John 4:11-12 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. Those of you who did not grow in Asia, have you ever had a problem using chopsticks? A guest from the US was visiting the Tengokuya Heaven’s Café in Kagawa Center and said, “I will starve if I use these sticks to eat!” I have a now story to share. Some of you may have heard this parable before. One day a man said to God, “God, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.” God showed the man two doors. Inside the first one, in the middle of the room, was a large round table with a large pot of vegetable stew. It smelled delicious and made the man’s mouth water, but the people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding very long chopsticks and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take some food, but because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the chopsticks back into their mouths. The man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. God said, “You have seen Hell.” Behind the second door, the room appeared exactly the same. There was the large round table with the large pot of wonderful vegetable stew that made the man’s mouth water. The people had the same very long chopsticks, but they were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking. The man said, “I don’t understand.” God smiled. ”It is simple,” God said, “love only requires one skill. These people learned early on to share and feed one another. While the greedy only think of themselves.” Sure enough, there they all were, dipping into the pot with their long chopsticks and feeding the persons across the table from them and being fed themselves at the same time. Sometimes, thinking solely of our personal gratification, we tend to forget our interdependence with everyone and everything around us, so much so that we stop caring about them. But, as this parable makes it clear that God made us to live together in the connected blessing of loving inter-dependence with each other. Today is World Communion Sunday which connects Christians worldwide. When we share in Holy Communion... We also share the teachings that Jesus said, ’Love God with all our strength...... Love our neighbors as ourselves'. (Mark 12:30-31) We also share the same Holy Spirit, because this was also promised by Jesus. We hare what Jesus told us all to DO - care for the needy and love one another as Jesus loves us. We all share the Lord's Prayer - in so many languages. You may have noticed that in many of our KUC services online we have had different members share The Lord’s Prayer in different languages. This is to show our diversity yet our oneness in Christ in saying a prayer that is said all over the world by Christians everywhere. In our global community of faith, this first Sunday of October has become a time when Christians in many different cultures break bread and pour the cup to remember and affirm Christ as the Head of the Church. We remember we are part of a whole body of believers. Whether shared in a big cathedral, a mud hut, outside on a hilltop, in a meeting house, or in a store front, Christians celebrate communion in as many ways as there are congregations. During communion, we celebrate Jesus who welcomed all people to the table - no matter who they were and no matter what others thought of them.When we eat bread together, we bring together the fragments of our individual lives. We move from being separate, to being one. We celebrate what Jesus did and what by the power of Holy Spirit Jesus still does, we celebrate Jesus who died for us, is risen, and will come again. It is estimated that the Holy Communion table is over 40,000 kilometers long with billions of Christians around the world celebrating. It would begin on the international date line with churches in Tonga, Fiji, then goes New Zealand where our former Pastor Bruce Bradburn is living with his wife Jo, then to Australia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and then to Japan. It keeps going all over the world and it is exciting to think of so many people in so many places who are having, have had, or will be having communion. This is our worldwide connection as Christians to other Christians. I love communion and can hardly wait until we celebrate communion at Kobe Union Church on the first Sunday of each month. KUC is a diverse ecumenical, interdenominational, non-denominational, English-speaking church with people from many countries, many traditions, many cultures, and many backgrounds --but we are one in Christ. Paul describes that for us in 1 Corinthians 10:17 when he writes, "In the same way that there is one loaf of bread, we who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.” Through communion there is a special oneness felt among all Christians today on this World Communion Sunday. In John 17:21 Jesus prayed to God that his disciples "may all be one." There are times that the church is divided- even if we are a church family we do not always agree. This happens in all families actually we may sometimes hurt one another and fail to respect one another as we should as a family of Christ. The communion meal calls us to confess our broken relationships with one another, as well as the broken dreams and shattered hopes deep inside each of our own lives. As we eat from the loaf and drink from the cup, we will be redeemed by remembering we can never experience any brokenness that Christ has not already known. Ephesians 4:3 says, we should do our "best to preserve the unity which the Spirit gives in the bond of peace…. Paul calls this the unity of the Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit who frees our hearts and helps us (1 Corinthians 2:14–16). It's the Holy Spirit who enables us to have faith in Christ and to cry out to God with confidence as God’s children (Romans 8:15–16). And it is the Holy Spirit who bears the fruit of love in our lives and gives us a common care for each other (Galatians 5:22). So our common convictions and confidence and care are all from the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 4:4-5 says “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” I believe that we do have a vision of being one in Christ. Kobe Union Church is an associate member church of the National Christian Council in Japan (NCCJ) where my husband and I worked in ministry for almost 20 year. NCCJ is made up of 33 member church denominations and Christian organizations here in Japan. My husband Toshi was general secretary and I helped as an editor of a Christian newsletter that covered social issues in Japan. NCCJ along with NCCs worldwide are a member of the World Council of Churches (WCC) which is a fellowship of 349 churches worldwide which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Savior according to the scriptures, and seeks to fulfill together their common calling to the glory of the one God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is a community of churches on the way to unity in one faith and one eucharistic fellowship, expressed in worship and in common life in Christ. It seeks to advance towards this unity, as Jesus prayed for his followers, "so that the world may believe". (John 17:21) The WCC assembly is held every seven to eight years, and is central to the life of the WCC member churches and the entire ecumenical movement. I attended the WCC 10th Genera Assembly in Busan, Republic of Korea with my husband Toshi back in 2013 (30th October to - 8 November 2013) On the theme “God of Life, Lead Us to Justice and Peace” and was thrilled to be with so many Christians from everywhere in the world worshipping the Lord together. Another WCC conference held years before in Vancouver (1983) spoke of a "eucharistic vision (quote) “which unites our two profoundest ecumenical concerns: the unity and renewal of the church and the healing and destiny of the human community. Church unity is vital to the health of the church and to the future of the human family… Christ - the life of the world - unites heaven and earth, God and world, spiritual and secular. His body and blood, given to us in the elements of bread and wine, integrate… acts of healing... Our eucharistic vision thus encompasses the whole reality of Christian worship, life and witness. We are in partnership with the Holy Spirit in this vision. However, we find ourselves now in this challenging season with COVID 19. We never expected a pandemic like this to happen. In a lecture at the University of Ghana in February this year, Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, spoke about the coronavirus crisis. Linking it with the continuing environmental crisis, he observed that the virus does not read maps. Nor does the changing climate, nor the havoc it brings to millions of lives. They pay no attention to political boundaries. All humans are affected—although for some humans the suffering is more severe than for others. These crises remind us that we are an interconnected reality. In a most unwelcome way, the physical world is teaching us some theological truths, truths about God, and about ourselves. Can we listen? God’s will is to restore the earth and the loving inter-dependence we have with each other. Our interconnectedness is what we can do to sustain each other. In Redwood City, where I am from in California there were big redwood trees at one time I am told. Redwoods trees grow in other parts of California now. They are the tallest trees on earth and can live 2000 years. The trees grow over 300 feet (91. 44 meters) but the roots of the redwoods spread out and intertwine with other trees so they can support these majestic trees. By mingling the roots with the roots of other trees they stay strong and grow tall. This example of the tree shows the importance for us of being interconnected and supporting one another to stand, especially through this COVID -19 crisis. Even in the midst of this crisis, we are blessed by God’s love in Jesus Christ- and we can be a blessing to the world. That will mean modeling in the world the ways of loving inter-dependence, mutual respect, and service that God wills for us. At KUC, it has not been easy to not meet in-person for so long. But we will not always be distant from each other. We may mourn with those who mourn and weep with those who weep. But joy will come and we will resume in-person worship which is good for our souls and bodies. In times like these, what to do? We follow Jesus’ greatest and second commandment which is: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22:36-40) Like the parable you heard earlier, we find ways to care for each other and share our resources. For example, our Care Ministry at KUC helps others. We reach out to lend a helping hand to those who need just a little more assistance during this pandemic. How can we learn to share our resources and help our neighbors worldwide, especially those who are most vulnerable? How can we be part of loving interconnectedness worldwide? Martin Luther King, Jr. once said of our world that, ” We have inherited a large house, a great “world house” in which we have to live together - a family unduly separated in ideas, culture and interest, who, because we can never again live apart, must learn somehow to live with each other in peace… All inhabitants of the globe are now neighbors.” 1 John 4:11-12 calls us to “love one another.” Our love we give is from God. This is the love that connects us with our neighbors around the world and those in the community. In a few moments at the end of the service we will have communion. The celebrants will be Pastor Chuck and his daughter, her husband and his granddaughter. They may see far away from us in Long Beach, California, but are close to us in as our family in Christ and through our prayers. Please stay and have communion on-line with them. KUC has been a congregation for the international community for close to 150 years and we will celebrate our 150 years anniversary of our church in 2021. People from all over the world have found KUC to be their home and praise God for our loving interconnectedness. Praise God for World Communion Sunday and the unity of the church. Amen. |
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