Dear Friends,
Welcoming in the New Year in Japan is filled with many rituals. Around midnight on New Year’s Eve, you can hear temple bells peel for 1~2 hours. This Buddhist tradition (called joya no kane) involves striking the temple bell 108 times. By striking the bell in this manner, it is believed that humans can be freed of the 108 desires and feelings (such as anger/ hate/ jealousy) they are plagued with, enabling them to make a fresh start in the New Year.
The most popular ritual is called hatsumode (first prayer of the year). Millions of people flock to shrines and temples during the first three days of the Yew Year to pray for good health, success in business, or a passing grade on their high school/college entrance exam. Another popular ritual is to watch the first sunrise of the New Year (hatsuhinode). According to Japanese mythology, the sun goddess (Amaterasu) created Japan, so worshipping the first sunrise is believed to bring good luck.
Our tradition at the Yoshino church is to welcome in the New Year with a prayer service on New Year’s Eve. In addition to that, this year we were privileged to be able to hold our first worship service of the year on New Year’s Day. However, our New Year also began on a sad note with the sudden passing of one of our members, Brother Yasuhisa Inadome (82) the next day. I baptized Brother Inadome 33 years ago, and since then he had faithfully served the Lord in the Yoshino church as a deacon, worship leader, and fill-in worship speaker. He will be greatly missed.
Mr. Inadome
Let’s briefly review some of the highlights of the last few months of 2016. October 22nd, the Yoshino church held its annual outreach meeting with Brother Hideo Yoshii, minister of the Kanoya church (on the opposite peninsula from us, 1½ hours away by car) . Over 9000 flyers about the meeting were put in local newspapers. Members of the church also spread the word and invited as many people as they could. Attendance was somewhat disappointing, but at least five non-Christians were present, and we are happy to report that, as a result of this meeting, one lady (Ms. Shinmura) began and is continuing to study the Bible with me.
Bro. Yoshii preaching at Yoshino Outreach Meeting
October 29th, Mary and I flew to Tokyo to take part in the 50th anniversary of the Sannobara Church of Christ, served for many years by the Paul Pratt family. As guest speaker, I preached for their Sunday morning worship service (10/30) and then brought the message for the 50th anniversary service that afternoon. The church was packed with the Sannobara congregation and members of sister churches from the greater Tokyo area. It was a great privilege to have been able to be part of this milestone in their history.
Sannobara 50th Anniversary Service
November 23rd, the Yoshino church & Kagoshima church jointly hosted the 63rd Annual Rally for our churches in Kagoshima Prefecture. Our guest speaker was Kenichiro Kira, minister of the Mejirodai Church of Christ in Tokyo. He spoke to us twice about "The Church that takes Root in its Community" and gave us some key insights into ways to share the gospel in our local communities. It was also a time of special fellowship.
63rd Kagoshima Churches of Christ Prefectural Rally
December 9th, we held our annual Christmas program at the Kagoshima prison. Ladies from the Yoshino church, along with other music groups, took part in the special music part of the program, and I spoke about the experience of Zacchaeus to help explain what Christmas is all about to the inmates assembled in the auditorium.
Saturday, December 10th, the Yoshino church held its 10th annual Christmas program for children in the area of the church. Fifteen children and five mothers took part in the program of games, handcrafts, a Christmas video, and my short talk. It is our hope that some of them will attend our Sunday Kids’ Bible Club.
Craft Time at Children’s Christmas Program
December 19th, I took English-Japanese New Testaments to my two classes at Kagoshima University. At the end of each class, I encouraged my students to take one and read about the first Christmas; most of them did.
December 20th, Mary accompanied me to the Kagoshima prison for a special presentation ceremony at which I was presented with a certificate and medal (The Order of the Sacred Treasure) from the Emperor of Japan. This was in recognition of my work as a prison chaplain for 38 years. It was a great honor and gratifying to have the work of a Christian chaplain recognized in this way.
Receiving Emperor’s Award at the prison
Certificate with Emperor’s Seal (center) & Prime Minister’s Seal
December 23rd, I spent the morning delivering cookies Mary had baked to individuals who are unable to attend church due to health problems/other difficulties. That evening, members of the Yoshino church gathered for a light meal before loading up into several cars to go caroling. It was a very cold night, but everyone bundled up and managed to stay warm as we spent about an hour caroling at six different locations in the Yoshino area.
December 24th, we held our Christmas Eve Candlelight Service but kept it shorter than usual since the next morning was Christmas worship. Christmas Sunday I preached for services at Kokubu and Yoshino. Our Yoshino worship was followed by our traditional (and delicious) potluck dinner and enjoyable afternoon fellowship time filled with special music by various groups and individuals in the church.
Yoshino Church Afternoon Christmas Program
December 28th, we had our delayed family Christmas at the home of my sister Hope and her husband, Yasuto, on the other side of Kagoshima City. Hope and Mary jointly prepared a fantastic Christmas dinner with all the trimmings and pumpkin pie. A highlight of the day was having a group Skype session with our siblings in the U.S. and Canada.
We want to close by thanking all of you for sustaining our ministry here with your faithful prayers and support. We pray that God will richly bless you and mightily use each of you for His Kingdom in 2017.
In Him,
Walter & Mary