ベサニー・キリスト教会

The first church service at Bethany Church was in 1980. However, the seeds for this work were planted in 1974 and 1975 at the Omega Coffeehouse in Umeda. My original vision for evangelism in Japan was not through a church but through a Christian coffeehouse.

Over a dozen young Christians from various local Osaka churches joined me in this venture. However it was not long lived and I realized that God was calling me to a more traditional type of outreach-in other words church planting and pastoring.

However, to go from running a Christian coffeehouse to pastoring a church is not an easy process. I am forever thankful that this group of young Christians that gathered at the Omega coninued to support me with prayer and advice and all manner of other help. As a result, in 1980 I was able to start the Bethany Christian Church. However, the Omega people continued to pray for and support Reiko and I. and this support has continued to the present.

One of our main co-workers at the Omega was Shin Chan. He is a Christian Singer/Songwriter and often gave lived gospel concerts at the Omega. Last week he called me up and suggested that we get together to record some of the songs that we used to sing back in the 70s.

And so, yesterday, he brought all his recording equipment and we set up a bit of a recording studeo in our upstairs spare room. We ended up recording 4 songs.

The first was "Glory Glory". This was a song that really sustained me throught the first 2 or 3 years of my missionary work. It is a simple song that I could sing anytime to encourage myself and also if I was placed in front of a crowd of people I could alwasy share a bit about my relationship with Jesus Christ and then sing this song. Besides Shin Chan and I we also got Reiko to join in on this song.

The second song ended up being a secular song-"Country Roads" of John Denver fame. It was a song we sang an awful lot back then and so decided to record it even though it is not a gospel song.

The third song we recorded was "Since I Opened uo the Door" by Lovesong. The only problem was we could not remember neither the melody nor the words! I went searching and found an old tape with the song in Japanese. Through that tape we were able to remember the melody and also the English words of the chorus. So, we recorded it in Japanese with the chorus in English.

Finally, as kind of an afterthought, I recorded "I've Got Peace Like a River"-another simple song that we sang often at various and sundry meetings.

Recording these songs was a wonderful experience as it was a chance to think back about all the help and guidance that God has given us over the years. All the members of the Omega group are serving God in the place where He has put them. It is wonderful to realize that God is alive and He never stops working-the same God who was working in the 70s is now working in 2008. Praise the Lord!

On the 11th of May we will be holding an English Service here at the church starting at 4pm. We hope to have a couple special guests. Mr. Y who now lives in the States will be back in Japan for GW and so we are hoping he will be able to share some songs with us and also to share a testimony.

If you are interested in Englsih, please join us. Mr. T from our church will translate everything into Japanese so you will not miss anything even if your English is rusty.

We are all hoping to see you then. Please come.

数日前に経験したことをお話したいと思います。

同じ社宅に住む小学校２年生の男の子が、同じく２年生の女の子を訪ねてきたところに居合わせました。
２人の会話から察するに、男の子がいっしょに帰ろうと約束したのに、女の子がその子を放ってほかの友達と走って帰ってしまい、
その理由を訊きにきたということのようでした。
男の子はよほど悲しかったのでしょう、眼にうっすらと涙をうかべて、自分の気持ちを伝えていました。　
女の子のほうは少しバツの悪そうな顔をしながら、「約束した覚えはない」と答えていました。
結局、『自分がされて悲しいことを、ほかの人にしてはいけない』ということをお母さんに諭された女の子が、
ごめんなさいと謝り、男の子は少しほっとしたような顔をして、階段を上り家にもどっていきました。

約束をしたのか、したという自覚がなかったのか、それはわからないことですが、あいまいなままにしないで、
気持ちを伝え、また相手の考えを確認しようとした男の子の純真な思いと、素直にあやまった女の子の気持ちとを、私はほほえましく感じていました。
また、自分の勝手な解釈で事態を納得しようとしたり、なかったことのようにふるまおうとしたり（もちろん、それもときには必要なことでは
あるのですが）する自分の思いを省みたりしていたのです。
が、ここでもっと大事なことに思い至りました。　それは、この男の子のように、私は神さまを悲しませてはいないだろうかということでした。
　
聖書には、『心を尽くし、精神を尽くし、力を尽くして、あなたの神、主を愛しなさい。』という教えがよく出てきます。
申命記6：5や、第２列王記23：25に、また、聖書のなかでどの戒めが一番大切かと訊かれた主キリストが、
『神を愛すること、そして隣人を愛すること、これ以外に大事な命令はない』とお答えになる場面があります（マルコ12：29-31）。
『御子キリストのいのちと引き換えにしてまで、罪を赦し、愛してくださっている神さまと交わした、神さまを一番にして生きるという約束』を、
私は『したつもりはない』とか、『していない』などと、のらりくらりとかわしては神さまを悲しませてはいないかと思ったのです。

残念ながら今の私には、『悲しませてはいない』と、言い切る自信がありません。
悲しませるようなことをしていた自分を赦してくださいと、この女の子のように素直に謝りたいと思います。
そして、決して変わることのない神さまの約束を信じ、神さまへの約束をいつも守る者でありたいと願い、その力をも与えてくださいと
祈りたいと思います。

　すべての良い贈り物、また、すべての完全な賜物は上から来るのであって、光を造られた父から下るのです。
父には移り変わりや、移り行く影はありません。　　　ヤコブの手紙　1：17

　イエス・キリストは、きのうもきょうも、いつまでも、同じです。　　　　ヘブル人への手紙　13：8

Next Sunday, May 11, 2008, will be a busy Sunday at our church. First of all, it is Pentecost Sunday and so my message will be about the Holy Spirit. We are hoping that Mr. Y will be able to share a special song with us at that time. It is also Mother's Day and so should be a time to appreciate our Moms. Then, in the afternoon, starting at 4pm we will be having an English Service for those of you who speak English or who are interested in speaking English. Mr. Y will also be singing and sharing his testimony at that time also.

You are all very welcome to join us this coming Sunday-join us in our morning service at 10:30 am or join us for our English Service at 4pm. I hope to see you all then.

I climbed Mt. Kongo today and was surprised to see that the cherry blossoms were all in full bloom Of course the cherry blossoms at the park peaked about a month ago but I thought that the cherry blossoms at the peak of Mt. Kongo would also be be gone by now. The Mt. Kongo Cherry Blossom Festival is held on the 3rd of the May and so that is usually when they are at their best. However, this year they seem to be late.

I was especially excited to be able to see the Kongo Cherry Tree in full bloom. This is a type of cherry that is only found on Mt.Kongo and the official name of the type of tree is Kongo Cherry. The blossoms are almost blue-a very strange and beautiful color. At any rate I had a wonderful time taking pictures of flowers and had the experience of being able to see early spring twice this year-once in the New Town where I live in April and now once more at the peak of Mt. Kongo.

I also went looking for KATORA flowers but I was too late for them-all I could see were the leaves and even the leaves will soon disappear till next year when they again will pop out of the ground and delight us with their purple flowers.

Yesterday I climbed the Katora Valley with Mr. K. I had a specific reaason for climbing this valley at this time. The Katora Valley contains probably the best wild flower field in all of Mt. Kongo. There are several types of flowers which take their turn blooming there but the most famous is a flower called ICHI RIN SOU in Japanese. Another type called NI RIN SOU is also famous. These are both small white flowers that totally cover the ground in the upper parts of the valley. Both sides of the trail are totally covered with flowers-a wonderful sight. Mr. K and I were able to see these flowers in full bloom.

Another aspect of the valley that we enjoyed was the spring green. The shade of green in all of the valley was just un-believable. I am sure I see it every spring but each year I am amazed again.

A third high light of climbing the Katora Valley is the natural spring located about half way up the main trail. Here, a spring flows from a rock face, For the past 20 years I have never seen it run dry or for that matter increase in any way-there is just a steady flow of cold clear water. Mr. K and I talked about Moses in the desert when he had water flow from the rock. Some people might thing water does not usually flow from solid rock but our experience has been that that is the most common way for springs to appear. It looks like the water is flowing from solid rock.

For those of you who live in the Osaka area, it is still not too late. Climb the Katora Valley and enjoy the spring flowers!