ベサニー・キリスト教会
大阪府堺市のはずれにある、泉北ニュータウンのそのまたはずれにある村の小さな教会。
でもそこに一歩踏み入れたら暖かい家庭的な雰囲気にあなたの心もなごむことでしょう。
聖書の中にある、一世紀当時の教会の姿がここにはあります。
まだ一度も教会に行ったことのない方､以前教会に行っていたけど今は行っていない方､どなたでもどうぞご遠慮なくお出で下さい。
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No news is good news. My chemotherapy treatments are going well. In now have treatments on the 1st Tuesday and the 3rd Tueday every month. The first week usually gets me into bed for a few days but the second week I am usually feeling good enough to climb Mt. Kongo a couple times. Every Saturday you can find me in my office preparing a sermon and on Sundays you can find me preaching. So, I divide my time between sleeping, preaching, and mountain climbing!
On the fourth of March I will have CT scan taken and we will know if the cancer has gotten smaller or not. Please pray for a positive result. PTL
I have always been a big fan of Matsuo Basho. When I visited Tokyo last year I made a point of visiting the site on the Sumida River where his famous hut was located. I had always thought that I like him because he was such a traveler but I have recently come to see that I really like him because of his simple lifestyle lived in his beloved hut by the Sumida River. It was there that he wrote many of his famous "haiku" poems.
The hut was built for him by his students and soon a banana tree was planted outside the hut. Soon, the hut was called the "Basho Hut" or in English the "Banana Hut". Soon, people started calling him Master Basho and that is the nickname that he is now known by throughout the world. Ever since it seems he was interested in the simple life lived in a hut. The original hut was built in 1680 but burned down in 1682. In 1683 a new hut was built for him.
However, the Basho Hut was not the only hut that he lived in and wrote about. In In 1690 he stayed for some time in the "Unreal Hut" near Lake Biwa. In English this hut is also called the "Hut of the Phantom Dwelling" depending on who has translated it. As I grew up near Lake Biwa I am very interested in some day visiting this hut or the site where it was located. Basho wrote an essay about his life there called, "Record of the Hut of the Phantom Dwelling".
In 1691 Basho spent time at yet another hut called the "House of Fallen Persimmons". Here, he wrote "The Saga Diary" and "The Monkey's Cloak" As this site is also located not too far from Osaka I am hoping some day to visit it.
In 1692 the third Basho Hut was built by the Sumida River.
However, it is another Japanese writer that explained more fully the connection between living the Simple Life and having a "hut" to live in. Kamo no Chomei wrote an essay called, "The Record of the Ten-Foot-Square-Hut". Kamo no Chomei lived from 1153 to 1216 and was based in Kyoto. He gives a very direct description of what a "hut" should be like. According to Chomei it should be first of all of course Ten-Foot-Square. Anything bigger and it is too big and can't be called a "hut". He tells us that his hut contained bookshelves for his books,two musical intruments-a koto and a biwa-and his bed of fern fronds. The koto is a Japanese harp while the biwa is more like a lute or a mandolin. At any rate, his idea of the simple life comes down to a room 10 by 10, books, music, and a bed.
Why am I so interested in "huts" and the siimple life? Maybe because I was born in Minnesota. This past Christmas my brother gave me a book called, "Cabins of Minnesota" which I really really enjoyed. In Minnesota we talk about "cabins" rather than "huts". In Japan, the term used is "Yama Goya" which means "Mountain Hut". In Norway they also talk about "huts" and also in Finland the usual term is "hut". But a Minnesota cabin is the same as a Japanese Moutain Hut-the concept is the same.
Well, how do I put this interest in "huts" into practical use in my daily life? Of course on way is to spend time in Japanese "Mountain Huts"-either to rent a log cabin in the mountains for a day and night or for a few days or to accept invitations from friends who actually own "mountain huts" in Japan. We have some good friends-a Japanese pastor and his wife-who own a 10 by 10 mountain hut in Hyoko Prefecture. They often invite us to come and join them for a day of simple living which basically consists of sitting on their deck overlooking the lake for the entire day. They have a stove on the deck so we heat coffee and cook the noon meal there and never have to move. We can enjoy the view and the breeze and freely talk in a way that is hard to do normally.
However, I have a more practical way of living the simple life and that is through my office. My office is just about 10 feet by 10 feet square-Chomei would be proud of me. It contain 2 guitars, a stereo sytem and more than 100 CDs, bookshelves with over 1000 books. a desk, a table, four chairs, and pictures of Japanese mountains on the walls. When I am in my office I feel a great peace and contentment. First thing in the morning I go into my office and spend time reading the Bible and praying and then for the rest of the day it is my place of refuge from a busy and noisy world. This is my concept of living the simple life.
A Happy New Year to you all! I am now about half way through the book, "Divine Healing" by Andrew Murray. I thought I had read most of his books when I was a student at Bethany but I don't recall this one and I can't find any record of Bethany publishing it either. The copy I am now reading is published by CLC.
I was especially challenged by the 19th chapter where Murray speaks about Jesus BEARING our sickness in the same way that He bears our sins. Let me quote a few lines from page 82.
"The human nature of Jesus could not be touched by sickness because it remained holy. We never find in the account of His life any mention of sickness. Participating in all the weaknesses of our human nature-hunger, thirst, fatigue and sleep, because these things are not the consequence of sin-He still had no trace of sickness."
"Thus it is not IN Him but ON Him that we see sickness as well as sin; He took them upon Him and bore them of His own free will."
After reading the chapter I was reading Galatians and was struck by Galatians 4:13.
"As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you."
Paul, being a sinner, like we all are, got sick at times. However, see here Romans 8:28 at work in that God used his sickness to enable him to meet with the Galatians and preach the gospel to them.
So, even though sickness comes upon the himan race because of sin, yet, as Christians we can rejoice that Christ has born not only our sins but also our sickness and that God in His love and power can and will use even sickness for good and for his glory. PTL
If you have a chance, do pick up and read "Divine Healing" by Andrew Murray.
This year we held our Christmas Worship Service on the 23rd of December. It was a wonderful time with around 50 people in attendance. Besides new people there were several people who had not been to our church for many years. After the service we all enjoyed a Christmas feast together. Then, at 4 p.m. we held our Christmas Eve Service. In Japan, the actual dates, December 24 and 25, are usually not considered too important. Most churches hold their various Christmas services at the times most convenient for their members and not based on the calendar.
Our Christmas Eve Service was also well attended with a really good atmosphere from beginning to end. This year, for the first time, I myself had nothing to do with this service because of my recent health problems. As a result I was able to sit back and really enjoy the service in a new way. As I sat in the service my heart was filled with thanksgiving as I realized that our church here had matured to the point that church members could now handle everything without any help from myself or my wife. PTL!
In this service also we saw several new people in attendance. The Christmas season is a wonderful opportunity for evangelism in Japan. During most of the year, attending a Christian church is quite a challenge for new people. However, at Christmas, it seems to suddenly become easy and natural. Christmas is also a great time for personal evangelism as all the Christmas Carols and various Christmas events going on easily lead to the question of the meaning of Christmas which of course leads to the gospel-the good news of Jesus Christ coming to earth as our Savior from sin.
I always wish that the Christmas season would last longer and when Christmas is over I find myself already waiting for the next Christmas season to come along.
今週２３日（日曜）はクリスマス礼拝とイブ礼拝がありました。子供達との教会学校を担当した私は、残念ながら、朝の礼拝がどのようであったのかわかりませんが、礼拝前に会堂がどんどん大勢の人で混み合いだし、「また、こうして皆さんと、神さまのプレゼントを感謝して受け取り、喜びを分かち合う特別な日に、私も一緒に過ごせてうれしいな」と、思いました。 礼拝の様子は、また後日。
さて、子供達も、和気あいあいと、楽しいひと時を過ごしました。賛美は「えぇ～っ！」と恥ずかしそうに歌い始めたものの、だんだんと声も出てきて気持ちよく、主を賛美しました。聖書の御言葉からは「神様に求めると与えられる、神様は応えてくださる、自分勝手なお願いかどうか、よく考えて祈ろう」と話し合いました。ゲームも盛り上がって、楽しかったです。この日、ひとりひとりの子供達の目なざしと笑顔が、最近風邪や疲れで元気不足だった私の心をぱーっと明るく照らしてくれました。なんか、残りの一日がもっと感謝と喜びに満ちた”元気の素”くすりを摂った気分でした。H姉がご用意くださったビンゴゲームでは、どの子も真剣に数字と自分のカードを見比べていましたよ。（＾＾）共にご奉仕ありがとうございました。
礼拝後は、ご婦人方の手料理の昼食を、大勢でいただきました。忙しい中、心のこもった料理をご用意いただき、ありがとうございました。m（_ _）m
夕方、外が少し暗くなり始めた４時過ぎ、イブ礼拝が始まりました。N姉の素敵な歌声がMちゃんのすばらしいピアノ伴奏音にのって、会堂に響きました。背中がゾクっとする感動って表現わかりますか？空中を御使いがふわ～っと飛び横切っているような。。。 続いて、マンドリンとギター演奏、ミニB有志による賛美、メンズによる賛美があり、ショートメッセージはM兄が、「神様からのギフトは多くの希望を私達に与えてくださる」ことについて語ってくださいました。今年は、人数は少なめでしたが、やはり温かい分かち合いの交わりの時として祝福されました。ケーキやお菓子も美味しかったです。
夏から晩秋まで、牧師ご夫妻がアメリカでの師の病気治療のために留守だった中、教会に集うひとりひとりが、祈りあい、助け合い、励ましあい過ごしたせいか、ずいぶん長い間緊張が続いた後で、ご夫妻が無事帰国され、少し安堵したところで迎えたクリスマスでした。お父さんとお母さんが家に帰ってきてやっと家族がそろって食事ができた・・・みたいです。Praise the Lord!
毎日、毎週会える方も、ずっとご無沙汰の方も、また笑顔で来週も共に主を賛美し、祈りささえあえる恵みを感謝しましょうね。病気で礼拝に参加できない兄弟姉妹のためにも祈りましょう。旅行に出かける兄弟姉妹の旅程が守られ、祝福されますように。
風邪が流行っています、毎日、外出から帰ったら、うがいと手洗いを心がけましょう。
MN
I am presently reading "Joshua and the Flow of Biblical History" by Francis Schaeffer. This is I believe one of his "minor" books but I am finding it to be a very good book indeed. Along with his book, "No Little People" in this book we see Schaeffer the preacher rather than Schaeffer the philosopher or apologist or sociologist. However, of course, we see him applying the same concepts that he shares in his other books as he looks at Joshua and Moses and Abraham and other Old Testament characters. As modern Christains we tend to focus on the New Testament but this book is especially good in helping us to see how all the New Testament concepts that we hold have their genesis in the Old Testament. I would urge those of you who are readers of Schaeffer to consider giving this book of his a read-it will challenge you.
Today I was finally physically strong enough to once again climb Mt. Kongo. This was of course a great chance to again use my new snake boots that I bought in Tennessee, The temperature was exactly 0 at the peak of Mt. Kongo and there was light snow cover in places-perfect conditions to make use of knee high warm boots.
Because I am still quite weak physically because of my recent chemo treatments I chose to climb the Sillver Course which I believe is the easiest Mt. Kongo route. It was wonderful to be back in the mountains again. I noticed that the wild boars (inoshishi) had been very busy digging up roots etc. all along the side of the valley.
I also enjoyed stopping in at the rest area near the peak for a cup of hot coffee made using Mt. Kongo natural spring water. Over all I had a really enjoyable day. I am so glad that in spite of the chemo treatments I can still look forward to being strong enough to go climbing at times. PTL
