November Sycamore Tree

Dear Sycamore Family,
One of the latest bits of gossip around the Student/Youth Center these days is about the upcoming wedding of two center alums. There have been many couplings between center members is the past but one of the things that makes this pair unique is that the groom is preparing to become a Buddhist priest and the bride has recently been baptized into the Christian faith. They met at the student center while they were both college students. At the time, both of them were still discovering their own views on religion and spirituality. The Student/Youth Center was the place where both of them had encountered Christianity for the first time as it is for many of the young people who gather there today.

I met the　newly engaged couple at the recent Student/Youth Center alumni reunion in Tokyo last month.I had heard a lot about them from other alumni and so I was a little bit curious. There is a lot expected of the wives of Buddhist priests in Japan, especially in the smaller temples as the one to which the groom belongs. The bride began working full-time when she graduated from college and plans to continue working after they are married. I'm sure they will face many challenges in the future but it was so encouraging to hear their story because it generated a deeper discussion on how the center has shaped the spiritual lives of so many other young people.

Our mission is not one to convert people to Christianity but to share a spiritual practice in the midst of the increasingly busy lives of Japanese youth. We hold Bible study and candlelight Taize prayer meetings and we pray before all center events. At large events we explain that prayer is a time when we can give thanks for the food before us and speak whatever is on our minds. If we ever make people uncomfortable we try to offer the space for them to express themselves. One alumna put it best when she said that, her time at the student/youth center helped her realize that accepting something doesn't mean you have to agree. Over the years so many different people have come to the student center and it's been a place for interactions between the diverse mix of people who gather. I have had my opinions and beliefs challenged on many occasions as well and am grateful that the center has been a safe place to do so.