Emmaus Worship Part II

I wanted to share with you a story from the meeting of the Pacific Islander and Asian American Ministries (PAAM -- http://www.paamncnc.com/) conference that I attended in Hawaii this August. I participated in the youth program of this conference which included youth from various churches around the U.S. One of the workshops focused on Identity among Asian American or minority youths. Since Asian Americans are such a small ethnic group in the U.S. and there are many even smaller groups within that main group, young people often begin to question their identity when they have trouble relating to both their ethnic heritage and mainstream culture.

This workshop focused on who Jesus was as a historical figure and how he would have been perceived by his contemporaries. We were asked to think about the human Jesus who was born into a Jewish family and grew up in Galilee. Since we recently celebrated Christmas, maybe you remember that Joseph and Mary were returning to their hometown for a census when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. We may also remember that after Jesus was born they fled into Egypt in order to escape Herod's orders to kill all the first born sons.

We were then asked to think about what language Jesus might have spoken in his time. Since his parents were Jewish we might guess that Jesus spoke Aramaic or Hebrew when he spoke to them or other Jews. But, in Galilee the dominate language in business and daily life would have been Greek since the Roman empire was so powerful. Also, the first formative years of the boy Jesus's life were spent in Egypt away from both Mary and Joseph's hometowns and this also probably had a profound effect on the way that Jesus saw himself and the people around him.

As the workshop went on we were asked to think about what color his hair might have been and what his voice might have sounded like. As we thought about the reality of this life as an ethnic minority, students participating in the workshop explored their own lives and the way that they perceive themselves and the way they may be perceived by their non-Asian American peers.

At this point one of the students in the workshop wondered aloud, "I wonder if Jesus spoke with an accent like me?" and yet another student wondered if Jesus was ever teased by other kids in school for looking or speaking differently.

The disciples on their way to Emmaus has spent a considerable amount of time learning from and sharing meals with Jesus while He was living among them and yet even they failed to recognize Him when He appeared to them on their journey. What about His contemporaries in Galilee? Even they may have found it difficult to believe that this strange looking foreigner with an accent was in fact the Savior prophets had predicted for many generations. Yet, they came to accept Him in their lives as they shared life and bread with this Son of Man.

December Sycamore Tree

Every year around the Advent season I am always overwhelmed by the concept of peace because it seems to me as something so large that there is nothing I can do as an individual to help achieve it. Since this year was also an election year and I’ve been living abroad, the idea of world peace has been on my mind a lot because the result of our election impacts the entire world. As one of the most historic presidential races the U.S. has ever seen, it was especially captivating to watch from afar.
On Election Day, I had been asked to share some of my experiences from the Student Center’s spring Study Tour to Okinawa with Tohoku Committee on Okinawa Relations. Okinawa was one of the main battlegrounds during WWII and later annexed by the U.S. before it was returned to Japan. Today, 75% of the U.S. military bases in Japan are located in Okinawa even though these islands make up less than 1% of the total land area entire country. Because of Okinawa’s strategic location in Asia and the fact that Japanese government has continued to support these U.S. military bases financially since WWII, Okinawa provides the ideal base for soldiers before their deployment to Iraq and the Middle East.
Among the countless other environmental and economic effects of the US military presence, the most prominent news from Okinawa is the rape of a 16-year-old girl by a U.S. Marine in February of this year. But this was one reported event from the thousands of such cases on record since Okinawa was returned to Japan in 1972. As a result of strong opposition to U.S. military presence in Okinawa by the its residents, a plan was formulated to redistribute some of the military facilities to other parts of Japan like Sendai and other Pacific islands like Guam, both of which already have a strong U.S. military presence.
From the Okinawa study tour this spring I realized that few Japanese and even fewer Americans have seen the impacts of the war in Iraq on countries like Japan that have no direct military interest in the Middle East. If we all were a little more educated on how war affects not just our enemies but our allies as well we might see the urgency in finding a more peaceful solution. So, as Advent is approaching and we try to envision a world full of hope, peace, joy, and love, I’m starting to feel less overwhelmed and a little more hopeful because there are other people in this world who are thinking about how achieve peace too.

SKLT
Global Missions Intern (GMI) and
Assistant to the Director
Sendai Student/Youth Center in Sendai, Japan

November SHARE

In the U.S., Thanksgiving is a holiday families often share together. It’s a reminder to be grateful for what we have and to share our time and blessings with the people close to us. This year I am thankful that I was able to share this tradition with my Sendai family. This year’s feast featured Pad Thai, meatloaf, 2 types of gratin, Caesar salad, hijiki, Japanese style meat and potatoes, tofu niimono, and completed by fruit custard tarts. The menu included many different flavors from various countries and each person shared one thing that they are grateful for. And, just like at the end of American Thanksgiving celebrations, we had eaten so much we could hardly move and there were still leftovers to take home. This was truly a celebration of our many blessings including a plentiful meal and the company in which to share it.

アメリカの収穫感謝祭は家族みんなで過ごす休日です。与えられている恵みに感謝し、最も身近な人たちと分かち合う日です。今年、私はこの伝統を仙台のファミリーと分かち合うことができて嬉しいです。先日、テーブルに並んだ料理はパッタイ（タイ料理）、グラタン、サラダ、ひじき、肉じゃが、豆腐の煮物、そしてデザートにはタルト！メニューはいろんな国の料理。参加者は皆自分が感謝している事柄をそれぞれ分かち合いました。それで、いつものアメリカの収穫感謝祭同様、食べ終わったときは皆お腹が一杯で、食べきれない物を皆が持ち帰るぐらいでした。これは本当の祝いの時でした。豊かな食卓は恵みを分かち合うとき。いただいた食べ物も一緒にいただいた仲間たちもこの食卓を豊にしてくれました。　

November Emmaus Newsletter (エマオ通信)

Every year around the Advent season I am always overwhelmed by the concept of peace. When I try to envision in my mind what peace is I feel discouraged by all the obstacles we would need to overcome in order to achieve it. Since this year was also an election year in the U.S. and I’ve been living in Japan, the idea of world peace has been on my mind a lot because the results of this historic election impacts the entire world.

On Election Day, I had been asked to share some of my experiences from the Student Center’s spring Study Tour to Okinawa with the Tohoku Kyouku Okinawa Committee. In March, while visiting Henoko looking over into Camp Schwabb, the US Marine base there, we were told that these soldiers were most likely on their way to Iraq. Because of Okinawa’s strategic location in Asia and the fact that Japanese government has continued to support U.S. military bases financially since WWII, Okinawa provides the ideal base for soldiers before their deployment to Iraq and the Middle East.

The Ryukyu Islands have a rich and beautiful culture and I was fortunate to be able to visit them this spring. I’ve also been blessed to be able to meet community leaders in Okinawa that are working to heal from the destruction caused by WWII and continues today from the presence of U.S. military.

This spring I realized that few Japanese and even fewer Americans have seen the impacts of the war in Iraq on countries like Japan that have no direct military interest in the Middle East. If we all were a little more educated on how war affects not just our enemies but our allies as well we might see the urgency in finding a more peaceful solution.

So, as Advent is approaching and I try to envision a world full of hope, peace, joy, and love, I’m starting to feel less overwhelmed and a little more hopeful because there are other people in this world who are thinking about how achieve peace too.



毎年アドベント（待降節）になると、私は平和という概念について考えます。まず、平和という現実を考えたときに、そこにいたるまで乗り越えなければならない様々な障壁があることに気付き、落胆してしまいます。今年は特に、この日本からアメリカの選挙を見つめていました。歴史に残るこの選挙が世界平和にどのように影響を与えるか思わずにはいられませんでした。

丁度、アメリカの選挙当日に東北教区の沖縄委員会の席で話しを頼まれ、青年学生センターの沖縄スタディツアーを通して感じたことをお話しする機会がありました。３月に辺野古を訪れた際、金網の向こう側にキャンプ・シュワブを見ることができました。案内の方によると、キャンプ・シュワブの海兵隊員はイラクに向かうだろうとのことでした。沖縄はアジア地域において戦略的に優れていること、また日本が第２次世界大戦以降継続して米軍を経済的に支えてきたことなど、米国にとって沖縄はイラクや中近東に米軍を派遣する基地として理想的な場所なのです。

私は今年の沖縄への旅で琉球の美しく豊かな文化に触れる機会を与えられました。また、地元で活動されているリーダーたちとお会いし、彼らが第２次大戦から来る破壊、現在も駐留する米軍の存在から来る破壊の傷跡を癒そうとしている姿を見ることができました。

私にとって衝撃的だったことは、イラクでの戦争がどれほど日本をも巻き込んでいるかについて、多くの人が意識していない（日本人もアメリカ人も）現実があることです。日本は直接的に中近東に軍事的関わりがないのにです。戦争は相手国のみならず、同盟国をも影響する。このことを私たちがより深く考えるなら、より平和的な方法を求める必然性が私たちの内に明確にされるのではと思うのです。
アドベントの時は迫ってきていて私は希望、平和、喜び、愛が満ちあふれる世界を想像します。前より少し希望を感じるようになっている自分があります。それは、この日本で平和をもたらすために働いているいろんな人と出会ったから。この世界で平和を作ろうとして一緒に働く人たちに励まされます。

November Sycamore Tree

Dear Sycamore Family,

Life in Sendai is starting to settle down a little bit now that I’ve had time to calm down from my visit home. I had so much fun catching up with friends, meeting new people, and visiting all of my favorite hang out spots. Since returning to Japan, I’ve been unpacking all the new culture shock I experienced going back to the bay area. I thought back to when I first arrived in Sendai and all of the expectations I had and how they changed the longer I spent here.

Perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions I had was that Japanese culture and thinking was very homogeneous. I had always thought that Japan lacked cultural diversity because it hasn’t experienced as much immigration or colonization as the US. However, from travels to places like Kyoto, Okinawa, and the Sendai area I found I couldn’t have been more wrong. One government official in Japan has recently received a lot of criticism for stating publicly that Japan is a monoculture, angering several groups including representatives of Ainu communities in Hokkaido and Ryukyu in Okinawa. Only recently has the Japanese government recognized the existence of these indigenous peoples and their struggle for recognition has been a very long, hard process. So, for a high-level government official to say this in a public statement means they still have a long way to go in terms of raising awareness.

This is only one example of culture shock that ranged from the cleanliness of public transportation to sleeping on a spring mattress instead of a Japanese futon. I’m sure many more experiences will continue to surprise me and some realizations may take years. But, the experience has been an incredible one and I hope that I can make you all proud.

My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in the Sycamore family who is in the hospital, feeling ill, or recovering from the loss of a loved one. The longer I’m away from home the more I realize how much I miss it and my mind often wanders back to all of you.

With Love,
SKLT
Global Missions Intern and
Assistant Director
Sendai Student/Youth Center in Sendai, Japan

October SHARE

Last month, I made a short visit to California to visit friends and family back home. I think that when visiting home after a long absence, no amount of time will ever feel long enough. What amazed me about this visit was how comfortable it felt. Most of my time was spent sitting around kitchen tables and on living room couches catching up with old friends. It was nice to be able to talk in person again instead of through letters, e-mails, and chat windows.
One of my main purposes for going home this September was to help with the Sycamore Church Bazaar. After WWII there was a lot of resentment towards Japanese and Japanese-Americans in the U.S. In that time churches and temples became important community centers in the Japanese-American community and bazaars became an annual tradition as a way to bring members from different churches and different faiths together.
This year, as usual, the women of the Japanese congregation’s Fujinkai rolled maki-zushi, shaped triangular onigiri, and packaged small cups of tsukemono. The youth helped set up tables and hang signs before they worked their shifts in the game corner. This year I worked with my parents selling cold drinks after passing on my usual task of clearing tables and serving hot tea to another young person in our English congregation.
What makes Sycamore’s Bazaar special to me is that so many people return on that one day even after they’ve moved away or are no longer able to come to church every Sunday. So this is just one of the traditions that Sycamore celebrates as a family and it made me happy to be able to participate again this year. – SKLT

先月、カリフォルニアに一時帰国しました。ずっと離れていて、一時的に帰ると、どんなに時間があっても足りない気持ちになります。でも、今回は自分でもびっくりするぐらい落ち着いてゆっくりと友達や家族と過ごすことができて、やっぱり手紙やメールやチャット・ウインドウとは違う直接人と向き合える時間がいいなあと思いました。
今回帰った目的の一つは自分の教会のバザーを手伝うためでした。第２次世界大戦が終わったころ、アメリカでは日系人に対する複雑な思いがありました。そんな中で教会やお寺は日系人の精神的拠り所となり、バザーは宗教の違いを越えて日系人を一つに集める大事なときでした。
婦人会の人はいつものように巻きずし、三角おにぎり、漬け物を用意しました。若い人はそれぞれのブースに行く前にテーブルを出したり、看板を出したりして手伝いました。今年、私は自分のいつもの役割を後輩に伝授した後、飲み物を売って回るお手伝いをしました。私にとってシカモア教会のバザーが大切な理由があります。それはあの日にいろんな人が戻って来るからです。遠くに引っ越した人も、最近日曜日に礼拝に来ていない人も、この日には戻って来て一つの大きな家族になるのです。私もそういう意味では今年のバザーに参加できたことが本当に嬉しかったです。　サンディー

October Sycamore Tree

Dear Sycamore Family,

I was so happy I was able to come ho me for the Bazaar this year. It meant a lot to me to be able to share in this annual tradition with family and friends. Like bazaars in the past there were a lot of familiar faces but this year there were also a lot of new ones. Seeing those faces and introducing new friends was a wonderful reminder of the strength in the Sycamore community and the family I represent in Japan.

Thank you all so much!

SKLT
Global Missions Intern and
Assistant Director of the Sendai Student/Youth Center in Sendai, Japan