Busyness
A View from Above
NIS Gala
Graduation/Commencement
Visiting EXPO 2005
"Daily Word" Listeners Meeting
Amnesty/Religious Dialogue
Kariya/Takahama Churches
Accomodations

Busyness
05/06/02

Since entering this Christian retirement community six years ago, my wife and I have had to reconsider the meaning of "retire." Because the prefix "re" usually means "again" or "anew," we jokingly say that (like an old car that has been used for many years) we need to get new "tires" to keep going at our normal pace. Or we may consider another meaning of "tire" and note that, since our retirement, we have become "tired" again. The reason we feel tired is because we participate in so many volunteer activities as well as attending regular meetings and stimulating study sessions, all of which we enjoy but which keep us busy. Although, we are not engaged in any "business," we are experiencing another kind of "busyness." This has been especially evident as we have been preparing for our visit to Japan. While considering what clothes to wear during the "rainy season," which is usually hot and humid, we recall that some years it was cooler and drier. Along with our wearing apparel, we are also taking gifts and other things that we presume we will need. Since I hope to continue adding up-to-date messages on this homepage and to send and read e-mail during that trip, I must also take my laptop computer and its attachments. Sunday, our last day in the U.S., was an especially busy time. As usual, we attended the "Dialogue Class," of which I have been the president during the past year, for an hour before the worship service, following which we ate our dinner and then went to the car rental office to obtain the car I drove for three hours to the inn near the airport where we spent the night. Monday morning, we boarded a plane for Chicago, from which we flew on to Nagoya, arriving safely on Tuesday afternoon, Japan time. (860)

A View from Above
05/06/08

On our trip to Japan from Florida, we spent 16 hours in the air--3 hours from Orlando to Chicago and 13 hours from Chicago to the new international airport in Nagoya. On both flights, we were able to look out of a window and there were two views which were particularly impressive from my point of view. At certain times along the way, there were clouds in the sky. Sometimes, clouds filled the entire sky, so that nothing could be seen. At other times, we were above a sea of clouds that seemed to be formed in lines of varied shapes and heights. And at other times, the clouds were gathered together in larger or smaller bunches with sections of clear sky between them. In such cases, the size and shape of the clouds were very different and, using our imagination, we could discern many interesting figures in them, but in whatever case, the sight was beautiful. There were also times when a clear sky without clouds offered extraordinary sights of the ground beneath us. The tall mountains in Alaska were characterized by white veins of snow that extended from their bare, brown ridges. This also was a beautiful sight, but the tall mountains we saw in Japan were quite different. These mountains also had ridges, but rather than being brown and white, they were a beautiful green. Whether clouds or mountains, the natural formations and colors were beautiful and the question arises about whether this is simply the result of chance or the artistic design of a Creator. According to Psalm 19:1, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." (862)

NIS Gala
05/06/12

According to my dictionary, a "gala" is a "festive occasion" and the first "a" in the word may be pronounced like the "a" in "pat" or in "pay" or in "father." Yes, the pronunciation of English words is very complicated and irregular. There are a number of different recognized pronunciations of the same letter. The main purpose of our visit to Japan this month was to attend the special celebratory events of the Nagoya International School, which held a "Gala" in a Nagoya hotel on June 3rd. This school was established forty years ago and has recently completed a complete renovation of its unique circular building. At the Gala, which was attended by about three hundred people, who enjoyed a buffet dinner, musical entertainment and a raffle, I was honored as the "Special Guest" and presented with a special attractive memento "in appreciation for the many years of service on behalf of Nagoya International School." The statement contains the further excessive words that "you have not only helped students of NIS, but you have facilitated the internationalization of the entire region as well." In my greeting, I quoted from letters written by my wife to our parents about the school over 40 years ago, which my mother had saved. At the Gala and at the school, which we had visited the day before, we met many present and former teachers, students, Board members and friends. My wife especially enjoyed meeting former members of her pre-school classes who are graduating from high school this year or have already graduated from college. We realized that, not only the school, but also we ourselves are getting older. (863)

Graduation/Commencement
05/06/14

The final ceremony marking the conclusion of the educational process for students of a certain school may be called either a "graduation" or a "commencement." Students who "graduate" will move up from that school and "commence" a new stage of life after having completed the school's requirements. The 38th Commencement of Nagoya International School was held on Sunday afternoon, June 3rd, in the school's gymnasium, which is also used as an auditorium. National flags of over twenty countries were displayed, representing homelands of students presently enrolled in the school. There were 16 graduates from four countries and the Nagoya City Fire Bureau Band, which regularly plays at NIS Commencement programs, played the national anthem of each of those countries: France, Korea, Japan and the United States of America. Addresses were delivered by the salutatorian and valedictorian of the graduating class and by the special commencement speaker. A couple of meaningful songs were sung by the Concert Choir. I had been asked to deliver the Benediction, the short prayer offered at the end of a church service or a public ceremony. I was surprised to learn that the particular benediction I had composed for this school, with the variety of cultural and religious traditions represented by its students, which I had offered as the Board Chairman ten years ago, had been used at every Commencement since then. Following the ceremony, a reception was held at which my wife and I enjoyed meeting more old friends while eating and drinking refreshments that were available. (864)

Visiting EXPO 2005
05/06/17

Every few years, an international exhibit of products, art works, historical mementos, etc. representing individual countries is held in an approved place to promote both the understanding and commercial interests of the countries involved in the exposition. This year, EXPO 2005 is being held near the city where our son's house is located, so my wife and I and our daughter, who arrived from Thailand the day after we arrived, visited the EXPO on two consecutive days. We are grateful that this is a "dry rainy season" in Japan thus far but the clouds on those days kept us from getting sunburned. The grounds were very crowded, both inside and outside the various pavilions, but we tried to avoid the long lines that delayed admission to certain popular sites. We were amazed at the exhibits of countries we thought we knew as well as those unknown to us, but another amazing thing happened while we were there. As I walked along the trail, a man walking in the opposite direction stopped and asked if my name was Clark Offner and if I had once lived in the city of Kariya. When I replied that it was so, he informed me that he had known me at that time, when he was a high school student over fifty years ago. He not only remembered my name but the names of my wife and our two children as well. After he told me his name and I looked at him more closely, I did recall having seen him before, but I did not remember anything else. Looking at the crowds of visitors at the EXPO, we were impressed by the relatively few Caucasian faces we saw, but it is probably not surprising that the majority of visitors were from Asia. (865)

"Daily Word" Listeners Meeting
05/06/20

When my wife and I came to Japan in 1951 as missionaries, our "mission" was not only to establish churches, but to manifest the spirit of Christ as we sought to minister to the needs of the people around us. Along with our church-planting ministry, we were involved in the establishment of the Nagoya International School, which is now celebrating its 40th anniversary. I also began a telephone ministry, transmitting a recorded Christian message in Japanese from our church in the city of Takahama. (Later, a book was published which included one such message for every day of the year.) Then I began an English language telephone service called "Daily Word," which became very popular. Eventually taken over by NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone), almost 900,000 calls were received during the 19 years it continued. It was our custom to hold "Listeners Meetings" at a public hall in Nagoya on the 5th Sundays of the month where we spoke in English and "Daily Word Echoes," composed of corrected essays written by listeners on topics I had suggested, were distributed. Listeners came from distant places and we enjoyed talking with them. Two "old-timers" of that group organized a meeting at a public hall on Saturday afternoon, June 11th. There, we enjoyed meeting with about two dozen former listeners, including one from Tokyo and one from Kobe, but elderly ladies from Fukushima and Tsuyama were unable to attend. At the meeting, discussion included a plan to make a permanent site on the Internet where the "Daily Word" and "Timely Words" messages (now totaling over 7,000) would always be accessible. (866)

Amnesty/Religious Dialogue
05/06/24

Amnesty International, which seeks to promote the human rights of persons throughout the world, has emphasized the rights of those who have been arrested or imprisoned on the basis of their religious or cultural traditions rather than having committed a crime. A couple of decades ago, a missionary friend and I organized the first Amnesty group in the city of Nagoya. For a few years, I also composed the sample English postcard messages which were sent to members throughout the country to copy and send to officials in countries where such prisoners were being held to protest the violation of their human rights. Later, many other groups were formed in Nagoya; two weeks ago my wife and I attended the meeting of one of them, where the problem of lepers in Japan was discussed. The following Saturday, we met with a few of the members of the inter-religious dialogue group I had organized 25 years ago to encourage a deeper understanding of other religions. There are many different religions in Japan, but most Japanese do not have a deep religious conviction of their own nor do they understand much of other religions. This group continued to meet following my retirement, but has now discontinued its monthly meetings. Nevertheless, those who attended the recent quickly called meeting included two Buddhist priests, one leader of a Tenrikyo Branch and a member of the Salvation Army. The hope was expressed that even irregular meetings of the group would be helpful and I hope that may be one of the results of that meeting. I have been very happy to meet many old friends from many different backgrounds (867)

Kariya/Takahama Churches
05/06/26

When my wife and I first came to Japan, in the fall of 1951, we spent our first year in Tokyo. There, we attended a Japanese language school and I taught English Bible Classes in a church and a company. We also visited certain cities, towns and villages where there were no churches, for we wanted to begin our missionary work in such a place. On a trip on the Tokaido Line from Tokyo to Kyoto, we disembarked at a number of stations and spent an hour walking around the area to get an impression of that community before boarding the next train. For a couple of reasons, the community which stimulated the most negative impression was Kariya, but it was to that city that we felt led to begin our work. An uncle of our landlady in Tokyo lived in Okazaki and it was through his contact that we found a place to live in Kariya. Following the establishment of a church in that city, we began work in the neighboring town of Takahama. Now, there are small congregations with Japanese pastors that meet in those two cities. Regular meetings and classes were also held in the nearby communities of Chiryu and Higashiura, but no churches were established there. Although the churches in both Kariya and Takahama, for various reasons, are struggling, we are thankful they continue to exist. On the past two Sundays, we attended worship services in those churches at which I preached the sermons, using somewhat "rusted"Japanese. After the services, we enjoyed a time of fellowship with those who attended and a couple of days later we went back to both cities to talk with the church leaders. (868)

Accomodations
05/06/29

This is our third visit to Japan since we retired. Each visit raised the problem of accommodations while we are here. Shortly before we left for the U.S.A. in 1999, a lady who had lived in our neighborhood years before and who had attended English classes taught by my wife read an article in the newspaper about our retirement and came to say "Farewell" to her. My wife mentioned that our son was planning to tear down his old house and build a new one on the lot next to a well-known park just outside of Nagoya and needed temporary accommodations for his family during that time. The lady said she had an apartment in a nearby community she was not using and that became the home of our son and family for the next four years. Our first visit, in 2001, was in response to a request of our Japanese churches to hold special meetings. At that time, an apartment just below that of our son became available and that is where we stayed. There was also room there for our daughter who came to visit us from her home in Thailand. Our second visit, in 2003, was related to church business, but we were able to stay in an apartment next to a regular listener to my "Daily Word" telephone service who knew of our need for one. Following that visit, we stopped in Thailand to visit our daughter. On this third visit, stimulated by the Nagoya International School�fs 40th anniversary celebration, we are enjoying living with our son and family in the new 2-storey house that he finished building last year. We are amazed at the beautiful, comfortable and efficient home that is the result of his skillful carpentry abilities which we did not realize he possessed. (869)