Dr. Clark Offner's "Timely Words"

Messages of other months can be read by clicking HERE.

Pastors’ School/Message Series (09/02/08)

Japan 1951(09/02/18)

The house in which my wife and I have been living in this retirement community since leaving Japan in 1999 was built over 70 years ago. Although we are satisfied with it, we are happy that we can call the Maintenance Department whenever some repair is needed. The room on the front of the house, called a“ Florida Porch,” was added to the house before we came. In it, there is a large sofa, which can be turned into a double bed and a small restroom. In a large closet, there is a washing machine and dryer, a rack on which to hang clothes we wear outdoors when it is cold or rainy and space to keep a vacuum cleaner and other things. That porch is the “guest room” when grandchildren come to visit. Recently, when we returned from our noon meal at the nearby dining room, we found the porch swarming with termites, tiny white ants with wings, that were on the floor, the walls and the windows. We called the Maintenance Department and a man came over to vacuum up the termites and spray the porch with an insecticide. A specialist will be coming soon to investigate where these insects came from and how to exterminate them. In the old houses in which we lived in Japan, we were not bothered by termites, but in one old Japanese house, we had a problem with centipedes. The word “centipede” is derived from Latin words meaning “hundred feet.” Although these worm-like creatures have many legs, there are certainly not a hundred of them. My wife was bitten by a centipede in bed and I once felt something on my leg under my pants while I was watching television. I immediately took off my pants and shook out a centipede. (1204)

Pastors’ School/Message Series (09/02/08)

Three days ago, my wife and I joined a dozen other residents of our retirement community to make a two-hour trip, riding in six cars, to a city about ninety miles south, where the “ Twenty-fourth Annual Florida Winter Pastors’ School” was held at the oldest private university in the state. It was the fourth such conference my wife and I have attended and we were very pleased with the four days of lectures and fellowship with the featured speakers (three men and one woman), internationally recognized as respected specialists in their fields. Their themes were: “ God and Evolution,” “ Prayer and Song in Public Worship,” “ The Gospel Outside the Gospels,” and “ Religion, Politics and Global Interdependence: Perils and Promises for Christians and Muslims in the 21st Century.” For us, it was another example of an opportunity for continuing education even after retirement. Now that we are back home, I have been considering the kind of messages which would be most suitable for this webpage and have decided to begin a series that should not only be easy for me to compose but both interesting and meaningful to readers as well. I plan to relate personal stories of the experiences of my wife and I when we arrived in Japan in 1951 as the first and only missionaries of our church in the U.S.A. These stories will be based on the memories of my wife and me and supported by copies of letters and other written material of that time. I hope you enjoy reading them and are stimulated both regarding the language and content of the messages. Of course, we would be happy to receive your reactions to the stories including questions or comments they raise in your minds. (1205)

History/“His Story” (09/02/14)

Since composing English language messages for the “Daily Word” and “Timely Words” telephone and internet services over the past 28 years, I have tried to choose subjects that were interesting, meaningful and relevant to the time in which they were communicated. A number of subjects have been considered more than once and it requires both time and effort to choose appropriate subjects and do the required research. Now that I am continuing to get older and take more time to choose a new subject and to do the needed research, I have decided to begin a new series of messages related to personal experiences when my wife and I first went to the far western country of Japan 57 years ago as the first and only missionaries of our church. I think they should be interesting both to Japanese and American readers, including my children and grandchildren, and take less time to prepare. So, beginning with today's message, after checking with my wife and referring to old letters and reports when necessary, I will write about incidents related to our arrival in Japan and subsequent events as we sought to understand and adjust to the Japanese perspective and lifestyle. You may consider these events “history” or, simply ‘His [Clark Offner’s] Story.” Japan is often said to be located in the “far east,” but that depends on one's perspective. On flat world maps with Europe at the center, Japan is in the “far east,” but when the United States of America is at the center, Japan is in the far west, and in those maps with Japan at the center, the U.S.A. is in the far east, so it all depends on one's perspective. It is common for people to consider their perspective, or viewpoint, the right one, but we should recognize the validity of other perspectives as well. (1206)

Japan 1951(09/02/18)

1951 was a crucial year for Japan. In April of that year, General Douglas MacArthur, who had succeeded the Japanese emperor as the ultimate authority whose decisions could not be challenged, was relieved of all power by the civilian President Harry Truman, which exemplified the differences of military and democratic governments to the Japanese people. In September of that year, a peace treaty was signed by delegates of Japan and 48 other powers. It was in November of that year that my wife and I arrived in Japan, following a busy time of preparation: physical, mental, religious, and political. To better understand the religious and political atmosphere of Japan, I submitted two different dissertations to two different educational institutions that year. During my three years of theological courses at the Biblical Seminary in New York, I had taken evening courses at the Graduate School of Arts and Science of New York University. To receive a degree, a dissertation was required at both schools. My dissertation title for the Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree, received in May, was “A Comparison of ‘Salvation’ in the Amida Sects of Japanese Buddhism and Christianity,” and for the Master of Arts degree, received in June, was “Marxism and Religion.” Fortunately, my wife was working in the office of the International Missionary Council at the time and was able to use the typewriter there after hours to type these theses (83 pages and 132 pages in length). I am very thankful for her good work, following the rules relating to page setup, footnotes, making corrections etc. for a typewriter, which have now become much easier to follow when using a computer. (1207)

From East to West (09/02/21)

To attend my seminary graduation ceremony in May 1951, my father drove himself and my mother in a new car recently purchased by my sister to New York City, over 1000 kilometers (832 miles) east of my hometown, north of Chicago. After the festivities related to the graduation and doing some sightseeing, we returned to the Chicago area, which is also the home area of my wife, to make final preparations for our trip to Japan. We were scheduled to depart on a freighter from Oakland, California, over 2000 kilometers (1374 miles) west of Chicago, in the fall. We had no experienced friends to advise us regarding procedures to be followed and what items should be taken to facilitate our adjustment to Japanese life, but we were thankful for the advice of a mission agency and tried to deepen our understanding of the country where we expected to spend the rest of our lives. Our church-related responsibilities that summer included preparing and teaching Bible studies and other religious activities for the young people who attended our church’s summer camp in central Wisconsin, which we had never visited before. We also tried to spend time with friends and relatives in our hometowns. On the evening of October 10, we boarded a train in Chicago, heading west for the state of Oregon, where we spent a few days with relatives and arrived in California before the scheduled departure date of the freighter, whose freight included coffins and other things related to the Korean War. While waiting to board the freighter, which was delayed, we experienced our first earthquake and after boarding it, we experienced our first typhoon, which we also consider part of our preparation for life in Japan, in the “far west.” (1208)

Enroute to Japan (09/02/25)

The freighter on which we had made reservations for our trip to Japan was scheduled to leave from Oakland, California on Thursday, October 25, 1951. Its departure was delayed, however, and it finally left on Sunday, October 28. During the unexpected free days, we were able to see more of the San Francisco area and to visit with relatives and friends we had not seen for many years. On the freighter, there were nine passengers in the four staterooms. The only other male passenger was an eight-year-old boy. One young lady was going to visit her missionary father, but the others were wives of servicemen going to see their husbands. Along with the comfortable staterooms, there was a lounge, where we could sit and read, play games or talk with others. Next to the lounge was the dining room, where we ate our meals with the officers of the ship. It should have been a very relaxing time, but the weather did not permit us to relax. It was a foggy day when we left Oakland and the captain informed us he would try to avoid a couple of storms, but I do not think he succeeded. According to my recollection, it was a topsy-turvy voyage all the way, caused by a “typhoon.” The ship was constantly rising and falling as it maneuvered through the waves. During the two weeks we were on the ocean, my wife and I ventured up to the deck only once. While eating in the dining room, there were times when a sudden jerk made it necessary to hang on tightly to the table while some dishes and food slid on to the floor. One time, my wife didn’t catch the table in time, made a backward somersault, ending up at the wall at the end of the room. (1209)