Messages of other months can be read by clicking HERE.
Finances (09/07/02)
Furlough (09/07/06)
Birthdays/Canada Day (09/07/12)
Two Birthdays (09/07/17)
Personal Names of Serious Illnesses (09/07/20)
Moon (09/07/24)
Daily Meals (09/07/29)
- Finances
(09/07/02)
An important element in Christian doctrine and tradition is the
emphasis on giving. The giving of one’s time, wisdom, talent or ability as well
as financial gifts are expected as evidence of a vibrant faith. “Giving”
includes giving one’s self in sacrificial service for the benefit of others
and the glory of God. In his Letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul urges
them to offer their bodies as living sacrifices to be used in God’s service as
spiritual acts of worship (Romans 12:1). In the traditional worship
services in Christian churches an offering is included. That offering is
usually cash or a pledge placed in an offering dish during or following the
worship service. Finances are needed for the many varieties of Christian
ministry, whether communicating the good news of God’s love and mercy by word or
by deed. The expenses related to the ministry of my wife and me were
carried by the American church that sent us, but from the beginning of our
ministry in Kariya, I considered it important for the Japanese fellowship to be
involved and help carry the burden. The rent of the house being used for
meetings and other expenses related to the worship services, Sunday School and
Bible Classes held there along with plans for buying land and erecting a
church required funds that the Japanese church should be involved in. We
considered it important for the emerging Japanese fellowship to recognize its
responsibility to help carry the financial burden of the ministry insofar as
possible from the very beginning. Thus, we decided to purchase land with
funds received from the United States, but to raise money in Japan to pay for
the building. (1239)
- Furlough
(09/07/06)
It is customary for missionaries in foreign countries to have periodic
furloughs, during which they return to their homeland to make reports,
raise money, visit friends and relatives, etc. How often furloughs are
recognized and for how long depends on the country, the church and other factors.
In our case, we expected to return to the United States for a year’s
furlough after serving five years in Japan. Preparations for that year’s furlough
included material, social, legal and human elements as we envisioned a
church building on church land with a qualified pastor. Although all elements
were not perfectly arranged, we are thankful for the way things worked out.
Two years after we moved to Kariya, my wife gave birth to our second child,
a girl born in the same Christian hospital in Tokyo where our son was born
two years before. My wife’s parents arrived in Tokyo from the United
States the evening of her birth and remained for a week. An appropriate piece
of land was purchased in Kariya and a church building was erected. The
young pastor we had invited to serve the church came from Kyoto but contracted
tuberculosis and so was hospitalized and unable to serve. Instead, an older
pastor of a church in nearby Nagoya agreed to come and hold services on
Sunday afternoons and evenings and on Thursday evenings, so the church
activities continued during our absence. In my hometown of Zion, Illinois, a
house for us to rent was found just one block away from my parents’ house and
during that furlough, I attended classes at two seminaries in Chicago. I
hope the messages over the past 5 months regarding my first term in Japan have
not been too boring. This message is the final one in that series. (1240)
- Birthdays/Canada Day
(09/07/12)
In many cultural traditions, it is common to give special recognition
to people on their birthdays. One’s birthday is the particular day of the
particular month of the particular year one was born. Needless to say, we
must depend upon others to learn our own birthdays, which now are expected
to be recorded in some official document as well as in the memory or notation
of family members, but sometimes the day so recorded may be incorrect. (A
personal example of this will be noted in a subsequent message.) In the
Penney Retirement Community where my wife and I live, it is the custom to
recognize the birthdays of residents each month in the Dining Hall at the noon
meal on the first Wednesday of every month. At that time, those residents
who have birthdays in that month are named and told to stand as the day of
their birth is called out. Then we all sing “Happy Birthday” to them.
This year [2009], the first Wednesday of this month [July] was the first day
of the month, which is the day celebrated in Canada as “Canada Day” or “
Dominion Day.” Since some of our residents are Canadians, special recognition
was also given to that country on that day and one of the residents from
Canada sang the song, “O Canada.” Under the terms of the British North
American Act of July 1, 1867, the four provinces and four million people in
that North American country north of the U. S. A., became a separate nation.
The residents who are citizens of the North American country south of Canada
did not need to be reminded that July 4th is the anniversary of the
official establishment of their nation for a special holiday commemorating that
event was held a couple of days later. (1241)
- Two Birthdays
(09/07/17)
“Social security” is a United States government program that provides
economic assistance to persons faced with unemployment, disability or old
age. When I reached the age of 65, I followed the custom of my compatriots
and applied for social security. When I informed the official that my
birthday was December 16, 1927, I was informed that, according to their records,
my birthday was December 11 and that is the date that will be registered in
social security related documents. “You now have two birthdays,” I was
told, and ever since that time, I have had to remember that, in certain
records, my birthday is recorded as five days earlier than the accurate one.
Checking my files, I found a Birth Certificate” with the correct date on it
issued in 1928, but I have another “Certificate of Birth” issued in 1943
(probably when I applied for my first Drivers’License) that included three
mistakes in it: the spelling of the birthplaces of both my mother and my father
and the date of my birth. That certificate was typed on a typewriter and I
simply corrected the mistakes with a pen and kept it for my records. Now,
as I look back and consider the possible reasons for the mistaken date, I
have concluded that in the days before the use of computers and typewriters,
when documents were written by hand, on a document on which the date of my
birth was written, the lower loop on the number 6 was so small or light that
it was overlooked or eliminated, resulting in a change to number 1. Thus,
the 16 became 11. Fortunately, there has been no serious repercussions, but
there have been times of confusion. (1242)
- Personal Names of Serious Illnesses
(09/07/20)
There are over 500 residents in this retirement community where my
wife and I reside, most of whom are over 70 years old. Whenever a resident
dies, a flag is posted on the central bulletin board giving details of the
person’s death and the funeral arrangements. Recently, I have become
interested in the names given to serious illnesses that include the names of persons
connected with that illness when it was first recognized. As a baseball
fan, I was especially surprised when the New York Yankees’ star first
baseman, Lou Gehrig, died in 1941 and, subsequently, his name became the commonly
used name of that illness. Some years later, a friend of mine died of Lou
Gehrig’s Disease. Another illness that includes a personal name is
Alzheimer’s Disease, a brain disorder that was first diagnosed by Alois Alzheimer, a
German physician, in 1906. My wife is a member of a group that regularly
visits the Alzheimer Clinic in our community to encourage and entertain the
residents there. A third such illness, Parkinson’s Disease, a degenerative
brain disorder, is named for the English surgeon, James Parkinson, who first
described it in 1817. I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease a couple of
years before leaving Japan in 1999 and have been taking medicine to lessen
its effects over the years, which seems to have been effective. I am
thankful for the active life I have enjoyed until now, but in recent months I
have felt the effects of both Parkinson’s Disease and the aging process. I
think that preparing these messages helps to keep my brain active and I will
try to continue doing so as long as readers seem interested and as long as I
am able. Please inform me when you think it is time for me to quit.
(1243)
- Moon
(09/07/24)
Recently, many articles have appeared in newspapers and magazines and
special reports have appeared on television regarding the earth’s satellite
that reflects the light of the sun. It is called the “moon.” Forty
years ago a couple of astronauts from the earth landed on the moon and the
attention of the world was focused on the experience and observations of those
men. As I read the articles and thought about the historic significance of
the event, my attention was drawn to the large number of English words and
phrases that include “moon” in them. I was especially surprised to find
more such expressions in my English-Japanese dictionary than in my English
dictionary. Can you understand or make sense of the following composition?
In the church choir, which sits in the chancel facing the congregation during
the entire worship service in our community church, I have noticed a number
of moonfaced members. In our community, I have not seen any moonseeds,
moonflowers, moon shells, moonworts or mooneyes and would not recognize them
if I did, but as I advance in age, I feel like I am getting a bit moony even
though I am not yet moonstruck. During my high school and college days,
the fathers of some of my friends moonlighted in order to earn enough money to
pay their bills, but none of them were involved in moonshining. It is
only once in a blue moon that I hear about a honeymoon, but the therapist I
visit regularly recently told me about her honeymoon, following her recent
marriage. (1244)
- Daily Meals
(09/07/29)
How many and what kind of daily meals one eats depends upon the
geographic area, the cultural tradition, the economic status, etc., of those
involved. From my personal experience and observation, for most people, it is
customary to eat three meals every day. The names given to those meals is
related to the time of day in which they are eaten and their comparative
size. The first meal of the day is usually called “breakfast,” for it “breaks”
the “fast” which continued from the night before. Depending upon the
schedule and tradition of the family, breakfast may be a very light and simple
meal or a very energizing one that prepares the eater for strenuous
activity. If the midday meal is light, it is usually called “lunch.” If it is
the main meal of the day, however, it may be called “dinner,” in which case
the evening meal is usually called “supper,” for eaters will “sup” there
rather than “dine.” But in some homes, the evening meal is the “dinner.”
Which word to use for which meal depends upon the tradition of the family
and the particular situation. The stimulus for this message was the meal,
called a “brunch,” which my wife and I recently shared with others in this
retirement community. “Brunch” is “a meal eaten as a combination of
breakfast and lunch” and this particular brunch was prepared for those residents
serving as clowns and their spouses. A subsequent message will explain
the place and purpose of clowns in this community, but since my wife is a
clown and I am her spouse, we both attended that brunch and enjoyed the meal
as well as the lighthearted conversation that accompanied it. (1245)