Greetings! It is around 9pm over here in Japan, and the last couple of days have been a whirlwind. There'll be more info later (as tomorrow we are starting our English camp and we are trying to combat the jet lag we've experienced over the last day or two), but I wanted to share something that really struck me today.
We met with Seima, our mission partner in Tokyo, who spent a little time talking about what is happening in Japan and how he came to serve here. He told us that Japan often flies under the radar of countries in need of missionaries, mainly due to the notion that it is technologically and socially on par with other first-world countries. Yet, less than .2% are professing Christians. There are more than 20,000 suicides every year; people face ultra high societal expectations of success and oftentimes are lonely and without hope. "Sometimes people choose to end their lives without even knowing that Christianity is an option," Seima told us. "We just want to get Christianity on the menu."
For some reason, that thought lingered with me all throughout the day. It's one thing to knowingly reject something; it's another to not know of its existence altogether. He spoke of a story about a woman who recently jumped from one of the highrises in the community, a mother who not only committed suicide but also took the life of one of her children as well. He asked us to imagine the depth of pain and loneliness she must have felt to get to that point, and told us that that was one of the reasons why they planted a church in the neighborhood. Even if people reject the gospel, he wants them to be able to experience God's love and know that there is a community of people who will love and accept them.
Japan is fascinating and heartbreaking. Some of the things I've seen here have blown my mind, and yet some of the things I've heard have killed me. We will start our English camp tomorrow, and while it is meant for the kids, filled with games and skits and English flashcards, it is also an outreach to the mothers out there who have no community, whose husbands choose work over family because they feel pressured to, who might not know of all the options. Our hope is that we can, in some small way, put Christianity on the menu for them.
Beautifully put. Getting it on the menu as a legitimate source of nourishment and fulfillment sound like a challenge indeed. I wonder if the Japanese would be moved by Jesus' self sacrifice, his selfless suicide, so that they would not have to commit it themselves because of shame. From what I hear, it sounds like suicide is indeed an honorable item on the menu, does it not? It must be something cultural that people see to be necessary if one's life does not measure up. Who will free them from this? I hope it to be the one who took shame on himself, that others would not have to. May the Japanese consider Jesus' sacrifice to be honorable, and would it move them to a deep devotion to His name!
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