Today (Well, it was still Sunday half an hour ago) was my first time to go to a church here in Kagoshima. Last night I was looking through a webpage that contains information of all the churches in Kagoshima, and realised that there are actually quite a few churches around. I have been told that the reason was that Kagoshima was the first entry point of Christian missionaries in the history of Japan. There was a church in particular with an impressive website, in one of the photos a Japanese girl and a African guy was leading worship, there were Japanese lyrics behind them on the screen - with english pronounciation. So I decided to visit this church this morning since it has presented itself as such an international church.
When I arrived and stood outside the entrance, I could tell there was only a small attendence by the number of shoes placed outside (Japanese people have to take off their shoes and change into slippers before they enter). It was not until I walked in that I had quite a shock - there were around 15 people including 4 bubs. Not at all similar to CCC, hey? Despite the intital shock, the worship was wonderful. Songs were, as they advertised on the website, had english pronounciations; the awesome thing out of all is that 'Lead me to your cross' was sung! Amazing. Of course it was complete with Japanese lyrics :D
It was quite a extraordinary experience to worship with Christians even though I'm on the other side of the world - prayers are offered with zeal, songs are sung with passion, sermons are preached with fervor. Although my ability to comprehend the sermon was limited, I tried my very best to utilize my electronic dictionary hence understood bits and pieces of the sermon and derived my own interpretation of it :P The title of the sermon was 'Are you being liberated?', and the preacher spoke on the topic of living a new life by the Spirit for the glory of God, which is made possible by the work of Christ. Even though numbers are few, the love for Christ is definitely shown in this little church.
I joined an English Christian fellowship in the evening. It was an extension of a church in Aira, set up by an American missionary couple called Bill and Becky Petite. They are such lovely people! I love their American accent ;) The talk and Bible study was more evangelistic-orientated than an indepth Bible study which was a little disappointing for me, anyhow I have enjoyed getting to know other people in the group.
Perhaps I am too impatient, but I long for fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ so much here - the thing that used to fill a large portion of my life in the past half a year has suddenly vanished in Japan. At the same time, I have come to fully appreciate the fellowship that I had at 5pm church, being surrounded by people who are more than just friends, but rather blood-bonded travelling companions through this life. Nevertheless, this longing should translate into a greater desire and motivation to build relationships here in Japan. Please pray for me that I would be a channel of God love, and that I would genuinely love people in obedience of God's will. A lot of times I feel powerless and weak, incapable of loving people around me, but how comforting it is to know that God's power is made perfect in our weakness :)
