The defeat of the Second World War devastated Japan not simply because of the physical destruction. But more importantly because it shattered the spirit of Japanese nationalism that its emperor and his empire was no longer the strongest power in the world as they had been told to believe. A few intellectuals, artists and novelists gathered in a war-struck town of Yamato, near a US army base, an outskirt of Tokyo. They were searching for a new source of their aspiration to build a strong nation and they started studying the Bible. The religion of America. They thought that Christianity must be the secrete power of the strongest nation in the world who shamelessly defeated the nation of the rising sun.
That’s how Koza Community Church began in 1947 by a group of hungry souls for a new philosophy to save their war-torn nation. Koza means a high throne in Japanese and it indeed became the throne of new influence in the community as they opened a kindergarten to educate young minds for future Japan. (The picture below is taken at their first Easter celebration on April 16, 1947)
For the past sixty years, the nation worked very hard. It has not only recovered from the ashes of the war, but also become one of the world-leading economic super power, but the nation’s Christian population still remains less than 1%. The paradigm of the strong nation came from the national agenda-driven capitalist economy, not from the Bible. Perhaps it was a good thing that the paradigm of the intelligentsia, which was “Bible = [American] military power = a strong super nation,” did not materialize.
This church is where Midori was baptized nearly thirty years ago and is now serving as one of the leaders. Today, Midori and I were at the second service of the three Sunday worships together with other 500 members. Considering the small Christian population in Japan, Koza Community Church is a large church. Resembling the large portion of elderly population in the nation, the church was filled with elderly people and only a handful of youth who haven’t yet left home for a better job or education.(The picture below was taken this morning during the worship)
Rev. Matsumoto, the pastor of the church, just returned from his visit to Iwaki, a coastal city in Fukushima Prefecture, which was struck by the recent tsunami. He carefully planed the church worship and each member of the congregation was given a four page long insert in the bulletin with a list of 38 detailed prayer items prepared by the prayer ministry team. The elders met to decide the church’s responses to this disaster and a recently formed disaster response team met to prepare practical steps which the church would take after next week when Midori and I will visit the sites where they will partner with a local church in Iwaki.
An elderly man came up to me to say hello in English after the service. Mr. Suzuki, a retired energy plant expert, worked in Chernobyl for six months in 1999 on an international delegation to propose a new solution over the nuclear plant. For about an hour, he gave me and Midori a very practical, first-hand education on radiation: what actually happened in Chernobyl, how long it took his body to get rid of radiation after he drank contaminated milk without knowing, how land contamination could be treated, and what to worry and what not to worry about radiation (I will write a separate piece about radiation after I arrive in Fukushima). In short, Mr. Suzuki’s advice was that it is not as dangerous as one might think, and it is not impossible for ordinary people to go and offer necessary assistance to victims. He already answered one big part of my quests and reason to come all the way from Vancouver. Ordinary people can go, and must go. That’s the only way to fight fear and start reducing the anxiety of unknowns.
Lazarus means “God helps me,” Rev. Matsumoto spoke based on John 12:1-11, the passage of Mary and Martha celebrating their brother’s coming back to life and honouring Jesus for his mighty work. The reverent concluded his message with the following words, “In our weakness, God shows his strength.”
A church that began with the hope to build a strong nation of super power has now come to hear this message of paradox: God’s strong and mighty work to build his unshakable Kingdom is through our weakness. Japanese people understand very well that a nation lives by a big story, and that their nation needs one that is strong and big enough to hold them in such a time like this. On the train back to the hotel, I prayed that they may shine a strong light in both cities, Yamato and Iwaki, the light of the true Kingdom of the eternal King.
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