Fukushima in the Eyes of Faith: A Year in Review

Palm Sunday, 2012.

MATTHEW 21:9

"Hosanna to the Son of David!"
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Hosanna in the highest heaven!"

Jesus makes a triumphant kingly entry to Jerusalem, the city of peace. He enters to bring peace and his method of doing this is by offering his own life, as the Suffering Servant. His journey en Via Dolorosa begins today. At the end of that suffering, he overcomes the fear of death on the cross and offers a new life, life in him with the Easter hope. This hope has been, and continues to be the compass for our journey en route to Fukushima. I spent the whole day to reflect on my own journey to Fukushima for the past year since I first visited Fukushima and since I started this blog.

My first intention to start this blog was to share some stories of the local churches in Fukushima only for one week between Palm Sunday and Easter last year but the story kept growing. I went to visit three more times since last April.

In my first visit last April, I learned the nuclear crisis firsthand in addition to the devastating earthquake and tsunami. My Japanese team identified their strategy to work with local churches between 20-60KM radius outside the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi plant.

In July visit, we offered a retreat to 25 church leaders from various cities in Fukushima and helped form them into a network, Fukushima Christian Network. These pastors came together to lament and to grieve the magnitude of the loss and the scale of the combined disasters (read their prayers of lament here).  They wrote a declaration together, called the Fukushima Future Declaration (Read here). They recognized the significance of this disaster and the role of the church in the restoration of Fukushima, drawing on the historical meaning of the name, Fukushima (福島, the land of Gospel - read here). They also found strength in the evidence of the thriving Christian communities prior to persecution in the 17^th and 18^th century in the Fukushima area.

In November visit, I learned how deep and wide the history of Christianity in Japan has been since the 16th century mission by Jesuits. The persecuted Christians fled from Japan and went to Macau. They helped building communities and educational establishments in Macau(read here).

In March visit, we hosted three events, one of which is Fukushima Youth Forum. A group of 50 youth from Fukushima, other parts of Japan, and nations such as the USA, Canada, and Hong Kong gathered in Inawashiro, Fukushima prefecture for the Fukushima Youth Forum. For two days, the youth explored how their personal stories fit into God’s big story. Based at a government camp in the snowy mountains, they worshipped, prayed and enjoyed fellowship. They were challenged to look for the purpose of their lives while serving their suffering neighbours in the disaster-affected areas. In a way, serving in Fukushima is a pathway for these youth, helping them to find their life calling, while simultaneously fulfilling the current calling on their lives - to serve the immediate needs of their neighbours in Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate (the three prefectures affected by the earthquake and tsunami).

Youth Forum participants holding drawings they made that envisage the future of Fukushima

Visiting Usuiso village tsunami site. The local church, with their prophetic imagination, hopes to rebuild the whole community, beginning with a listening post.

 We must recognize that in Fukushima, one year after the disaster, the work of the local church has only just begun. Rebuilding Fukushima’s local economy and its future according to God’s plan for his kingdom on earth will take decades. Each of us must continue to pray for Fukushima so that it may truly become its namesake – the Land of Blessing.

Each of the local churches we visited shared remarkable stories of their resilience and tenacious work, but more importantly, their stories point to one powerful truth: We serve a living God who loves his creation and sacrificed his own life to restore all he created to himself. That's the promise of the gospel, the most powerful story we are reminded again in this Holy Week on the way to the Cross.  

Isaiah 42

The Servant of the LORD

 ¹ “Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
   my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
   and he will bring justice to the nations.
² He will not shout or cry out,
   or raise his voice in the streets.
³ A bruised reed he will not break,
   and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
 ⁴ he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.
   In his teaching the islands will put their hope.”

 ⁵ This is what God the LORD says—
he who created the heavens and stretched them out,
   who spread out the earth with all that springs from it,
who gives breath to its people,
   and life to those who walk on it:
⁶ “I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness;
   I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
   to be a covenant for the people
   and a light for the Gentiles,
⁷ to open eyes that are blind,
   to free captives from prison
   and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

 ⁸ “I am the LORD; that is my name!
   I will not yield my glory to another
   or my praise to idols.
⁹ See, the former things have taken place,
   and new things I declare;
before they spring into being
   I announce them to you.”