Hello again! It feels strange to be writing this as Team 2 is in the middle of their ministry, but thank you so much for your patience.
After our final Sunday at Hamadera, Monday was our last day to observe Japanese culture with the Hope students and we used it to go visit Nara and specifically to visit Todai-ji. There was a little bit of rain and it was a little bit overcast, but it was a great day to travel together. We were warned that there would be deer at Nara, but I at least had no idea that there would be so many! We got off the train at Nara and walked a few blocks before being met by about a dozen deer at a crosswalk, walking up to anyone and checking pockets to see if there was any food they could take. Seichi bought a packet and had to fight through a big group of them just to get some space! They kept us company on the rest of our walk to the temple grounds.
After our final Sunday at Hamadera, Monday was our last day to observe Japanese culture with the Hope students and we used it to go visit Nara and specifically to visit Todai-ji. There was a little bit of rain and it was a little bit overcast, but it was a great day to travel together. We were warned that there would be deer at Nara, but I at least had no idea that there would be so many! We got off the train at Nara and walked a few blocks before being met by about a dozen deer at a crosswalk, walking up to anyone and checking pockets to see if there was any food they could take. Seichi bought a packet and had to fight through a big group of them just to get some space! They kept us company on the rest of our walk to the temple grounds.
As a first time visitor, it was shocking to enter the temple for the first time. The temple houses a massive bronze statue of the Buddha, known in Japanese as Daibutsu. With a 49 foot body and a 17 foot head, it was incredible to see. There were really no categories in my mind for the size of the idol, and my mind initially froze. Even with a few weeks time in between, I can immediately recall the feeling of my heart dropping. There was a flurry of emotion and questions in my mind, mostly rooted in fear. After gazing at the statue for a few minutes, I had to go sit down and take a deep breath because of the sheer REALITY of what I was looking at. It was as if I had been awakened from a slumber to Japan's reality, one that I was not really willing to accept easily. It is a reality that is not exclusive to Japan, but rather a global one that appalled me because it existed and to a degree still exists in my heart. Looking at the Buddha, studying the details of its facial structure, the careful design of the hand, and the surrounding smaller buddhas surrounding it all spoke to a great reach within the human soul for glory. I felt tremendous fear because of the magnitude with which Buddhists reach for a glory that spits on and rips apart the glory of God that had been revealed in my life and in the lives of my teammates. I feared for the souls of those coming to worship. I feared for the countless people we talked to on the trip who claimed to not believe in the ritualistic worship or buddha worship but follow as a casual cultural observer of the country's prescribed superstition. I watched incense smoke rise in honor of their "holy" one, and in doing so they fell short of, they lacked, the glory of God. I got up and walked around, smiling faces and excited children either examining what was around them or carelessly enjoying a day off from school, completely unaware and unconcerned with the staggering sense of what was happening, the picture on display. It was a picture of the reach of a people, a culture, for the spiritual longing of their heart, and the object of that reach was a creation of their own mind. It was not an aberration of their nature; it IS their nature. And it was mine too, along with every human that has ever lived. A businessman in his suit prayed earnestly and a little girl ran up with her incense with unabashed joy to the creation of men who gave their lives and their resources to build a testament to their strength and devotion to their religion while undermining their Creator and the true, single, Trinitarian God who offers them grace through faith in Christ for their everlasting joy in Him. The flurry of emotions welling inside of me came to a climax, and the juxtaposition brought tears to my eyes and pain to my heart. There was an overwhelming feeling of thanks for the grace in my life with a simultaneous feeling of despair for the hearts of those thirsting for a vague sense of spirituality without the enlivening and empowering work of the Holy Spirit. The trip to Japan informed all of us of the need that exists and our desire to pray for Hamadera and for the power of the Gospel to transform lives in the sovereignty of God through faith in Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. More than that, it was a reminder to me of the need to pray for those back at home too, where that idol is the "self" and the bronze is the time, money, and energy to glorify the individual at the expense of an all-worthy God. This realization was and still is staggering, yet a moment worthy of such praise to a God who is so much greater and will accomplish His purposes to the praise of the glory of His grace!!!
After we returned, we were able to spend the evening with Kondo-sensei and his family. It was a tremendous privilege to be in his home and listen to him tell stories from his life and talk to us about how God called him to ministry and has used him so mightily as a tool in His hand.
It was extremely difficult for us to leave their home, especially with their kindness and incredible hospitality, and we were so grateful for the time spent with them.
Thank you again for your support and we hope that we will be faithful to pray for Hamadera and for Japan together!
-Stephen
Thank you again for your support and we hope that we will be faithful to pray for Hamadera and for Japan together!
-Stephen