O Holy Night

O Holy Night remains my favorite Christmas song. Take a listen and read the lyrics:



O Holy night, the stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior's birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
'Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth
A thrill of hope, our weary soul rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!

Fall on your knees
O hear the angel voices
O night divine!
O night when Christ was born

Truly He taught us to love one another
His law is love and His gospel is peace
Chains shall He break
For the slave is our brother
And in His name all oppression shall cease

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chourus raise we
Let all within us praise His holy name!

Fall on your knees
O hear the angel voices
O night divine!
O night when Christ was born

Christ is the Lord
O praise His name forever
O night divine!
O night, O night divine!



I read this article last Christmas, and am reminded of it again as I sing this song: 

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2011/12/23/all-oppression-will-cease-even-in-north-korea/

The article includes this statement: 

"Sin's entrance sent the world careening towards destruction, creating a rift between heaven and earth that required sacrifices, temples, and veils to protect us from the furious heat of God's holiness. The Christ child's entrance into the world set the two on a collision course once again, with the promise that the babe in the straw would reconcile them all, destroying death and sin in the process...There is nothing so liberating as the news that we have a better King and an eternal hope. In spite of their screeching protestations, every tyrant's days are numbered. A King was born in Bethlehem who will one day bring justice and peace."

Read it and join me in prayer this Christmas for North Korea and other nations around the world fighting oppression, war, slavery, natural disasters, poverty, famines, and other forms of unrest. Praise the Lord for the daily blessings we all take for granted, especially our freedom, and let them remind us to pray for the nations. Merry Christmas indeed.

Thankful for His Answer

This Thanksgiving I am thankful. With each passing year, I grow more thankful than the last. This year, I am thankful for the Lord's specific answer to my prayers when I came back from Japan.

I prayed a couple things. First, that He would renew my heart for the women I minister to at Florida State. That one was easy. As soon as I was back with them, I was reminded of what a blessing it is to labor with and for them on campus. Second, I prayed that I would be able to reach the Nations on campus. That one was a little more complicated, but when I met Lusi at the start of the semester and we started reading the book of John together, I saw the faithfulness of the Lord in answering that prayer.

Lusi remains one of the things that I am most thankful for this year! She is a sweet answer to prayer. I look forward to seeing her every week! Keep praying for the Lord to reveal the mystery of the gospel as we read about Jesus together!

Mei and me at my favorite coffee shop in Tallahassee

My final prayer was that I would be able to continue impacting the lives of the Japanese students I came to know and love this summer. I skype with a few of them on a regular basis and we enjoy sharing life together across the world! On a side note, I am also thankful for technology this Thanksgiving!! But would you believe that two of the Japanese women that I became good friends with traveled to America this semester? I've written about Miki's time in Florida in September, and now my friend Mei will be spending a week with me in Tallahassee!! I can't believe it! I serve a faithful God.

Mei will be spending Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years in Florida before going to Toronto for 6 months of English language school. Please pray for opportunities for us as Summer Friends (our Florida SIJ team) to continue to invest in her life eternally. Thank you for your faithful prayers!!

At the Beach and Around the World

I have been to so many beach retreats, both as a student and as staff, with the Navigators. However, this year was my favorite. Why? Because the Lord reminded me of His goodness and His answer to my prayer for impacting the Nations while I'm stateside. 


Miki, one of my dearest friends I met this summer in Japan, came to Florida to visit us!! She was here during our beach retreat and joined the FSU Navs for a weekend of fun in the sun and time reading the Bible. Not only did Miki join us, but so did another friend I met since returning from Japan. Her name is Lusi and she is a grad student from China. Lusi, Kaylee (a sophomore student) and I have started meeting weekly to read the Bible together this semester, and it has been a highlight each week for all three of us!

What was so awesome was to see how Miki and Lusi became friends. China and Japan are not on the best terms, politically speaking, but on an individual level it was an incredible blessing to watch these two young women become friends- in America! The Nations are here!! I was reminded once again of God's heart for the Nations, and what a gift it is to labor for them on an individual basis. I love Miki and Lusi dearly, and have the best time introducing them to the most important person in my life; Jesus, my savior.


Hannah, who spent the summer with me in Japan, Miki, Lusi and I had an opportunity to read the Bible together at the beach retreat. We read from the gospel of John, discussed who Jesus is, why He came to us, and how we can know Him. These women are hungry for God's word, learning about the life and love of Christ. Would you continue to pray for my time reading the Bible with them? I skype frequently with Miki and we discuss the Bible together, and Lusi, Kaylee and I meet on campus on Wednesdays to read together. It is so exciting to invite you all into what God is doing at Florida State, in the lives of these women, and around the world!!!

Brace for Impact: Summer Impact Japan 2012

I'll be honest, I still really miss Japan. I will be forever changed by the summer I spent in Utsunomiya, and hope to return again one day. One of my prayers since returning to America has been for unique opportunities to continue investing in my Japanese friends, to equip and send others to Japan, and to serve in any way I am able while in the States. One such opportunity presented itself when I was asked to write a short article for the Japan Navigator staff to send out in a newsletter. 

One of the Japanese staff wrote back to me,

"Thank you for writing article about your SIJ story for our Japan Navigators newsletter. I am so glad that you and Utsu students had a wonderful summer. I too had many good memories with SIJers when I was a student. Thank you for your investment to young Japanese lives."

It was an investment I'll never forget and never regret. I thought I would share what I wrote:

When I knew I would be spending my summer in Japan as a part of SIJ, I began researching the history, culture and customs of this country. No amount of research could prepare me for my experience, because it was the people I met and the friendships that were formed that made this the most incredible summer of my life.

I was overwhelmed by the generosity and kindness, the mutual respect and service I encountered in Japan; no one made me feel like a foreigner or treated me like I didn’t belong. I had been looking forward to sharing the Gospel and my testimony with these new Japanese friends, hoping to share with them who God is. One friend wrote to me at the end of SIJ: “Thank you for teaching me a lot about the Bible and Jesus.” Another, “This summer was so good for me. I learned God’s love is great and I understand that friends are so wonderful!”

On top of this, I was also able to learn new qualities of God through the Japanese people; they are organized, creative, relational, selfless and detailed.  God revealed to me new depths of His character through the people I came to love and serve; I had no idea that Summer Impact Japan meant that I was the one who would be impacted.

You too can impact Japanese lives, and you will most certainly be impacted in the process. Pray about being a part of SIJ 2013!!! Message me if you have any questions!

The Four Holy Gospels

I was introduced to Makoto Fujimura, a Japanese artist living in New York, earlier this year, and want to share his work with you! Watch the video below to learn more about him and how he is impacting artists in New York and around the world by painting and interpreting the Gospels in his work.

Here is a look at the Four Holy Gospels

 

Matthew - Consider the Lilies

Mineral Pigments, Gold, Platinum and Sumi on Kumohada, 48 x 60 inches

Consider the Lilies is done with over sixty layers of finely pulverizes precious minerals (azurite and malachite), oyster shell white, and painted with sumi ink that has been cured for over a century, as well as gold and platinum powders, mixed with Hide glue (Japanese Sanzenbon, which is no longer being made), to adhere the minerals onto a hand-pulled Japanese paper.  The painting depicts Easter lilies, with triumvirate flowers opening up, but with the suggestion that even these common lilies are transformed into a post-Resurrection, generative reality.

 

Mark - Water Flames

Mineral Pigments, Gold, Cochineal on Kumohada, 48 x 60 inches

Water Flames series depict the way in which flames not only consumes, but ultimately sanctify.  These works recall the visual language of the apocalyptic, moody paintings of the American artist Mark Rothko (1903-1970) - using Japanese vermillion, gold, platinum powders and cochineal (made from India's dye made from an cochineal insect).  The work moves our gaze upward, even as we stand in the ever-expanding Ground Zero conditions of the world.

Luke - Prodigal God

Mineral Pigments, Gold, Platinum on Kumohada,48 x 60 inches

The title of this work, based on a well known tale of the lost son in Luke 15, is taken's from my pastor Timothy Keller's book, Prodigal God.  The visual complexity of the work depicts my own inner struggle between legalism of religion (the elder brother) and the "recklessly spendthrift" nature of the Father's love in the story.  In the art world and culture in which we celebrate the wayward, but not having the language to bring the lost (myself included at times) back home, these series of works probe deeply into the tension that exist within my heart to love deeply - in spite of the legalism and the waywardness that prevails in the wider culture.

 

John - In the Beginning

48x60" Mineral Pigments, Gold on Belgium Linen

This work visually echoes the "Charis-Kairos" cover piece in the same way that the beginning of the Gospel of John echoes the beginning of Genesis.  The first chapter of the Gospel of John speaks not only about the origin of all creation in Jesus, but also about the mystery behind creation.  Art needs to inhabit such mysteries - to open us up to the generative reality of the deeper questions that lie behind our questions.
The portion of John - In the Beginning was done as a live performance, as part of an ongoing collaboration with Jazz percussionist/composer Susie Ibarra (see portion of Plywood documentary here)

Check out more on his site: http://www.makotofujimura.com/

A Holy Ambition

I discovered this sermon today and need to share it with you all. 

Disclaimer: you will be convicted.

Asking for Continents

While listening to music on shuffle, this song played and made my heart yearn for the nations! Listen closely to the heart behind the words.

Naturally my mind goes to two places: my own country and Japan. These lands need healing. Are we praying for that? I know I need to pray more frequently, daily, for healing. I saw this summer just how plentiful the harvest is, and more importantly, the faithfulness of God.

This has become the cry of my heart. Lord! Please, give us the nations! I want the nations to know Him, my own people to acknowledge that He is God. The islands will see His light as it rises on them. Japan, an island, known as being the Land of the Rising Sun. Lord, I ask for Japan! I plead for the friends I made this summer.

The most beautiful thing about this song is that the words were not written recently by a musician, but thousands of years ago by God himself:

For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Matthew 7:8

For the earth will be filled
    with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea. Habakkuk 2:14

Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. John 4:35

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
    and the ends of the earth your possession. Psalm 2:8

The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad;
    let the distant shores rejoice. Psalm 97:1

Arise, shine, for your light has come,
    and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Isaiah 60:1

Upon reflecting, a well known quote from Dawson Trotman came to mind:

"Do you know why I often ask Christians, 'What's the biggest thing you've asked God for this week?' I remind them that they are going to God, the Father, and the Maker of the universe. The One who holds the world in His hands. What did you ask God for? Did you ask for peanuts, toys, trinkets, or did you ask for continents?

I want to tell you… it's tragic!

The little itsy-bitsy things we ask of our Almighty God. Sure, nothing is too small--but also nothing is too big. Let's learn to ask from our big God some of those big things He talks about." 

~Dawson Trotman 

Let's ask for continents. Will you join me in praying, in pleading for the nations?

Check out Operation World to learn more about praying for the nations!

http://www.operationworld.org/