Safe Arrival

It’s 5:45 p.m. JST. We arrived safely in Japan just about 24 hours ago. It hardly seems possible that by later this evening we will have completed the second day of our trip. Jumping ahead 13 hours messes with your natural sense of the pace of time. Two days and two nights are meant to last 48 hours. They are not meant to be crammed into 35.

Speaking of jet lag, Dale laid down for a nap when we returned to the hotel a little bit ago. I tried my best to dissuade her of the idea, but to no avail. We spent today helping Rachel, the BBC student, to become oriented to trains, buses, and the religious climate.

Just before lunch, we visited a nearby Buddhist temple. Near the entrance, a man approached us with a information pamphlet written in English and advised us that a group of monks would soon be walking in procession down some steps from a building called “The Great Main Hall” and across a plaza to another building called “Korinkaku Hall”. One of the colorfully dressed monks, an older man, led the others as they walked in time to the beating of drums. Meanwhile, two other monks were leading a dedication/blessing for two families with month-old babies. One of them was a girl named Yume (pronounced You-may). Yume was dressed in a white formal-looking outfit. The monks had stamped in red some kind of Buddhist symbol on her forehead. Her white outfit and dark black hair made the red stamp stand out all the more.

The reason I know the name of the baby is because I talked with the parents afterwards and inquired. The reason I inquired was so I could begin praying for her, that God in his mercy would reach down and some day open her heart to the Lord Jesus and his salvation. Perhaps those who read this would be willing to join me in this prayer.

Earlier, as Elliott, Rachel, and I were walking toward the Great Main Hall, Dale gave a Gospel pamphlet to the man who handed us the brochure on the temple. She said a few words to the man about Jesus. He had indicated to Dale that the monks would be conducting some kind of purification ceremony. Dale told the man that she knew of someone who could purify all of a person’s sins. And that’s when she mentioned Jesus. The man told her he had never heard of Jesus.
Dale told the conversation to me, so I decided to try talking with the man also. I began by saying that Dale told me that he had never heard of Jesus. He repeated that he had not. I told him that Jesus is the Creator, the one who had made everything. I also explained that Jesus had died to provide forgiveness for sins and that he now he is the Lord of Lords. “We think differently,” the man said with his eyes looking away from mine, signaling he was closed to hearing anything more.

In those two encounters, with the parents of Yume and with the man handing out the brochures, both taking place in a massive Buddhist temple complex, with impressive looking structures ornately decorated, you have a microcosm of the tremendous spiritual dilemma facing Japan. First, there is widespread ignorance of who Jesus is and what needs to be known of him. Second, idolatry is so entrenched. It is institutionalized with massive, expensively constructed buildings and with rituals and human champions. It is empowered through these institutions as well as through its obvious command of economic means. Third, the older generation is all but impossible to reach with the Gospel. It seems unusually difficult to break through, which makes it all the more urgent to reach the next generation, before they too end up with hearts that are hardened. And finally, though young people are often easier to reach for Christ in every culture; here, the Yume’s of the world face formidable spiritual powers aligned against them, powers seeking to enslave their hearts and minds not only for a lifetime, but also for eternity.

Pray for Japan.