(you can see the Mustard Seed sign behind us. It's very visible from a popular train line. In fact, one of our new friends from church said that she started coming because of curiosity about the sign)
(the little trapezoid elevator)
On Sunday when we woke up, there was heavy rain, so we considered taking the train. But it was mostly sprinkling by the time we were leaving, so we decided to walk. The route takes us over a large bridge with a great view of the city skyline. There are also jumping fish in the water! It takes us about 25 minutes to get there. We first went to the 4th floor where they have an English conversation group at 10 a.m. We had planned on helping with this, but there was a mission team in town, so there were already more than enough English speakers. I got to meet Amy, though, who has been in Osaka learning the language for the past two years. She also has a large family -- three girls and a boy, so she gave some helpful tips about feeding a large family in Japan.
The service started at 11 a.m. Our first Sunday was a special one because they were celebrating their 15th anniversary as a church (the Osaka church was the 2nd one planted, after Nagoya). There was a video with some highlights from the past 15 years.
For the singing, we'd switch back and forth between English and Japanese. We would sing a verse and a chorus in one language and then switch to the other for the next verse and chorus. On the slides, there would be the translation at the bottom for anyone who couldn't speak the language. We've been to a few Japanese churches (in St. Louis and in Lexington) where they did this, but the Japanese portion was written in Romaji (Roman letters). Here, the Japanese was written in Japanese with "furigana" to help pronounce the kanji characters. I was able to bumble along okay, but it was harder for some in our family.
Two of the songs were familiar to me -- "O praise the name of the Lord our God, O praise his name forevermore" and "I can see You now. I can see the love in Your eyes" (Broken Vessels). Both of these songs are on a Hillsong Japan album.
After the singing, the children were dismissed. Cooper and Colson went to their elementary class, but Chance had a hard time going to his class (which sometimes happens even at our home church). I don't mind peeling myself away from him and just letting him cry until he settles down, but there was only one volunteer at the time, and as someone who has volunteered for decades in children's ministry, I didn't want to do that to her. So, I went back to the service to grab Calvin, who volunteers weekly in the preschool room back home, and he took Chance into the room and stayed to help.
(Just like back home, we try to sit in an undesirable seat to allow others a better view!)
The sermon was great! It was presented in both English and Japanese. Many bilingual churches do this, with a prepared sermon in one language and a prepared translation in the other language. Since I came in late after taking Chance, I didn't realize until about 20 minutes in, that the sermon was in Japanese with an English translation, instead of the other way around! Obviously, I wasn't paying very close attention to the Japanese.
This year, the Mustard Seed churches are encouraging everyone in their congregations to read through the Bible following the same reading plan. And then on Sundays, the sermon is based on the readings from the week. This means that the sermons cover the whole Bible, not just topically staying most of the time in the New Testament, like many modern churches. This week was on Ezekiel and the dry bones. There was a worship guide to follow along, and the flow of the sermon basically followed the process of a good Bible study -- Observation (what does it say?), Interpretation (what does it mean?), and Application (what does it mean for me?). I don't know that I've been to a church that laid out this method so clearly during a sermon in a way that you could easily replicate at home.
Another neat thing was that not only did the adults study that Bible story -- the elementary and preschool kids did, too! So the whole family was diving into the same Bible story in an age-appropriate format.
After the service, it was picnic time! But because of the rain forecast, we stayed indoors in the 4th floor cafe space (the service is on the 3rd floor, the cafe and kids areas are on the 4th floor, and there's a unique trapezoid-like elevator to get there if you don't want to take the stairs!). Many people go to nearby konbinis (convenience stores but way different than the American kind) or bring a packed lunch. We also had lots of candy, and some kids dressed up in costumes. Even when there's not a picnic, people often linger to fellowship after service.
I met many people during this time. There was a mission trip team visiting from Nevada, and I met Cori from that team. She said there's usually a team from her church that comes on the anniversary. And I met Elena who is from Texas (Russia originally) and is in Osaka for 3 months while her husband has a work assignment in Micronesia. She said, "We homeschool, so we decided to come." I said, "That's very much like us!"
I also met many Japanese folks. They were very friendly, and we had great conversations, mostly in slow English, but I tried to speak as much Japanese as I could. Interestingly, I spoke with three Japanese people in a row in separate conversations who all have attended somewhat regularly for a few years, but who said they are not Christians. I was kind of surprised by this. Granted, I know that not everyone who attends church is a Christian, but in America, most people who attend church regularly for years would at least consider themselves Christians.
The younger three boys played and ran around. Calvin learned a Japanese yoyo game from another boy his age. Carter did his magic card tricks for anyone who would be his audience. I walked over while he was doing his tricks for a mom and her daughter. I ended up having a great conversation with Sachiko, and we ended up leaving at the same time. She lives at the station just north of ours, but since we were walking across the big bridge, her daughter Satomi wanted to join us. And since we were walking and talking together, I told them they might as well come over to our house. So they did! And when they left two hours later at dinnertime, five-year-old Satomi insisted, "STAY!!" We hope to have them over many more times over these two months.
Also at church, we met Masumi, who also lives on our same train line. So later in the week, we met her at her station, and she showed us around that area. Grateful for connections! Grateful for this church! And that it's within walking distance! Thank you, God!
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