Brent Rogers, Kojima Japan

10 LOGOS Two dr.’s wives, rather high level

1:40 LOGOS at YB Hospital staff 3 students, one is pg.

3: Eng Bib — Acts with Mr. F

4:45 LOGOS 2 elem kids

evening: Japanese or special class

The last three served about a year each.

In the USA, since 1991, can you name the Presidents?

Toshiki Kaifu
10 Aug 1989 – 28 Feb 1990
28 Feb 1990 -　5 Nov 1991

Kiichi Miyazawa　5 Nov 1991　-　9 Aug 1993　

Morihiro Hosokawa　9 Aug 1993-28 Apr 1994

Tsutomu Hata 28 Apr 1994 -30 Jun 1994

Tomiichi Murayama 30 Jun 1994 -11 Jan 1996

Ryūtarō Hashimoto
11 Jan 1996 – 7 Nov 1996
7 Nov 1996-30 July 1998

Keizō Obuchi 30 Jul 1998 – 5 Apr 2000

Yoshirō Mori
5 Apr 2000 – 4 Jul 2000
4 Jul 2000-26 Apr 2001

Junichirō Koizumi
26 Ap 2001- 19 Nov 2003
19 Nov 2003 – 21 Sep 2005
21 Sep 2005 – 26 Sep 2006

Shinzō Abe 26 Sep 2006 – 26 Sep 2007

Yasuo Fukuda 26 Sep 2007 – 24 Sep 2008

Taro Aso 24 Sep 2008 – 16 Sep 2009

Yukio Hatoyama 16 Sep 2009

Here are the lyrics to The New 23rd, Ralph Carmichael’s inspirational paraphrase of the familiar Psalm:

The New 23rd

Because the Lord is my shepherd, I have everything that I need.

He lets me rest in meadows green and leads me beside the quiet stream;

He keeps on giving life to me and helps me to do what honors him the most.

Even when walking thru the dark valley of death, valley of death,

I will never be afraid, for He is close beside me.

Guarding, guiding all the way, He spreads a feast before me

In the presence of my enemies He welcomes me as his special guest.

With blessings overflowing, his goodness and unfailing kindness shall be with me all of my life,

And afterwards I will live with him, I will live with Him, forever in his home, forever in his home.

(The New 23rd, Ralph Carmichael, Lexicon Music, INC., 1969)

Kojima Mission Volunteer Position
2009

I. Kojima is a lovely suburb of Kurashiki city, located in Okayama Prefecture and about halfway between Osaka and Hiroshima. Kojima has a population of about 80,000, Kurashiki about 400,000. Even though we are Kurashiki city, due to the transportation system, we usually do our big city stuff in Okayama, only 21 minutes by train. Kojima is a center of textile manufacturing and a lot of jeans and casual wear is made there. Everyone knows Kojima for the boat races held there ,too.
To reach Kojima, we usually fly into Osaka KIX, take the Haruka to Shin-Osaka, then the Shinkansen to Okayama, where we transfer to the Marin Liner and get off at Kojima station. It takes about 3 hours from the airport.
II. LOGOS Eikaiwa,
http://www.logosenglish.com/ or LOGOS English Conversation School, is how we make our living. We offer English conversation classes to students aged 2 and up. We mostly have classes from 2 to 5 in size, and the limit is eight students. We also have contracts with two kindergartnes and two companies now to provide classes off-site.
III. The Rogers Kojima Mission: We are in our 15th year as pioneering tent-making missionaries. Since 2002, we have had several Let’s Start Talking http://www.lst.org projects and most of our Bible classes are with people first contacted through this work. The most recent project was in 2009, when we had a student team from Harding University and an adult team from Texas.
IV. Volunteer responsibilities:
A. Teach a few classes in LOGOS each week. Because we cannot hire a full-time teacher now, Brent and Sandy will be working more hours. There are times when the schedule is really hard for two teachers. We will provide textbooks, training and help when needed.
B. Continue follow-up of LST students. This means teaching, organizing, and reporting. We would like to provide regular events, both social and teaching focus, in the months to come, too.
C. Faithful ministry in daily life and worship with the church.
D. Japanese class at least once a week and preferably two.
E. Other responsibilities according to the talents and needs will be discovered as time goes on.

V. We can offer cheap air-fare on a standby-basis. On-site, we can offer an apartment and utilities. When a volunteer selection is made, we can discuss each person’s situation in detail and see how to make it work.

Best Reporting Date: Sept 5 or 6. Our current teacher’s last day is September 14, and we would like the new teacher to observe her for a week of classes. And observe the other teachers at times, too.
Term of initial period. A tourist visa is 3 months and you need a round-trip ticket to get this visa when you come. So we are setting the initial period of commitment at three months.

For more information, please contact us by blog comment or email, phone etc.

Gallup poll of Japan finds Christianity on the upswing

Christian Examiner staff report

——————————————————————————–

LOS ANGELES — Six percent of Japan’s population now claim to be
Christians, according to a new Gallup survey that is described as the
most extensive ever taken there. One pollster called the results
“stunning,” much higher than reported in previous polls.

The Gallup Organization also said that researchers were surprised by
the high numbers of teens who claimed the Christian faith, while the
traditionally dominant religions, Buddhism and Shintoism, though still
claimed by many adults, suffered declines among teen-agers.

Some respondents answered that they belonged to more than one religion.

“In my 50 years of polling, there has been no study that I would
consider as important as this one, because it provides insight into a
fascinating culture,” George Gallup Jr. said in a news release.

The poll, conducted in association with American Trademark Research
and MJM Group in 2001 for use in a documentary that is expected to be
released later this year, yielded some surprising statistics on
Japanese attitudes toward religion, morality and spirituality, they
said.

Of the 30 percent of adults surveyed who claimed to have a religion,
75 percent considered themselves Buddhists, 19 percent Shintoists,
while 12 percent considered themselves to be Christians. Adjusted for
the entire population, including the non-religious, 6 percent are
Christians.

Researchers were especially surprised at the large number of Japanese
youth who claimed the Christian faith. Of the 20 percent who professed
to have a religion, 60 percent called themselves Buddhists, 36 percent
Christians and followers of the traditionally dominant Japanese
religion, Shinto.

Pondering morality
In using the “stunning” label, Gallup, who assisted with the poll,
noted of teen-agers: “these projections mean that 7 percent of the
total teen-age population say they are Christians.”

The poll also delved into popular attitudes toward a variety of
subjects related to morality, spirituality and general views about
life.

“According to the social scientists in Japan, this was the single
largest study ever attempted,” said Bill McKay, one of the
documentary’s producers and project research director. “The entire
study examined preteens, teens, young adults, adults and seniors.”

McKay said they were warned by Japanese experts that the design of the
questionnaire, which included socially delicate and highly personal
questions, would not be answered by their targeted group.

“However, it was our professional hunch that the Japanese were ready
to talk and when they did they told us more than we had asked for,”
McKay said. “The data is the most revealing look behind the face of
Japan and shatters many WWII myths of the Japanese culture.”

Pollster Gallup agreed.

“Most Japanese, judging by their responses to scales on happiness, are
neither “very happy,” nor “very unhappy,” he said. “There is a degree
of fatalism in their somber mood. Teen’s perspectives on life tend to
a sense of nihilism to an alarming degree. A note of hopelessness is
found in the responses to a number of questions. And there is little
evidence of eternal hope, although a considerable number do believe in
some form of life after life.”

On matters of morality, Gallup noted a strong relativistic streak.

“Like much of the rest of the world, the Japanese tend to take
relativistic views on ethical matters,” the pollster said. “There is
little belief in ‘absolutes,’ and this is true across the
all-generational groups. In the ‘hierarchy of crimes,’ those related
to economic and family matters far outweigh those related to sexual
activity.”

Researchers were also surprised by teen attitudes which reflected an
especially pessimistic outlook on life. While 22 percent of U.S. teens
in previous Gallup surveys often wondered why they existed, the number
for Japanese teens was 85 percent. Similarly, while 76 percent of U.S.
teens always see a reason for their being on Earth, only 13 percent of
Japanese teens agreed with the statement.

A surprisingly high 11 percent of Japanese teens wished they had never
been born, a figure that comes in at 3 percent for U.S. teens.

How are you? You are doing great! You are here!
You are able to come.
You chose to come.
There was something here to come to.

The mere fact of your being able to get up and get here is an amazing blessing that you likely take for granted. Unless you are aware of a recent case of someone being injured, paralyzed, or killed, it is very easy to just think it natural that you can be here today.

Or unless you have heard about religious repression in places where meetings like this have to be held in secret, and in much smaller groups, like China or North Korea. Yesterday’s Times told of a lady in North Korea allegedly executed for distributing Bibles in North Korea.

Or unless you have recently been in a location where you just cannot find a group to meet with.

So, you are doing fine.

Last week, in Searcy, in front of several hundred people, a middle-aged man took a teenage girl out into this tiny pool of water and pushed her face and whole body under the water very briefly. The audience not only was not shocked, but they actually applauded this kind of behavior. You are doing great because you know what this was. In Japan, we don’t see baptisms much. Our neighbors have lived their whole lives without ever seeing a child of God being born into a new life with Christ.

In fact…

All of that to say, you are doing fine.

I hope you thank God every day for the privilege and ability
to have this kind of fellowship on a regular basis.

Not at all to make light of your particular situation with your health, your job, or lack thereof, forced furlough Fridays, or foreclosure, or whatever you maybe facing. I am just trying to impress on you that you have so much to be thankful for in being able to be here today. You have many blessings you may rarely even think abut!

How are you doing?, though, is not really the question I want to deal with. The question is :
How are you and Jesus doing?
What’s new with you?
What’s new with you and Jesus?
What are you doing these days?
What are you and Jesus doing these days?

Well, you may say, Jesus is up there in Heaven getting a place ready for me. I am down here trying to get ready for my place in Heaven. And that is how Jesus and I are doing.

If that is the extent of it, I am really glad you came today, because today w will look at how it really is with you and Jesus, according to Scripture.

What is a soul worth?
What is your soul worth?
Whose life is it anyway?
What is your life?
How does Christ fit in?
How does Jesus influence your calendar, your tax returns, your address, or your conversations?

What is the kingdom of God worth?
The soul you save you may be your own.
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field …The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls…
What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and yet lose his own soul?

Before you can answer How are you? You need to know — Who are you? You are a sinner saved by grace. You have been set free from not only the punishment you deserve for your sin, but also from the power of sin in your life. You are in a position of privilege and great blessing.

Who is Jesus? Jesus is almighty God, the Creator of the world, the Word made flesh, the crucified and risen Savior.

What is this human life we are called to live and present to God?
Life is an undetermined length of time divided by nature and our choices. Life is a long string of choices about deeds and words.

How are you and Jesus doing? If you have not thought about this question lately, here are some things you should know about you and Jesus.

First, you and Jesus are in it together …
He is your Helper, and money and people have no power to separate you from Jesus.
In case you are worried about money, let us start there. Hebrews 13:5 5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”6So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
Because we have this promise, we are doing okay. Because God is always with us, we are dong great. Money comes and goes. Incomes rise and fall. People are given forced days off and income cuts. Houses and jobs come and g. It happens not only in California, but also in apan. In our prefecture, city employees were given a 10 percent pay cut but still have the same amount of work or even more. In our company, too, salary cuts are about what we can afford, not how much we work.

But with God and with Jesus on our side, we are not going to be left alone. We will not be homeless. We will be at home with God, even if wealth has left us.

So today we are talking about Jesus and you.

Jesus and your life

Your life and Jesus.

Your life and the life of Jesus

If you need a title, Jesus and You will work.

Today we will consider some verses that may have become old hat or almost by-words or automatic, but have lost their power to amaze and astound.

So let us look at John 14

Jesus is the Life Because we always hear way, truth and life, it may be easy to forget that Jesus is the Life. Do we ever stop and think about what it means for Jesus to be the life? The life- when do we say this… Man, this is the life…! It usually has to do with relaxing, not working and with eating and drinking, not worship. Usually with something we rarely get to do but wish we could do more.

Jesus is the Life! God will never leave us! Jesus is the Life! How are you and Jesus doing now?

Jesus came to give abundant life. Full life! Amazing life! Jesus came to give us a life lived every day knowing our purpose and knowing that when we fail to accomplish that purpose even for one day, we are forgiven and the next day we can know that we are living in the will of the Creator if we choose to follow him.

A careful study of John 14 is essential to understanding how you and Jesus are doing, really.

Already we have referred to the amazing verse 6 where Jesus says he is the life!!!

In John chapter 14, Jesus begins saying goodbye to the 12. We have the little-understood promise of the Holy Spirit. Then in verse 19, a phrase so small in this rich text that we often miss it –

A powerful statement of why we live and why we can live – Because I live, you also will live!!! Wow! We could preach and ponder all day on this. This is how you and Jesus are doing. His life makes your life possible and gives it purpose.

v. 20 The Father is in me and I am in you and you are in me.
I am in you! Jesus is in you! Jesus is in me. Those words are almost too much to compute. Our finite brains have trouble getting around the idea of God being in us.

Then in verse 23, the Eternal Father, strong to save, the Creator God, Jehovah, and the Son will come to live with us and make their homes with us. We are so much looking forward to being at home with God, we may forget that he is at home with us.

How are you doing now?
How are you and Jesus doing?
How are you and Jesus and the Father doing?

Where have you been taking God and Jesus Monday through Friday, and on weekends, and on vacation?
Are you always aware that they are at home with you? They are masters at creation and renovation. Are you letting them in to do their work? Are you letting them into the family room? Your inner room? They love to give life and to give new life!

Jesus is not just a carpenter up in the great by and by getting your heavenly home ready, he is ready and willing to go to work on his home here, inside you.

We need to pray, Heavenly Father, be at home in me, and let me be aware of you. Help me to welcome you.

Leaving John 14, let’s go to a couple other passages

Gal 2:20 Christ lives in me. How do you reckon Christ lives in you?

We have a lot of stuff living in us.
Like a virus? A bacteria? A tumor? A pacemaker? An artificial heart?

I have been crucified with Christ,
I live
I mean not me, but Christ lives in me.

I am just the physical representation of Jesus doing his deeds where I live, where I go, where I work, where I play.

I am the body Christ uses to get around in, to do his teaching,
his healing,
his helping,
his serving,
his giving of life and hope and all the things he did. He is not retired or tired. He is not just choosing the drapes for our home in the clouds. He is here and working and he is multiplied because there are so many of us.

The life I live
I live by faith in Jesus

So when I ask you How are you and Jesus doing?, I want to get you to try to think about to what extent have you given Jesus room to work in your life. How are you decisions affected by faith in Jesus?

Are you driving him around, but making him stay in the car when you get there?
Is Jesus in the trunk all week, then in Sunday morning, he gets to sit up in the passenger seat?
Is he driving where you tell him to go? Is he driving?

Some of you are letting Jesus drive you wherever he wants to, but only AfTER you have driven to the race-track. Okay Jesus, anywhere on this track is fine. That is not disciple – ship.

After you plan your work time and your evenings and weekends, singing All to Jesus I Surrender is a little bit late. Jesus, what are you doing after 8 pm on Sunday evening? Oh wait, I need to get to bed early.

After you budget for the essentials and the fun, and the savings, then asking Jesus to guide you as you spend the rest is a little backwards.

How have the decisions you made over the past week been impacted by the Jesus that lives in you? The conversations you had and didn’t have. The way you spent your time?

How are you and Jesus doing?

I want to return to the driving analogy for a moment. I want to suggest that proper relationship is that we are the car and Jesus is the driver. Of course God also supplies the power, but we arethe tires and the grill and hood. We are what people see, but Jesus is in control.

So, what have we said?

The Lord is with you. You don’t have to worry about what money or people can do.

Jesus is the Life!

Jesus came to give abundant life.
Jesus is why we live.
Jesus is how we can live.

Jesus and the Father live in us, make their home in us, and are at home with us.

I have been crucified with Christ, but Christ is living his life in me.

Now all that was either introduction or conclusion, here is what I wanted to say. You may think I have been dancing all around it, and maybe I have, but it all serves as commentary for this most amazing verse.

Col 3:3 We have died, and our life is hidden with Christ in God, when Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then…
CHRIST IS OUR LIFE!!!

That is what I wanted to say — –

CHRIST IS OUR LIFE!!!

Soon after Destyn was born, a dear little old lady student asked me,
What kind of boy do you want your grandson to be?
I was at a loss for words, but now I know. From Psalm 15, from the New Century version, with a little tweaking.
What kind of Boy?
A boy whose walk is blameless
and who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from his heart
A boy who has no slander on his tongue,
who does his neighbor no wrong
and casts no slur on his fellowman,
A boy who despises a vile man
but honors those who fear the LORD,
who keeps his oath
even when it hurts,
A boy who lends his money without usury
and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things、whether boy, or old grandpa.
WILL NEVER BE SHAKEN!

Update for High School Friends

1977-84 Graduated Piggott High, Harding U. married Sandy Hougey, moved to Lubbock, TX, and India, came back to USA – SF Bay Area – two kids, three months in hospital in SF.

84-91 Lived in Concord, Walnut Creek, West Pittsburg. Preached in West Pittsburg, CA, taught ESL in high school, adult school, graduated SFSU –MA in Teaching English as a Foreign Language, moved to Kojima, Japan to teach for Mt. Hood Community College. Brent’s mother passed away.

91 to 97 Kojima. The college closed its Japan campus. We started our own conversation school. Made a lot of friends, a few feeble mission efforts, learned Japanese.

97 to 2001 Searcy. Kids in Harding Academy and Univ. Brent taught at Harding a little, then full-time at Augusta High for three years. Sandy at Jacksonville Jr., then two years at Augusta Elementary. We attended Cloverdale. They are now our sponsor. Sandy’s father passed away.

01 to ?? Still doing our school. We usually have have one more American with us in our school. Hope you can come visit or work here! And struggling to win some hearts for Christ. Sandy also teaches at an elementary school, where she helped start a partial-immersion English International Program. We had our first LST team in 2002, and have two more this summer, and several in between. Ben Rogers passed away. Grandkids born in 05 and 08. See photos at Rachel Rogers Patton on FB. 2007 – Brent –66 days in hospital with kidney stuff. Left kidney is not working. I am feeling good and have a lot of energy most of the time. Still in my 40s!

HEBREWS: ANCIENT ENCOURAGEMENT FOR BELIEVERS TODAY, by Edward William Fudge (Leafwood Publishers, 2009, softcover, 262 pages, $19.95. Delivery on or before May 19, 2009 ).

Interview with Edward William Fudge, author of HEBREWS: ANCIENT ENCOURAGEMENT FOR BELIEVERS TODAY

A neglected book

Q: Hebrews is not a book we hear discussed very often. Why do you suppose that is the case?

EWF: You are right about that. This neglect is very unfortunate, in my view, because Hebrews is one of the most Jesus-focused, gospel-packed books in the New Testament. You will see the evidence for that on almost every page of Hebrews: Ancient Encouragement for Believers Today.

Q: Why do most people miss this focus?

EWF: It comes from a lack of real study of Hebrews. Folks go away from it without ever seeing and appreciating the book’s real message. They assume it is just an old book about even older Jewish rituals, sacrifices and priests, with no meaning or value for them.

Why was Hebrews written?

Q: Do we know why Hebrews was written?

EWF: Yes we do, although we don’t know exactly to whom, when, where, or precisely what was going on. But we do know that, for a variety of reasons, the original recipients of Hebrews were worn out, disheartened, tempted, and seemingly about ready to walk away from their faith. The book hints at some possible causes, including persecution, passing of time, being misfits in their culture, the appeal of sin, and so forth.

Q: That situation sounds very up-to-date! How does the author of Hebrews respond to it?

EWF: I love it! To revive his readers’ spirits and to renew their commitment, the unknown author re-tells the Story – the story of the Son of God who became a man, to live and die as our representative, and who is now in heaven representing us as our High Priest. Hebrews is thoroughly focused on Jesus! Its message is always contemporary. We can never go wrong by focusing on the Savior himself. I am very pleased that several reviewers have described Hebrews: Ancient Encouragement for Believers Today in those same terms.

A ‘bridge’ commentary

Q: You call Hebrews: Ancient Encouragement for Believers Today a “bridge” commentary. What does that mean?

EWF: When it comes to Bible studies, there are two worlds out there which often never come together. One is the ivory-tower world of academic specialists with all their scholarly issues and technical jargon. The other world is where most believers live and work and worship. Hebrews: Ancient Encouragement for Believers Today attempts to bridge this gap. For example, I worked from the Greek text of Hebrews but Hebrews: Ancient Encouragement for Believers Today doesn’t have a single Greek word in it. Although the bibliography covers eight pages and includes 80+ scholarly articles from theological journals, this book uses everyday language. By linking scholarship with simplicity, I hope to give the reader the best of both worlds.

A narrative-style book

Q: You also describe Hebrews: Ancient Encouragement for Believers Today as a “narrative-style” commentary. Tell us about that.

EWF: That refers to the fact that Hebrews: Ancient Encouragement for Believers Today is written as flowing narrative, although it discusses each verse of Hebrews in detail. It does this in 48 chapters, each covering a portion of the Scripture text. Each chapter begins with a very short section called “Why & Wherefore,” which relates that section to the big picture. That is followed by “Unpacking the Text,” which goes into detail, but in narrative style, with subheads to make it read more like a typical book.

Endorsements

Q: I see that Hebrews: Ancient Encouragement for Believers Today is already endorsed by a considerable variety of notable scholars and church leaders, even before its release. Isn’t that a bit unusual?

EWF: What is somewhat uncommon in the case of Hebrews: Ancient Encouragement for Believers Today is the theological and international diversity of the endorsements. Hebrews contains a number of quite controversial passages, about which Christian “tribes” traditionally disagree. I am very pleased, therefore, that this book is recommended by knowledgeable reviewers across the spectrum.

For example, the quotes on the back cover of Hebrews: Ancient Encouragement for Believers Today come from Methodist, Calvinist, Church of Christ, Baptist, mainline Protestant, Pentecostal and Emergent church scholars. The full text of these seven endorsements, plus 29 others, fills the first six pages of the book. You can read the endorsements online already, with photos, biographical comments and (where applicable) website links of the reviewers, ,

by going to http://www.EdwardFudge.com/endorsements_Heb.html .

Fukuin article, first submission
下に日本語あります。

In this article, I would like to take a literal approach to the word and idea of disciple. I would like to look at the places Jesus went and how we can follow him.

Jesus went to a wide variety of places. Jesus went ｔo　the places where the needy people were. He went to places where there were bind, crippled, poor, and sinful people. Is that our approach? Or are we waiting for people to come to us?
Jesus did not avoid going to places where he might cause a scandal. He went to be with people not only at the top of society, but also those who were less respectable, and even to those who were despised. He often offended the people at the top by doing this. Are we willing to offend? Are we willing to cause a scandal?
Jesus was with all kinds of people. Notice his visits to the tax collector Levi and the Pharisee Simon. He was also in the marketplaces. He was not always so busy doing church things that he had no time to be with people. Are today’s Christians mixing with society? Are we involved in a robust engagement with the people around us? Or have we retreated to the safety of our churches, our homes, our computers? I know this is a small group, but of the three churches around us in Kojima, I have never seen one of the evangelists except at a church activity.
Jesus also went away to pray.
He sought out the isolation and silence of the lonely places in order to be in prayer and meditation. How far are we from spending a whole night alone in prayer? Poet George Herbert called prayer the church’s banquet, the soul’s blood. If that is so, today’s church is in danger of serious malnutrition and anemia. Both individually and corporately, we find time for entertainment, work, rest, and noise, but we are too tired or busy to pray. Especially we are too tired and busy to go away to pray, especially alone.. We can all spend a little time today to plan some time to go away to pray. Whether it is the park, the library, or the coffee shop, we can get away to pray. We can if we decide to.
Finally, Jesus went to the cross. Though Christians are very comfortable and safe in Japan, it may not always be that way. Are we ready to hang on to our faith, whatever the cost? When faced with the choice of death or simply stamping on a relief of the face of Jesus, which will we choose? If faced with the choice of saying Jesus is Lord, or Caesar is Lord, will we stand firm? What if God were to call us to Vietnam, China, or another country where our faith may cost us dearly? Are we ready to follow? Will we hear the call?
Is God calling us even now, to risk embarrassment, or scandal, to serve him in a radical way. Is God calling us out of our churches to the marketplaces? Is God calling us to mix with the despised? Is he calling us to pray, or to die? Will we hear the call?

この記事では、「弟子」という言葉とその概念について、字面通りのアプローチをしてみたいと思います。
それには、イエス様が足を運ばれた場所について検証し、私たちもそれに従っていくための方法を探りましょう。

イエス様はありとあらゆる場所に足を運ばれました。イエス様は生活が困窮した人々のもとに足を運ばれましたし、
盲目の人や足の不自由な人や貧しい人、罪深い人のもとに向かわれました。私たちも同じことをすれば良いのでしょうか？それとも、私たちは人々の方から私たちのもとにやってくるのを待てば良いのでしょうか？

イエス様は、イエス様が出向くことによって騒動が起こりそうだと思われる場所を避けることはされませんでした。
イエス様は社会の上層にいる人々との交わりのみでなく、あまり尊敬を集めていない人々や軽蔑すらされている人々とも交わりをもたれました。
イエス様は軽蔑されている人々と交わりを持たれたために、度々社会の上層の人々の気分を損ねました。
私たちは身分の高い人の気分を損ねてまで同じことができるでしょうか？騒動が起こったり、自分が悪く思われる
状況を自ら作り出すことはできるでしょうか？
イエス様は様々な種類の人間と交わりをもっておられました。収税人レビとパリサイ人のシモンを訪問されていた
のです。また、イエス様は市場にもお姿を現していました。イエス様は教会的な活動に忙しくされるあまり、人々のために
時間を割かない方では決してなかったのです。現代のクリスチャンは、社会と上手く接することができているでしょうか？
周囲の人達と積極的に関わりを持っているでしょうか？それとも、私たちは教会内や家庭やパソコンのネットワーク上の
人間関係の居心地の良さに逃げてしまっていないでしょうか？コミュニティーが小さいのは承知の上で言うと、
私は児島にある3つの教会の中で、教会のアクティビィー以外で他の伝道者を見ることが全くありません。

イエス様もまた、祈るために、人ごみを避けることがありました。
イエス様は祈りと瞑想に浸るため、静寂な場所を求められました。私たちは一晩を祈りに費やすということがあるでしょうか？
詩人のジョージ・ヒバートは「祈りとは教会の晩餐であり、魂の血である」と言いました。もしそれが本当であるなら、
今日の教会は、深刻な栄養失調と貧血の危機に瀕しています。個人レベルでも、またグループでも、私たちは娯楽や仕事や休憩や賑やかなことに時間を割きますが、祈るということになると疲れを感じたり、忙しくて時間が割けないということになりがちです。
特に、疲れていたり、忙しい時に私たちは祈るということを怠りがちです。。。
今日この日、私たち皆わずかの時間を割き、お祈りを捧げる計画をしても良いのではないでしょうか。
それが、公園であろうと、図書館であろうと、コーヒーショップであろうと、私たちはお祈りをすることができるのです。
祈りを捧げようと意志を決めれば、できるはずです。

最後に、イエス様は十字架にかかりました。今日の日本のクリスチャンは、心配もなくとても安全ですが、常にそうであったわけではありません。
私たちは、たとえその代償がどんなものでも、私たちの信仰を持ち続ける心の準備ができているでしょうか？
もし、死か、イエス様の顔の絵を踏みつけるだけのどちらかを選ばなければならないとしたら、私たちはどちらを選ぶのでしょうか？
もし、「イエス様が主である」か、「カエサルが主である」かのどちらかを宣言しなければならないとしたら、私たちは自分の信仰を固持することができるでしょうか？もし神が、ヴェトナムや中国やその他の、信仰を持つことが難しく、そのために多大な犠牲を払わなければならないような
国に私たちを召されたら、一体私たちはどうするでしょうか？私たちは、その召しに従う準備ができているでしょうか？私たちは神の召しを
聞くことができるでしょうか？
神は、今の時代でも私たちを召し、神にお仕えするためには恥ずかしい思いや人に悪く思われる危険も負わせているのでしょうか？
私たちを教会から、市場に導き出しているのでしょうか？軽蔑されている人々と交わりを持つことを望んでおられるのでしょうか？
私たちを、祈りのために、または死のために召しているのでしょうか？私たちは、その召しを聞くことができるでしょうか？

Japanee translation by MS sama, with thanks.