The following will be my last chapel speech, of sorts. I have one more "speech" in July, but I am planning to do an all-music chapel to say goodbye and thank you to the students (and so I don't have to write another cheesy quasi-sermon).
Proverbs 4:5-7
I hate math. I have always been a very good student.I learn quickly and enjoy school. However, when I was in junior high school, high school, and university, math was always my worst subject. I didn’t like learning it, I didn’t understand it, and I didn’t know why I had to learn it. “When will I ever use calculus in my daily life?” I thought. I was very excited in college when I finished my last math class—I was finally done! I could forget about math forever!
Or so I thought.
I use math everyday now. I use math to grade homework scores. I use math to pay my bills. These tasks should be simple, but because I didn’t pay attention in math class, these things are difficult for me. I regret that I didn’t take advantage of the opportunities I had.
You have many great opportunities to learn in school. You can get a lot of wisdom from your teachers. Are you taking advantage of your opportunities? Baiko is a unique school in that two American teachers are here almost everyday. Most schools have native English-speaking teachers about once a month. Are you taking advantage of this great opportunity to practice English with us? Miss Ami and I want to help you. We want to talk to you. So take a chance while you are here at Baiko to get all the wisdom you can.
What does it mean to “see” Jesus? What does it mean to “hear” Jesus? In today’s passage, Jesus’ disciples ask him why he uses parables to teach people. Jesus tells them that people who are willing to believe will understand his parables. Then Jesus tells the disciples that, though the people could see physically, spiritually they could not see the truth of Jesus. Though they could hear physically, spiritually they could not hear the truth of Jesus. Christians often talk about seeing and hearing Jesus as a metaphor. In fact, there’s a famous worship song—“Open Our Eyes,” that addresses this: "Open our eyes, Lord/ we want to see Jesus/ to reach out and touch Him/ and say that we love Him/ Open our ears, Lord/ and help us to listen/ open our eyes, Lord/ we want to see Jesus.”
How can we see Jesus now? We can see Jesus in the beauty of nature. We can see Jesus in other people. Is there a special person in your life who encourages you when you are in trouble? Is there a person who loves you no matter what you do? You can see Jesus in those people. Many of you remember Rachel, the former American teacher at Baiko. I could see Jesus in Rachel’s life. She loved everyone. She was patient and kind to all people. She cared for me and helped me when I had a problem.
How can we hear Jesus now? We can hear Jesus in the Bible’s words. We can also hear Jesus in prayer. Prayer is not one-sided. Prayer is not only us talking to God. God talks back. You don’t even have to be a Christian to pray to God or to Jesus. When I am worried or afraid or confused, I often say a prayer to God. Sometimes, shortly after I pray, I understand what I must do, or an answer to my problems presents itself to me. We have to listen carefully to hear God’s answer, but he always answers us.
Valentine’s Day was last week on February 14th. Do you know about Valentine’s Day? How do we celebrate Valentine’s Day? We give chocolates and greeting cards to people we love. In America schoolchildren give Valentine’s cards to their classmates. Why do we celebrate Valentine’s Day? Valentine’s Day has a long history, but the story is not very clear. There is a legend about Saint Valentine, the man for whom Valentine’s Day is named. Saint Valentine lived in Europe in the first century, AD. The Roman Emperor at the time decided that soldiers should not marry. St. Valentine, however, was a priest, and he helped a soldier get married. Since Valentine broke the Emperor’s law, he was put in prison. While Valentine was in prison, people hid encouraging notes and letters in the walls of his small room in the prison. Some people believe this is why we write Valentine’s cards today.
We do know one thing for sure about Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day is all about love. We give gifts to those we love. Stores are decorated with hearts. Couples have a special time together. But the reason that St. Valentine was put in prison a long time ago was because he loved God and he loved other people. He was a Christian. He helped soldiers to marry even though it meant he would be put in prison. Let’s all try to love like St. Valentine.
Proverbs 31:25-31 Why are you in school? It true that you are here to learn about history, math, and Japanese. But more importantly, you are in school to learn how to be an adult. You should learn how to work well with other people, how to meet deadlines, how to handle many tasks, etc. Your mother and father and grandparents and teachers all began to become adults in high school and college. I also started to “grow up” into an adult in high school. Even now I am still growing into a woman. You are now girls, but you will soon become women. Becoming an adult—and becoming a woman—is a long process that continues your whole life. You are now beginning the process of changing from girl to woman. As an adult—as a woman—you must be many things. You must be wise with money, you must be strong enough to get through hard times, and you must work hard to live a comfortable life. Are you ready to do all of these things now? Probably not yet. But you are beginning to learn about these things in school and at home. What kind of woman do you want to be? Have you thought about your character as a woman? Have you thought about how you should behave as an adult and as a woman? What is a woman of God like? The Bible gives us an idea of what God thinks is a good woman. Let’s look at that today:
v. 25 A godly woman is strong: not just physically, but mentally and spiritually. She can handle any problem because she relies on God.
v. 26 A godly woman is wise: she knows when to speak and when to be silent. She knows to choose her words carefully.
v. 27 A godly woman is responsible: she knows what is needed and she does it. She cares for those she is responsible for.
v. 30 A godly woman fears the Lord. She knows and follows God’s laws. She wants to serve God.
Are you a godly woman? Are you the kind of person that is described in this passage? Are you strong? Are you wise? Are you caring? Do you fear the Lord? If you are not like this now, think about how you should change your behavior. Let’s all try to become women of God.
Psalm 139:1-6, 13-16 It’s important to be understood. I think about understanding a lot in Japan. I have to listen carefully to Japanese speakers to understand what they are saying. When I go to the store I often have to ask people to speak slower or repeat themselves. I can’t understand them. It is hard for me to make myself understood to Japanese people, too. Japanese grammar is so different from English grammar that I often mix up my words. Sometimes Japanese people laugh at me because I say something incorrectly. I can’t make myself understood. I can’t convey who I really am: my feelings, my dreams, my goals. Also, Japanese people often don’t understand who I am as a person. Japanese people often have a lot of misconceptions about Americans. For example, they think America is dangerous because people are allowed to own guns. They think all Americans love McDonald’s. These things are not true. I think Japanese people also have a lot of misconceptions about foreigners in Japan. They think we don’t speak Japanese. They think we all speak English. They think we are all English teachers. They don’t understand who we really are. You also may worry about being understood. Students, you probably think teachers don’t understand how much homework you have in other classes, or how challenging the assignments are for you, or what kind of friend or family problems you’re dealing with now. Teachers, you probably think that students don’t understand how hard you work for their benefit, how little free time you have with your family because of your job, how frustrating it can be to teach students who often don’t want to learn. Who really understands us in this world? God understands us. The Bible says that he knows your every thought. He knows how many hairs you have on your head. He knows how many times you have cried in your life. He had a plan for your life before you were born.God truly understands you. Because He understands us, he knows what we need. He knows how to care for us. He knows how to help us.
I think Japan is a very polite country. Everyone always says “please” and “thank you.” At school the teachers and students often say “thank you.” When I go to the store I always hear “thank you” from the clerks. We say thank you to everyone in our lives. But do we say “thank you” to God? Why should we thank God? What has God given us? What has God done for you? Did you decide to be born to a Japanese family? No. Did your parents decide to be Japanese? No. They had no choice. You had no choice. You have a family with enough money, a good school, a safe place to live, and enough food to eat. Who decided that? Was it an accident? No. God gave it to you. God decided he wanted me to come to Japan. I didn’t even want to come to Japan at first. But three of my college professors asked me three different times to consider coming to Baiko to teach English. I considered it, and finally decided to take the job. In this job and this country I have been blessed with amazing experiences, new friends, and great students. God gave me this gift. He gives us everything we have, everything we need. He even gave us the way to Him through Jesus Christ. Do we say “thank you”? Are we really thankful? Remember to thank God everyday, because He gave us all good things.
I love pancakes. I love to make them, and I love to eat them. My grandfather taught me how to make the best pancakes: lots of butter, eggs, milk, sugar, and flour. It’s a tradition for my family to make pancakes together. When I make pancakes in my kitchen here in Japan, I think of my family.
When I make pancakes, I also think of creation. I have the power to make something good, something I love. I can do what I want with the pancakes—I can eat them with syrup or marmalade or salad dressing or with nothing on top. I can make two or ten pancakes. I can make them like a circle, or an oval, or like Mickey Mouse’s head. I have complete power over the pancakes.
The example of my kitchen and the pancakes is similar to God’s connection to His creation. God creates humans with complete power. He can make them any way He wants. He also loves the humans, and thinks fondly of them. But in this example, how do the humans feel? Think again about pancakes. Can the pancakes understand why I created them? Can the pancakes understand the great power I have over them? Can the pancakes understand the love I feel for them? No. It is impossible.
Although my power over the pancakes is much less than God’s power over humans, this example is still an enlightening one: the created thing can never understand the creator. Moreover, the created thing can never have the same power as the creator. The pancakes will never be able to create pancakes of their own. The pancakes will never understand the person who created them, or even why they were created. The creation can never understand the creator.
Now think of a computer. A computer is much more complex than a plate of pancakes. A computer can remember information, perform tasks, obey the user. Even so, the computer can never understand who created it or why it was created. The creation can never understand the creator.
Now look at today’s passage. This passage speaks of an amazingly powerful God. He is invisible, He created all things, He is the head of all things. I cannot even begin to understand this God. Have you ever thought about how big the God of the Bible must be? I cannot even imagine it. I can’t understand why he created me. I can’t understand how big His power is. I can’t understand how deep his love is. I cannot understand the bigness of my creator. I am like a plate of pancakes.
Sometimes I hear people say that they can’t believe in Christianity because they can’t understand God. I think it is a good thing that I can’t understand God. He is so much more powerful than me, and He loves me. He cares for me and wants what is best for me. I’m glad I don’t understand God. I know that He understands me. Even if I don’t understand God, it’s ok, because I know he loves me.
I love to watch movies. I especially love action movies and comedies. There is one movie that I like so much that I have watched them over 20 times. It is an American comedy called “That Thing You Do.” The Japanese title is “すべてをあなたに.” This movie is special to me because in college my best friend and I would watch it together when we felt depressed or stressed or we just wanted to relax. We watched the movie so often that we memorized the dialogue. Even when we weren’t watching the movie we could quote dialogue from the movie to make us laugh. Whenever either of us were in a bad mood, we would say a funny line from the movie, and we would instantly be cheered up. Do you feel this way about a movie you love? Have you memorized funny lines from a movie?
When I was in junior high school I went to a Bible camp every summer. At this Bible camp, I memorized important Bible verses. Every day I tried to learn 2 or 3 new verses, so that by the end of the week I could recite over 20 verses of the Bible. To this day I still remember some of these Bible verses, and when I am confused or sad or afraid or angry, these verses come to mind and I am comforted and encouraged. It is similar to the feeling I had when I quoted movie lines with my friend. But since I am a Christian the Bible is much more important to me than the dialogue from a movie. Psalm 119:11 says, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” If I remember God’s words, he will show me the right thing to do and give me comfort. I sometimes think it’s strange that I can easily memorize the lines from movies, lyrics from my favorite songs, and trivia about my favorite actors, but I don’t spend my free time memorizing the Bible, the book which is most important to me. 1 Peter 1:24-25 says "For, 'All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.' And this is the word that was preached to you." When I think seriously about it, the words of God are much more important than the words of Johnny Depp or Avril Lavigne. I want to spend more time in my life thinking about what is really important. Which do you really think is more important: the Bible or a movie with Johnny Depp?
Every day in chapel we recite a memory verse. Have you ever thought about why you do this every day? It is not because your teachers want to punish you. It is not only because of tradition. It is because the leaders of this school believe the Bible has a very important message. While you are in this school it may be the only time in your life that you read the Bible, so we hope you will remember what you have learned. Do you memorize these verses? Today’s verse is Isaiah 33:2. Does this verse comfort you? Is it important to you? Have you thought about what it means? Think about these memory verses. Hide God’s words in your heart. Maybe someday in the future when you have some trouble in your life, you will suddenly remember these verses and be comforted.
To be delivered in Japanese on Saturday, November 25. Hymn: When I Survey the Wondorous Cross
Exodus 12: 21-23: “Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. Not one of you shall go out the door of his house until morning. 23 When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.”
Recently at my church I heard a sermon about the significance of the first Passover that is described in Exodus. My pastor talked about all the different parts of the Passover: the unleavened bread, the bitter herbs, and the angel of death. The sacrifice of the lamb and the blood over the door were the most interesting parts of the sermon to me. It was at that time that I started thinking a lot about sacrifice. Sacrifice is a very important—maybe the most important—theme in the Bible. I want to talk today about three very important sacrifices in the Bible and about why God’s demonstrations of sacrifice are so important to us.
The story of Abraham and his only son Isaac is one of the first sacrifice stories in the Bible. In Genesis 22 we find the story of God’s command to Abraham to sacrifice his first born son, Isaac. Abraham does not understand why God asked him to kill his only son—the child that God said would be the father of a great nation. However, Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham loved Isaac very much, but he loved God more—so much more that he was ready to kill his only son when God told him to. But at the last moment, God provided a ram for Abraham to sacrifice so Isaac would not have to die. The death of the ram was a substitute for Isaac’s death.
In Exodus 12, God kills Egypt’s first born sons so that Pharaoh will release the Israelites from slavery. In order for the Israelites to save their first born children, they must sacrifice a lamb. The lamb takes the place of the first born son. God told the Israelites to put the blood of the lamb over their doors so that He will not kill their sons. The Israelites were covered by the blood of this lamb, and they were hidden from God’s wrath.
The next important instance of sacrifice is when Jesus comes to earth. John the Baptist knows what Jesus will do and what He represents when he says: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” John knew that Jesus would die to cover the sins of all people. God’s only son dies for us so we are hidden from His wrath. But since Jesus is not just a lamb, but a divine being, the power of the sacrifice is much greater. In Exodus, the Israelites were covered for only one night by the blood of their sacrificial lambs. God gave Abraham grace by providing a ram for Abraham to kill instead of Isaac, but the ram’s death was only a replacement for Isaac’s death and for no others. When Jesus was sacrificed, it was one time for all people-- now and for the all the people who will ever live in this world. Just like the blood of the lamb that covered the Israelites at Passover, Jesus’ blood covers us so God does not destroy us. That is not only a huge display of power, but a huge display of love. The Israelites only had to sacrifice an animal-- that is easily replaceable. Abraham was very close to killing his son, but God prevented it. But God did not give His own son such mercy. He sacrificed his first born son (God on earth) for humans who continually turn their backs to Him. We repeatedly do wrong in God’s eyes, and still He wants to redeem us. Why? The only answer is love. Love must be the answer. God’s sacrifice of His perfect son is the ultimate expression of love. My love for my parents, your parents’ love for you, a leader’s love for his country—these displays of love never come close to God’s love for us. God’s love is so perfect, so complete, as to require the death of his Son, Jesus. 1 John 4:9-10 says this: “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
So what is my response? How should I react to this knowledge? I suppose I could say “thank you,” to God, but that does not seem sufficient. No; I need to in turn give God my entire life. After all, He gave me His.
I've almost finished writing my second chapel speech, which I will give November 25. I decided to write it about sacrifice because a sermon at church recently was about the Passover and the message really hit home for me. This was an important event because not many sermons lately have "hit home."This is because 1) the sermons at the church I attend are roughly and simply translated into English on paper and are therefore usually lacking in substance and 2) I've been in a spiritual "funk" for over a year now. But this sermon was different. It was about the Passover-- not really about sacrifice at all, but about the significance of the bitter herbs and the wine and unleavened bread. But my mind took off on sacrifice and I started thinking about how Abraham's "almost" sacrifice of Isaac and God's covering the Israelites with sheep's blood at the Passover all portend Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. Anyway, what I wanted to share was what I found in the Japanese characters for "sacrifice."
Kanji are often very complex: one character may actually contain several characters that have been compressed together. A simple example is the word for "good:" This character is actually two characters pressed together: the character for "woman" (女) and the character for "child" (子). It may be interpreted, then, that this character means that a woman with a child is a good thing.
The word for "sacrifice" is much more complicated. It includes a radical: a squished character that can be found on the side, top, or bottom of a character. The word for sacrifice looks like this: This word is composed of two characters, each of which have two or more characters pressed together. The first character (犠) has three parts. On the left side is the radical for "cow" (牛). On the ride side are two characters: one on top of the other. I think the top one is derived from "Lord" (主). The bottom character is a formal kanji for "me" (我). So the first character could be interpreted like "The Lord is over me [through the use of, with, because of] a cow." The second character is not so complex. It also has the cow radical on the left. Next to that is the character for "life" (生). This character could mean something like "life [from, with, alongside, because of] a cow." The two characters together mean "sacrifice," which I roughly interpret to mean: "The Lord covers me through a cow's life." When I came to this conclusion I was amazed.
Keep in mind that Japanese kanji are derived from Chinese script, which is one of the oldest written languages in the history of the world. According to Wikipedia, the source of all knowledge, the earliest form of Chinese was first used during the Zhou Dynasty (1122 BC-256 BC). I couldn't find any approximate dates on Wikipedia as to when the first Hebrew Bible was canonized, or when the Bible was first introduced into China, so I can't be sure about this, but I wonder if these characters were created by the Chinese before they read the Bible. Here's another way to say the same thing: when the Chinese created their characters for sacrifice, they probably did so without understanding the biblical concept of sacrifice; yet their characters express roughly the same idea. Does this mean that God was at work in the creation of the Chinese (and ultimately, Japanese) language so that His Word is embedded in it? Please know that this idea is not original. I first read about it in a Randy Alcorn novel. But it fascinates me, nonetheless. This word, "sacrifice," is not the only word that may contain a biblical allusion. Alcorn also mentions the kanji for the word "creation" as possibly having a biblical connotation. I intend to look for more.
Every teacher has to give a speech in chapel every once in awhile. My first speech is October 28. I wrote my speech really early so I could get it translated into Japanese. I want to give my speech entirely in Japanese so the students understand me. This is one of my only opportunities to speak Japanese to them, and to speak about the Christian faith. Romans 5:6-8 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
I am a failure. Every day I fail in many ways. I fail by not clearly explaining an idea to my students. I fail by not being able to communicate with my co-workers and friends in Japanese. I fail forgetting God during my day. I fail by not achieving my personal expectations. Today I will tell you about my failures in the hope that you will see how, even though I fail every day, God gives me strength, grace, and love to live my life.
Before I came to Japan I thought that, in 2 years time, I could be fluent in Japanese. In America I studied hiragana and katakana. I learned simple words and phrases. However, that was not enough to prepare me to speak Japanese to store clerks, people at church, students, or other teachers. I have become like a child here in Japan—I have to learn how to read, write, and express myself like I did when I was an infant in America. Some days I feel confident in my Japanese abilities. Other days I am frustrated because I cannot communicate even simple ideas. At those times I feel foolish. What do the Japanese think of me? Do they think I am stupid? Or rude? I know now that, even in two years, I will not be fluent in Japanese. My expectations are too high. I feel like a failure because I cannot meet my own expectations for communicating in Japanese.
I fail in other ways as well. I graduated from college with a degree in music. While I was in college I studied many beautiful pieces of music. I learned to write music, because I wanted to learn to write pieces as beautiful as those of the composers I loved. I would sit at the piano for hours to try to write a few measures of music that sounded as beautiful as Bach, Beethoven, and Debussy, but I could never succeed to my satisfaction. To my ears, my music sounded fake, like a photocopy of a famous painting.
I also fail with God. When I was your age, I thought I understood who God was. I knew a lot about the Bible and I went to church and to Bible studies. But I didn’t realize until about a year ago that I did not understand God at all. At that point I felt I had failed, so I gave up on God. I lost all my faith in Him. I decided I didn’t care about Christianity any more because I couldn’t understand it. But recently I realized that faith in God is not possible without questions. No human can fully understand God. The Bible tells us this in Romans 11:33: []. So we all fail at understanding God, and God understands this. God also understands that we fail to honor and obey him. We cannot meet God’s expectations of righteousness. Romans 3:23 says[] . It doesn’t matter how hard we try—we will not reach perfect obedience and righteousness in God’s eyes. But God knows this. Romans 5:6-8. If we were perfectly righteous, if we were not failures, then Jesus would not have had to die. We would not need his sacrifice. But, because we are sinners, we desperately need His forgiveness, which, because of His love, He freely gives.
I am a failure. I cannot understand or obey God. But God knows this, and because He loves me and has forgiven me, I don’t need to worry.
Name: Ruthie Home: Japan About Me: I want to know who God is and what his truth is. I love getting lost in beautiful music and cloudless star-filled skies, especially in the fall. I hate being bored. I like big cities. I want to travel the world. read more
Name: Ruthie