Peace, Hope, Joy

There is a display board in front of the church, and I was responsible for the December display. These words were written across the top, and under the picture of baby Jesus and His parents, the verse " 'She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel' -- which means 'God with us' " Mt. 1:23 Whenever I have the chance to write the words of Scripture, with a brush and some paint during my calligraphy lessons, it seems such an honour. My writing is definitely not eloquent, but the words of our God are, and that can make anything beautiful, right?
The "male chorus" on Christmas Eve during the service. They spent the months of November and December gathering around the piano, and trying to "shroud" their activities in secrecy. It was so neat to see them leading us in worship when it came time for the "unveiling".
It seemed like so long since we'd had a potluck, and it was soo good! A bunch of families that don't usually come, and husbands of women in the church also came, which was exciting.
"Talent show" -- Pastor Kurokawa got this brain wave that we should have time on the 24th in the afternoon for those in the church to share their "hidden abilities". The kids did a Christmas song, the newly married young couple in the church sang a duet, another Philipine woman sang "Amazing Grace" and, due to the fact that Chiharu informed the pastor that I had played flute in Spring :-s, I played "O Holy Night". It was a good time.
We were at church all day on the 24th -- this is the evening Candlelight service, and the 6 readers who had the parts of narrators, Mary, the angel, etc. It's a short service that is repeated every year, but it's good to hear the story, and sing the songs, and to know that God speaks to hearts. . . and will keep speaking even after the service is over.
I bought this in Shanghai at one of the markets we walked through. I thought it was cute, and interesting, and something I could wear often for teaching and stuff. . . I still think the first two are true, the last, well, after about 20 minutes working on the buttons (the one right in the armpit almost did me in), I might be reconsidering that! ;-)
This was the little "skit" that we did for the kids on Christmas Day during the "Kizzu Kurisumasu Paatei" (got that?) 4 people from church were stuck in the baptismal tank moving the characters around with disposable chopsticks attached to the back, in time with a voice recording we had made earlier. The story was interspersed with singing. Afterwards, we played games and made Christmas trees out of cake. . . :-)
So in Japan, there's apparently a saying that whatever you did at New Year's reflects on the rest of the year. Well, this is it! I hope it's true that this year will be filled with fun and friendship.

I just had to take this picture of Sara (British), Aya (Japanese Canadian) and I on the train at 3 in the morning. (I met both of them at the Osaka International Church Bible study I used to go to.) The trains usually don't run through the night, only on New Year's Eve, so it was pretty neat to experience that. (I was surprised at how many "old people" there were too -- not meant to be disrespectful -- I think a lot of them were on their way to visit a Shinto shrine -- they have a special custom and word here to designate the first visit to a shrine of the New Year. They go to "pray" or "wish" for the health of family, happiness, safety, etc.)

After I got back to Toyota on New Year's morning, I spent the week doing a lot of relaxing, a little organizing pictures, getting together with friends and students, and cleaning (it's tradition here to do the big cleaning of the year at the very end of the year, so that everything is clean and fresh for the first. I started my cleaning on the first, which is incomprehensible for most Japanese, I think. Just reaffirming my "foreign" status, in case I forgot, I guess! When I was here 4 years ago for New Year's, I was out walking around on the 31st in the evening, and saw a man out cleaning his shop windows -- gotta get it done before midnight!!). It was really great to have some "down time" to relax.
On the second, Chiaki brought me "o-sechi ryouri", special foods that are prepared for and eating during the New Year days (1st to 3rd). Her and her mom made most of these dishes, which are eaten cold to save the women from having to work during the holidays, each of which has a special meaning. For example, in the left box on the right side, the yellow is fish eggs, which are a wish for "good multiplication" in the family, above that, the green is rolled seaweed, a word that sounds like the word for "happiness" and "celebration", the black beans in the middle left on the next box represent the desire to live a hard-working and conscientious life (the word "mame" has both meanings -- bean, and conscientious). She brought this all to me in the little black decorative box, which stacks up to make two layers, along with a traditional drink that "doesn't taste good, but just drink it because it's tradition" and chopsticks wrapped in paper with a special celebratory Chinese character on it (same as the seaweed rolls). I thought it was so sweet of her. I have to admit that there are really only a very few of the New Year's foods I actually enjoy eating, but it was neat to be able to participate in this custom.
Today, as an official end to New Year's, families eat the rice cakes they have used to decorate their homes -- grill them, put them on top of red bean soup, and enjoy! And that part of New Year's is something I definitely have no problems participating in, because I love that soup!! So, anyone wanna hang out with me next year for New Year's to celebrate "Japanese-style"?!