Hand in Hand Global Mission Support Blog Digest

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On April 8, [ELCA missionaries] Carol and James Sack, Yasuko-sensei and Ai-san made a trip to our house in Wakabayashi Ku in Sendai City. On their way here, they waited for the highway to open up just after a strong midnight aftershock. What surprised me was that it happened the highway was opened up again only as far as the interchange that is close to my home. It was as if God had opened the way so that they could come to us.

When Ai, Yasuko, Carol and Jim stepped out of the car, I felt that Jesus had come into the midst of our disorientation. I was so happy, as though a light had burst into our darkness. I could feel secure in my sadness. My heart that had been strained in tension for so long felt deeply wrapped in peace.

We walked into the house with the song “Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God.” Tears welled up in my eyes. And then, as I received some of relief materials donated by the Lyra Precaria group together with their written messages, I knew I was being told:  “God is with you. Be at peace.”

Things are still indeed severe, but being supported like this, I feel strength coming from everyone. I know that through such support, God is expressing God’s Love to us. Just as it says in Psalm 23, even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, the Lord is with us. Our cup overflows. I felt, in my heart, that it is truly literally like that. I am so thankful that members of Lyra Precaria were so willing to copy the learning materials that I lost to the waters of the tsunami.

Up until now, I have been one to be on the giving end of things. Now, the tables are completely turned, and, finding myself only able to receive, I am learning to lean on God. I am so thankful to God for having led me into studies with Lyra Precaria. My friendship with each in the group is a precious treasure in my life. I thank and praise God. Hearing Ai’s wonderful voice and seeing her smile gave me courage. Hearing Yasuko sing, I realized, “I’ll be OK.” The cake Carol brought seeped into my heart, and Jim’s jokes were so fun: we found ourselves laughing out loud.

I thank everyone. My husband also is grateful. When we prayed, he said “Amen.” My husband did! This is God’s blessing.

I passed on some of the treats around to children in our neighborhood and they were so happy. Their hearts are wounded too. This was God’s present to them. And we also shared the relief materials brought with our neighbors. God blessed even our neighborhood.

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Following this day, Kyoko Yokoyama reported on how Campus Crusade volunteers from Tokyo helped clean much of the mud from her house and those in her neighborhood.  She spoke of how God’s love is overflowing not just in her own cup, but all around the neighborhood.  One joy was to share with others the song “Light and Darkness” (See “Prayer Around the Cross” from Augsburg Fortress). “It was at that moment [when singing this together with neighbors] that I realize that in life there are moments of light and darkness; that it is about a cycle of orientation, disorientation, and new orientation; that there is always the hope light in the midst of darkness; and that there is the time when God lifts us up.”

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Kate Lawler-Wunsch and David Wunsch are ELCA regional representatives in South America.

As missionaries serving in Latin America, we are often asked how liberation theology affects our ministry.  “Liberation theology” was coined by Peruvian priest Gustavo Gutierrez in 1971 to describe a movement emerging in Latin America that views Christ’s life and teachings through the eyes of those who are marginalized by unjust political, economic and social systems.

One way this theology has penetrated our spiritual lives has been through a series of paintings by Adolfo Perez Esquivel, an Argentine human rights activist.  In 1980 he won the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his leadership in a nonviolent movement to oppose the military dictatorships in Latin America.  Esquivel’s paintings, “The Latin American Way of the Cross” walk us through the Stations of the Cross from the perspective of those who suffer injustice in Latin America.

Meditating on these paintings during Holy Week has visually and spiritually integrated Christ’s suffering with the historic and current struggles of people in Latin America.  This meditation refocuses and renews our understanding of what it means to be a disciple of Christ.  As we visualize Christ’s life through the lens of the cross, we see … it was a life of complete solidarity with those who suffer in this world.  As Christ’s disciples today, we are also called to continue the ministry of healing and transformation that he began among the people who lived at the margins of society during his time.

When we walk along this Latin American Way of the Cross, we also arrive at new understandings of the resurrection.  In the final painting of Esquivel’s stations of the cross, the resurrected Christ stands with those who have suffered persecution in Latin America from the time of conquest through colonization into contemporary times. In the unwavering hope of these people who never lost faith despite all of the injustice that they faced, we see the true power of the resurrection.

Our prayer for this Easter season is that we may be renewed in our discipleship to walk ever more faithfully with our companions along the Way of the Cross as it is the only path that leads us to a full understanding of the power and hope of the resurrection.

With Easter joy,
Kate Lawler-Wunsch and David Wunsch

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The Rev. Arden and Janna Haug are ELCA missionaries based in Bratislava, Slovakia. Arden is the ELCA’s regional representative for Europe. They have two sons, Vitali and Alexei.

Dear Friends,

In Slovakia, Palm Sunday is known as “Flowering Sunday.”  It is a wonderful description of the season.  Apple trees, plum trees, forsythia and magnolias are all in bloom.   Slovaks often bring branches from these trees or pussy willows to be blessed as a part of the Sunday morning liturgy on Palm Sunday.

In the Bratislava International Church, we celebrated the day with traditional greens palms and dry tan palm crosses.  When I was in Great Britain for a regional meeting of the Lutheran World Federation, I searched high and low for palm branches, but I was told in one liturgical supply house after another that in England, “palm crosses is what we use.”   The English save their palm crosses, as Americans do their palm branches, for Ash Wednesday

services the following year.  I scoured the city for palm branches and then decided to experiment and have a multicultural Palm Sunday.  The children entered the church with palm branches swaying and shouting loud “hosannas,” and the adults followed waving their palm crosses and reverently singing, “All Glory, Laud and Honor.”  It was a wonderful way to begin our Holy Week observance.

In the Slovak language, the word for Easter is Vel’ka noc, which means Great Night.  The name the Great Night comes from the early tradition of Orthodox Christianity and its important midnight Easter Vigil.   Following the old Slavic liturgy and custom, the miracle of Jesus’ resurrection takes place in the midnight hours.  The good news of Easter is proclaimed “on the first day of the week, and early dawn, when the women went to the tomb.”

At midnight the priests and congregation walk around the church three times, and on third round, they stop at the entrance of the church.  The priest knocks on the door, and then announces to the congregations standing in the darkness, that the tomb is empty. This leads to the Orthodox Easter greeting which has become our own familiar Easter greeting, “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!”

A blessed Easter from Central Europe!

The Haugs

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Eric and Christie Anspach-Hanson are ELCA missionaries in Japan. They were evacuated to another location in Japan to ensure a safe delivery of their baby when radiation leaked from the nuclear reactor damaged in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. In Tokyo they help lead the English congregation at Tokyo Lutheran Church, teach English and Bible classes at the Hongo Student Center and work with TNG (The Next Generation), a Japanese youth ministry team. They are the proud parents of a baby girl.

Hi everyone,

Christie and I wanted to send out an email to everybody announcing the birth of our baby girl!  She was born at 10:08 on April 8 over here in Kumamoto, Japan.  Her name is Aleaha Megumi (means “grace” in Japanese) Hanson, and she`s the cutest baby in the world (we actually checked all of the other babies just to make sure).  I wish we could thank all of you in personal emails for the prayers, well-wishes and general good vibes you`ve been sending our way for the past few months, so please excuse the mass email nature of this mass email!

God bless you all!!

Eric and Christie

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Sarah and Dirk Stadtlander are ELCA missionaries in Senegal.

“We are currently in hot season.   For us, that means dry, dust-laden winds and daily temperature highs of around 120 degrees Fahrenheit,” says ELCA missionary Sarah Stadtlander.  “It hasn’t rained since October and won’t again until mid- to late June.”

What do missionary children do during the dry season?  They beautify their yard!  Eva Stadtlander, age 7, and Ellen Stadtlander, age 3, invited their Senegalese friends to help with the project.  Their friends Soxna, Tall,  Ndeye Fall and Ramata joined them in designing and coloring an Easter-colored chalk mural for their garden wall.

“It should last until sometime in June, when the first rain falls,” says Stadtlander.

The Stadtlander family lives in northern Senegal, accompanying an emerging worship community of Fulani people, semi-nomadic shepherds and farmers.  Dirk Stadtlander serves as a pastor to this Pulaar-speaking congregation of the Lutheran Church of Senegal.  He also works with Senegalese who are translating the Old Testament into Pulaar as well as the evangelism committee of the Lutheran Church of Senegal.

To sponsor the Stadtlander family or another ELCA missionary, contact globalmissionsupport@elca.org or 800-638-3522, ext. 2657.  Give on-line at www.elca.org/4missionaries.

 

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The following is a printed sermon offered in the April issue of “The Lutheran,” monthly newspaper of the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church
By The Rev. Sumiyuki Watanabe
President, JELC

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“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8)

Long ago, towering over a town, was the tower of the church with its large bells. It was said if there was a good gift on Christmas Eve, God would cause beautiful bell sounds to be heard there. But no one had heard such sounds in a long time.

In a distant village lived the brothers Pedro and Antonio. Their grandfather told them the story of this church’s bells and this inspired them to want to attend worship there.

Christmas Eve arrived that year. Pedro and Antonio really wanted to go to church, and secretly left to go. It was a cold and snowy day. The brothers took the little bit of money they had saved and held hands as they struggled on their way to church. As darkness fell, the two saw a woman collapsed on the whitened road. She was already cold, and the brothers struggled to wake her. Their efforts paid off as the woman regained consciousness. But Pedro, realizing they couldn’t leave the women there, told Antonio: “You go ahead to church.” He took a silver coin out of his pocket, what he had brought as an offering for church, and gave it to Antonio. He told his brother to take this and quietly leave it at the altar. The younger brother hurried off to town as Pedro watched him go off, shedding tears and saddened he couldn’t go to church with the anticipation he had had.

The Christmas Eve service was wonderful. Antonio looked around the church in awe. The pastor’s sermon came to an end, and the people lined up before the altar to bring their offerings. One rich man placed a precious jewel in the offering. Another put in lots of money. The king himself offered his own crown. Then they all bent their ears to listen. But the only sound was that of the wind; there was no sound of bells. “The bells didn’t ring this year,” they all murmured. At that moment, the sound of the bells suddenly resounded. All the people looked toward the altar. There stood Antonio, who had offered that one silver coin, looking up as he listened to the ringing bells. (From Raymond M. Alden, “Why the Chimes Rang)

This past March 11, a devastating earthquake and tsunami hit Japan’s coast, the so-called Tohoku-Kanto Great Earthquake. We offer our heartfelt prayers for those who lost loved ones, that God’s mercy and peace may fill them. For those who survived and for those living in the disaster area, we pray for their health and that God may embrace them with comfort; and that they can return to some normalcy in their lives.

This disaster was unprecedented in magnitude. We have seen images in the media every moment along the way. As we watch, we feel helpless in the face of the power of nature, and recall the many paths we have trod in human history.

With this sudden disaster, we are left wondering what we, as humans, can do. We wince at our helplessness. But we face the words: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Behind these words is the understanding that while there is a limit to what is human, we proclaim there is no end with God.

In the story from Why the Chimes Ring, the brothers quietly offered their small offering at the altar. This happened even as the one brother couldn’t be there because he was helping that woman who had collapsed in the middle of a snow storm. God certainly looked upon each of these brothers with great pleasure. And because of this, the church bells resounded with renewed beauty.

There are those who have lost loving parents, children, siblings, relatives, friends; those who lost homes and endure the cold of the nights; those who have little hope for the future, lamenting and crying out in despair. All the more reason to remember “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever,” the one brings us courage and strength and hope for tomorrow. And for each survivor, for all of us who are starting to engage in relief activities, the bells of God’s salvation ring, just as they did for Pedro and Antonio. Let us walk with courage and hope with God in this difficult road ahead. Surrounding us stand the Christians of the world, and each individual Lutheran member everywhere. Their prayers are with us as we give thanks to God, and walk forward in our efforts to bring relief to all those who have survived this disaster.

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Dana Olson is an ELCA missionary in London.

So since it’s been a few months (more like a year . . . so sorry about my lack of communication) since I’ve sent out an up-date on the missions work I’ve felt called to in London, I’ve decided to send out a mid-week e-mail­­­
­­­every Wednesday. These will be a quick story with a photo (none of the actual children, since I’m not allowed to do that, sorry) about one of the children I’m teaching.

Some of you might have read this story on Facebook already, but I thought I’d expand it for you. I’ve also changed the boy’s name:

A few weeks ago I had to take one of my year-2 boys (about 6 years old), Felix, I teach out of P.E. to come to a Springboard lesson, which he came to very willingly. Felix comes from an incredibly loving and supportive family (which is very rare amongst the children who come to Springboard) and his mom works in the school and is 8 months pregnant. Felix’s mom had to pick him up early for one of her doctor’s appointments, as his dad was at work and wouldn’t be able to pick Felix up after school. Because his mom works at the school, I’ve come to get to know this family quite well and she’s always been welcome to come and watch Felix’s lesson. She came to pick Felix up during his Springboard lesson to head to the doctor’s appointment and he started crying because he didn’t want to miss his lesson at Springboard. The next week, Felix’s mom came in before school and handed me a card and a daffodil from him. On the inside it read: “Sorry i was so grumpy on Thursday. Love Felix” It also had some wonderful drawings of flowers and hearts and such. It was so wonderful to see how much Springboard makes an impact on the children in the schools we teach in. I love what I do

Praise God that some children who are struggling with reading, writing, and spelling are given a chance to learn these skills through Springboard for Children.

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ELCA missionaries in Japan, the Rev. Jim and Carol Sack, reflect on their ministry after the tsunami and in the midst of the radiation crisis. Jim is a professor at Japan Lutheran College and Carol is a director of Lyra Precaria, a bedside ministry of prayerful presence through harp and voice.

Carol and I continue to be amazed and dismayed at the images we see of the damage following the earthquake. Please pray for those who are now living in refugee shelters that may be many miles away from their homes that no longer exist. If you can imagine that in just a 10-second span everything you owned was ripped out of your hands and disappeared, that is what the majority of these people experienced on March 11. They have nothing. All of their possessions have been removed from their grip.

At the same time we have seen a great deal of compassion and genuine love expressed by many Japanese as they take in refugees and send supplies up to those who have been so greatly influenced by this disaster. Everyone in this country has been touched by this triple disaster: earthquake, tsunami and radiation. It is gratifying to see such tenderness by people who are reaching out to their fellow Japanese who have suffered so by this event.

One thing that we were very surprised by was the number of comments from Japanese when they see us remaining in Tokyo. Recently, we attended the annual meeting of the East District of the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church. We were told by a number of people how much they appreciated seeing us there. Comments like, “Seeing you remain with us gives us strength” and “You didn’t leave us, thank you!” Totally unexpected, these words gave us a sense of how important just “being there” can be at a time of stress and panic.

I was reminded of the “body of Christ” through these encounters with grateful people. To have so many people thank us for our presence (actually the presence of Christ through us) we have been encouraged to be better witnesses of Christ in Japan.

Peace to my brothers and sisters in Christ,
Jim (and Carol) Sack

To support the work of ELCA missionaries, go to www.elca.org/4missionaries. To begin or renew a covenant sponsorship of a missionary, visit www.elca.org/missionarysponsorship, email globalmissionsupport@elca.org or call 800-638-3522, ext. 2657.

 

 

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The Rev. Jeffrey Truscott is an ELCA missionary in Singapore.

Greetings from Singapore!

I was on study leave in the U.S. from June to December of last year working on a book, which will be published in late April by Armour Press of Singapore. Worship: A Practical Guide is largely based on my lectures and worship experiences of the last 11 years in both Japan and Singapore. My hope is that it will spur Asian churches to think more deeply about the need for worship to incorporate the music, art, architecture, gestures and expressions of their local cultures.

Currently, I am back at Trinity Theological College (TTC) in Singapore teaching courses on worship. I am grateful for the opportunity to shape the thinking of future worship leaders from Methodist, Anglican, Presbyterian and Lutheran churches. (Because the Lutheran church of Singapore is relatively small, there are only two of its members enrolled here now.)

TTC, a multi-denominational seminary, has about 220 students in its various degree programs. Most of our students are financially supported by their individual congregations and usually return to full-time ministry in these churches after graduation — although they may eventually serve other congregations after their ordination.

Besides the challenge of teaching students from different denominational backgrounds, I also face some difficulties due to varying degrees of ability in English — which for most international students, is a second language. But often I am amazed at how well some students are able to communicate in English. We Americans could take a lesson from people around the world who are proficient in a second language!

The Lutheran Church of Singapore (LCS) continues to minister with great enthusiasm as well as commitment to the Lutheran theological and worship traditions. Recently, the LCS published its own first-communion curriculum for children 4 years old and younger — an amazing accomplishment for a small national church of only seven congregations. The leadership of Bishop Terry Kee, especially his commitment to Lutheran identity, is an inspiration. Please continue to pray for your fellow Lutherans here in Singapore!

Finally, let me thank you for your support through prayer and financial contributions to the ELCA missionary sponsorship program. I am grateful for everything you do for me! I also want to thank those churches who invited me to share about my ministry during my study leave last year. Your hospitality was much appreciated.

Regards in Christ,
Rev. Dr. Jeffrey A Truscott
Trinity Theological College
490 Upper Bukit Timah Road
Singapore 678093

 

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