Well, dear friends, the internship is over (sniff sniff). I'm sorry I didn't blog more, but what's done is done. Thank you all for reading and praying for me. The Lord blessed the summer and I learned many things from the experience. If you are interested in reading more of my writings, I have a blog containing my spiritual musings that I update year-round! The web address is: http://sing4thelord.blogspot.com/ I can imagine that many of the things I learned this summer will appear on there before long. :)  Much love and thanks to you all!

Mary vs. Martha

            If you asked anyone what would be one quality or attribute of a missionary, chances are you will get something along the lines of “serving” or “humility”. At least that’s what I would say. It is a very good thing to serve, to be doing the work of the Lord and be zealous for His kingdom.

            However, I believe that the idea of serving can become twisted when we forget the people or the person (God) we are doing this for. I know this because I have seen it in my own life, and it has become more apparent this summer as I have been engaged in full-time ministry.

            I am a task-oriented person as opposed to a people-oriented person, so I naturally place more importance on tasks rather than relationships. You could say I am a Martha, easily distracted by the work that needs to be done. What I have realized lately is that the church contains a lot of Marthas. There are always people serving, working hard – sometimes so much so that I feel as though there is no room for extra helping hands. When there are so many people helping clean up after an event that there is nothing for me to do, I feel at unease and a little insecure. Why? Because I don’t want to be a Mary.

            A Mary could be classified in one sense as a people-oriented person, but in a more deeper sense it is someone who realizes what truly matters and seeks after it. Luke 10:42 describes Mary as having chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her. She went after the spiritual things which last forever, while Martha was preoccupied with fading physical cares. The Marys of the church are the ones who engage newcomers in conversation, who asks how people are doing like they really mean it, whose minds are set on souls rather than bodies. Marys will invite everyone they know to the table for the marriage feast of the Lamb, while Marthas will worry about how everyone will fit.

            We need more Marys in the church. We need people to engage non-Christians and to build relationships and spur one another on in the faith. We need people who don’t have to rush off right after the service ends to go do one thing or another. Churches will blossom when Marys are present, for their minds are ever on heaven and they will cultivate the seeds that are being sown.

            Now back to the idea of serving. I am not at all saying it is a bad thing to be a servant and to fill a position in a church. That is necessary for a church to survive as well. But the number of Marthas I have seen far outweighs the number of Marys in many of the churches I have been in. Why? We are busy. We try to be the “better Christian” as far as who is most humble and most willing to serve. We forget the gospel and we still think we can earn or add to our salvation through our works. If we don’t have some reason to rush out the door after church, we try to be working behind the scenes so no one will notice how we’re not doing so hot spiritually. Sometimes our service can be the mask we hide behind, and the distraction we entertain for the sake of security.

            I would challenge you to examine your heart and see where you stand. Are you a Martha? Or a Mary? Is your mind set on the things above, or worldly cares? What is your motivation behind your service? C.S. Lewis said, “If you read in history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next.” Mary was commended by Jesus for choosing the good portion. Which will you choose?

Here are some pictures of the past Frozen concerts:

Elsa and choir member before the first performance.

Performance after Grace City Worship service on Sunday. 

                                 Kristoff and 
                                 Sven in 
                                 Sendai.

Olaf singing about Summer. :)

And finally, a Sing-a-long to "Let it Go" in Toyosu.

All of the Frozen concerts were very successful! There were 6 in all in many different locations throughout Japan:. Tsukishima, Ginza, Sendai, Ishinomaki, Toyosu, and Shin Urayasu The Lord enabled us to persevere through exhaustion and blessed the hearts of those we performed for. 

All of the Frozen concerts are finished! 

We had two the last weekend in June, and three this past weekend. 

They were all throughout different parts of Japan. All performances went well, and we had very good turnouts for all of them! Most of the time we barely had enough space to fit everyone! 

Many of the audience members told us how much they loved it and how it made them so happy. Especially in the disaster areas, we were told how there is a darkness throughout the city, but we brought light to it through our music. I felt blessed to be a part of something so special. 

Praise God for His faithfulness! Now we are exhausted, and do not wish to hear Frozen anymore! ;)

     Yesterday I had the privilege of sitting in on a session or two of what is called "City to City". It is an event that started in New York and has now moved to Asia as well which prepares and educates church planters/missionaries. Roger Lowther, the main missionary I work with, who has helped to plant several churches throughout Japan, gave a talk about the use of the arts in church planting. He is the founder of Community Arts Tokyo, which connects the Japanese people to the churches through the arts. It was a very good talk, and I wanted to share some of his points because it not only describes the role of Community Arts Tokyo, but also gives reason to why the arts can and should be used in churches. 
     There were five major points of what the arts can do:
          1. Bring people to church, and bring church to the people. The way Community Arts Tokyo does this is through hosting events and concerts out in the community. By flyers and word of mouth people attend and become immersed in the body of believers who are putting the event on, without the pressure of a church service.
          2. Build community among artists. Art, Life, Faith is like a Bible study or discussion concerning art, whether it be someone's personal art or just in general. There are also performance parties, where professional artists gather and perform for one another and meet other artists. Most of the people that attend these events are non-Christians.
          3. Create resources for churches. Videos, panel discussions, worship music, writing new songs, art meditations, dance, drama, and special music are just some of the ways that the arts can be used during or in conjunction with the worship service.
          4. Mercy ministry. The arts give people more opportunities to serve and volunteer. They are able to use their talents to give people joy and bring light to lives that have been darkened by misfortune. 
          5. Window into the culture. Artists portray in their art what they see in the world around them. They have the ability to make cultural differences easier to understand through their art. 
     So that's that. I thought they were very good points and I hope I am able to use these ideas at some point in the future. :)

We had lots of fun times with new friends this past weekend!

After working Saturday morning with the homeless ministry, we were nicely shoved into a tourist information center, where we tried on kimonos, did calligraphy and origami!

Photos are below. The people with us all are sweet friends from Grace City Church Tokyo. 

Girls on the left, Guys on the right, and calligraphy at the bottom. :)

Then, on Saturday night we had a foreign language exchange girl's night, where we cooked and talked in Japanese and English. We made "too much lemon pasta" and eggplant which we shaped into a flower. The word for flower in Japanese is "Hana", but "Hana" can also be used when speaking about your nose! 

And on Sunday night we went out with another group of college age girls from Grace City Church and went to a restaurant which was "Izakaya" style, where basically everyone orders lots of little appetizers and everyone shares. It is a "no shoes" restaurant and you sit on tatami mats that are quite low to the floor. 

None of these four Japanese ladies are Christians, but they all attend Grace City Church quite frequently. Please be in prayer that they might come to know Christ and that we might show the love of God to them in our interactions!

A young American woman's version of a Japanese dinner:

Japanese sweet potatoes, bean sprouts, and dried seaweed. 

Complete with mizu (water) and hashi (chopsticks). 

Yum!