Advent events.

It's the afternoon of Christmas Eve here in Japan, which for the missionary community is the calm before the storm. Each of the five Lutheran churches in Kumamoto City has its own evening Christmas Eve service tonight, and there's also the late-night International English Christmas Eve Service at Kumamoto Lutheran.

Christmas tree lighting at Luther.

It's really the calm in the middle of the storm, when I think about all the Advent- and Christmas-related activities of the past month or so. Along with three Christmas parties, I've been to two Christmas tree lightings, one at Luther and one at the Colony of Love and Mercy welfare organization attached to Kuwamizu, complete with carols and candlelight. We were given candle holders out of empty soda bottles, made by cutting off the bottom of the bottle, turning the whole thing upside-down, and securing the candle on a screw driven through the cap. It's a pretty neat idea, but of course, the candles melt the plastic pretty easily. Many of the kids spend the entire service tilting the bottle to melt the plastic here and there, making interesting and possibly slightly toxic modern art.

Caroling with the third-years.

On Friday, the last day of school before winter break, I woke up at 3:30am to participate in Luther's annual Christmas caroling, where all the seniors gather in a nearby park at 5:25am and sing songs like "Silent Night" and "Joy to the World" in Japanese while walking back toward the school, the students holding candles in those homemade PET-bottle holders. The local press came out with all their cameras to cover it, which was a little distracting. Still, it was a really cool thing to be out proclaiming the true meaning of Christmas, even with the cold.

My desk at the end of the day. The yellow citrus
fruit is called a yuzu, and was handed to me by
the school groundskeeper as we returned to campus.

After warming up with a delicious breakfast of hot pork soup and rice balls back at the school cafeteria, it was time for the Christmas services. The Luther J-3s (Morgan, Patrick, and me) were tapped to play the Three Wise Men in the school Christmas pageant, and when Patrick wasn't available, they recruited the school's Australian exchange student. We were outfitted in tan shawls as our costumes and spoke our lines in English. ("We Three Kings of Occident are," we'd joked.) The service ended with the "Hallelujah" chorus from Handel's Messiah, which the students had been practicing for the past week, and then afterward was a performance by the handbell choir and a secular Christmas medley from the music-specialty seniors. The whole service took an hour-and-a-half, and since the chapel is only big enough to hold a third of the student body at once, it was held three times. (Our poor chaplain!) That afternoon was staff Christmas worship, and then finally it was time to pack up and go home for winter "break." ("Break" is in quotation marks because the school will still be open all week for club activities and required extra classes--and yes, that means Christmas, too. Thankfully none of it is anything the J-3s have to be at school for.)

Presenting gifts to Baby Jesus.

On the English Service side of things, last Sunday we had the annual children's Christmas pageant. It's my first year helping with the International English Sunday School, but the kids are old pros. They called out the parts they wanted to play before I'd even cracked open the book to review. Our usual Mary, a five-year-old girl, was sick that day, so I stepped in as a last-minute replacement. During the pageant, some of the adults joined in, too. (We had more adult angels than kids, I think.) It was a lot of fun.

And now, after a quick costume fitting yesterday (I'm playing "Santa Claus" tonight for the kids around the Colony of Love and Mercy--this should be interesting) it'll be time to crown all these activities with a celebration of the true "reason for the season," a reason most Japanese people are actually almost entirely unaware of. Please pray for the Good News to be spread by churches around the country tonight.

I'll close with the words from the postcards Kuwamizu has been distributing to invite people to tonight's service:

"I humbly offer you this love."

You often hear, "I want to spend Christmas with someone special."

But, in fact, the one who says this is neither me, nor you.

It's God who says it.

This Christmas, please come to church.

"I want to spend this Christmas with you," God says, and is waiting for you.

Kuwamizu sanctuary, decked out for Christmas.

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord."
Luke 2:10-11 (NIV)