kobeintern

Today is Saint Barnabas’ Feast Day. In addition to the daily 7:00 am Eucharist, we had one in 10:30 am where five other parishioners joined in the Holy Communion Service. It was nice to see others at the service – many who I last saw the previous Sunday.

Then shortly after 11:00 there was a videograph recording session of a Pipe Organ Masterclass given by Ms. Hatsumi Miura on the beautifujl organ in the Cathedral.

Deacon Miyata is quite a resourceful person, and he loves to tinker with anything technology related – including computers, video cameras and producing youtube- ready high quality videos! And he expertly videotaped the entire masterclass using three different stationery cameras besides his freely-moving cellphone camera, with spot lighting, wireless lapel microphones and two digital audio recorders.

In the afternoon, Fr. Seyama took me to meet the Rev. Paul Tolhurst, a Chaplain for the Mission To Seafarers, Kobe (MTS). He’s been here in Kobe for 24 years, and was ordained a Nippon Sei-Ko-Kai priest, here in the Diocese of Kobe! Because of his primary job as Chaplain for MTS, and it’s a job only he can do, he is exempt from the Bishop-directed priest reassignments. Unlike in the US, the priests in NSKK are assigned to a parish by the Bishop, and every so often there is a major reassignment.

Fr. Paul designed the chapel in the new MTS Office to be a comfortable tea room (A Cafe), and that is the type of service he holds – very free, Cafe-like atmosphere. Since his ministry is mostly to the foreign nationals who happened to arrive in the Port of Kobe, the service is in English, and he has his own English translation of the NSKK Book of Common Prayer.

Guy works for Paul and has been here in Kobe for almost four years. Through his interactions with Paul it seems, and through the task of Chaplaincy in which one listens to the soul of another individual, Guy has been inspired to take introductory course in Theology at the CDSP (Church Divinity School of the Pacific). My wish is that the Holy Spirit continue to shine light on the path that he should follow.

Through speaking to Paul and others over this past week, it seems Japanese people have a tendency to lock into tradition – “this is the way it’s always been done.”, “this is how we do things”, “this is what people expect things to be”, etc. There’s not many of “let’s try this” in their repertoire. Of course, I also understand that having one priest shepherd four different churches does not leave much room for innovation. But I feel that there must be a way to reach out to the community at large. I am rooting for the churches here!