After the daily morning Eucharist at 7:00 am, Saturday started at 9:00 am with weekly osōji “cleaning” time at Saint Michael’s.
What a concept! About 20 parishioners took their precious Saturday morning to clean their church, wiping dust off the pews, sweeping the floor and so forth. I guess in America you think of this as a sexton’s job, but in Japan, this is normal, in which even the Bishop and his wife are both engaged in doing! Bishop Basil Satoru Yashiro told me that this was drilled into him by his dad and grandfather every week, and he reminisced as he told me about the episode.
Is it penny pinching? Perhaps yes. But I believe the “Body of Christ”, which is the Church, taking care of itself, is not only the proper thing to do, but also it builds coordination between each parts and can be very helpful to strengthen the community as a whole. And the result is a church building maintained by the parishioners, and always kept clean as well as church, the people more interconnected. I think I will try to incorporate this in my parish, if I so happen to be in that position.
To be fair, I do remember on a great occasion, like Saturday before a Bishop’s visitation at my church in Manhattan, when there will be a plea for people to help clean the church, but I don’t ever remember any church encouraging members to participate in a weekly cleaning. Here in Japan, they do this as a matter of fact.
Again, to be fair, Deacon Miyata told me that somehow the number of participants surged in the Spring this year from around 6 before to now 16 or so, and it’s been constant since, so they’ve always done this – but the number of participants can be in fluctuation.
In the afternoon I was suggested that I go see a Gospel Concert featured at Saint John’s Church in Suma Section of Kobe as part of their 100th Anniversary celebration.
The parish had existed since 1912 as an annex to the Kobe Church of Ascension in the area’s assembly hall. In 1923 became independent church named “Suma Associate Church” (須磨准教会). The 140 Anniversary Annal notes that Hinsuke Yashiro was serving as Deacon on the Consecration Service.
A church construction was approved in 1926, and with generous donation of 10,000 Yen from SPG (Society for Propagation of the Gospel, England), current purchasing value equal to around $190,000-$200,000, they were able to erect the church six months later, and named it Kobe Saint John’s Church.
In March of 1945 the U.S air raid turned the neighborhood into a sea of flame, but through immediate and diligent effort to extinguish by the woman missioner Ima Shiobara (塩原以満) assigned to St. John’s from Sumoto, the church fire was put out and the building saved. The church then served as the shelter for the community members whose houses were burned down.
In January of 1995, the church again, though damaged, survived the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. They provided shelter for upwards of 40 evacuees from the neighborhood in their parish house for a month and a half, as well as provided 100 hot meals every day.
The church was re-constructed in 1998. Since then the sanctuary was named “Restoration after Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Memorial Sanctuary” (阪神・淡路大震災復興記念聖堂). There is a major painting by Kazuko Ozaki (尾崎和子) at the reredo of the church, that depicts three layers of images – at the top, Feeding of the 5000; middle layer, the memory of that fateful day; then the bottom layer, that of God’s Kingdom imagined. This is to remind one of the cooperation and unity that kept the people together through the most unimaginable natural disaster.
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Even though it was on a voluntary basis, I decided to check things out since I am not scheduled to visit Saint John’s on any Sunday during my internship. I was truly delighted at the quality of the singer – Hanna Bunya (文屋範奈) and her accompanist (whose name I failed to find, I’m sorry!) did a wonderful job of singing soulful songs, both American Gospel as well as Japanese Soul-like music.
The concert also featured a slide show of the past 100 years of the St. John’s history, and she recited the history as they showed the slides. I got to know St. John’s more in depth this way, and also found that Hinsuke Yashiro actually served at this parish as a Deacon before he became a priest and eventually a Bishop. Bishop Hinsuke Yashiro legacy keeps expanding the more churches I visit.
I visited the Suma Kai-hin Koen ocean park, (須磨海浜公園) near by, after the concert to enjoy a beautiful late afternoon before heading back to the Diocese Office where I am staying.
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