April 14, 2007
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4/8/2007 Mr. Charles Corwin - Easter Sunday -Tama New Town Christ Church
Today we were privileged to have Mr. Corwin and his lovely wife Eloise with us. Mr. Corwin founded our church, and it is always a delight to have him fly in all the way from California, I believe it is, to be with us.
His text today was Luke 24:1-34. If you check your Bible, you will see that it tells the story of Christ rising from the dead. Mr. Corwin challenge us not to think of Easter once a year, but all year round. We are to remember to encounter all seeming problems with a spirit of thanks to the God who can work all things together for our good and to His glory. He pointed out that joy and happiness are two very different things. Happiness depends on circumstances and it temporary, but joy comes from spending time with Jesus and from bearing His cross. It is not easy or simple, but it the source of true joy.
He looked back over his time spent as a missionary in Japan, and said that he did not have many clear memories of his "happy" times, and that the things that stuck most firmly in his mind were the times when he had to struggle. Tama New Town Church began with a meeting at which a Mr. Mitchell from NASA had come to visit Japan and to talk about Christianity. Mr. Corwin made up a poster and tried to rent a public hall for a meeting at which Mr. Mitchell was to speak, but was turned down because a religious meeting could not be held in a public hall.
He changed the poster to one that invited people to hear a talk about NASA, which was all right, and the meeting was held. At the end of the meeting, a request was made for someone to open their home so that the Bible could be discussed since it could not be done in a public hall. Someone volunteered, and that was the beginning of the church.
Jesus had many struggles in His life, and if we are to be imitators of Christ, we should expect to share in His sufferings as well as His joys. We are to rejoice in difficulties. This seems paradoxical, but is the foundation of Christian life.
Matthew 26:26-30 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body." Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom." When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Jesus sang a hymn of praise to God, and then went out to be arrested and crucified. How can we think that we can avoid suffering? If we do not suffer and struggle in prayer over beloved souls who will? In Japan we often hear the word "muzukashii" which means difficult, which actually means "impossible." But Christians should never be afraid of what is "muzukashii," or of failure, defeat, sickness or death. We are all being changed into the image of Christ, and are becoming more beautiful every time we meet.
On the road to Emmaus, (Luke 24:13+) Jesus met two of His followers who were fleeing Jerusalem, which had become a place of sorrow. They were running away, but Jesus came to meet them where they were and explained to them the meaning of all that had happened. Jesus comes to meet us in our places of pain, too.
Mr. Corwin recalled another difficult time when he worked in church planting. To advertise a meeting in the town, he pulled a heavy "rear car" loaded with public address equipment and the heavy battery to run it, calling out, "Come unto me, all that labor and are heavy laden..." He said that it must have been a comical scene. No one came to his meetings, and he was ready to give up on the town as "difficult", but was told by another pastor that he should not quit what he started. He was told that God had people in that town and that he was to find them and teach them the Bible. The problem was not with the town, but with the missionary.
Two or three people began coming to the meetings. One was a doctor's wife, and another was a older man who worked at a Buddhist cemetery. They both asked to be baptized, but Mr. Corwin told the doctor's wife that she had to get rid of the "kamidana" Shinto shrine in her home, and he told the cemetery worker that he would have to cut his ties with Buddhism and ask God to find him another job. Both went away mad mumbling about how this guy "just doesn't understand Japanese culture!"
Mr. Corwin left the place and moved on to other areas, and the church grew! (He hoped that his departure had nothing to do with it.) The doctor's wife got rid of her shrine and donated land for a church building, and the other man saved his money for a Christian cemetery.
When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Thanks for coming!!
