Title: Thank You
Contents
I grew up in a conservative church with a mother's faith, so it became a habit to pray, read the Bible, and take holy holy water on Sundays. However, although I memorized Bible verses and hymns well, I have few memories of talking about God or Jesus to others because I did not have any special experiences or realizations. He comforted himself by saying that setting an example through life is better than evangelizing with words. But the problem is that no one can be moved by looking at my life. Common sense is a person who cannot and cannot stand in this place. Nevertheless, as the church regulations have to take a new path as a lay church, it is said that the debt owed over the past 14 years must be repaid. It is a very difficult experience for me, but I think it is a process of faith training. When no one can help me, I only ask for the help of the Holy Spirit, and thank you for being close to the Word.
When I was in college, I had a friend who worked hard for medical service together. At that time, I prayed as a representative during worship and thought that he was a Christian. After a long time I met him, and he got married and became a devout Buddhist. He was still gentle, humble and peaceful. On the other hand, there are cases where a friend who grew up in a Buddhist family from an early age and was zealous in a Buddhist club even in college is now a very active Christian and is preaching Jesus well. Beyond Christianity and Buddhism, I sometimes think that God is telling people how to live and the value of life. If you go really deep, you will come to the realization that they are the same.
But in my case, I can enjoy joy and peace in my heart through faith in confessing Jesus as my Savior. I believe that when the soul in the body is at peace, even after taking off the clothes of this body, we can meet God with a beautiful soul. The words of Mother Teresa come to mind when I see my Buddhist friend who has found true peace. He said that we must help Hindus become better Hindus, Muslims become better Muslims, and Catholics become better Catholics. This is a good statement of his religious tolerance. I thought it was more meaningful because he served the pagans with the power of such deep faith in him. How would you feel if you said something like that without any faith?
I think there are three dimensions to gratitude. The first is gratitude for yourself and your family, the closest you feel. Gratitude felt by this selfish interest, if you dig a little deeper, you will find that it is necessarily accompanied by suffering and sacrifice elsewhere. It is easy to thank our child for passing college, but knowing that there is a child who is chewing on the pain of failure because of that child is also embarrassing. It's easy to be grateful that we live comfortably, but it's just shameful to think that beyond that, the nature we need to live with is destroyed and there are workers suffering from minimum wage.
If we expand it a bit, we can think of gratitude for society and country to the next level. This can be proud of in terms of self-sacrifice and dedication to society and the country. However, if patriotism is only for one's own country, suffering and sacrifice of other countries will follow. As can be seen from the international interest these days, it is difficult to thank the Islamic fundamentalists and the American response to it, if, on the other hand, they are based on the hatred of their people, they are all right.
I think it is thanks to God's will that we have sublimated one step further. No one really knows where God's will is. So, when we suffer personally, or when we experience social sacrifice and national misery, we are prone to resentment. However, we believe that God's deep and high providence, and its will, has its own meaning, and we obey and follow it. It must be the Christian duty to give thanks for God's will that cannot be judged beyond our limits.
Our gratitude to God is not gratitude for what we have received or expectations for what He will give us in the future, but infinite gratitude for finding the will of God and directing our lives on the path to follow Jesus Christ. because of. It must be because there is a miracle where thorough service and self-sacrifice are converted into joy and gratitude. I think the church community will become a living church when it gives such genuine thanks.
We are here now because Jesus came to this earth 2,000 years ago and revealed God's love to Gentiles beyond all races. Jesus taught us to change our lives [repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 4:17)] and demonstrated service and sharing in God's kingdom movement. I think that we can live a life of true gratitude through Jesus, who walked that path with humility and poverty despite hardship. Many theologians are concerned that they have made Christ an idol, but because Jesus gives us strength with the Spirit of life and love, if we follow Jesus with a humble and humble life without doctrine or system as in the early church, Christ will be ours and our I believe that it can be good news again in the church.
I want our church to be an open church that goes beyond doctrine as an ecumenical denomination, but more importantly, I want to be a church open to the voice of God, that is, the Holy Spirit. Like the apostles of the early church, we want to show the beautiful image of a community that rejoices in the midst of persecution, a Christian filled with the Holy Spirit who follows the teachings of Jesus. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. Although our church respects other religions, we are convinced that we can love and serve all people when we have deep communion with God as followers of Jesus, when our faith is deep and certain, transcends religious and racial boundaries do.
I hope that our church will be open to worship, table fellowship, and service just like the church in Antioch, where people of various cultural backgrounds gathered together to form a community of faith when the Apostle Paul was working. When each individual becomes a true disciple of Jesus, our community will be able to handle the work of the kingdom of God. At our women's church, we read through the Bible for 3 years and trained ourselves like a lay community without a leader. It was also an effort to hold onto the Word and prayer in our lives. As we shared and prayed about the words we read for the week and what we felt and applied to our lives, without realizing it, we found peace in our hearts and gained the strength to serve. You can feel the power of prayer in the images of the sisters who serve with gratitude even in the midst of difficulties.
It is thought that the power that draws the community increases when the relationship between the individual and God is clear. How can you gain strength by going to church once a week? Each of us should be able to enjoy joy and freedom in the field of life. I love that when I come to church, I can feel the vitality of the hardworking brothers and sisters. When I see brothers and sisters who always pray and serve for the church, I can feel that God is using them as tools.
Mother Teresa, who practiced a life of true gratitude, said that her secret was very simple, that is to pray.
Prayer is simply talking to God.
He speaks to us, and we listen.
When we talk to God, He listens.
It happens in two ways: speaking and listening.
Prayer is like that.
Both hear, both speak.
If you truly desire to pray, keep silent.
God's energy from silence
It is also our energy to do everything well.'
I want to remember the saying.