Good Friday, 2008

MARCH 21, 2008

Good Friday

Dear Friends,

This is a day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!
この日は主が造られたわれらは喜びましょう！

This is just a reminder to you all that today is Good Friday, and that this Sunday is Easter Sunday, the most important Christian festival of the year. As we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, and all the deep symbolism that the story of Easter has, let us strive to understand the meaning of Good Friday and Easter, and reflect on how our understanding of these momentous events can make us better (kinder, caring, more loving and forgiving, etc.) persons.

On Sunday at the various wedding venues, please be sure to wish all the seikatai, staff, couples, and guests a Happy Easter!

Also, I would like to invite you to our Easter prayer service, which will be held on Sunday at the KKR Hotel from 6pm and Wednesday, March 26th from 4pm at the NPO Houjin Mirai’s residence in Kyoto. After the prayer service on Wednesday, from about 5:30 pm we will go to a nearby restaurant for dinner. You are cordially invited to join us as your schedule allows.

Please let me know if you can come, and I will send you more details.

Below is a passage from Psalms 118 that I thought relevant for this occasion:

Psalms: 118

1 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever!

2 Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”

3 Let the house of Aaron say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”

4 Let those who fear the Lord say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”

5 Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.

6 With the Lord on my side I do not fear. What can mortals do to me?

7 The Lord is on my side to help me; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.

8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in mortals.

9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.

10 All nations surrounded me; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!

11 They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!

12 They surrounded me like bees; they blazed like a fire of thorns; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!

13 I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me.

14 The Lord is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.

15 There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the Lord does valiantly;

16 the right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.”

17 I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord.

18 The Lord has punished me severely, but he did not give me over to death.

19 Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.

20 This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.

21 I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.

22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

23 This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.

24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

25 Save us, we beseech you, O Lord! O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!

26 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord.

27 The Lord is God, and he has given us light. Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar.

28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God, I will extol you.

29 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love.

Happy Easter!! Because HE lives, we can face tomorrow!

Daniel