Agape Ministry

The foreigner population at church has been studying the Gospel of Mark since the beginning of September. In our study each week, we read through one chapter eight times and reflect on that day's reading using the lens of a different question, e.g., Where did Jesus go?, What did Jesus do?, What did Jesus see?, etc. Along with independent reading and small group discussion each week, we also have a discipleship challenge to correlate with something from that week's reading that was particularly noteworthy. For this week's challenge, my discipleship group decided that we would help with the Agape Ministry at church.

Once a month, some members of my church join with some members of the Catholic church to serve curry and a short Bible message to the homeless of the city. I don't know why the homeless in the city are homeless, since Japanese families typically live multi-generationally under one roof. And I don't know the ministry's long-term goal regarding the homeless of the city. But I'm very glad that my group decided that we wanted to help with the short-term goal of meeting physical needs this week. It was rather awkward, since I can't speak Japanese, to work alongside strangers (especially when it came time to introduce ourselves and I was the first non-Catholic in the serving line to do so and didn't know how to say anything other than my name, which none of them had been saying!). And when I reflect on the fact that Jesus not only gave food to the hungry but actually ate with them, I feel that my curry-dishing skills weren't enough. But after living here for almost six months, I've come to expect that I will have numerous awkward encounters and that I won't be able to do what I'd like to do as a result of the communication barrier. Regardless, partnering with members of the Catholic church, when there often is still religious tension between Catholics and Protestants in the U.S., in order to show love in the name of Jesus, was a wonderful experience. I hope to be able to be involved in this ministry on a regular basis.

Until next time...