Do you attend worship while you are on vacation? Honestly, I would have never thought about doing this before we moved to Tokyo. Vacations are usually full of activities, guilty pleasures, and rest. Worship just never made my list of "vacation activities."
Almost every Sunday at Tokyo Lutheran Church, we have visitors on vacation come through our doors. We love visitors. As an international congregation, they often connect us to our own countries. They bring opportunities to speak our native languages and share similar experiences. They give us a chance to share our current city and culture. We give travel advice and take them to unknown locations. It's a reminder of God's global church.
This summer we took some time off to go visit family. While we were home we had the opportunity to visit several congregations. Nozomi and I worshiped at Messiah Lutheran Church, in Galva, Illinois. This was a great chance to visit one of our new sponsors. While we were in Wisconsin, we all drove down to Green Bay, where Erik preached at Calvary Lutheran Church and Nozomi and I made an early morning visit to Grace Lutheran Church. It was great to reconnect with old friends and co-workers. It was wonderful to sing in 4-part harmony with a large congregation.
We also had the joy of taking Erik's 91-year-old Grandmother Betty to her church, Shepherd of the Bay in Door County, Wisconsin. Nozomi sat quietly for an hour and half next to her great grandmother. (Nozomi had so much fun with the busy bag, she asked to go to church the next day). While we were there, we met another couple and their toddler from Tokyo that were also visiting their Grandmother. We also bumped into two ELCA missionaries that serve in Hong Kong. After a short conversation we learned that the husband serves at Sekino Sensei's advisor at the Seminary in Hong Kong. What a small lovely world!
When we visit other churches on vacation we are reminded that we are really one church. It's moving to sit with strangers on Sunday and sing the same liturgy. It's powerful to know that around the world Christians are saying the same words together: asking for forgiveness, praying for each other, building community, hearing words God's grace, mercy, and love that give us hope for a better world.
