Forgive my lack of humility but I felt good about this one. It is something I have been wanting to say for years. It is so short because we had Communion that day.
“All the Flowers in God’s Swamp”
Revelation 7
Richard M. Wright
Church of the Nations
4th Sunday of Easter
April 25, 2010
Japan is a swamp?
But let us be honest. If Japan is a swamp – as Professor Yanaibara writes in his introduction to Silence by Shusaku Endo – so is China and Korea and India and Kenya Liberia and Ghana England Canada and Mexico so is every nation of the world including the United States.
So is Louisiana.
And this is not a bad thing. Challenging. Difficult sometimes. But not bad. Indeed it is a very beautiful thing which we celebrate and which brings glory to God.
As we see in our Bible reading from the book of Revelation chapter seven.
After this I [John – the writer] looked and there before me is a great multitude that no one can count from every nation tribe people and language standing before the throne [the throne of God] and in front of the Lamb [who is Jesus]. They are wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. And they cry out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belong to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb’.
Where do I start?
My understanding of the Christian faith and of the Christian church and its relationship to the different nations cultures and peoples of the world has been shaped partly by the writings of Shusaku Endo. For one of my classes in graduate school our professor asked us to read the novel Silence and write a short paper about it. It moved me so much that I read two more books by Endo and wrote about them as well.
One of the main issues that Endo writes about is the relationship between the Christian faith and Japanese culture. But what Endo writes is also true for the relationship between the Christian faith and every culture. In the novel Silence the translator Inoue says Japan is a swamp. The flower of the Christian faith cannot grow in this swamp. And if it does grow in this swamp it will change into something different.
Brothers and sisters I say to you that every nation of the world is a swamp. And this is a very beautiful thing.
Our Bible reading presents us with a vision. A vision of the people of God who stand before the throne of God. And this great crowd that the Lamb who is Christ purchased for God with his blood that no one can count comes from every nation every tribe people and language. They are not all the same. Yes they are one people of God who belong to God in and through and because of Christ. But they still have their distinct ethnic cultural linguistic and national identities.
When we become followers of Jesus Christ the Son of God when we become members of the Christian church which is the body of Christ we do not we must not give up who we are. The purpose of Church of the Nations is not to turn everyone into Americans who think and pray and worship and study the Bible only in English. Be Kenyan. Be Ghanaian. Be Japanese. Be Chinese. Be Korean. Be American. When the flower of the Christian faith grows in the swamp(?) of our different languages nations and cultures it will grow and look and smell a little different. And this is exactly what God wants.
Stephen Freeman is a pastor in Tennessee. He writes that when we translate the Bible into different languages sometimes we discover new meanings when words in the original languages (Hebrew and Aramaic and Greek) clothe themselves in the flesh of the new language. The book of John in the beginning was the word the logos the dao and the dao was with God and the dao was God.
Clark Carlton is a professor of philosophy at Tennessee Tech University. He speaks of the need to form local churches that reflect the local people and their culture. So a Christian church in Japan will reflect the local Japanese people and their culture. In China will reflect the local Chinese people and their culture. Indeed we can take this a step further. In Guangzhou will reflect the local Guanghzou citizens and their culture. In Louisiana will reflect the local Louisiana people and their culture. And so on.
When the Russian Orthodox missionary Innocent of Alaska brought the Christian faith to the native peoples of Alaska he did not try to make them Russian. He became fluent in six of their languages. He translated the Bible and other Christian writings so that the native Alaskan peoples could study the Bible pray and worship in their own languages. Build churches and fill them with artwork that reflect their own cultural traditions. He worked hard to encourage and train native Alaskans to become pastors and teachers and other leaders in their own churches.
So not only what Church of the Nations shares with people of different nations languages and cultures. But also what people of different nations languages and cultures share with each other including Americans.
Japan is a swamp. So is every nation of the world. So is Louisiana. So is Church of the Nations. This is a very beautiful thing.
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