“Honoring Jesus, the Carpenter-King” (Mark 6:1-6)

↓Audio link to the sermon: (1st worship service recording) (If you can’t listen on your iPhone, please update your iOS) Honoring Jesus, the Carpenter-King Is there a shop you visit very often, one where you’ve become familiar with the shopkeeper’s face and they also know you? Well, imagine if one day, the shopkeeper suddenly told you that they are the Emperor of Japan. How would you respond? Then perhaps you can relate to the feelings of the people in today’s story, in Mark chapter 6. [Read Mark 6:1-4] [Jesus] went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to

How Do We Purify Our Hearts （Matthew 15:15-20) _Missionary Kyoungho Park

　↓Audio link to the sermon:(1st worship recording) (If you can’t listen on your iPhone, please update your iOS) Let me begin by asking a question. Is Japan a Shinto country or a Buddhist country? The answer is both. Japan is not only a country of Shintoism, but also a country of Buddhism. Interestingly enough, Shintoism and Buddhism coexist in Japan peacefully and harmoniously. When we go to the mountains, we usually can find Buddhist temples there. When we go to the forest, we usually can find Shinto shrines there, too. In particular, Shintoism is the indigenous religion of Japan. Shintoism is rooted into shamanism. Shintoism does not have a founder

“It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (Lamentations 3:26)

　↓Audio link to the sermon:(1st worship recording) (If you can’t listen on your iPhone, please update your iOS) Today’s message will center on Lamentations chapter 3, verses 25 and 26. It says, “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” First, let me briefly introduce the book of Lamentations. It is a song of prophet Jeremiah’s sorrow as he laments over the destruction of Jerusalem. Jeremiah is often called the Weeping Prophet. We can imagine his despair and discouragement as he witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem, the beloved city

“Jesus Saves Us from Shame and Bestows Us with Honor” (Mark 5)

[An audio recording of this sermon will be uploaded after the worship service.] As we continue reading the Gospel of Mark, I want to talk about how Jesus saves us from shame and bestows us with honor. The ideas of honor and shame run deeply in many cultures. Let me give an example in Japan. For a few years, a hot topic in Japanese media was the story of Princess Mako’s engagement to a commoner. The young man was scrutinized from all angles. Was he worthy of marrying a member of the Imperial family? Many people opposed this marriage because the young man’s mother had an unresolved financial dispute. This

Necktie of Righteousness_by OMF missionary Levi Booth

　↓Audio link to the sermon:(1st worship recording) (If you can’t listen on your iPhone, please update your iOS) 2023 is well under way. I wonder what kind of year you have waiting for you. I am planning to get married in the summer so for me that’s the main thing on my mind. It’s very exciting of course, but at the same time I do have a bad memory from a wedding in Japan. If I show you photos from the wedding, maybe you can work out what happened. You see there’s one thing wrong about me. Can you spot it? Something about the way I’m dressed that makes me