今日はハワイより中村裕二先生、智恵子さんをお迎えして特別賛美礼拝がもたれました。
先生は５年前に大腸癌の手術を受けましたが、その後、インフェクションが度々起き、その他の事情もあり、計１２回の手術を受けるという、私達には想像できない大変なところを通られました。
しかしながら、その中で神様から曲が与えられ、この度は礼拝で賛美を導いてくださいました。奥様であられる智恵子さんは三曲の歌を歌ってくださり、五年の間、先生を支えてこられた智恵子さんの歌に心が震えました。これからも先生ご夫妻を通して主の御名が崇められますようにとお祈りしています。
本日、礼拝でお話した「英語礼拝メッセージ原稿」はこちら（通訳デビューをしてくださったシーラさん、ありがとう！）。本日の礼拝プログラムはこちらから。映像は今、調節準備中です。
マック
July 13, 2013
The Wind of the Holy Spirit
We have times of joy and thanks. And we have times where we seek God in great desperation. Is it when great winds blow and everything seems to have blown away? Or when we are hurt? Or when our hearts are blown away? Or when our lives go down unexpected paths?
“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” John 3:8. Today, we will be talking about the winds of the Holy Spirit and how the wind blows wherever it pleases.
From the phrase, “the wind blows as it pleases”, many of us think of the unreliable winds that blow into our lives, making unexpected changes that we ourselves cannot control. But when I hear the phrase “the wind blows as it pleases”, the story, “if the wind blows, the washbasin store makes a lot of money” comes into my mind.
the wind blows →dust blows in to people’s eyes→ more people lose their sight→ the demand for shamisen instruments increase→ more cats are necessary to make shamisens→ mice increase→ the mice chew through the wash basin→ the washbasin store makes more money, a Japanese proverb describing how unexpected events can bring about an effect in an unexpected way.
Is the wind such an uncertain thing, blowing as it pleases, no one knowing where it comes from or where it goes..? The bible verse does state,”You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going”. That it is the wind’s nature, but are the winds from God uncertain in such a way?
In my twenties I was able to make my debut in music, which I loved. It was surely a time of smooth sailing in my life. I married the beautiful woman I loved, and also had a child. In that time of my life, I was not faced by any adverse winds, but by winds that would change the direction of my life.
As you would know, not everything in my life was smooth. Many things happened, and Chieko started attending church, she and I became Christians and wondrously, I began to walk the path of becoming a pastor. This was my thirties. A strong wind had changed the direction in which we walked.
The church we started with 4 others in Tokyo grew, and our ministry in music was going well. Then another great wind blew into our lives in my forties, bringing us to preach Japanese sermons in America. Up until this point, the winds that brought changes in my life were pleasant and exciting.
But there were times when I wanted to pack my bags and fly back to Japan. 10 years passed and just as I became determined to would work hard again, I was diagnosed with rectal cancer in 2008 and the treatment began. The size of this wind was incomparable to any of the others. Like a storm, this was not going to end easily.
The treatment had been scheduled to be half a year, but ended up being a year consisting of 10 surgeries and more than 100 days of hospitalization. Two years later, infections held me back from returning to my pastoral work. This went on for three years.
This wind did eventually pass, but through the many surgeries and hospitalizations, there were times I thought that this would be the end. Many times I was blown down by the wind when I tried to get back up. But when my body, my spirit, and everything else seemed to be blown down, I saw the light of my soul, Jesus Christ. I was able to experience that God is with me.
It was October of 2009, when my body was weakest, with my biggest surgery before me. In the cold hospital room with an IV needle in both my left and right hands, and lines and tubes connected to my body, I could not move, I was bound to my bed. Even with the lights on, the hospital room was as dark as night, as if I were alone in the darkness of space.
It was as if my body and my spirit/soul/heart were hung on a cross. The great winds were tossing me around, blowing away everything from my grasp, even my very life was about to be blown out. When I thought I had nothing in myself, that is when I felt a light.
I heard God’s words echo “I am”, “I am here”. I strongly felt God’s presence, and was wrapped in warmth. It was wondrous to me that the greatest blessing, that God is with us, goes beyond the fact of living and dying. And it is because God is with me that nothing else mattered. He would take care of me.
The great wind that had blown into my life 5 years ago was a great obstacle to my body, but was a wind of blessing to my soul. The wind that blows as it pleases is the wind of the Holy Spirit. The wind of the Holy Spirit blows according to God’s will and plan. The wind is uncertain to me because I do not know where it comes from or where it will go, but the wind of the Holy Spirit is a blessing from God, hand of salvation to give me new life.
As I experienced pain, I was given 12 new original songs of praise. Even during/ in the midst of the fight against my illness, CDs and songbooks were produced. Because everything was taken from my hands, I learned of the blessing of God’s presence.
Last year in June, 3 years after my first surgery, most of the tissues causing the infections in my stomach were removed and my life was saved. And this past May a seemingly impossible hole from my bladder to my rectum was discovered.
An open stomach surgery could not be done because of the dangers it posed, but fortunately because the hole connected to the rectum, the infection could easily be removed. the hole in my bladder could not be closed and it is a bit heartrending that I must live my life wearing diapers at this age, but it is a blessing that there have been no cancer recurrences and I am as healthy as I am, able to worship and praise the Lord here today.
There are many winds in life. But the wind of the Holy Spirit, the wind of God’s will directs us to God’s grace. Let us face the wind of the Holy Spirit and soar up in to the sky in praise. May the wind of the Holy Spirit blow upon us now and may God’s will move us. Amen
Translate by Shirah Vogt
