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*St. Paul International Lutheran Church Pentecost July , 2007**

Pastor's Corner

    Freedom in Christ! The Apostle Paul's "Letter to the Galatians" is called "the Magna Charta of Christian liberty." In 5:1, Paul writes, "For freedom Christ has set us free."
    In his "Treatise on Christian Liberty" (as I remember it), Martin Luther wrote, "The Christian is the free lord of all, subject to none; at the same time he (or she) is the servant of all, subject to all." This phrase reflects both the meaning of and the challenge of Christ setting us free.
    We can be "free from" many things: from debt, from illness, from responsibility. But we are also "free for" or free to do many things: to be financially responsible, to choose to live a healthy life style, to grow and become responsible persons. We are free to forgive and serve others in need; we are free to repent and begin again; we are free to grow and become compassionate people.
    "The key to living freedom is to not turn it into chaos by focusing on just our own desires. If Christ is the one who has set us free, then Christ is the centrifugal center from which our lives flow out. In other words, true freedom is grounded in Christ. This means that we will live with Christ as our center, that we will live in a Christ-like way.
    And in Galatians, Paul calls us to live in a Christ-like way. Like a tree that bears good fruit, our lives are to bear the fruit of Christ. In 5:22 Paul writes that the fruit we are to bear, the fruit of the Spirit is,

Welcome our Newest Members

This year's celebration of Pentecost, May 27th, was a very special day at St. Pauls! With prayer and special music (in three languages!) we celebrated this day of "red" to honor the Holy Spirit in a big way.

It is with delight and thanksgiving for God's many blessings that we recognize these friends as our newest members of the St. Paul congregation: Patricia A.; Yo F.; John G.; Carl, Sandy, Shannon, and Stacie S.; Roger Y.;

and Phil and Ryoko (in abstentia) H. Congratulations! We welcome you into our church family and give praise to our Lord for your life of faith, witness and service here in Japan. Photos by Yoshi N.

Wednesday Night Bible Study

In the months ahead (with a short summer break in August) be sure to join us any or every(!) Wednesday at 7:00pm, in the church office, for an in depth study of Paul's Letter to the Galatians, often called "the magna carta of Christian freedom." Pastor Phil leads us in this time of prayer, discussion and study. We look forward to seeing you. And bring a friend. We have lots of Bibles.

"love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." We are free to seek to produce these qualities of Christ and the Holy Spirit in our lives. Society puts restrictions on our lives so that there will be social order and not chaos, destruction and violence. But these restrictions, public laws, are always the minimum requirements for human behavior. The followers of Christ are set free in the love and forgiveness of Christ. We are free to live responsible, charitable and compassionate, Christ-like lives. I thank God for freedom in Christ as the source of my energy as I continue to grow as a person. Society puts restrictions on our lives so that there will be social order and not chaos, destruction and violence. But these restrictions, public laws, are always the minimum requirements for human behavior. The followers of Christ are set free in the love and forgiveness of Christ. We are free to live responsible, charitable and compassionate, Christ-like lives. I thank God for freedom in Christ as the source of my energy as I continue to grow as a person.
Pax, Pastor Phil Hausknecht, Rev. Ph.D. page 1 of 4

From our President

Dear Friends in Christ,
    Greetings to you all in the name of our Risen Lord!
    In our continuing efforts to move our congregation toward a more stable future, in early June the Church Council met again with Rev. Ando of the NRK and Rev. Tokuhiro of the JELC. With their words of encouragement and thoughtful advice, these dedicated leaders of the Lutheran presence here in Japan, reiterated their support and inspired us in our ministry. We are truly thankful for their help.
    And at this meeting, our Church Council proudly introduced our new interim pastor to these leaders. We were eager to share with them news of all that Pastor Phil has done for us in the short time he has been with our congregation. Within a few days of arrival, Pastor Phil had already set his office hours at Monday through Thursday, 11 to 4. By the end of May, he had met or greeted just about everyone in the NRK building, had attended a Tokyo Ecumenical Inter-Faith Council meeting, and had phoned or met with many of our members, other pastors, missionaries and leaders in various related organizations in town (with many of these conversations in Japanese). And this was just the start!
    This past month of June, Pastor Phil has been busy finding ways to enrich our worship time, talked with the Sunday School teachers about ideas to expand our Christian Education opportunities, participated in Kid's Day activates in cooperation with Pastor Saito of the NRK Center Church and the VYM teachers, worked on improving our Outreach efforts and has started a mid-week Bible Study. It is a delight for our congregation to have been blessed with such an enthusiastic supporter of our ministry!
    And through it all, Pastor Phil has been helping the Church Council to focus more intently on the growth and ongoing ministry of the congregation. He has challenged us "to think and feel from the perspective of the persons who are not yet involved in St. Paul's. How do such new people see the congregation? What is attractive about the congregation that will draw the interest and participation of new people? What are the priorities for growth? Is the congregation open to new ideas and methodologies that people bring when they come from elsewhere?"
    Pastor Phil reminded us that "The gospel of Christ always calls us to change, and grow. The questions to be answered are the directions of change, how they will happen and who will lead.... the council needs to hold a vision for a direction that brings vitality in faith and discipleship as we grow into the future....I pray and hope that we all can work together on these concepts; that we will hear the Spirit calling us from tomorrow; that we will continually pray to become one in Christ. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German Lutheran pastor who opposed Hitler during WW II and who was imprisoned and executed in May, 1945 just before the war with Germany ended, said: 'When Christ calls, he bids us come and die' - die to our selfishness and our unwillingness to change from the comfortable and easy ruts our lives have gotten into, to be reborn to new life in Christ.......So there is much to be done and I pray that we will all pray that we can enjoy running with Jesus to get much accomplished. I look forward to an exciting journey of facing all kinds of challenges together."
                       We do, too!!
                                 Marcia K, council president

Agenda for Prayer

    In our daily lives, we often have complaints about everything: things go against our desires; disappointments happen from having too high expectations; disagreeable situations abound. We start to grumble. And soon our grumbling becomes a habit. Our complaining escalates; then, before we know it, we soon start to blame others for all of our problems.
    Look at the Israelites on the way to Mt. Sinai in the story from Exodus of the Old Testament. First, the Israelites complained about water. Then they complained about food. And then, they blamed Moses for all of their problems..
    Of course, Moses turned to God in prayer. He directly presented the people's complaints to God. And God listened and provided for all their needs.
    Sometimes we find ourselves in difficult situations for some particular reasons, yet this is exactly the time when God expects us to consult directly out of our honesty. He expects us to be honest with our feelings. And this is the time we should bring our complaints, our worries, openly to our Father. Because He loves us. (Prayer Thought From Sumiko)

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St. Paul International
Lutheran Church

Tokyo Lutheran Center Building 1-2-32 Fujimi, Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo, JAPAN 102-0071

Phone : 03-3261-3740
E-mail :
Homepage :

http://www2.gol.com/users/alleluia
InkLink Editor : Marcia K.
InkLink Production/Design :

*        *        *        *        *
Sunday Worship
9:30 am  Holy Communion
10:40 am  Fellowship Time
11:10 am  Sunday School and Adult Forum
Wednesday Bible Study
7:00pm  Pastor H's office
*        *        *        *        *

Church season: Pentecost
Colors: Green
July/August Rotation:
During July, we will have Fellowship time and Christian Education classes every Sunday. Pastor H. will return to the US for a short time in August, so Christian Education time will not be held. Fellowship, however, will be ongoing! A weekly schedule of both will begin again in September.

Bake-Off a Welcome Celebration

On Sunday, May 13th, the lounge was rockin' as St. Paul's once again held its annual Mother's Day Bake-off, where the mom's (and all the ladies!) are the guests of honor and the men (all the men!) provide the treats. This year the treats were again both the creative home baked and the commercial kinds and the prizes .... all useful for future cooking adventures in the kitchen. Preparations for next year? Yummm. Gotta' hand it to the fellowship committee; these folks are always thinking ahead!

The awards given out this year were:
"Mother�fs Choice Award" to Chris H. for his home-made Rye Bread
"Best Presentation Award"to Eugene Y. for his Sunny Chocolate Sunflower Cake

"Best Adaptation of a Local Recipe Award" to Yoshi N. for that Satsuma-Age Fish Dish
"Best Spirit Award" to Roger Y. for that Loaf Cake Selection
"Most Mysterious Flavor Award" Takashi I. for his Twisty Marshmallow Rainbow Salad
"Best Snack Attack Remedy Award" to Carl S. for his Berry Good Brownies

"Julia Child Look-alike Dining Award" to Yo F. for that Marguerita Pizza
"All-around Homemaker Award" to Henitsoa R. for his Malagasy Salted Cake
"Heavenly Taste Award" to Andre R. for his Malagasy Fruit Salad
"Good Job Award" to David S. for that Turtle Senbei
"Healthy Choice Award" to Ron F. for that Asparagus Salad Creation

What a delightful time we had! Thanks, guys! All the treats and goodies added to the "Welcome, Pastor Phil" that took place at the same time. Thanks to your efforts, it really was a day of celebration!

News and Notes from Here and There:

Recent visits from former members included Tomoko & Staffan H.; Clifford & Tomoko H.; and Gene & Janet W. who are now grandparents times two over, with daughter Jenna's new baby and daughter Lisa's due this fall. This year, Gene and Janet celebrate 30 years in Japan, many of those as members of St. Paul. We heard also that Pat R. is back in Bend, OR, teaching and will spend part of the summer on mission work with LAMP (Lutheran Association of Missionaries and Pilots ) in Canada.
And we were thrilled to have Pastor's wife, Mrs. H, here with us for

a few weeks in early June! Several Sundays a number of her former high school classmates came to worship with us also. It was a fun, busy, exciting time!
In our InkLink inbox we recently found this note from our former intern, Mark B., now pastor of Ascension Lutheran Church, Albert Lea, MN. He writes, "Dear Friends St. Paul, Thanks for the news you share by way of the InkLink online. Congratulations and blessings as you welcome Pastor H. I rejoice with you and join prayers of thanksgiving with yours, for the Lord's faithful leading of your fellowship in the Gospel. May the partnership you share with your new interim pastor be a blessing to you all." page 3 of 4

Thank You!!!

The summer holidays are upon us and many of our members are traveling here in Japan and abroad. We pray for your safe travels and fun times! At the same time, we say a special THANK YOU to the many dedicated volunteers who are often doing "double-duty" during these busy holiday months! Because of your faithfulness to our congregation and its mission, we can continue as always without missing a beat! God has richly blessed us with your service!
Thanks to Worship Assistants: Nancy, Takashi, and Ron; Readers: Kris, Shannon, Martha, Nancy, and Takashi ; Altar Guild members: Sumiko (who also made the beautiful new banner for the stairwell!), Nozomi, and Yasuko; Acolytes: Mia and Marina; Special Musicians: Andre, Henitsoa, Nomena, Marina and Thierry; Fellowship/Refreshments helpers: Sandy and Carl, Takashi, Yoshi, Nancy, Martha, Phil, John, and all the others who bring special treats to share or help with clean-up; Sunday School teachers: Amy, Hisae, Midori, Marcia, and Erika; Adult Forum leaders: Ron and Phil; Ushers: Yo, Yoshi, Yuichiro and Marina; Stewardship Administrators (Offering counters, Record keepers): Yuichiro, Shuko, Yo, and Yoshi;

Summertime........

Invite your family and friends to join us for worship this summer. In the quiet of the season, we can meditate on God's word. Did you know? When we capitalize "Word" it refers to the living Word who is Jesus the Christ, and more than just the written word. Thus, in worship we gather around both the "word" (written word) and the "Word" (Jesus the Christ).

Website and Newsletter workers: Marcia, Erika, Nancy, and Phil.
And a very special thank you to those who helped to make the recent Kid's Day another fun, delightful special event: VYM'ers Amy and Nick, and Katrina, Hisae, Midori, Mayumi, Toshie, and Pastors Saito and Phil.

Thierry, Marina, Andre, Nomena, and Henitsoa.
Merci pour votre musique!

........and then some

    Shortly after a business executive retired, someone asked him what had been the secret of his success. He chuckled softly, and then said that it could be summarized in three words: "and then some."
    He explained that he had learned early in his career that the top people in any group were those who did what was expected of them ... and then some.
    Such people worked diligently, efficiently, faithfully ... and then some. They were thoughtful and kind to others ... and then some. They were reliable friends who could be counted on ... and then some. If an emergency came, they tried to do their share to deal with it ... and then some. In short, they were more than ordinary people, they tried to be extraordinary.
    That is precisely what Jesus expected and still expects of his followers. When he was teaching his friends about loving and serving others (see Matthew 5:43-48), he included these words, "What more are you doing than others?"(v. 47, NRSV). (from NewsletterNewsletter, content 07/06)

* * Mission Statement * *
St. Paul International Lutheran Church brings together people of diverse backgrounds who are deepening and sharing their Christian faith through English language worship, fellowship, education, and community outreach.
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St. Paul International Lutheran Church July , 2007