GIVING TO GOD
 For the next four weeks, our congregation's ministry is going to be focused on Stewardship with the theme of "Giving to God". As an overall effort, the Church Council has several things planned for our month of thanksgiving. Each Sunday, one member of the congregation has been asked to share during the worship service a message of personal growth in giving. On Sunday, the 25th, we will be having our annual Day of Thanksgiving Luncheon where together we can celebrate and rejoice in the friendships we have in our congregational life. During these weeks also, Pastor Phil, myself, and Mr. Yagi, our congregation's treasurer, will meet together to prepare a mailing that will be sent out to all members. Along with a letter of explanation and financial information in this mailing, we will include a Time and Talent sheet and a Pledge card. Our month-long time of study and discussion, prayer and commitment will culminate on Pledge Sunday, December 16, with our offerings and pledges being brought forward and placed on the altar -- Giving to God.
Each month, we send our newsletter via email notice to our friends abroad. In response, several former members have asked me how they can contribute to continued support of St. Paul's ministry. We are blessed! If you would like to send us a US check, you can make it out to "Friends of St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church" (that's the old name of the congregation that's still on the 501(c)(3) account!) and post it in care of Mr. Yagi, St. Paul Int'l Lutheran Church, 1-2-3 Fujimi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 102-0071, JAPAN. Our Yen accounts are in the Mitsubishi Tokyo UFJ Bank, Jinbocho Branch, under our katakana name Sentoporu Luteru Kyoukai #1253004.
Thank you for your generous gifts and most of all, thank you for your ever faithful and prayerful support!
Marcia K., Council President (stpaul_tokyo65@yahoo.com)
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Agenda for Prayer
 This month we focus our hearts and minds on the membership of our congregation. It is with joy in the Lord's continued blessings that we welcomed recently into our church family new members Irene H., Kanako S., and Larry W. Let us give thanks that the Lord has brought these friends to us and pray that He continues to strengthen them and us through worship, study, and fellowship together. In our prayers this month, let us also remember our volunteers, giving thanks for their dedication and praying for renewed strength, support, and enthusiasm. In prayerful praise, let us remember our organists and musicians as they enrich our worship experience with their talents. Please pray for our Church Council members that they may continue to lead our congregation with wisdom and faith.  Pray also for Pastor Phil as he preaches and teaches the scriptures in worship and study, and as he works throughout the week for our congregation's ministry here in our building and in the greater community. And finally, pray for our children that they may be brought closer to God through their Gospel Time on Sunday morning with Pastor Phil and in their Sunday School classes each week. May the congregation of St. Paul International Lutheran Church grow and become an even greater blessing to the Lord's work here in Tokyo.
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 From our President
Dear Friends in Christ,
Greetings to you in this month of blessing and thanksgiving.
As you may have guessed, I will be giving one of the Sunday morning Temple Talks, sharing a message of personal growth in giving. My assignment tomorrow is to present the congregation with the question, "What does it mean to be a faithful steward?"
Since Erika tells me my letters in the newsletter are often too long(!), I will try to highlight some points I thought relevant while reading the chapter entitled, "An _Expression of Faith" from the book, Giving to God, by Pastor Mark Allen Powell. To start, I found that "stewards are people who live in a place that they do not own, making full use of (but also taking care of) things that do not belong to them." A basic understanding of stewardship for a Christian then is "we live in this world as stewards of God, entrusted with caring for all that God so generously allows us to use." In his stewardship parables, "Jesus indicates that a fundamental problem with humans is that they don't realize God is only letting them use what still belongs to God." The author further writes that "God has entrusted Christians with the precious gift of the gospel."
By this time in my reading, I was starting to feel uncomfortable; I was starting to think 'what a great responsibility.' But then the author writes "the biblical teaching about stewardship is good news, for the recognition that we are only stewards and not owners is actually quite liberating -- especially when we realize who the real owner is! Here, then, is a basic principle of biblical stewardship: everything we are and everything we have belongs to God. The Sunday offering is presented at the altar with the following prayer: 'We offer with joy and thanksgiving what you have first given us -- ourselves, our time and our possessions...'"
The author goes on to say that "stewardship is really just a matter of putting such faith ('All that we have is thine alone,') into action, figuring out what it means to believe this, in down-to-earth, practical terms, and then living accordingly. Stewardship is an _expression of faith that moves from creed to practice, from merely claiming to believe something to living out that belief in real and obvious ways." And that's really the bottom line, isn't it. Literally, putting actions to our words.
In the final pages of the chapter, the author digs deeper into how our stewardship puts into practice our faith in God as our Creator, our Redeemer, and our Sustainer. It is the last one of these three that stands out for me. God as our Sustainer. So many places in the Bible we are taught that "God sustains us in our weakness, and strengthens us when we are weary." In both my private life and in my leadership efforts here at St. Pauls this has been true for me.
The Apostle Paul writes, "I can do all things through him who strengthens me," (Philippians 4:13) In the Wednesday night bible study with Pastor Phil we have just finished studying Philippians. In it, from prison Paul is writing to the church members back in Philippi. And he shares with them a secret.... "I have learned to be content with whatever I have." (Philippians 4:11-12) What an amazing statement!
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Rev. Allen agrees and says it best when he writes at the end of the chapter, "This sounds so simple, and yet it can be so difficult. And I'm not sure which is harder--being content when one has little or being content when one has plenty. Both are hard; in fact, both may be impossible apart from the secret Paul knew. What he knew was that God was in charge. He knew that everything he had belonged to God. He knew that he himself belonged to God, that he was precious to God, and that the God who valued him so dearly was in charge of his life. And he knew that God would provide for him and sustain him, sometimes with little, sometimes with plenty, but always with whatever was the right amount for him to have the life God wanted him to have."
When I finished reading this chapter, I asked myself, 'now what does this mean for my life?' Living in a non-Christian culture all these years has certainly been a challenge to my faith at times. The beliefs and cultural understandings that were fundamental to me growing up in a Swedish-Lutheran home in the US, often don't "translate" as I go about my daily life here in Japan. You can believe me when I say nothing starts a heated discussion at home faster than the words "charitable giving"! And yet, as difficult as life can be here at times, I can truly say that I am content. Why? Because I too believe the secret that Paul shares. I am content because I know that it is my faith in God as my Sustainer that allows me to practice stewardship in my life and in my participation here at St. Pauls.
Rev. Allen agrees and says it best when he writes at the end of the chapter, "This sounds so simple, and yet it can be so difficult. And I'm not sure which is harder--being content when one has little or being content when one has plenty. Both are hard; in fact, both may be impossible apart from the secret Paul knew. What he knew was that God was in charge. He knew that everything he had belonged to God. He knew that he himself belonged to God, that he was precious to God, and that the God who valued him so dearly was in charge of his life. And he knew that God would provide for him and sustain him, sometimes with little, sometimes with plenty, but always with whatever was the right amount for him to have the life God wanted him to have."
To this end, I take a final passage from the chapter on stewardship as an _expression of faith for both myself and for how I think our congregation should be -- "Believing in God as Sustainer means believing that we are sustained--that we have a God who strengthens us and provides for us and that we can trust this God to take good care of us. The implications of this belief for stewardship are simple but obvious: we are free to use our resources (our time, our talents, and our treasures) in ways that are pleasing to God without worrying about our own needs. We offer to God what God has first given us and we know that God will continue to provide for us and to teach us the secret of being content."
With joy and thanksgiving for all the Lord has given,
Marcia K, council president
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Events Happening in Tokyo ..........
Looking ahead to the holidays, The Japan International Volunteer Center will hold its 19th Tokyo Benefit Concert featuring a "Christmas Oratorio and Christmas Carols" on December 9th, from 3pm in the Hitomi Memorial Hall of Showa Women's University. You can talk to Pastor Phil for more information.
Friday, December 14th from 6:30PM, there will be a Wine and Cheese Party at the JELA Mission Center in Ebisu (Map). Admission is ¥2,000 (tickets and same-day purchase). You can enjoy several different wines along with cheese and other snacks. Proceeds will benefit JELA's work with children around the world.
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The Church Year
Something new is about to begin. Our church follows the liturgical year, which consists of 'seasons' dealing primarily with key events in the life of Christ.
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Christian Symbols
 Holly is a popular decoration at Christmastime, not just for its beauty but also for its religious significance. Holly's thorny leaves and red berries symbolize Jesus' Passion and blood, reminding us of the fate awaiting the Christ child. According to old Christian legends, holly first sprang up under Christ's footsteps, and his cross was made from the wood of holly.
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Looking ahead to Christmas.....
* Sunday, Dec. 16th, Pledge Sunday events with special Christmas Party Fellowship
* Monday, Dec. 24th, 4:30pm, Holy Communion Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
* Tuesday, Dec. 25th, 10;30am, Holy Communion Christmas Day Service of Celebration
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Sometimes called "The Church Year," the year begins annually with Advent which starts four Sundays before Christmas. This year, Advent, which means "coming" (in reference to the coming of Christ), begins on December 2nd. So, something new, "the new liturgical year "is about to begin.
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Christmas roots
It comes from two words - Christ and mass, or Christ-mass.
Christ is derived from the Greek word Christos, which means anointed, and refers to the long awaited Messiah whom the Jews believed would be a divine, imperial king who would rule the world. This person turned out to be the only perfect Son of God, the anointed of the Lord.
The word mass, in the religious sense, means to send or dismiss. It has been used for centuries by much of the church to designate worship or the celebration of worship.
Therefore, the word Christmas indicates the worship of the Lord's Anointed One, or the celebration of the Lord's Anointed.
Watchful waiting
Advent is meant to be a time of watchful waiting. Waiting for Christ to come, waiting for Christ to be born within us, waiting for Christ to take over ourselves to the degree that we become more like the master: loving, serving, sharing, blessing. Imagine having the light of Christ shining through us more fully, more completely.
Imagine becoming what St. Paul prayed that the people of the Philippian Church might become: "... that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God." (Philippians 1:9-11, rsv).
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* * 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.page 6 of 6
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Every Sunday in our Service of Holy Communion we receive an offering. This offering is an act of worship of God. Our offerings return to God a portion, a percentage - in the Old Testament up to a tithe or ten percent - of what God has given us. And we worship Jesus the Christ who gave one hundred percent for us. We receive forgiving love and salvation through God in Christ's gift of pure grace. Our giving God plus a giving gospel should equal St. Paul International Lutheran Church, Tokyo, becoming a giving congregation.
The church office computer system is in need of an upgrade. The Church Council has determined that it is appropriate to proceed toward obtaining a new computer, with updated software. However, this expense is not in our current budget. If you would like to assist, with computer purchase information or a contribution toward a new computer - estimated costs up to ¥100,000 - we would welcome your gift above and beyond your regular offering. So far, gifts of ¥12,000 have been received. For questions or to share information, please see Marcia K., Council President.
