December 22, 2006
New Years greetings from Tokyo to all our friends, family, and
supporting churches,
Dr. Wentzel van Huyssteen, a professor at Princeton Theological
Seminary, lectured at TUTS on the religious roots of consciousness.
We have had a very busy fall at Tokyo Union Theological Seminary
(TUTS). This fall we offered our seminarians a rich smorgasbord
of lectures on the intersection of theology with other disciplines.
In October, Wentzel van Huyssteen, a professor at Princeton Theological
Seminary, delivered a lecture on human origins and the roots of
religious consciousness. In November, Dr. Seiya Shirakata, former
superintendent of Yodogawa Christian Hospital (a hospital in Osaka
started by Presbyterian missionaries), spoke on Christian faith
and medicine, particularly neuroscience, his specialty. In early
December, Dr. Matsuo Fukaya, a legal scholar and an elder from
the United Church of Christ in Japan, spoke about the Christian
roots of basic human rights. These engaging lectures stimulated
our students to think beyond the boundaries of the theological
curriculum.
One of the benefits of living in a great, international city
like Tokyo is that many people want to visit. Whenever theologian
friends come this way, we ask them to stay with us and speak at
TUTS. We enjoyed our visit with Wentzel, our most recent guest.
In the past, we have had visits from other PTS professors, Kathy
Sakenfeld and Rick Osmer. Also, Gerhard Rau came from Heidelberg
University and Don Browning from the University of Chicago. These
are always enriching.
In April TUTS will welcome a new colleague in New Testament,
Dr. Mariko Yakiyama. She will be the first woman to serve as a
full-time professor in a Japanese seminary. Although the Japanese
church began to ordain women in the 1920s, years before the churches
in the United States, it has lagged behind in promoting women’s
full participation in theological education. As the percentage
of women seminarians grows, we rejoice at this appointment of
a woman to our faculty.
Seminarians from TUTS visit with the Hastings during Advent.
The number of students from Korea and China has also grown. These
students come to study theology in Japanese, usually as a preparation
for missionary service in Japan. Some of these foreign graduates
are now serving Japanese congregations, a trend that bodes well
for deepening mutual understanding in East Asia. One of Tom’s
Chinese students, Mr. K., hopes to go on to the United States
for doctoral study before returning to China to fulfill his dream
of establishing a Christian university in his native city in northeast
China.
Prison chaplaincy
This year during Advent, Tom had the opportunity to preach at
a number of Christmas services attended by over 3,000 Japanese
university and high school students. The services were held on
the campuses of Tohoku Gakuin University in Sendai and Toyo Eiwa
Women’s University and Meiji Gakuin High School near Tokyo.
His message focused on John the Baptist’s witness to the
light as a “voice of one crying out in the wilderness, Make
straight the way of the Lord.” (John 1:23). He also shared
about three foreign inmates who are witnesses to the light in
the darkness of Fuchu Prison where Tom is a chaplain for foreign
prisoners. Here is a brief excerpt from his message.
J, a prisoner from Africa with a seven-year term, has a serious
heart condition. But instead of speaking about this, each time
I visit he wants to share about his intimate times of prayer
and Bible reading. He has a profound sense of God’s presence
with him and seems to be bursting with joy and gratitude. R,
a Russian prisoner with a 13-year sentence, is a studious young
man. He devotes every minute of his daily personal time, between
six and nine PM, to studying English and Japanese, and he is
making incredible progress. In response to R’s request,
I use our 20 minutes together to speak about the history of
Christianity, and he listens with greater concentration than
some of my seminarians! S is a Belgian with a four-year term.
Every day he honestly writes down everything he thinks and feels
in a journal. He says that this discipline has freed him to
admit his own sinfulness and accept God’s love and forgiveness.
“Before I was arrested, I never looked at myself, what
I was doing, I was just living without thinking.” As a
way of encouraging young people, he hopes to publish these personal
journals when he is released in 2008.
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did
not overcome it” (John 1:5).
Family news
Our three older children are together for Christmas with Carol’s
mother in Cape May, New Jersey. Rose, 26, is working for her high
school alma mater, The American School in Japan, where Katie,
12, is a sixth grader. It is wonderful to have her close to us
again. Paul, 24, is working in the development office of the Japan
International Christian University Foundation office in New York
City where Rose had been previously. Sarah, 21, is a senior at
St. Olaf College in Minnesota, majoring in family studies and
psychology, with a minor in management. Carol is nearing completion
of her master’s in Christian education through PTS and will
teach an English conversation course at the TUTS in April. Our
newest family member is Sophie, a darling Cavalier King Charles
Spaniel who delights us all.
Thank you for your continued support of the international mission
of the PC(USA)!
With thanks and blessings,
Tom and Carol Hastings
The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 249 |
