"This is what dance can do!"
"I'm sitting in a small café near the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, drinking a warm cup of coffee and reading through the book of Acts. I paused for a moment after reading Chapter 2 verses 1-20. This passage describes people of many tongues listening to a sermon -- and each hears the gospel in their own language! As I was reading this, I thought 'this is what dance can do!'
Last night over dinner (with Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, French, and American dancers) we struggled a bit to communicate, but it was such a beautiful reunion. It didn’t matter that I was 10-40 younger than everyone (and the only native English speaker). We knew each other through our dancing (which dwells outside the restrictions of language and is translated into our native languages as we watch). It really made me think. What an image of the unity that Christ can bring as all of these dancers gather to make art -- which proclaims the creativity of our God?
'And So I Dance for Forgiveness,' by Airi Suzuki, and my own work, 'The Four Seasons of the Soul,' were the only Christian works at the dance exchange. What a gift it was to collaborate and explore the meaning of life alongside these incredible dancers! I miss them already."
(Journal 4.17.24)
... Hello from Tokyo!
It's been just over a week since I left the United States, but I feel like I have been here for so much longer! And what a time it has been. Last year, I visited a Christian family in Fukuoka to perform with them (and to teach dance classes in their city). It was one of the hardest but most encouraging parts of my summer, and the reason I decided to return this year. I learned so much by spending time with this Japanese-Korean couple and their adorable kids.
I was struck by the fact that they had lived in this city for years without meeting another Christian. Their commitment to serving the Lord while living in (but not of) the world was incredibly inspiring. Their commitment is first to their family, and then to their neighbors and friends, and then to the world. The gospel flows out of their lives and into the lives of their kids and the emerging Fukuoka artist community.
This year, I returned to see the fruit of their labors, the Fukuoka Dance Exchange. This meeting of local and international artists in a week-long collaboration is paving the way for a greater arts community in Fukuoka -- but their family has a deeper goal in mind. They have been praying over starting a church in Fukuoka. This exchange brings many people together around artwork (some Christian, some not), encouraging conversations about human nature, forgiveness, futility, and the deeper meaning of life. They longed for a deeper community of Christians, but the Lord gave them a deeper community of artists. So, this is where they have begun!
I am heartbroken over their struggles but deeply moved by their love for the Lord - it overflows from their speech, art, and lives! I see the Lord at work in small ways. I believe this slow and steady work is gradually paving the way for His name to be proclaimed in Fukuoka.
I wanted to share this with you because short-term missionaries like myself often go with the expectation that they will see the fruit of their labor, and return home incredibly disappointed when this expectation is not met. Long-term missionaries often labor for many years without seeing someone become a Christian. Last summer was incredible - two of my best friends in/from Japan became Christians. However, the role of a missionary (as with any believer) is to live obediently in their calling before the Lord - never expecting to see the fruit of their labor, but knowing that our labor in the Lord is never in vain.
This summer, pray with me that we will look for the work of the Lord with expectant eyes while also waiting patiently with open hands as we lay the groundwork for other missionaries who will come after us.
"The Church's one foundation
is Jesus Christ, her Lord;
she is His new creation,
by water and the word.
From heav'n He came and sought her
to be His holy bride;
with His own blood He bought her,
and for her life He died...
The church shall never perish!
Her dear Lord to defend,
to guide, sustain, and cherish,
is with her to the end;
though there be those that hate her,
and false sons in her pale,
against the foe or traitor
she ever shall prevail."
Please pray for continued gospel conversations after this week with the artists.
Pray for Christian artists in Fukuoka, Nagoya, and Tokyo to have the boldness to proclaim the glory of Christ through our work, our conversations, and our lives.
Pray for this family to be encouraged, and have wisdom as they consider the next steps for their ministry.
Pray for a good review before the government so that this Fukuoka Dance Exchange can continue next year!
Praise the Lord for a wonderful first concert in Tokyo (more on that in my next newsletter).
Pray, more than anything, for the Lord to be first in our lives so that people might see and worship him!
For now, matane (またね)!
Joyfully,
Anna Gardner Herren
"He must increase, but I must decrease."
John 3:30
This is awesome! So proud of you, AG!!