Something Lent

 The season of Lent is almost upon us (see what I did there?).

Lent has always occupied an odd corner of my existence.  As a family growing up Episcopalian and then Lutheran, Lent was not something we ever talked a great deal about or did anything for.  It was mostly a church related activity:  the hangings changed, the altar cloths changed, the service excluded certain portions.   I knew of Shrove Tuesday (because we always went to the pancake breakfast) and Ash Wednesday (which we occasionally went to).  It was only later in high school and after college that more of Lent came into view, fueled partially by my friendship with Uisdean Ruadh (a very strong Catholic) and partially by reading more about the history of Lent.

There have been years when I "gave up" certain things for Lent (sugar is the one that regularly made its appearance, although other things have appeared from time to time, like social media or some activity).  There have also been times when I tried to "add" something as a practice - here prayer or reading a particular work.

Interestingly, I do not know that either version particularly changed or improved my Lenten experience.

One of the better ones I remember is reading John Chapters 13-19 weekly.  There are seven chapters (which, conveniently, fit into a week's worth of reading) and it covers from the Last Supper to the Crucifixion of Christ.  It certainly fit well into the somber tone of Lent, reading of Christ's last hours.

I have not fully decided what I am doing this year for Lent - likely a combination of giving some things up and doing some other things.  What is not certain in either category, other than it has to be something that is a noticeable change to my life.

A general question:  How do you observe Lent?

A Year Of Kindness (VII): Kind Like Christ

Today's writing is bit more than just kindness per se; it is based on last week's sermon (but contains kindness, so I am giving myself credit).

The basis of the sermon was Romans 8: 26-30:  

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  And he who searches the heart knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.  And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that he might be the firstborn of many brothers.  And those whom He predestined He also called, and those whom He also called He also justified, and those whom He justified He also glorified." (ESV)

The point of the sermon was simply how do we pray when the world drops out from under us, when we do the metaphysical equivalent of collapsing on the couch in front of God, when things have gone so wrong or badly that we simply do not know what or how to pray.

The initial point - as listed above - is simply in those moments, the Holy Spirit prays for us in groanings.  I do not know what that really means - maybe no-one does - but I do have a mental picture from a description of John Nelson Hyde, a late 19th and early 20th century missionary to India known as "Praying Hyde" due to frequency and intensity of his prayers.  It is said he would pray for hours at at time, kneeling, silently, occasionally breaking into loud cries of simply "Oh Lord!", then bowing down and praying more.

What is The Spirit praying for?  Ultimately, our conforming to the image of the Son.  Because, deep down, what we really desire to be is like Christ.

---

This thought floored me.  Is that really the deepest desire of my heart?

The Jesus we read of in Scripture - not always the Jesus preached, sadly - is a model that anyone, even non-believers, consider worthy of emulation (thus the "I like Jesus but not His followers" that one sometimes hears).  He is loving.  He is compassionate.  He is kind (thus, giving myself credit for today).  He is direct. He has a message of hope.  He is strong when He must be.  He confronts evil.  

And it hit me, sitting there at the back of the church taking notes:   That is exactly what I want to be.

And that is what God wants too:  to conform us to the image of His Son.  The kindness of Christ, the compassion of Christ, the love of Christ.

When the Sprit groans then, He groans to God for us to have God's will in our life.  Which is not always what we want, but is always in the service of conforming us to His Son.

---

If being like Christ is the deepest desire of my heart - and likely it is, even if I do not always see that our admit that - what does that practically mean for me?

One thing, of course, is simply realizing and admitting that it is a thing.  To paraphrase one of C.S. Lewis phrases, "And sort of a biggish thing at that".

The second, of course, is that we become that which we study and think on.  So if I not reading and studying enough on Christ, I ought to fix that as well.

The third is asking the question regularly "Am I becoming more like Christ?"  Am I becoming more loving, more compassionate, more kind (this year's project), more humble, more serving?  That is what Christ - which Paul has the unashamed comparison of calling "Our Older Brother" - was like.  It was what drew men and women to him.

Am I being kind like Christ?

Observations On The Far Abroad (Japan Edition)

The difficulty with traveling abroad, even for a bit longer of a period of time, is that making comparisons between your home culture and the place you are visiting is difficult.  Especially on tours, your time there is never enough and your visits are fairly managed such that one can end up in a bubble of tourists in a foreign culture.  Meals are very often with other tour groups.  Tour groups flock to the same locations for viewing.

The short hybrid experience I have in Japan is not quite that - for example, we are not in a tourist bubble and we take more local transportation and are exposed to more local things.  And there is a gentleman's agreement amongst ourselves that, at least for that time, the "Real World" will not intrude,  Still, being in a more local neighborhood, going in stores not specifically aimed at tourists and dining a bit more locally, one has the opportunity to at least note some differences or at least things that seem noticeably different.  Here are a few observations:

1)  Trash:  Japan, as is reported by almost everyone that goes, is clean. The litter that we have become used to as part of life in urban/semi-urban/rural America simply does not exist.  Yes, the odd piece of trash makes its appearance in a train station, but there is simply no comparison.

Interesting subpoint:  There are no public trash receptacles either.  Not even in some semi-public facilities.  People simply take their trash with them.  We learn to do it when we are there. 

The contrast of largely trash free and no public trash cans may seem to be an odd disconnect; I think it reflects on how Japanese culture emphasizes the responsibility of the individual to the larger culture.  

2)  Virtue Signaling: There was none that I could see anywhere.  That does not mean there was none going on - after all, I am a foreigner with the vaguest grasp of the Japanese language and Kanji.  But no business told me anything about anything they believed, other than the products that they offered.  The only "virtue signaling" - if you want to call it that - was a kamidana, the small Shino Shrines one sees in businesses.

3)  Quiet:  We spent somewhere between 45 minutes and 60 minutes on trains almost every day. Beyond just the fact that trains are always clean and almost always in better shape (maintenance and cleanliness) than my local mass transit, there is almost no conversation on the trains, and certainly no public phone calls. People just sit or stand silently, looking down at phones or books or with earpods in listening.  Even in the crush of a couple of rush hour trains, there is almost no conversation.  It is as if everyone is in their own little private shell, which can get compacted down to their body size - but remains intact.

4)  Tips: There are none in Japan.  What you are charged is what you pay, and there is none of that awkward "There is going to be a screen coming up in a moment..." nonsense.  That said, in all my trips to Japan (7 as an adult) I have never, ever had bad service.

A Brief History of Haiku (IV)

 What is a haiku?  

Two concepts that William Scott Wilson suggests underlie the nature of haiku are concepts from Zen Buddhism, which arrived in Japan in the 12th century A.D.  The first is "No depending on words or letters", the idea being "...not only the fewer words the better in true communication, but less of any physical material in any art would bring the mind into closer contact with the true spiritual or psychological intent of that art".  The second is "Directly pointing to the mind of man, which Wilson suggests "...meant getting away from wordiness and the "over-think" in general, relying more on intuition and practice than reasoning, and general emphasis on, again, simplicity and frankness."

So what is haiku?

Wilson states it well:

"Haiku is the poetry of simplicity and frankness, an almost wordless verse - the sound of an unstrung zither, in the parlance of Zen - that resolves the seeming paradox of Confucius' necessity of the knowledge of words, and Zen Buddhism's non-reliance on words and letters.  Haiku encapsulates the mundane and the ordinary, finding in them significance rather than meaning....to quote the Japanese philosopher Nishida Kitaro "A pure experience", noting  "A truly pure experience has no meaning whatsoever.  It is simply a present consciousness of facts as they are."

This pure experience is the essence of haiku.  There is (very rarely) any judgement of the experience because if there were, it would become one of meaning rather than experience."

Or, as also quoted by Wilson and  provided by the late 19th century haiku poet Masaoka Shiki, was shasei, or "describing a living situation not unlike a photograph."

The idea of a photograph resonates with me: the concept that a photograph freezes a moment in time without necessarily any explanation of the photograph inherently existing. It just is, a visual spot in the time stream captured for us to see them as they are.

Think back to the haiku last week from Matsuo Basho:

古池や蛙飛び込む水の音

furu ike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto

Old pond,

frog leaps in,

water's sound.

If I close my eyes, I can see this scene perfectly: I have seen it 100 times walking along a creek edge or a pond. A frog leaping in is an unremarkable event, likely something we pass over looking at something else on our walk.  I can see it in my mind if I let myself drift for a minute.

A moment.  A point in time of images with sounds and smells, now frozen.  

A verbal photograph.

This is haiku.

Sources cited:

Wilson, William Scott.  A Beginner's Guide to Japanese Haiku:  Tuttle Publishing, New York:  2022.

A Year Of Haiku (VI): Surprise

 

Not seeing the rain,

I did not anticipate 

the sky that followed.

2026 Japan: Lunches

 Due to our overall change in venue, lunch became a rather variable meal spanning the gamut from day to day.

Below are the the results of a combi-ni (Convenience Store Run).  Cost was about $6.00.

Meiji Black Chocolate.  I have no idea if it is available here, but it is a treat when I go.

Even though we do not have the same lobby, I can still get my beloved energy drinks.  Cost is 140 Y or about $1.

One of the venues had an included lunch:  Bento box, rice, soup, and some sides.

"Indonesian Rice" from a cafe next to one of the training facilities. Not sure what makes ground chicken and a soft boiled egg Indonesian, but it was pretty good.

Protein bar and Milky Tea.  Lunch of champions.  As a side note, 30 grams of protein in a bar is pretty impressive.

Lunch from our day at the Kobudo Kyokai Taikai:  Bun and a Schwepps. 700 Yen, or $4.5.

(The Schwepps was melon flavoured.  I do not recommend.)

One bun was not enough.

Ehomaki, a sort of fat sushi roll.  Procured from the grocery store beneath our hotel. Made fresh daily.  Again, about $4.50.

Fish and rice.  A little over 800 Yen, or $5./

Another day of a set meal.

Late lunch from our tourist day:

Early snack lunch at the Meiji Shrine:  Coffee latte and a spinach/cheese pastry.

The chaser, a Bento box.  Again, cost was about $5 (not including the hot Vitamin C drink seen below, which was another $1).

Bottom line:  You can eat very in Tokyo, a major metropolitan area, for a pretty reasonable fee if you are willing to eat like a resident, not a tourist.

2026 Japan: Breakfasts

 (Author's note: I have made the executive decision to write on Japan before heading back to Cambodia, mostly because it is fresh on my mind).

Due to the change in venues from a single location for the bulk of our training to various locations in Tokyo with a home base in Shinagawa, meals are definitely different this year for training - worthy, I think, of some individual posts.

Breakfast at our new location is at the same place almost every day - partially because it is conveniently located in the hotel lobby, partially because the price (800 Yen, or $5.10) really just cannot be beat.

Reliably - every morning - one gets salad, two kinds of croissants, a protein source, and a scoop of potato salad with a slice of fruit or vegetable.  Also available are soup, coffee, yogurt (one per customer), hot tea, kale juice, a sort of orange juice, and a selection of smaller baked goods.

The greatest variety, interestingly, were in the protein sources and the potato salad.  Protein sources could include a small chicken nugget, a small cooked egg, and/or a meat (ham, tuna salad, small hot dog).

The potato salad was also variable.  It included "regular" potato salad, potato salad with corn, and potato salad with Japanese pumpkin (a sort of squash).

The smaller baked goods varied from day to day as well.  They included a chocolate croissant, a curry bear claw (not as odd as it sounds), a strawberry croissant, and a sort of yellow slightly sweet muffin.

And, of course, all the coffee you can drink.

A very delightful start to the morning and a very reasonable one.  I cannot imagine getting the same variety of meal anywhere in the United States at this price (and keep in mind we are in the greater Tokyo region, the most populated part of Japan).