From the Desk of Reverend Mark-March

Dear Centenarians,


In our office two weeks ago, a phone call came in from a person who wanted to make a donation towards Japan earthquake relief, in light of a recent series of earthquakes that have happened there again.
When I invited her to two-year memorial event for the “3.11” Japan earthquake and tsunami which was taking place here in Little Tokyo that coming weekend, she responded that she lived in Pennsylvania! Natu-rally I was piqued at this, as well as thankful for her offering that I ex-plained would go to U.M.C.O.R., our denominational relief agency.

She went on to explain that there were other churches in her area that had collected Japan earthquake relief funds two years ago, but that none of them were Japanese American churches. This, she felt, was an important consideration as to where she would make her donation (she herself is not “J.A.”). After searching the web for such a church she found Centenary, liked what she saw and read, and thus made her decision to route her donation through our church at that time and sought to do so again.

The church of Jesus Christ is a “universal church” in that it is expressed through many different languages, cultures and ethnicities. Yet, within this universalism are the “particulars” of various languages, cultures and ethnicities that give congregations a unique quality and richness that adds to the whole entity.

The apostle Paul addressed this special characteristic of Christ’s church in his eloquent description of the church as “one body having many members.” (I Corinthians 12) While the members have different functions and roles to play, they contribute to one whole, one body, while retaining their unique qualities. All of the members are unique, and yet, they complement each other by being a part of one body.

I am thankful for this woman’s call, as it reinforced the unique spiritual and cultural heritages on which this church was founded. While we are always open to the leading of the Holy Spirit and to the new persons among us, let us not forsake or forget the richness that we contribute to the body of Jesus Christ as his Church.

Grace & Peace,

Rev. Mark M. Nakagawa