Vol.XIX #1

September 2007

NSKK NEWSLETTER
日本聖公会管区事務所だより
NIPPON SEI KO KAI Provincial Office

Editor : E. Hajime Suzuki

65 Yarai-cho, Shinjuku-ku,

Tel. +81-3-5228-3171

Tokyo 162-0805 JAPANFax +81-3-5228-3175

New Hymn Book was published: “The Hymnal of Nippon Sei Ko Kai”
The Rt. Revd. Toshiaki Mori
Chairperson of the Committee ofRevision of Hymn BookNSKK has published a new Hymn Book, “The Hymnal of Nippon Sei Ko Kai” in November 2006.
For 47 years from 1959 to the present, NSKK has used “Hymns New and Old”, and now we havebeen given a new Hymn Book “The Hymnal of Nippon Sei Ko Kai”, which includes 590 hymns
and 77 liturgical chants.
The proposal of revision of the conventional Hymn Book was first resolved by the NSKK General
Synod in 1994. For 12 years since then, the members of the Committee of Revision of the Hymn
Book have taken a leading role in the necessary revision of “Hymns Old and New” with greateffort. During this period, the members of the Committee have repeatedly met and discussed how
to revise the conventional Hymn Book, and after consecutive efforts and work, “The Hymnal of
Nippon Sei Ko Kai” was finally completed in November 2006.
The major characteristics of this new version are:(1) Colloquial language is used as much as possible.
Literary style of verses, which was used in “Hymns Old and New”, has now been changed tocurrent colloquial language as much as possible.
(2) Emphasis is placed on vivid rhythm.
We sing hymns with vivid rhythm, thanking and praising God, by whom we are redeemed
and given strength to live.
(3) Sing out the love of God as well as of our neighbour.
Throughout the Hymn Book, we sing out clearly that together we exist to love God as well as
our neighbour, as Jesus taught us “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all yoursoul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. Love your neighbour as you loveyourself”. (Luke:10.22)(4) Sing together the relationship between God and “We, Christians”.
It is emphasized that the church is a community of “God’s people”. Included in the Hymnal
are hymns which emphasize the relationship between God and “We, Christians”.
(5) Adopting contemporary expressions.

Antiquated words are replaced by daily used words as much as possible. Also, placing
importance on human rights, certain expressions which might imply discrimination against
the disabled have been avoided.
(6) Praise the God’s Creation.
As human beings are presently destroying the God’s Creation, the earth, it is our duty torestore the earth as it originally was: “God looked at everything he had made, and he was very
pleased” (Genesis 1.31). There are hymns in which we praise the God’s Creation andacknowledge the importance of restoring the earth as God had made.
(7) Asian hymns are included.
In the past, hymns were mostly taken from the American and European verses translated intoJapanese. As Nippon Sei Ko Kai is a member of the Asian community, hymns which
originated from the Asian countries are included. Included also are hymns which wereoriginally written and composed by the Japanese members of NSKK.
It is generally required that whenever hymns are edited and/or published, persons concerned
should have respective theological knowledge. Each member of the Committee has seriously
considered “What does Mission mean?” or “How to interpret the Mission?” They have been
engaged on the task of revising the Hymn Book with painstaking efforts and wisdom for 12 longyears, and eventually the new “Hymnal of NSKK” has been completed. Every member of theNSKK church has now used the new Hymnal Book with sincere thanks for the effort made by themembers of the Committee and attainment of the goal.

Hiroshima International Conference for Peace---Helping Hands of Compassion from Hiroshima--The Rt. Revd. Andrew Yutaka Nakamura
Bishop of Kobe DioceseWe held The International Peace Conference from November 1st to 2nd, 2006 inviting three
Novel Peace Prize recipients to Hiroshima. The purpose of this conference was to devote prayers
for peace.
The three Nobel Peace Prize recipients were The Rt. Revd. Desmond Tutu, The Dalai Lama, 14thhead of a Buddhist sect, and Ms. Betty Williams. The aim of the conference was to gather together
all Christians, Buddhists and Muslims without religious restrictions and to work to resolve theproblems occurring all over the world, including war and conflicts, poverty and starvation and all
diseases. All participants were devoted to finding solutions to these problems. The conference
was held at the Peace Memorial Chapel in a Roman Catholic Church.
The Rt. Revd. Tutu appealed in the Prayer for Peace as follows;“Is there any difference among the tear of a yellow-skinned mother who lost her child for somereason and is stunned, or a white-skinned mother whose beloved child was victimised in theNorthern Ireland Conflict, or a black-skinned mother whose child died because of HIV AIDS
which has spread in Africa or because of poverty?
“If the skin colour is different, is the depth of a mother’s sorrow different? It would be the sametear of sorrow as a human created equally by God. At the same time, the tear is God’s sorrow for
the sins of human beings.
“However, why should we have the prejudice or discrimination against skin colour or differencesof region or environment? To eradicate all these human thoughts is the first step to the WorldPeace.” This created a deep compassion in the more than 1,000 participants.

Prayers were offered by Shomyo chanting of Tibet Buddhist head Temple priests, Gregorian
Chants by high school students of Notre Dame Pure Heart school and Buddhist Praise by Jodo
Shinshu choir. All prayers were wished for peace. Muslims joined in the Prayer Chain fromoutside of the chapel.
Ms. Betty Williams had encountered the unexpected deaths of three children during the Northern
Ireland Conflict. That made her stand up and take action to save children left in extremely
miserable conditions. A mother who lost her child as a result of the Conflict in Belfast, Ireland
told Ms. Williams that “I was much better than being a mother of a wrongdoer, because I don’tknow how much a mother of wrongdoer has to suffer from a violent action of her son.”
The Rt. Revd. Tutu had struggled for the abolition of racial prejudice. After the abolition wasenacted, he was installed as the Chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission toachieve reconciliation between Black and White. Rt. Revd. Tutu talked about Hibakushas inHiroshima. “When the atomic bomb was dropped 61 years ago, thousands of people were killed
and many others are still suffering. But in the midst of these sufferings Hibakusha and theirfamilies have looked with forgiveness toward their enemy, the perpetrator. Their attitude of‘forgiveness rather than retaliation’ would be the most valuable in actualization of Peace.
“People in Hiroshima experienced suffering that makes them worthy as good neighbors as Christ
has done for us. They could carry a heavy load together and endure with people all over the world,even though their sufferings are various.
“I wish the people in Hiroshima could extend their helping hands with compassion to those introuble with difficulties.” Rt. Revd. Tutu appealed to the audience.
Wherever we were born, in any place in the world, whoever our parents are and whatever ourcircumstance, all these are the will of God our Creator. The diversity of religion would be thesame, as well as these differences.
However, the awareness of human dignity and mutual respect is the great key needed to practicetrue Peace in the world. That was what we learned from Hiroshima International Conference forPeace 2006.

An Encounter with former patients from the National Leprosy
Sanatorium--- Enlightening Activities on the Subjects of Leprosy, Hansen’s Disease --The Revd. John Makoto Matsuura
Kita-Kanto Diocese
From August 25 to 27, 2006, we held a Workshop named “The New Way For Communication
With the Leprosy Sanatorium” at Sei Nagusamenushi Kyokai (The Church of Holy Lord ofConsolation) of Nippon Sei Ko Kai which has been established within National Leprosy
Sanatorium; Kuryu Rakusen-en. The workshop was held to increase understanding regarding theproblems of leprosy in Nippon Sei Ko Kai.
We invited two speakers. The first speaker was Revd. Kunio Ohta, a patient at the National
Sanatorium Kikuchi Keihuen and an officer of the autonomous group organized by former
patients. He also serves as a Deacon of Nippon Sei Ko Kai. The other speaker was Mr. Sanshiro
Fujita, a patient at Kuryu Rakusen-en Sanatorium serving as a president of an autonomous group
and a member of the Church of the Holy Comforter. 15 people who are responsible for humanrights in the dioceses of Kita- Kanto, Tokyo, Yokohama, Chubu and Kyushu also attended at theworkshop.

Through many years of hard experiences at the sanatorium, Revd. Ohta related the conflicts andtorture he experienced. He told us the truth he gained through those experiences. He said thatdiscrimination or prejudice was based on one’s own consciousness welled within the bottom ofone’s heart and was one’s own theme for life. He told us that was the subject given by God to man
kind on “how to live one’s life”. Certainly, discrimination was not the subject of others but one’sown and enlightening others meant not only to give knowledge but also to communicate withothers.
Mr. Fujita spoke as an officer of a former patients’ autonomous group. He related the facts in thehistory of the sanatorium stating that former patients wanted to live and be treated as humanbeings. He referred to the fact that churches did not respond to their circumstances and did notgive enough understanding to the history of their daily lives. He asked us to apologize for ournegligence of the facts in their history and to reflect that we were equally human. Also hesuggested to develop future programmes for former patients in the sanatoriums.
Through two presentations we learned many facts which we had not heard before. At the sametime, as Christians we were asked to recognize how to grasp the wisdom of former leprosypatients as a subject of our own and also as a theme for our own lives.
On the second day, we experienced a field trip within Rakusen-en. We walked around Kusatsu
Yunosawa district where the former patients suffered by severe discrimination in the midst of amodern society. We were introduced to the medical and social activities of Miss Cornwall Lee
who devoted half her life to the former patients from the Taisho-era (1912-1925) to the first partof the Showa-era (1926-1988) and also learned of the activities of the Mission of St. Barnabas. Onthe third day, we summarized the whole programme of the workshop and attended a joint worshipservice sponsored by the Gumma Mission district.
Through this workshop we became aware of the truth behind the leprosy sanatorium and at thesame time we could truly listen to the cries of the former patients wrung out from the bottom of
their hearts.
We, Nippon Sei Ko Kai are deeply repentant for the fact we were not the best co-workers becauseof our misunderstanding of their unique churches as exclusive organizations surrounded by highwalls.
The continuance of the leprosy sanatorium is said to be nearing its end as the former patients age
and pass away. At this stage we have to reflect on what is the best and the most appropriate way toconnect with the sanatorium. In addition, we have to construct the future framework for mission
activities with the sanatorium and of the church based on the reflections to the past.

Members of the English Version of NSKK Newsletter, Autumn 2007 are: as follows:
Ms. Kazuko Takeda, Ms. Toshiko Yoshimura, Ms. Yasuko Date.
Editor-in-Chief: Hajime Suzuki