Hangin' with the Christoffersens

Wow, I thought Heidebrecht was loooooonnnngggg!!! Spent the last couple days with a sweet couple, Mark & Ayako, who originally met at my own little Itayanagi International Chapel. Did some baby store shopping with 'em and they fixed me up some very tasty quesadillas sabrosas and gave me the leftovers!! Mark was a JET in Nakasato (in the same programme as me) some 8 years ago and Ayako grew up around here...but they are now living in the DC area. We enjoyed bouncing around old and new stories of this place and seeing how God is working in each of our lives. Of course the highlight of the room was always Luke くん!! What a cutie pie...with cheeks like mochi ^_^!!

It was also my first time to see an all out Japanese altar for ancestors. Akayo's parents carry on the Japanese tradition and religion of Buddhism and Shinto. I'm sorry I don't know all the proper names nor do I really want to learn...but it was astonishing to see the amount of preparation that goes on each day just in order to keep the altar or ancestors...should I say...at peace??? Not sure how to phrase it. It was a bit overwhelming with so much detailed, delicate goldwork and lacquer. It makes me reflect on how we give respect to our dead without worshipping them....and how our own American customs at a funeral and afterwards at the cemetary could be seen to an outsider with no knowledge of Christianity as something like this Buddhist or Shinto ritual.

The Buddhist Altar

The Shinto Altar

The great grandparents on Ayako's father's side.

Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? .....
Are we trying to arouse the Lord's jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

(1 Corinthians 19-22)