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In Japan, Christmas celebrations seem to end on Christmas Day, but in the church calendar that day marks the beginning of a 12-day period called Christmastide. In the story of Jesus' birth in the 2nd chapter of the Gospel of Luke, shepherds taking care of sheep were told by an angel of Jesus' birth in the town of Bethlehem. Hurrying to that place they found the baby lying in a manger as the angel had said. On this day, following our celebration of that birth, let us recall the reactions of those noted in verses 20 to 22 of that chapter. First, "all who heard [the shepherds' story] were amazed". Today also, people are amazed when they hear about the lowly birth of "Christ the Lord". "The shepherds went back singing praises to God for all they had heard and seen". Today also, those who have been touched by the spirit of this season are filled with gladness and return to their daily tasks joyfully singing praises to God. But it is written that Jesus' mother, Mary, "thought deeply about" "all these things". This is the reaction of thoughtful people who seek to grasp the meaning of strange events and stories they do not immediately understand. I hope you will experience the joy of this season and also ponder its deep significance. -------It is my custom to play tennis on Monday mornings with a regular group of American friends. Usually we begin playing soon after we arrive at the court after hitting the ball across the net a few times to warm up. But when a Japanese player joins us, he or she usually spends a few minutes doing some calisthenics before beginning to play. Calisthenics are common in Japan before beginning various kinds of activities. This word comes from the Greek words kallos and sthenos, literally meaning "beautiful strength". It was thought that exercises which develop muscular tone make the body beautiful. The same Greek word for "beautiful" is seen in the English word "calligraphy", which literally means "beautiful writing". To write beautifully and to have a beautiful body are desirable, but it is more important to have a beautiful spirit within [ 1 Peter 3:3-4 ]. -------New York City, the largest city in the United States, is divided into five units called boroughs. Two of these boroughs are islands. The center of the city is located on Manhattan Island, but Staten Island is separated from the rest of the city by a bay. In fact, geographically, Staten Island is closer to New Jersey than to any other part of New York. In size, it is the third largest borough, but it has the smallest population and is the least urbanized. Many of the problems of Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn do not affect its mostly white, middle class residents. After years of feeling like they pay more in taxes than they get in services, Staten Islands voted by a 3-to-1 margin last month to become an independent city. Following that vote, to show that they were serious in their aim to secede, a squad of men wearing Civil War uniforms fired a cannon aimed at Manhattan. Before it can be incorporated as an independent city, however, approval of the governor and state legislature is required. If a new city is established, it would be the second largest in the state with about 380,000 residents. The Greek philosopher, Aristotle, wrote: "A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one" and "A very populous city can rarely, if ever, be well governed." -------Historians estimate that 1.5 million Koreans were forcibly brought to Japan as laborers before and during the war. Now about 700,000 Koreans live in Japan, most of whom are descendants of those who were compelled to come here. The majority of second and third-generation Korean residents cannot speak Korean and many of the younger ones are quite indifferent to Korean culture. At the same time, they are considered foreigners in this land of their birth. Consequently, they have no homeland of their own. To provide a kind of hometown, if not a homeland, for such residents, a group of businessmen in the city of Kawasaki, which has a comparatively large Korean population, has begun an effort to establish a Korea Town in that city. There are now 17 Korean restaurants in the area but the Korea Town Association hopes to increase the number and give the community an ethnic atmosphere, like the Chinatowns in Yokohama and Kobe. As more and more Koreans become naturalized Japanese citizens, the number of Koreans in Japan may decrease, but the plight of Koreans born and raised in Japan who continue to suffer discrimination is indeed a sad one, requiring sympathetic concern and action on the part of conscientious, "pure-blooded" Japanese. -------As another year draws to a close the interesting results of a survey conducted among 500 top managers in 100 companies in Japan, Europe and the United States were reported. They reveal that the average age of chief executives in Japan is 70 -- between 5 and 10 years beyond the mandatory retirement age in the West while in Britain and Germany, a quarter of the heads of major companies are under 50. There was also a clear difference in company loyalty between Japanese executives and those in the West. In Japan, 73 percent of the top men headed the company they had joined upon graduating from university, while in France only a quarter of the men were with their original company. In Germany, some 37 percent of the managers had changed companies at least once in their careers and 23 percent had made at least three moves. Quite surprisingly, the United States came second to Japan in regard to corporate loyalty. In relation to educational background, almost three-quarters of the top Japanese managers attended one of half a dozen elite universities. In France also, over half of the businessmen surveyed graduated from top schools, but in Britain a high proportion of managers have no academic qualifications whatsoever. Obviously, the road to the top varies according to the country. -------In over 160 nations around the world, tomorrow, New Year's Day is a national holiday. In over 20 nations, today, New Year's Eve is either a full or partial holiday. There are many traditional, regional or national customs related to the end of the year. In the South American country of Ecuador, families sew together an old shirt and pants and stuff them with straw to make a figure called 'Ano Viejo'. This straw man representing the old year is displayed in a window and on New Year's Eve citizens walk through the towns admiring them. By midnight, all have returned to their homes and when the 12 o'clock hour arrives, someone lights a match to the 'Ano Viejo' as others read his last will and testament. While the "Old Year" burns up, people dance to welcome in the New Year. In Denmark, there is an old custom of people visiting homes in their neighborhood and smashing crockery against the doors. The noise was thought to chase away the evil spirits of the old year and keep them from crossing thresholds into people's homes. In my personal tradition, it was the custom of my family to attend a watch night service at our church on New year's Eve, to spend the last moments of the old year and the first moments of the new year in prayer. -------Happy New Year! According to the traditional Chinese reckoning, for better or for worse, this year is designated a year of the dog. I understand that a person born in this year is supposed to be quietly humorous, a good second in command and one who can keep a secret. I wonder if a baby born in the closing days of last year might share the combined qualities of a sheep-year person and a dog-year person. I do not know how such matters were determined, why the particular years were given those particular symbols. I am not even sure when the year of the dog begins--whether today according to the Gregorian calendar or over a month later following the older lunar calendar, but I have read that fortunetellers advise a man born in the year of the dog to find a wife born in a year of the snake or a year of the horse. I am surprised that there are still educated people today who continue to follow such superstition. In the Bible, dog were considered unclean, contemptible animals. Calling a person a dog was a grievous insult. But in the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 9, verse 4, we find the words, "a live dog is better off than a dead lion". While alive, the lion may be the "king of beasts", but when dead, it is lower than a despised dog. This year, I hope you will enjoy a happy life, not a "dog's life", which means a wretched existence, but the exalted life of a child of God. -------On this first day of the first week of the new year, I wish you a Blessed New Year. Most people who visit shrines and temples during the first hours or days of a new year in Japan petition gods, Buddhas or ancestors for such things as a good health, family harmony and business prosperity. Requesting the help of supernatural powers is one aim of religious worship, but the basic element in genuine Christian worship is not petition but praise and thanksgiving. The final group of five psalms in the Old Testament book of Psalms all begin and end with the same Hebrew word, /Hallelujah/, which means "Praise the Lord!" The primary purpose of Christian worship services on the first day of every week is not to ask God for something but to offer praise and thanks for divine blessings which we do not deserve. The last Psalm, having only six verses, repeats the command to praise the Lord twelve times and mentions eight different ancient musical instruments to be used to accompany the songs or shouts of praise. As we begin a new year, I encourage you to begin it with a joyful, expectant heart. In some ways, last year was a disappointing, sad year. In other ways, it was a meaningful and hopeful one. When one has faith in an almighty, loving God, all experiences can be viewed as reasons for praise and thanksgiving. -------On this first Monday in the Year of the Dog, I will note expressions related to dogs. A "dog's life" implies a very unhappy existence and to "go to the dogs" means to degenerate or go to ruin, but to "put on the dog" means to make a prominent display of wealth. "Dog-tired" means extremely tired or exhausted and the term "dog in the manger" is used for a person who neither enjoys a thing nor allows others to enjoy it. This phrase comes from the fable in which a dog lying in a manger did not permit an ox to eat the hay even though he himself did not eat it. Nowadays, "doggy bags" are often used in American restaurants. Leftover food is put in the bag for the customer to take home, presumably to give to a pet dog. In Matthew 7:6, Jesus advised his disciples not to give what is holy to dogs, for they cannot appreciate it and it will be counterproductive. -------Today, January 4th, is the 351st anniversary of the birth of an English mathematician and natural philosopher, or physicist, who is considered by many to be the greatest scientist that ever lived. He was a professor at Cambridge for over 30 years, but his most important discoveries were made during a two-year period when the university was closed and he retired to his hometown. At that time, he discovered the law of universal gravitation, began to develop the method of analysis called calculus and discovered that white light is composed of all the colors of the spectrum. It is said that he conceived of the law of gravity after seeing an apple fall in his garden and he himself said that "If I have made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient attention, than to any other talent." The man, of course, was Sir Isaac Newton, who was not only a respected scientist but also a man of faith. He once said that "No sciences are better attested than the religion of the Bible." And in regard to the Bible's reliability, he stated, "We account the Scriptures of God to be the most sublime philosophy. I find more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history whatever." -------Today, January 5th, is sometimes called Twelfth Night for it is the twelfth night after Christmas. In former days, festivities were held on this night and Shakespeare's drama, 'Twelfth Night', was written for this celebration. Because it is the evening before the Christian festival of Epiphany, it is also called Epiphany Eve. Today is a special day for the United states Ambassador to Japan, for it was just 66 years ago today that this honorable gentleman was born. You may be surprised to learn that he was born in Ceylon. Do you know where that is? No, not the large island off the southeast coast of India now called Sri Lanka. Walter Mondale's birthplace was a bit smaller and not so far removed from Washington, D. C. In fact, Ceylon, Minnesota is a small town with a population of less than one thousand and it was there that Walter was born into the family of a Methodist minister. The name Walter, which was also the middle name of my father, comes from German words meaning to rule an army. Walter Mondale has not yet had that experience and we hope he never does, but he did serve as the attorney general of Minnesota and a senator from that state before becoming vice-president under Jimmy Carter. Now he is the "ruler" of an army of embassy personnel and we wish him a happy birthday. -------Japanese particles (te-ni-o-ha), like English prepositions, are quite slippery parts of speech with a variety of meanings. The particle "ni", for example, may be translated into English as on, at, in, for, toward, into, with, from, by, as or and. Likewise, the Greek preposition "epi" has many definitions, including on, upon, over, above, near, close to and beside. There are almost a hundred words in my dictionary beginning with e-p or e-p-i which are rooted in this Greek term. Among them is "epiphany", spelled e-p-i-p-h-a-n-y, meaning "manifestation". When spelled with a small e, the word may denote the sudden comprehension of the meaning of something, but it is usually spelled with a capital E and signifies the Christian festival commemorating the manifestation of the divine nature of Christ to the Gentiles. This festival, celebrated on this 12th day after Christmas, is related to the story of the visit of the Magi from the East following Jesus' birth found in the second chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. To Christians, the seeking out and worship of this newly-born baby by these "wise men" who offered gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh implies the universal significance of Jesus' birth. -------As this first week of the New Year is about to end, life in Japan is returning to its normal state following the special year-end and New Year's activities. According to the Japanese calendar, January 4th, designated 'goyo-hajime', is the day when government officials return to their jobs. This has been the rule since the early years of the Meiji Era, but earlier, the formal beginning of official activities was later. During the Muromachi Period, it was this 7th day of the New Year. In the Roman Catholic Church calendar, those designated "saints" have a certain feast day on which they are remembered and a medieval wit designated this 7th day of January Saint Distaff's Day in honor of a nonexistent saint, whom he called the patroness of the spinning wheel. This was to mark the day when housewives resumed their normal routines after the rush of the Christmas season. "Distaff", spelled d-i-s-t-a-f-f, literally denotes the staff on which flax is wound for spinning on a spinning wheel, but it is now commonly used to denote a woman's work and concerns or women in general. Nowadays, even the distaff members of a family, including spinsters, go off to work instead of spinning their wheels at home. -------Beginning today, in my Saturday's messages, I will resume my recollections of certain places, people or events of our trip back to the United States last summer. During our six-week stay in my hometown of Zion, Illinois, we lived in the house of a couple who left on a vacation the day we arrived and returned to Japan. It was a beautiful home with a pretty green lawn in front. There was one large tree in the front of yard with flowers planted along the sidewalks and all around the house. There were also flower pots hanging from the eaves of the front porch above the wooden railing. A couple of wooden chairs were on the front porch, but we never found or took the time to make use of them. At times, we unwound a long hose to water the grass and the flowers, but because there was more rain last summer than usual, we did not have to water them so often. A two-car garage was used as a workshop and to keep a tractor-type lawn mower, two bicycles, large garbage containers, etc., so only half was used for their car. An electronic device was attached to the front sunshade of their car which was used to automatically lower the garage door as we back out of the driveway and to open the door as we approached the garage. Another car which was loaned to us while we were in Zion was always parked in the driveway. -------The beginning of a new year is the time when many people make definite plans for the year. Despite the economic downtown, businessmen will set certain goals and aim to reach them. In the 4th chapter of the Letter of James, we find advice against making plans simply according to our human intelligence, without taking the will of God into account. In verses 13 to 15, James wrote: "Now listen to me, you that say, 'Today or tomorrow we will travel to a certain city, when we will stay a year and go into business and make a lot of money.' You don't even know what your life tomorrow will be! You are like a puff of smoke, which appears for a moment and then disappears. What you should say is this: 'If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.' But now you are proud, and you boast; all such boasting is wrong." The person with a healthy outlook on life recognizes his or her own fallibility and weakness, which should stimulate a humble attitude and the recognition of a higher fate or divine purpose over and above our puny plans. The person who has consciously committed his or her life into the hands of a loving, heavenly Father may have peace of mind in all experiences. May God guide you in this New Year. -------Superstitious people may believe in the existence of a jinx, spelled j-i-n-x. A jinx is a person or thing believed to bring bad luck. Some athletes or entertainers afraid of bad luck follow certain peculiar strategies to try to avoid a jinx which might ruin their career. A professional baseball player, for example, may insist on stepping on second base on his way to the dugout at the end of every inning. An entertainer may always open doors with his or her left hand. This word comes from the name of a bird which was thought by the ancient Romans to be a source of their calamities. Due to the strident noises it made, its name was derived from a Latin word meaning to call or shout. These birds were also used in witchcraft for incantations and charms. One of the benefits of a healthy faith is to be freed from irrational superstitious fears. -------Today's message is of a personal nature and highlights two important English words. It is being written on the 20th of December and is related to my message of December 14th concerning the U.S. state of Alabama. One of the clues I gave for listeners to guess the name of that state was: "It was the state where Bill Clinton was governor before he was elected president." Today I received a letter from a listener/reader who wrote, "I thought he was the governor of Arkansas", and as a matter of fact, she is correct. Bill Clinton was never the governor of Alabama. He was the governor of that other southern state that begins with an A, the state of Arkansas, so please correct that name in the December 14th message. The two words I wish to emphasize in this message are: "apology" and "fallible". An apology is a statement expressing regret and asking pardon for a fault and I hereby express my sincere apology for the mistaken information in that message which was due to my obvious carelessness. Sometimes, typographical errors creep unnoticed into the messages, but I am especially concerned about factual mistakes which I particularly try to avoid. The fact that I made such a glaring error clearly shows that I am fallible, which means capable of making an error. I am sorry for making such a goof and I will try to be more careful in the future. -------The process by which the names of foreign countries or cities were transliterated into Western languages has some interesting tales connected with it. Today, I will not explain how the country of "Nippon" became "Japan", but how the capital village of American Samoa came to be spelled P-a-g-o P-a-g-o, when it is actually pronounced 'pango pango'. It is said that when missionaries came to that area, they printed materials in the native languages, transliterating the local speech into the Latin alphabet. However, there were so many sounds that needed to be represented by an n in combination with a following consonant, that they did not have enough n's in their supply of type molds, so the missionary typesetters left out the n's that occurred in combination with a consonant. As a result, Pango Pango became Pago Pago. Now that you know the correct pronunciation of this most important community in American Samoa, can you tell where it is found? This group of islands is located in the South Pacific over 4,000 kilometers south of Hawaii. It has been administered by the United States for over ninety years and since 1981 has been permitted to seat one non-voting delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives. -------Today is the 13th day of the New Year and the 20th day after Christmas. In Scandinavian countries, this is the day for taking down Christmas decorations and dismantling Christmas trees in keeping with the advice of the 11th century Saint Canute who said that the Yuletide season should last 20 days. In the case of Christmas trees that had cookies hung on them as decorations, the cookies are taken off and eaten by children. This is similar to the 'kagami-biraki' in Japan, where the 'kagami-mochi' which was a part of the New Year's decorations is taken down and eaten on the 11th day of the New Year. Japanese communities that continue to follow the lunar calendar will celebrate the so-called Old New Year's Day, 'kyu-shogatsu', on February 10th this year but you may be surprised to know that in Great Britain a district that continues to follow the old Julian calendar celebrates Old New Year's Day today. This is the custom in the Gwaun Valley in Wales, one of the four units in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Regardless of which calendar is used, however, the length of time in one day is the same and we should try to make good use of it. As someone has said, "One man gets only a week's value out of a year while another man gets a full year's value out of a week." -------Today, January 14th, is the birthday of Albert Schweitzer. Have you ever heard of him? He was born in the Alsace territory on the borderland between Germany and France which has been a bone of contention between those two countries over the years, on this day in 1875. A reference book describes him as a "theologian, philosopher, musician, missionary and physician", so it seems clear that he had a variety of gifts. In 1952, he was awarded the Nobel peace prize. Albert Schweitzer was a musical prodigy who became an outstanding organist and an authority on Bach. He was also a deep-thinking scholar whose writings in the fields of philosophy and theology were widely acclaimed. It was as a medical missionary, however, that he became world famous. Despite his recognized ability in music, philosophy and theology, he studied to be a physician and left the cultured atmosphere of Europe for the primitive conditions of Africa to demonstrate the faith he was committed to rather than merely talking or writing about it. As a physician working in a very backward region, he faced many frustrations and wrote these words: "Anyone who proposes to do good must not expect people to roll stones out of his way, but must accept his lot calmly if they roll a few more upon it." -------There was also a back porch on the American house we lived in for six weeks last summer. On the porch, there was a wooden table beside which were two wooden chairs with waterproof cushions on them. There was no roof over this porch, but a large umbrella was attached to the center of the table could be opened to shield from the sun when someone sat there to read, relax or eat. There was also a barbecue on the other side of the porch, but we never used it. In fact, we very seldom made use of the table and chairs for we were usually busily engaged in various activities, whether inside the house or at some other place. There was a very large backyard extending into a wooded area from the back porch. The grassy lawns around the house were beautiful to look at , but I was happy that a relative of the owner who lived nearby came regularly to mow them. That was a time-consuming task and due to much rain that summer, the grass grew fast. He used a tractor-mower, on which he sat while driving around the yard. Since the mower could not cut very close to the base of trees, the long blades of grass that were left there had to be cut by hand and my wife often used common scissors to do so since we couldn't find grass shears on the workbench in the garage. -------The great king of Israel and head of the royal dynasty was King David. He was the youngest of the eight sons of Jesse and the story of his being anointed as the future king is found in the 16th chapter of the Old Testament book of 1st Samuel. God had directed Samuel, his prophet, to the house of Jesus in the town of Bethlehem for God had chosen one of Jesse's sons to be king. The first son Samuel saw made a very favorable impression on him and he thought that this man was surely the one God had chosen. But then, he received this word from the Lord: "Pay no attention to how tall and handsome he is. I have rejected him, because I do not judge as man judges. Man looks at the outward appearance, but I look at the heart"[7]. Six other sons passed before Samuel, but none of them were chosen. Finally, the youngest son who was out taking care of the sheep was summoned. This was David and he was the one anointed to be king. An important truth taught in this story is that God sees and judges in a different way than human beings do. We only see the outside, but God sees what is on the inside. This is a reason for the teaching of Jesus and Paul that we should not judge others. We are not qualified because we cannot see their hearts. Since only God can do that, he is the only one truly qualified to judge. -------In Greek mythology, the god of nature, called Pan, is pictured as having a human torso and the legs, horns and ears of a goat. Pan was the guardian deity of the flocks, the fields and the forests. Since he dwelt in the woodlands, any eerie sound coming from a forest, especially at night, was believed to be caused by him purposely to frighten people. It is from this fear induced by Pan that the word panic, spelled p-a-n-i-c, is derived. A panic is a sudden, overpowering terror, often affecting many people at once. It may also denote a mass alarm concerning finances, which may result in a depression. Pan is often pictured playing on musical pipes and, in an informal sense, panic may mean something or someone that is extremely humorous or entertaining. Comedians consider it a compliment when called a panic and they try to panic their listeners. -------
Have you ever heard of Christopher Robin? He is the central character in the children's books entitled 'Winnie the Pooh' and 'The House of Pooh Corner'. Among Christopher Robin's toy animal friends were Pooh Bear and Piglet. These names are well known in English speaking countries for these stories, which have become classics, are enjoyed not only by children but by adults as well. The English poet and author of these stories, A. A. Milne, was born 111 years ago today, on January 18, 1882. He began his literary career as a journalist and later became a regular contributor and then assistant editor of the English weekly, 'Punch'. He is also well-known for his poetry. This is an example of the style of writing found in 'Winnie the Pooh': One of the highly appreciated Christmas gifts we received last month from the U.S. was a fruitcake sent from the Collin Street Bakery in Corsicana, Texas. We will continue to enjoy this delicious spiced dessert, containing nuts and dried fruits, even after we have finished eating my wife's Christmas cookies. The Collin Street Bakery, the oldest fruitcake bakery in the United States, was founded by an immigrant baker from Germany and a local cotton buyer in 1896. Ten years later, a rooming house was built above the bakery. Baseball players and touring theater performers who stayed there enjoyed the delicacy and spread word of it to others. The mail-order business was born when a Ringling Brothers circus troupe passed through during the Christmas season and asked to have samples sent to friends and relatives in distant places. Now, each season four million pounds of fruitcake are produced and shipped to 50 states and 195 countries. These cakes include papaya and pineapple grown at the bakery's plantation in Costa Rica, cherries from the Northwest, raisins from California and pecans and honey from Texas. In Matthew 7:16, when Jesus said, "By their fruits you shall know them", he implied that we can tell the character of a person by observing that person's actions. -------The western half of the United States border with Canada is a straight line but the eastern half mainly follows the contours of lakes and rivers. In 1839, a dispute arose about the border between the northeastern U.S. state of Maine and the southeastern Canadian provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick. The subsequently determined international border passes right through the house of Ms. Antione Morneau. This has produced an interesting result. When Ms. Morneau lies on her bed, her head is in the United States while her feet are in Canada. When asked whether her heart was in the U.S. or Canada, she diplomatically replied, "half and half." Ms. Morneau's native language is French, but she also speaks English and holds both American and Canadian citizenship. Since this small village is partly in the United States and partly in Canada, it has become a haven for smugglers who make a living out of bypassing Canada's high tobacco taxes. Ms. Morneau recalls when she and her late husband occasionally sold whiskey from their house and had to deal with liquor agents from both countries. When American officials came, they stayed with the whiskey on the Canadian side of the house, but transferred to the American side when they saw Canadian officials approaching. This was a special kind of international exchange. -------Where do you suppose the oldest city in the world is located? It is not found in China, India, Greece, nor in Italy, even though Rome is called the Eternal City. The city thought to be the oldest continuously occupied city in the world remains today as the capital of the Mideastern country of which Hafez al-Assad is president. The country is Syria and its capital city is ... Damascus. Frequently mentioned in the Old Testament, there was a city there from before the time of Abraham (around 2000 B.C.). According to the 'Guinness Book of World Records', Damascus has been continuously inhabited since about 2500 B.C. So it seems that this city, located in an oasis on the edge of the desert, was already 2000 years old when Rome was founded. An oasis is a fertile spot in a desert due to the presence of water. The river that flows through Damascus from a mountain range has no outlet. It simply disappears into the desert east of the city. Damascus is often noted in Old Testament writings, but the only New Testament reference is in connection with the conversion of Saul, the Jewish rabbi, who became Paul, the Christian apostle. The story of his conversion is found in chapter 9 of the Acts of the Apostles. It was in the oasis of Damascus that Saul began a new life. -------In the large backyard of the house we lived in last summer there were two bird feeders on tall poles and one hanging from the branch of a tree. The owner had left large bags of birdseed from which we regularly replenished them. From the dining room window we could look out and see many kinds of birds come and eat. There was a book in the living room with colored pictures of American birds which we used to a couple of times to identify certain birds. Another feeder was in the ground for larger birds, such as ducks, geese and pheasants. One morning, I saw a rabbit sitting in the middle of the feeder. Then, two ducks waddled over and pecked at the rabbit to force him out. While the ducks were feeding, a cat came along and chased them away. This scene gave me a living illustration of what is meant by the term "pecking order". The most interesting animal to be seen in that backyard was a grey fox. The owner had left chicken legs in the freezer for us to feed it, so every evening after dark, my wife put two or three chicken legs on the back porch. At times, as we quietly watched, we saw the fox come out of the woods, cautiously run up the steps to the porch and carry the legs back to the woods in one or two trips. -------At the beginning of this month, "Happy New Year" was the common greeting used by people. And I presume that most of those who visited shrines or temples prayed that the year might be a happy one. Which raises the question of what we mean by "happy"? What is "happiness" and what kind of people are "happy"? An old English word for "happy" is "blessed" At the beginning of his Sermon on the Mount, found in the Gospel of Matthew, chapters 5, 6 and 7, Jesus indicates certain surprising qualities of people he called "blessed" or "happy". The Old Testament Psalms also frequently identified certain types of people as "happy". In fact, that is the first word in that book, which, according to one modern translation, begins like this: "Happy are those who reject the advice of evil men, who do not follow the example of sinners or join those who have no use for God". All of us are surrounded by people who are willing to give advice of one kind or another, but we must make use of our own wisdom, which is related to our individual sense of morality and faith, to decide whose advice to take. Who is considered a proper example to follow is also a major decision for common people. Finally, it is the person with a clear conscience that is happy rather than the one with the greatest material riches. -------The smallest of the five major continents in the world is called Europe and the largest is called Asia. Do you know the origin of these names ? It is commonly thought that the name "Europe" is derived from Europa, a Phoenician princess in Greek mythology who was carried off to the island of Crete by Zeus who had taken the form of a while bull. But some etymologists disagree. They say that the name comes from an Assyrian word ereb meaning "setting sun land" which corresponds to asu, meaning "land of the rising sun". In the Greek Hymn to Apollo, these words were altered to "Europe" and "Asia", which are the names that continued -- and which reminds us of the names used by Prince Shotoku in his letter to the Chinese emperor whom he offended by calling Japan the "land of the rising sun" and China the "land of the setting sun". -------This coming Sunday is the fifth Sunday of this month. Fifth Sundays of a month are the days we usually hold meetings of the "family" of "Daily Word" listeners and readers and we plan to follow that custom this month also. Our meeting is scheduled to begin at 1:30 at the Nagoya City Geijutsu Sozo Center north of the Shinsakaemachi subway station. You are invited to attend and participate in the meeting by listening, speaking and partaking of some refreshments prepared by my wife. The topic for discussion is: "Proverbs". A proverb is defined as "a short, pithy saying in frequent and widespread use that expresses a well-known truth or fact." Some people choose a particular proverb to remember throughout the year. We would be interested in hearing two or three of your favorite proverbs and why you like them. You may have had some personal experiences that illustrate the truth of certain proverbs. If the proverb is in a foreign language, please give your Japanese translation of it and if it is a Japanese proverb, we would like to hear how you translate it into English. We look forward to a stimulating and enlightening meeting next Sunday afternoon. Following that meeting, I am scheduled to preach at the English language worship service of Nagoya Union Church and you are invited to attend that service also. -------An old, poetic name for this first month of the year in Japanese is 'mutsuki'. The Chinese characters used for this term literally mean "friendly, affectionate or harmonious month", which conveys a warmer impression than the simple, formal term, "first month". In Western languages, this month has also been given more descriptive names. The Dutch used to call it "frosty month". By the Saxons, it was called "wolf month" because wolves were very troublesome at this time of year due to the scarcity of food. In the French Revolutionary calendar of the first French Republic, it was called "snow month". And as you know, the English name for this month is January. This name is derived from the name of an ancient Roman deity, Janus, who was the god of gates and doors and the god of beginnings. He was said to have two faces, facing in opposite directions. Thus, he was able to see without and within, the past and the future at the same time. In modern English, if we say that someone is Janus-faced, it means that that person is hypocritical. Unfortunately, there are many political figures for whom this word is applicable. You are invited to the "Daily Word" Fellowship meeting on Sunday afternoon at 1:30 at the Nagoya City Geijutsu Sozo Center. My wife and I would be happy to meet you there. -------Over the years, I have become acquainted with the results of studies or theories used to support the idea that the Japanese people are unique, which sets them apart, if not above, other nations of the world. I have read or heard stories about the relative length of the intestines of Japanese and foreigners and of the use made of one side of the brain or the other for one purpose or another. I always treat such studies with doubts about the objectivity and extent of the research behind them. I wonder, for example, which "foreigners" were included in the studies, whether such groups as the aborigines of Australia and native tribes in Africa were also considered. Such thoughts were in the background of my mind as I read a report that women can talk longer with less effort than men because the vocal cords of women are shorter. Thus less air is released through them to carry the sound. I am sure that there is a different kind of reason for a separate report indicating that, in deliberations among jury members in courthouses, women talk much less than men. In a sense, not only are all nations unique, but all individuals are also and we should seek to understand and adjust to the differences. You are invited to the meeting of listeners to and readers of these "Daily Word" messages on Sunday afternoon at 1:30 at the Nagoya City Geijutsu Sozo Center. -------One of the great Greek dramatists was Sophocles who lived in the 5th century B.C. Citations from this ancient Greek writer are usually found in any book of quotations. One such reference book credits him with the observation: "Much wisdom often goes with fewest words." Another includes this quotation: "A short saying oft contains much wisdom." I have a suspicion that these are simply different English translations of the same Greek original. In any case, short sayings containing wisdom will be shared at the meeting of "Daily Word" listeners/readers on Sunday afternoon at 1:30 at the Nagoya City Geijutsu Sozo Center north of the Shinsakaemachi subway station. At that meeting, we expect to hear some favorite proverbs and why people like them you have probably experienced the truth of some proverbs in your own life and are aiming or hoping to personally apprehend the truth of others. Sharing short words of wisdom with others should be mutually beneficial. Hopefully, there will also be time for discussion besides enjoying refreshments prepared by my wife for this 53rd such meeting to which you are cordially invited. -------The house in which we lived in Illinois last summer had a large living room/dining room area. There was a fireplace in the living room, comfortable chairs, a television set, record player and tape deck. The large front window provided a spacious view of the area in front of the house. In the opposite wall, through a large window in the dining room, we could view the expansive backyard. A counter separated the dining room from the kitchen, in which there was also a table where we usually ate our breakfasts and lunches. There was a spacious work area, a stove oven, microwave oven, large refrigerator and electric dishwasher as well as numerous cupboards. A small window above the sink permitted the cook to observe the birds and animals in the backyard while working. A telephone was attached to the wall at the end of the counter so it could be used while standing or sitting at the counter or while sitting in nearby chairs in the kitchen, dining room or living room. There was another telephone in the master bedroom at the other end of the house. A bathroom was connected to that master bedroom and another bathroom was across the hall from the two other bedrooms on the ground floor. -------Throughout human history, there have been ethnic, national, religious or other groups that have considered themselves an elite with a divine destiny to teach or rule other people. Such an idea is usually accompanied by a superiority complex and a tendency to demean or look down upon others. Examples of such an attitude can be found in the history of both Asian and Occidental peoples, including Japan and the United States. According to the Bible, both the Jewish people and Christians were chosen by God to accomplish a divine purpose in the world. In the First Letter of Peter, Chapter 2, we find these words: "you are the chosen race the holy nation, God's own people". The purpose for which they were chosen, however, was not to rule over others nor to subdue them, but "to proclaim the wonderful acts of God". They were chosen to be witnesses of the goodness and mercy of God that they had experienced in their lives and history. Such a proclamation of good news does not imply a superior status nor any kind of coercion. Both the teaching and example of Christ indicates that his followers were chosen to serve rather than rule and Peter goes on to say that the conduct of the chosen people should be so exemplary that their good deeds will be recognized by unbelievers who will also praise God as a result. -------Have you ever eaten corned beef ? In Japanese, it may be called ko-n bi-fu, but in English, the final "d" of the first word is pronounced. Corned beef, which is sold in cans at supermarkets, is a kind of specially salted and preserved beef. But why do you think it is called "corned beef" ? Is it because of some relationship to corn ? Yes it is, but in this case "corn" does not mean the cereal plant with large ears, cultivated in America and called tomorokoshi in Japanese, nor to various grains such as wheat, rye, oats or barley which are called "corn" in England. "Corn" may also denote a small particle of something. To preserve this kind of beef, it is sprinkled with "corns" of coarse salt and this process of preserving something in brine is called "corning". This is the reason it got the name of "corned beef". This is not a "corny" explanation. It is a fact. -------Today is the first Tuesday after a meeting of "'Daily Word' Fan(cier)s", the day I suggest a topic for essays for the next issue of '"Daily Word" Echoes.' The first topic is the same as the theme for our recent meeting: Favorite Proverbs. You may write about a few of your favorite proverbs, why you like them and any personal experiences related to them. Next, as I look over historical events connected with February 1st, I find that it was 285 years ago today that Alexander Selkirk was rescued from a desert island off the coast of Chile after living there by his wits for four years and four months. This man's experiences provided the basis for the novels of Daniel Defoe regarding 'Robinson Crusoe', which I presume you have read. It was also the day in 1901 that the famous American movie star, Clark Gable, was born. Thus, I am suggesting an essay on either the fictional Robinson Crusoe or the actual Clark Gable. What thoughts or memories do you have related to either of these men and the stories or films connected with their names? I will correct essays sent to me and print them in the 'Echoes' to be published on May 29th. My address is: "Daily Word", Post Office Box 30, Moriyama Post Office, Nagoya 463. -------There is much concern these days about the increasing pollution of the environment. Among the elements causing air pollution are smoke, gas or exhaust produced by burning fuels made from coal and petroleum. Older people in Japan will recall the days when charcoal, which produces no smoke, was used to warm one's hands and feet as well as to heat tea and cook food. During the war, charcoal was even used as the fuel for some motor vehicles. One quarter of the charcoal produced in Japan comes from a district in the northern part of Iwate Prefecture. During the war, this area produced two million tons of charcoal a year, but now production has fallen to only 30,000 tons. Communities in the area are now advertising the advantages of charcoal in an attempt to revive that traditional industry. A major problem, however, is the lack of experienced charcoal makers and the low wages they receive. Previously, nearly 40,000 people were engaged in charcoal production in the prefecture, but today only 470 are still in the business. Highly experienced makers earn only ¥5,000 to ¥6,000 a day --less than half the average national wage. Wise people in the modern age will adapt and use effective techniques of the past to enrich life in the present and future. -------Are you acquainted with the term "bookworm"? Even if you have never heard this word before, you can probably guess its meaning. Tiny insects or insect larvae that live in books and nourish themselves on its leaves are called bookworms. There are various kinds of small, wingless insects which damage the bindings and eat tiny holes in the pages of books. One such insect is a "booklouse". Another is a "silverfish", which is also used to denote fish that have silvery scales. Termites and roaches which also harm books may be included in this general designation. But "bookworm" may also be used of a human being. Although it is an insult to call someone a "worm", meaning a pitiable or contemptible person, some people would consider it a compliment to be called a "bookworm". In this case, a bookworm is a person who spends much time reading or studying. This kind of bookworm is nourished by the conceptual content of books rather than their material. In this case, I may be called a bookworm, but these days my book reading is primarily for study rather than for pleasure. American essayist, Phyllis McGinley, has written, "A bookworm in bed with a new novel and a good reading lamp is as much prepared for pleasure as a pretty girl at a college dance." -------One hundred and ninety-tow years ago today, on February 4, 1802, Mark Hopkins was born in the western part of the eastern American state of Massachusetts. You may have never heard of him, but he was one of the most distinguished educators of his generation and was elected to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans in 1915. President Garfield once stated in a speech that a log cabin with such a teacher as Hopkins would be a university. Hopkins graduated from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts in 1824. He became a doctor and opened an office in New York City, but after less than a year as a practicing physician, he was called back to Williams College to be professor of moral philosophy and rhetoric. He then served as the president of this historic college for 36 years from 1836 to 1872. Following that, he continued as professor of moral theology until his death in 1887. Hopkins was also a Congregational minister and pastor of the college church. In his moral philosophy class, a student once asked him who would go to heaven. His honest reply was that he did not know, but he was sure that no one would go there who would not feel at home. -------The home we lived in last summer in northern Illinois would be called a one-story house because it has only one story above ground. Since it has a full basement under the entire house, however, actually it has two floors. The stairway to the basement was carpeted so one could go up or down the stairs very quietly, without waking anyone who might be sleeping. At the bottom of the stairway, there were two doors. Through the door on the left, one entered a large utility room with a cement floor. In it was a washing machine, a dryer, a large water heater which provided hot water for the upstairs bathroom and kitchen, an exercise machine on which one could go walking or jogging without going outdoors and plentiful storage space. The door to the right opened to a large, carpeted family room which had a number of chairs and tables, a television set, a videocassette player and a sofa which could be made into a double bed. We made use of that bed a couple of times when we had more company stay overnight than the upstairs beds could hold. There was also a fireplace downstairs and one wall was covered with a large painting of a wooded area which created an expansive atmosphere. Small windows at ground level let in natural light during the daytime. I used the cooler downstairs as my study and it was from the downstairs telephone that I often called Japan to record these messages. -------The Bible contains stories of many dedicated men and women who are good examples for us to follow. At the same time, these stories do not overlook their weaknesses. Even faithful prophets who boldly proclaimed God's message in hostile surrounding were frail human beings who experienced times of doubts. The 19th chapter of the Old Testament book of 1st Kings relates a story of the prophet Elijah who had just successfully challenged 450 prophets of other gods by calling down fire from heaven but then, fearing for his life, had run away and wanted to die. In the midst of his despondency, God called to Elijah and asked him what he was doing there. He then caused Elijah to see such natural phenomena as wind, earthquake and fire, which Biblical writers often used to symbolize the great power of God. But this time, it was not in such awesome events but in a "soft whisper of a voice" that God was revealed. In this story, we are reminded that it is not only in grand displays of power that we can experience God's presence. We can also sense the divine presence in quietness. All deep thinkers are sometimes confronted by doubts. At such times, a time of quietness may be more effective than noisy demonstrations to resolve them. -------You may be surprised to know that there are two very different meanings of the word "foolscap", written as a single word spelled f-o-o-l-s-c-a-p. The primary meaning is a sheet of writing or printing paper about 13 by 16 inches in size, which is a standard size in the United states. The second meaning of the word is the same as when it is divided into two words and an apostrophe is added after the l. In this sense a foolscap [fool's cap] is a gaily decorated cap with loose peaks tipped with bells like those formerly worn by court jesters and clowns. That particular kind of paper has been called "foolscap" since the 13th century for it originally included the watermark of a fool's head with a cap and bells. A fool's cap is usually distinguished from a dunce cap, the cone shaped hat that used to be put on the heads of children who were slow in learning. -------There are two different English words pronounced 'faul'. The word spelled f-o-u-l, may denote something dirty, having an offensive smell or contrary to the rules of a game. The word spelled f-o-w-l means a bird and that is the suggested theme for essays this week. There are a great variety of birds in the world. Many are native to Japan, but many others have a very different habitat. There are big birds and small ones, songbirds with a melodious warble and others with a shrill cry. There are birds that fly high in the sky, that swim on the water or that stay on or close to the ground. Some birds are colorful and beautiful to look at while others are drab. Some birds are useful; others are pests. Some migrate for hundreds of kilometers every year and others are trained by human beings to perform certain tasks. Do you like birds? What kind is your favorite or which do you particularly dislike and why? Have you ever had a pet bird? Are you or would you like to be a bird watcher? In Matthew 6:26, Jesus told his disciples to look at and learn from the birds. Essays on this theme sent to me will be corrected and printed in the next issue of '"Daily Word" Echoes'. This is "Daily Word", Post Office Box 30, Moriyama Post Office, Nagoya 463. -------Since living languages continue to change, new words are continually being added and old words are discarded. Some of the newer specialized words in medicine and other scientific fields are quite long but when I was in school, I was told that the longest word in the English language was Antidisestablishment-arianism. Can you guess the meaning of this word or its background? The word was coined by British Prime Minister Gladstone in the middle of the last century amid the controversy regarding separating the Church of Ireland from the Church of England. Gladstone advocated the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland and referred to opponents of this policy as believers in Antidisestablishmentarianism. In 1869, the Irish church was disestablished, but the mutual relation between church and state in the United Kingdom itself is a continuing problem even today. Many are calling for the antidisestablishmentarianism of the Church of England, meaning to end official government support for that church. Whenever religion and government are closely aligned, both true religion and democratic government suffer as a result. The famous words of Jesus in this regard are found in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 12, verse 17: "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's." -------There are a number of words in Japanese that are derived from sounds, so-called 'giseigo' or 'giongo', such as 'sara-sara', 'zaa-zaa' or 'wan-wan'. In English, such words may be called onomatopoeia. For example, a "ping", a spelled p-i-n-g, is a brief, high-pitched sound, like that made by a bullet striking metal. The common name for the game of table tennis, ping-pong, however, comes from the sound of a hollow, celluloid ball bouncing on a wooden table. This game is, more or less, a miniature form of lawn tennis, played on a table. During my high school, college and seminary days, I enjoyed playing ping-pong, but I do not remember ever calling that game "table tennis". I have recently discovered that that is the proper name of the game and "Ping-Pong" is actually a registered trademark. This is but one of many examples of a trademark name that has become a common noun. Other examples include: cellophane, scotch tape, aspirin, frigidaire, escalator, kodak and xerox. These were originally trademark names of products made by certain companies. Sometimes those companies have brought legal action against advertisers who used those trademark names for similar products produced by other manufacturers. -------Less than one kilometer from my home there is a tall red brick tower with a large white cross on all four sides near the top. It stands next to the large red brick auditorium on the campus of Kinjo Gakuin Daigaku, a highly-respected Christian school for girls. The tower with its pointed green roof reaching toward the sky can be seen from far away. Three times a day, morning, noon and evening, a pleasing melody is wafted from that bell tower over the surrounding area. This music is produced by a set of chromatically tuned bells called a carillon. The 25 bells in that carillon were made in the Netherlands by a manufacturer with over 330 years of bell making experience. They are 80 percent copper and 20 percent tin and range in weight from 16 to 250 kilograms. The melodies are from Christian hymns and are changed every month. In my home, we may also hear the sound of a Buddhist temple bell at the end of the year and on certain other occasions. Needless to say, not only the sounds but also the atmosphere produced by these bells are very different and reflect the dissimilar character of Christianity and Buddhism. -------On previous extended visits to my hometown in northern Illinois we were housed in locations within walking distance from the downtown shopping area and the church office where I usually went every day. On those visits, the one car loaned to us by a church member was sufficient, but the home we lived in last summer was further away from the center of town and my wife and I needed two cars to go our separate ways. There was an overly large American-made car in the garage attached to the house we lived in and we were free to make use of it, but the small size Japanese-made car also made available for us by a businessman who took a long summer vacation was the one we both preferred. It seemed so much easier to drive and used much less gasoline. In fact, my wife was very reluctant to drive that car for it was so cumbersome. Of course, the steering wheels on both cars were on the left side so we should have no trouble driving on the right side of the street. Nevertheless, on a few occasions after coming out of a large parking lot onto the street, my wife had to remind me to get over to the other lane because my natural, unthinking habit took me to the wrong side of the road. I had to remember that in the United States, the right side of the street is the right side, but in Japan, the right side is the wrong side. -------The first book in the New Testament is the Gospel According to Matthew. Matthew was one of the twelve men Jesus chose to be his close disciples, who were also called apostles. The story of how Matthew became a disciple of Jesus is recorded in the 9th chapter of that Gospel. Matthew was a tax collector for the despised Roman government. As such, he was considered a traitor among his own countrymen. Fervent nationalists and narrow-minded followers of religious traditions refused to associate with such a person, but Jesus called Matthew to follow him and he obeyed immediately. When Jesus was criticized by the conservative religious leaders for eating at Matthew's house with tax collectors and other outcasts, he replied, "People who are well do not need a doctor, but only those who are sick." He indicated that kindness is more important than religious ceremonies and added that he had "not come to call respectable people, but outcasts" [12-13]. According to Matthew 11:19, Jesus became known as "a friend of tax collectors and other outcasts." Among Jesus' disciples, those who are faithful followers of his example also show God's love to the despised people in society by becoming their friends. -------Around St. Valentine's Day, We may see pictures of a beautiful little boy with wings carrying a bow and a quiver full of arrows. The name of this boy is Cupid, spelled C-u-p-i-d. Sometimes, he is called Dan Cupid, but in this case, the word "Dan", spelled D-a-n, simply means "sir" or "master". In Roman mythology, Cupid was the god of love who shot love stimulating arrows into the hearts of unsuspecting human beings. His name is rooted in a Latin word meaning desire and the English word "cupidity" denotes an excessive desire, especially for money. Thus, it is a synonym for avarice or greed. The Greek god of love was Eros, from which the word "erotic" is derived. The kind of "love" suggested by these words is very different than the divine love taught in the Bible, for which the Greek word agape is used. This kind of love is selfless and sacrificial. -------In the United States, legal holidays are determined by the individual states while the federal government designates holidays only for federal government employees. Most states, however, have state holidays that coincide with those for the federal employees. When I was a child in the state of Illinois, I think we had a school holiday on both February 12th and February 22nd some years and on either one or the other of those days in other years. The former day is the birthday of President Abraham Lincoln and the latter is the birthday of President George Washington. Since 1971, the third Monday of February has been celebrated as Washington's Birthday by federal employees. In some states, that holiday is called Presidents' Day or Washington-Lincoln Birthday. For those listeners / readers who enjoy writing English essays, I am suggesting the theme of American Presidents for essays this week. Which of the 41 men who have served as president of the United States do you think was most outstanding and why? Which do you feel most attracted to and why? Are there quotations of a particular president which have impressed you deeply? I will correct essays sent to me and print them in the next issue of '"Daily Word" Echoes.' This is: "Daily Word", Post Office Box 30, Moriyama Post Office, Nagoya 463. -------I cannot understand how Japanese scholars, students or common people were able to grasp the time period of historical events prior to the introduction of the Western system of chronology because there are so many different eras, or 'nengo', many of which lasted for only a very short time. If I mention that a certain important figure in Japanese religious history was born on this 16th day of the 2nd month in the 1st year of Joo, can you guess when that was? This man was born in a fisherman's home in what is now Chiba Prefecture. Early in his childhood, he was sent to a nearby Buddhist monastery and spent several years there as a novitiate. Earnestly seeking to discover the true doctrine of the Buddha from among the various branches of Buddhism, he went to Kamakura and then spent ten years at Mt. Hiei, the great seat of Buddhism at that time. When he was about 30 years old, he became convinced that true Buddhist doctrine was found in the 'Hokekyo', or Lotus Sutra, and that all other forms of Buddhism were false. He believed the sacred formula, 'Namu Myoho-rengekyo', embodied the truths revealed in that sutra and emphasized that repeating that formula would bring enlightenment. This man, who was born in 1222, is known as Nichiren and he became the founder of the peculiar Japanese form of Buddhism associated with that name. -------The term "four-letter word" is used to denote various short English words considered vulgar or obscene and thus unprintable in high quality publications. Obviously, all words having four letters are not "four-letter words" in this sense. One such word is post, spelled p-o-s-t, which has three very different meanings. Or, to be more accurate, there are three different words with that same spelling, each of which also have secondary meanings. The most common word denotes a stake of wood or some other material set upright into the ground. such posts may be used as markers or for the support of a building. A second kind of post is a military base where troops are stationed or the assigned position of an employee or a public official. The third kind of post, related to mail or mail delivery, is more commonly used in the United Kingdom than in the United States. Whereas English men and women post their letters by putting them in a postbox, Americans mail their letters and put them in a mailbox. In a literal sense, there is a distinction between a postal card and a postcard. The former has the stamp printed on the card itself, while a separate stamp must be affixed to the latter, which often includes a picture on it. -------Although it is not one of the so-called four-letter words, in British English, the word "bloody" is considered offensive, an unsuitable intensive word for well-bred people. Unless one is prepared to fight, it is better not call another person "a bloody fool". Although I am not well acquainted with the names or contents of alcoholic beverages, I do know that the term "bloody mary" is used for a certain kind of cocktail, which according to the dictionary, is a mixture of vodka, tomato juice and seasonings. My personal introduction to the term Bloody Mary came during my study of church history. British Queen Mary I, also known as Mary Tudor, was the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. Her early life was a very unhappy one as a result of her father's clash with the Roman Catholic Church, his eventual divorce of her Spanish Catholic mother and his establishment of the separate Church of England. When Mary later came to power, she vented her anger upon English Protestants. During her five-year reign, religious persecutions resulted in almost 300 of her adversaries being burned at the stake and she became, known in English history as Bloody Mary and today, February 18th, is the 478th anniversary of her birth in 1516. -------Before returning to the United States for two months last summer, my son applied for a telephone card with which I was able to call Japan from private or public telephones by pushing code numbers and have the charge put on my credit card. Every day, I called in this "Daily Word" message from telephones in homes, the church or from public phones in airports or other places while traveling. Once I called from our car phone, but the most troublesome experience was at an outdoor telephone by a gas station along a major highway. I mentioned to the attendant I wanted to call from a quiet place. He told me to park very close to the telephone stand, bring the receiver into the car and close the window to shut out the noise. I did so and prepared to make my call. I pushed the buttons to connect me with the Nagoya number and then sat in the car with my manuscript in front of me ready to record when suddenly I realized that the push buttons were not on the receiver like phones I had been using. Therefore, to push the final five code numbers to begin the recording, I had to get out of the car, pass the receiver through the window again and go to the telephone stand. I ended up making the call from the outdoor phone with the manuscript flapping in the wind as cars noisily passed by. -------One of my college professors used to speak of history as "His Story", meaning that history was an account of God's activity in the affairs of the world. That was the view of the Old Testament prophets who saw all events in the history of Israel as acts of God that had a divine purpose in them. Old Testament writers discerned a divine influence in the actions of foreign rulers regarding Israel also. The first verses of the book of Ezra relate that God prompted Cyrus, a Persian King, to issue a decree for those Israelites in exile to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple and urged neighbors of these refugees to help them by providing money and supplies. In this way, the words of the prophet Jeremiah would come true. A basic characteristic of the biblical perspective is that the almighty and eternal God of love and justice who created the world continues to influence and even control historical events. Although human beings cannot fathom the mind of God nor fully explain the divine purpose in either catastrophic or wonderful events it is a comforting thought that God is at work in the world and in our personal lives. And it is the Christian conviction that "His Story", or history, has a happy ending. -------Some Americans boast of having an ancestor that came to the so-called New World on the Mayflower, the ship that carried the Pilgrims from England to New England in 1620. A well-known patriotic society in the United States called Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is open only to women having one or more ancestors who aided the cause in the Revolution. such people are proud of their lineage or pedigree, spelled p-e-d-i-g-r-e-e. This word comes from an Old French term literally meaning "crane's foot". A genealogical chart tracing one's roots back many generations is often called a family tree, but such a chart reminded some people of the footprint left by a crane and that is the root of this word in English. To some people, lineage is important, but in the eyes of God, moral character is more important than pedigree. -------Some people do not eat meat, or certain kinds of meat for various reasons: religious beliefs, health concerns or humane considerations. Following the spread of Buddhism in Japan, people did not eat the meat of four-footed animals, but continued to eat fish. Whether we like or dislike certain meats is based not only on their taste but also on our mental perceptions. Some Westerners have a mental block that keeps them from eating or enjoying raw fish, for example. People who have pets may not enjoy eating the meat of a dog or a cat, but in parts of China, dog meat is a traditional delicacy. A recent news article reported that an enterprising merchant in Nanjing has become prosperous selling fresh cat meat, which is cooked with pepper, ginger and aniseed and served in high-class restaurants. What do you think about eating meat? Do you like meat of all kinds, of some special kinds? Would you enjoy eating cat meat? Why or why not? Do you think eating meat is good or bad for your health and for the general health of the world? "Meat" is the suggested theme for essays this week. I will correct those essays sent to me and print them in the next issue of '"Daily Word" Echoes'. My address is: "Daily Word", Post Office Box 30, Moriyama Post Office, Nagoya 463. -------From the Latin word, 'rota', meaning 'wheel', we get the English words rotate and rotary. To rotate means to turn on an axis or to take turns. One kind of rotary is that part of a machine, such as a rotary engine or a rotary press, that rotates. Another kind of rotary is a traffic circle. But a third kind of rotary is spelled with a capital R. In this case, it denotes an organization of business and professional men which began 89 years ago today, on February 23, 1905. That first Rotary Club was founded in Chicago by Paul Percy Harris, a lawyer. Soon clubs were formed in other cities and, in 1910, the National Association of Rotary Clubs was organized. As the movement spread to foreign countries, the name was changed, in 1922, to Rotary International. The name comes from the early custom of holding the regular meetings in rotation at members' offices. In each local club, only one representative of each business or profession in that locality is accepted as a member. The organization promotes friendly cooperation and high standards of service among businessmen, supports charities and welfare activities and encourages international friendship. Its motto, "Service above Self", is a good word for all of us to remember. Indeed, selfless service on behalf of others is a basic principle of a healthy religious faith. -------The name Gregory comes from a Greek word meaning "watchful". It is the second most popular name chosen by popes of the Roman Catholic Church. The most common name is John. There have been 23 popes named John and 16 named Gregory. Four hundred and twelve years ago today, on February 24, 1582, Pope Gregory XIII introduced a new calendar which has come to be called the Gregorian Calendar. It replaced the older Julian Calendar, named for Julius Caesar, which had been used in the Roman Empire for the preceding 16 centuries. Due to a slight miscalculation of the exact length of a solar year, the Julian Calendar gradually became out of alignment with the lunar calendar which determined the dates of certain Christian festivals. The major difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars is that in the latter, years which begin new centuries are not leap years unless they can be divided by 400. Thus, the year 1600 was a leap year, but 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not. The year 2000, on the other hand, will be a leap year. The Gregorian Calendar, which is now used in most countries throughout the world, was introduced into Japan in 1872, when the 2nd day of December in that 5th year of Meiji was followed by the 1st day of January of 1873. -------Because some Mexican laborers enter the United States illegally by wading or swimming across the river which forms the international boundary, they have been derisively called "wetbacks". But if you think the term "greenbacks" is used for Canadians who sneak across the border through the woodlands on the U.S.-Canadian border, you are mistaken. "Greenback" is a term used for American paper money, which is printed with green ink on the back. On the greenbacks of current currency are pictures of historic buildings: Independence Hall in Philadelphia, the Capitol, White House, Treasury Building and Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on $100, $50, $20, $10 and $5 bills respectively. On the $1 bill, the word "ONE" is spelled in capital letters between designs of the front and back of the Great Seal of the United States. The faces appearing on the gray, front side of these bills are: Benjamin Franklin, Ulysses Grant, Andrew Jackson, Alexander Hamilton, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. On February 25, 1862, 132 years ago today, the first greenbacks were issued during the Civil War by President Lincoln. While American environmentalists emphasize the importance of one kind of greenery, businessmen and politicians have another kind of "greenery" in mind. -------In Japan, as soon as a car drives into a 'gasorin sutando', which is called a gas station or service station in the United States, usually a number of employees will immediately surround the car to pump in gas, add oil, clean the windows, empty the ashtray and so on. This is not the case in many service stations in the U.S.A., as I was reminded during my visit there last summer. The service station I usually went to was of the self-service kind where the driver of the car pumped in the gas himself or herself and then went to a cashier's window to pay for it. The first time I went to the gas station last July in the Honda Accord I was using, I had an interesting experience. First, it was after I had left the car and took the hose from the pump that I realized I had to lift a lever inside the car to open the gas tank door. After getting that little door opened, I unscrewed the gas tank cap and put it on the trunk of the car. After filling the tank and paying, I drove off with my wife to a restaurant about three kilometers away. Coming back out to the car in the parking lot following an hour in the restaurant, I was amazed to find the gas cap sitting on the car trunk. I had forgotten to put it back on at the gas station and it was still there even though I had stopped at intersections and made a number of turns on the way to the restaurant. -------The word "parable" comes from a Greek word literally meaning "to throw beside", particularly for the purpose of comparing one thing with another. In English, a parable is a simple story told to illustrate a moral or religious lesson. In effect, the uncomplicated truth to make it understandable to common people. Jesus told many parables in his teaching, a couple of which emphasized the importance of a vine or tree bearing fruit. (Incidentally, although in Japanese, grapes are said to grow on a "tree", in English, they are said to grow on a "vine".) These particular parables may be rooted in the parable found in the fifth chapter of the Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah. In that parable, a man cultivated a vineyard in fertile soil that he had carefully prepared. After planting the finest vines, he was disappointed that the grapes he harvested were very sour so he decided to let the vineyard return to its natural state. This parable was a warning to Israel that if she did not produce morally good fruit, such as justice, even after God, the farmer, had been so kind to her she would be judged. This warning should be heeded by nations, churches and other groups of people today also. -------The word for today is nepotism, spelled n-e-p-o-t-i-s-m. Do you know the meaning of this word ? It comes from the Latin word, nepos, meaning nephew. Literally, a nephew is the son of one's brother, sister, brother-in-law or sister-in-law. But it was also used in the Middle Ages as a euphemism for the illegitimate son of a celibate priest. Early popes often conferred special favors on their "nephews" or appointed them to high positions. Showing this kind of favoritism to relatives became known as nepotism. Nowadays, the word is not limited to biased church leaders. In any business, government office, political or other association, when preference is shown to a family member or close friend by reason of that relationship, that is called nepotism and, in the West, is considered unfair, but in Japan, I think It is considered quite natural. -------The 44th issue of '"Daily Word" Echoes', dated January 30, 1994, contains "A Brief History of "'Daily Word'". There it is noted that in January 1988, the "Daily Word" messages were introduced into NTT's CAPTAIN system, which means that the messages can be displayed and read on any of the CAPTAIN system terminals which are found in public places throughout the country. Since then, this service has been provided by NTT itself, but I have recently been informed that unless a sponsor for the service is found, it will be discontinued at the end of this month. If you have any suggestions regarding a possible sponsor who could include an advertisement along with the printed messages, please let me know. These CAPTAIN system terminals are a kind of computer and I am suggesting the theme of "Computers" for those who wish to write an essay this week. Do you own or use a computer? If you do not, would you like to have one? Why or why not? What are the advantages, disadvantages, joys and frustrations of using a computer? How have computers changed the society and lifestyle of industrialized countries? I will correct essays sent to me and publish them in the next issue of the 'Echoes'. This is: "Daily Word", Post Office Box 30, Moriyama Post Office, Nagoya 463. -------Now that the number of senior citizens in Japan is increasing, there is a problem regarding what these elderly people should do with their free time. Some older men and women enjoy group activities provided by local communities while others engage in some kind of volunteer activity. According to a recent magazine article, department stores are becoming a kind of oasis for retired men. Previously, the gathering of people waiting for the stores to open at 10:00 a.m. consisted primarily of women, mainly housewives. But now many men in their 60's and 70's are included in this group which is warmly greeted by the sales people as they enter the store. Department stores are clean and there so many different things to look at that one can wander through them for hours without getting bored. Besides, most department store clerks are young women and if a customer shows an interest in something, the clerk is willing to engage in a lengthy conversation and will never tell the man to go home or to leave her alone. Thus, department stores are becoming an attractive place to spend time for lonely older men. It is said that more and more women are going to hospitals, where they sit in the waiting room to kill time. Time is one of the most precious gifts of God and even elderly people should try to make good use of it rather than to kill it. -------In Japan, this third day of the third month is known as 'hinamatsuri'. The primary meaning of 'hina' is a small bird, a chick, but this is not a chicken festival. It is the secondary meaning of 'hina' which is applicable in this case. It is the day of the Doll Festival. These Japanese dolls are quite different than American dolls. They are not to be played with; they are merely to be looked at and admired. The faces on these dolls are not those of children. These dolls are miniature adults, symbolizing the Emperor, the Empress and their retinue of ministers, ladies in waiting, musicians and court officials, all dressed in ancient attire. In contrast with such dolls, a couple of new kinds of play dolls are now on sale in Japan. One has arms and legs that will stretch when pulled but will return to their original shape when released. The other has green hair that grows. This doll's head has grass seeds in it, covered with a nylon stocking. When put in the sun and watered daily, it will grow a head of green hair in about ten days that lasts for about three months. As the "hair" grows, it can be trimmed and shaped into any "hairstyle" desired. Like dolls, people come in all shapes, sizes and colors. But unlike dolls, people are not to be stared at or to be used by others for their selfish enjoyment or personal benefit. -------According to a newspaper article, Rev. Paul Lehman is a priest at St. Antoninus Roman Catholic Church in Newark, New Jersey in the United States. There has been much snow and cold weather in that area this winter and last month he slipped on the icy steps of his home. The middle finger on his right hand became wedged in something as he fell and the top third of that finger was severed. He was taken to the emergency room of University Hospital where a member of his church who had heard of his accident came to visit him. She heard a doctor's suggestion that the missing part of the finger might be reattached if it were available, so she went back to the site of the accident and looked around. After about ten or fifteen minutes of searching and praying, she found the finger on the snow and rushed back to the hospital with it on a paper plate, arriving just as the priest was being wheeled into surgery. The cold had preserved the finger and it was reattached during microsurgery. The comment of Rev. Lehman, who is expected to regain full use of that finger, was: "God always brings good out of every situation. There is the whole notion of God using the skills of these doctors, one of whom was Jewish and one of whom was Presbyterian, on a Catholic priest." -------The home in which we lived in northern Illinois last summer, was about an hour's drive (on an expressway) from the O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. This airport is reportedly the busiest airport in the world. According to the 1987 'Guinness Book of World Records', an airplane took off or landed every 42.25 seconds around the clock during 1985. During our stay in the States, we went to that airport a number of times to meet people or to see them off, so we should have become well acquainted with its layout. Nevertheless, we frequently had trouble getting back to the right area, the right section or the right level of the parking lot to return to our car. To us "foreigners" it was very confusing. One thing we noticed was the difference in the sensitivity of the metal detectors we passed through on the way to arrival or departure areas. One day, we saw a party off on one airline and met another party who had arrived on a different airline. In the one case, I was able to pass through the detector without trouble, but at the other place, I had to take off not only my watch and coin purse but also my metal ballpoint pen before I could pass through without hearing the alarm sound. -------The basic meaning of "witness" is to see or experience something. We may witness a baseball game in a stadium or a traffic accident along a street. A second meaning is to testify or to give a report of what we have seen or experienced. If we see an accident, we may be called as a witness before a judge. In the New Testament, believers in Christ are called witnesses. They are expected to testify yo their experience of his love, but the focus of their witness is not themselves but Christ. A good example of a witness is provided by John the Baptist in the first chapter of the Gospel of John when he was investigated by a group sent from the Jewish authorities. John repeatedly denied that he himself was anyone of Importance. Rather, he directed attention to a greater person whose sandals he was not good enough to untie. He spoke of himself as merely a "voice...shouting in the desert". Christ witnesses today also should not call attention to themselves but point to their Lord. We should be simply voices proclaiming the good news of God's holy love. A voice itself is not important. What is important is the message the voice speaks. And we should also remember the proverb that "Actions speak louder than words". -------Some common English nouns have been converted into verbs. For example, to "chair" means to preside over a meeting and to "table" means to postpone consideration of a proposal. Likewise, the names of a couple of small animals may also be used as verbs. A ferret is a kind of weasel whose name comes from the Latin word for "thief". From ancient days, this animal seems to have had a bad reputation, but it was also trained to hunt rats or rabbits. As a verb, ferret means to uncover something after an intensive search. A squirrel is a rodent with a long, bushy tail that may provide shade when it is raised. In fact, the word comes from Greek words meaning "shadow tail". Squirrels put away nuts to be eaten later and as a verb, squirrel may mean to store up for future use. You may be disappointed if someone else ferrets out what you have squirreled away. -------In Tuesday messages since the last meeting of "Daily Word" fans, I have suggested six or seven themes for listeners/readers to write essays on. The themes are: Proverbs, Robinson Crusoe/Clark Gable, Birds, U.S. Presidents, Meat and Computers. Those essays sent to me will be corrected and published in next issue of '"Daily Word" Echoes' which is scheduled for publication on May 29th. Please send essays to reach me by Saturday, March 19th. Written copies of messages are mailed out each week on the Thursday before they are transmitted by telephone to those who request them and send me a self-addressed, stamped envelope plus ¥30 in stamps for each week of messages desired. (Japanese translations are also available.) I am always happy to receive reactions, comments, criticisms and/or suggestions regarding these messages from listeners / readers. During and since my visit to the United States last summer, I have added a short personal note at the conclusion of the printed message. I am considering discontinuing this practice and would like to know your opinion. Would you prefer to have that personal note of about 30 seconds continued or eliminated? This is: "Daily Word", Post Office Box 30, Moriyama Post Office, Nagoya 463. -------The primary meaning of cocktail is a drink consisting of various alcoholic beverages. A Molotov cocktail, however, is not something one drinks at a party to make one feel good. It is something thrown during an attack as an expression of anger or hatred. A Molotov cocktail is a simple incendiary bomb made of a breakable container filled with a flammable liquid, such as gasoline. Its rag wick is lit before it is thrown against a tank or other object and, upon impact, it explodes, spreading flames over the target. These makeshift bombs were first used by the Finns against the Russian invaders in the winter of 1939-1940. They were named for the Soviet minister of foreign affairs at that time, the hated symbol of Russian aggression. Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov was born 104 years ago today, on March 9, 1890. It was after he became a Communist that he changed his surname to Molotov, meaning "hammer". Following the Communist Revolution, he was a strong supporter of Stalin and his repressive policies and became famous for his inflexibility. He was the one who hammered down the pegs that stuck up by advocating change or a softening of policies. -------A recent news article noted that Japanese students were eating too much junk food. Do you know what kind of food that is? There are a couple of different English words spelled j-u-n-k. The one denotes a Chinese flat-bottomed boat with battened sails which may be used not only to transport cargo from large ships to piers but also as a houseboat on which whole families live. The other kind of junk is useless stuff that has been discarded, also called trash or rubbish. The place where scrapped material such as automobiles, appliances and machinery, are dumped is called a junkyard. Junk mail is the kind of mail posted at the cheapest rate and consisting of advertisements which are often thrown into the wastebasket without being opened. The term "junk food" is now applied to various fast-service restaurant foods or prepackaged snack foods of low nutritional value. There is concern about the effect on the health of children who are eating too many snacks of this kind of food. Unfortunately, many of these same young people are absorbing junk food for their minds as well as their bodies. The kind of reading material or television programs imbibed will affect the mental or spiritual health of imbibers. -------A very tall building may be called a skyscraper because the top of it seems to scrape against the sky. New York City is famous for its skyscrapers, the most famous of which is the Empire State Building, which was completed in 1931. Literally, an "empire" is a political unit under control of a single, supreme authority called an emperor, but because of the wealth and importance of the State of New York, it is called the Empire State and that is the reason for the building's name. The Empire State Building is 381 meters tall and has a total of 102 stories. In this office building which accommodates some 25,000 tenants, most people use elevators to go up and down, but there are also stairways between the floors. Last month the 17th annual Empire State Building Run Up was held in which 92 men and 35 women from 8 countries took part. Contestants raced up 1430 steps of 80 floors to the finish line. The winner of the men's division, a research hospital chemist from Colorado, broke through the finishing tape 9 minutes, 37 seconds after he began. In the women's category, a high school history teacher from Australia came in first with a time of 11 minutes, 57 seconds. I presume all the runners went back down by elevator. -------On two occasions during our visit to the United States last summer, we were visited by people from Japan. One young lady from our church in Takahama was on her way back home after 15 months of study in England. The other was a couple and their daughter, a good friend of our granddaughter who was with us, They had come to take our granddaughter with them back to Japan. There are many famous sightseeing spots in the large city of Chicago, and we escorted these Japanese friends to a few of them. An expressway connects the O'Hare International Airport with the center of the city, which is known as the loop, because elevated train lines converge there and circle the downtown area in a kind of loop. Near the loop stands the tallest office building in the world, the 110 story, 443 meter tall Sears Tower. From the sky deck on the 103rd floor, we may see tens of kilometers in all directions. While there, we heard tourists speaking various languages, including Japanese, Along a street near the Tower, poorly dressed men and women were begging for money from passersby. We also visited the Field Museum. One could easily spend many days in the various sections of this museum with its special exhibits related to the natural world, history and science. Although this famous place is also visited by many foreigners, the only language used in the explanatory signs is English. Washrooms, of course, are designated by symbols as well as, or instead of, words. -------One of the basic Old Testament commandments was the one against making a material image or idol of God, for the true God is spirit and cannot be visualized. Yet, we must have some kind of mental conception in order to speak about that divine being. The Bible contains different figures for God, which necessarily reflect the cultural surroundings in which they were written. The most common figure for God in the Bible is "Father", which implied the authority, justice an d love of a personal being. The 11th chapter of the Old Testament book of Hosea contains a touching poem of the tender feeling of God, the father, toward Israel, his wayward son. God love this child from the time it was born. He lovingly took the child in his arms, taught him how to walk and gently disciplined him. But the son disobeyed its father and had to be punished, even though the father found it difficult to punish the child he dearly loved. In this parable, which is easily understood by its readers--especially parents, the basic character of God is revealed. He is a divine father who loves and cares for his children and desires their happiness but chastises them when they do wrong. Belief in such a God inspires gratitude, a sense of responsibility and spiritual peace in the heart of believers. -------As you know very well, the pronunciation of English words is very irregular. Some words include letters which are not pronounced -- like the b's in such words as doubt, subtle, plumber and debt. This last word, spelled d-e-b-t and denoting something owed to another, has a peculiar explanation for its silent b. Originally, this word was spelled the way it is pronounced: d-e-t. Later, under French influence, its spelling was changed for a time to d-e-t-t-e but the pronunciation remained the same. And the pronunciation did not change even after medieval scholars added the b thinking they were paying a debt to the classics by making the word conform to its supposed Latin ancestor, debitum. It would have been better, however, if they had not tampered with the word. Thomas Fuller, an English physician and writer, noted that "Debt is the worst poverty." -------Baseball is a popular team sport in both the United States and Japan. For how long do you think this sport has been played? In the year 1700, an English clergyman wrote disapprovingly that baseball was being played on Sundays, but the first baseball game in the United States was played in New Jersey in 1846 when the New York Nine defeated the Knickerbockers 23 to 1 in 4 innings. A difference in decorum between American and Japanese athletes may be seen in the fact that, in that very first game, the pitcher for the New York Nine was fined six cents for swearing at the umpire. It was over twenty years later that the first professional baseball team was organized. That team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, played their first game 125 years ago today on March 15 1869. The Red Stockings won 56 games, tied one and lost none in that first season. That team is now called the Reds, while a professional team in Boston is called the Red Sox. Sox, a plural of sock, is a short stocking reaching a point between the ankle and the knee. The city of Cincinnati was named after the ancient Roman hero, Cicinnatus, who is considered a model of old fashioned simplicity, ability and virtue. -------A report issued earlier this year by the Management and Coordination Agency stressed the importance of fathers in the raising and education of children in the home. According to a survey included in that report, children are spending less time at home than before and have little personal contact with their fathers. More than half of the children in the second year of junior high school and over 40 percent of fifth-graders in elementary school responded that they never talk to their fathers. Aside from time spent sleeping, junior high school students in 1990 spent an average of 6.27 hours at home a day, compared with 6.52 hours a day ten years earlier. Among fifth-graders, in 1981, 17.8 percent said they ate breakfast alone, but in 1992 that number had grown to 23.1 percent. As family cohesiveness is breaking down, there is less education done in the home and discipline is lax. More and more parents are relying on schools to teach manners and discipline, which were taught in the home in years gone by. One reason for this situation is the lack of self-confidence, strong conviction or personal faith on the part of parents. Before we can effectively teach others, we must have a firm foundation for our own lives. We cannot transmit to others what we do not have ourselves. -------A recent newspaper article was headlined: "Ex-shopaholic mends her ways by opening store". The word "ex-shopaholic" will not be found in a dictionary, but you may be able to guess what it means. In this case the prefix means "former", as in the word "ex-president" or "ex-convict". The suffix comes from alcoholic, denoting a person who drinks too much liquor containing alcohol. Such a person is a compulsive drinker. Just as a person who works too much may be called a workaholic, a shopaholic is a compulsive shopper. For the past twenty years Fran Menconi, of the Chicago suburb of Tinley Park, has been a compulsive shopper. She confessed that her spending sprees "bordered on the ridiculous". She could not resist buying things--when she was happy, when she was sad and at times in between. "Shopping always perked me up," she said, "but like drugs, the high lasted only a short time . . . and then I'd always want more." Now that she is divorced and living in a small apartment, she has opened a consignment store and is selling off hundreds of pairs of earrings, scarves, blouses and other clothing items she has accumulated. She hopes she has conquered her compulsion to buy things. All of us have human weaknesses for which divine help is needed to overcome. -------A major waterway that meanders through the city of Tokyo is the Sumida River. One of Tokyo's popular sightseeing and shopping areas is located along this river in the "shallow grass", or 'Asakusa', district. At the heart of this area is a temple related to the Tendai strain of Japanese Buddhism. Although commonly called 'Asakusa-dera', its official name, using the same Chinese characters, is 'Sensoji'. The object of worship in this temple and the reason for its existence is a small, golden image of a 'bosatsu', or bodhisattva, known in Japan as Kannon. This legendary figure of great compassion was originally considered masculine in India, but by the time the legend reached Japan, he had been changed into a female personage. It is said that on March 18 in the 36th year of Suiko (1366 years ago today, in 628 according to the Gregorian calendar), fishermen found this tiny image of pure gold in their fishing net when they pulled it out of the Sumida River. They showed it to a leading man in the area who decided to make his residence into a temple to enshrine the sacred relic. So the Asakusa Kannon Temple was established. Now, multitudes of people visit that temple daily, but it is doubtful how many actually worship there. -------The Japanese lady who stayed with us for a week in Illinois on her way back to Japan from England had some English pounds with her that she wanted to exchange for American dollars. We inquired at banks and offices of other financial institutions in our local area, but none of them offered that service. We thought the situation would be different in the metropolis of Chicago where there are many foreign residents. However, even at branches of major banks in the Chicago Loop, the money could not be exchanged. Finally, we were directed to an office that specialized in foreign currency exchange, but we were surprised that it was so difficult to find such a money changer. My wife and that lady were also surprised at the difficulty they had locating a washroom in a major department store in that city. In contrast to department stores in Japan, they did not see signs indicating the location and, although they had no language problem, there seemed to be very few clerks around to ask. In regard to the cost of commodities in the United States, it seemed to us that the value of the dollar had dropped since our previous visit three years earlier, but comparing prices with those in Japan, we were reminded of how expensive things are in Japan. At times during our visit, we had the strange feeling of being foreigners in our own homeland. -------The Bible contains many stories of prophets and records many words of these prophets. The primary meaning of "prophet" in the Bible is a person who speaks under divine inspiration. Biblical prophets do not always make predictions about the future. They also interpret the meaning of past events and give exhortations or admonitions related to their own day. Basically, biblical prophets are considered spokesmen for God, transmitting his message to those who will hear. Often, their prophecies did concern the future as is the case with the poem found in the 35th chapter of the book of Isaiah. There the prophet describes an ideal future land where streams of water will flow through the desert which will produce beautiful flowers. The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the dumb will speak and the lame will leap and dance. People will sing and shout for joy and the poem ends with these words: "They will be happy for ever, for ever free from sorrow and grief." Such a vision of the future was as unrealistic 2500 years ago as it is today, but the faith that a holy God of love is in control of the world and of human his story continues to give hope and comfort to those who both believe and work to bring the ideal into actuality. -------In last Friday's message, I mentioned the Sumida River that "meanders through the city of Tokyo". Now, as I look at a Tokyo map, I'm not sure that "meander" was the proper verb to use, at least when considering the origin of that word. Actually, "meander" comes from the name of a river in Asia Minor, regarding which the ancient Roman poet, Ovid, wrote: "it flows backwards and forwards in its varying course, and meeting itself, beholds its waters that are to follow, until it fatigues its wandering current, now pointing to its source, and now to the open sea." The Sumida River does not follow such an extremely winding course. We may also speak of a person who wanders about aimlessly, without a fixed direction as meandering. Some people meander through life, but it is better to have a fixed goal and to seek to attain it -- like an Olympic athlete. -------Many Japanese people are having a new experience this year. They are eating rice grown in other lands. Because of last year's poor rice harvest in Japan, foreign rice is being imported from various countries to supply the demand. A newspaper article reports that a uniform price for foreign rice, 30 percent less than Japanese rice, is being charged throughout the country. The Food Agency had instructed prefectural governments to supply this standard-price rice in the form of either 100 percent imported rice or 70 percent imported rice and 30 percent domestic rice. Most prefectures have chosen the former course and sell a mixture of imported rice consisting of 60 percent U.S. rice and 20 percent each of rice grown in China and Thailand. It will be interesting to learn the reaction of the consumers regarding the comparative quality, taste, and price. Another article reports that a rice retailers' union in Fukushima has developed a way to make imported rice taste as good as domestic rice. When foreign rice is coated with a fermented vegetable fiber, the rice is said to have a better taste and become more chewy. The union spent ¥12 million developing this 'Seimai Ko-tingu Sochi'. Changes in the rice-eating habits of Japanese, may foster the cause of internationalization. -------Seventy-five years ago today, on March 23, 1919, a new political party was founded in Milan, Italy. That time of instability and discontent in Italy following the First World War was favorable for the establishment of this nationalistic party which vigorously opposed left-wing radicalism and socialism. The party's founder, Benito Mussolini, named it the Fascist Party. The Latin word 'fasces' denotes a bundle of sticks. As one of Aesop's fables makes clear, sticks that can be broken one by one cannot be broken when they are bundled together and a bundle of rods tied together from which an ax protruded was the symbol of authority of magistrates in ancient Rome. This symbol became the emblem of Italian Fascists. In 1922, when Fascists marched on Rome and demanded power, King Victor Emmanuel III complied and appointed Mussolini Prime Minister. This man, who took the title of Duce, meaning leader, soon became a dictator and suppressed all other political parties. The term Fascism has since been applied to similar totalitarian movements in other countries which were characterized by ruthless and disreputable practices. President Franklin Roosevelt described fascism as "ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power." -------Today is the 24th day of this month. What do you associate with the number 24? Probably the first thing that comes to mind is the number of hours in one day. There are 12 hours in the morning and 12 in the afternoon, making a total of 24 hours in a day. Since there are 12 items in a dozen, we can say that 24 is equal to two dozen. A carat, spelled c-a-r-a-t, is a unit of measure for the fineness of gold, equal to 1/24 of the amount of pure gold in an alloy. So "24 carat" is pure gold and may be used to denote something completely trustworthy or genuine. There is a well-known nursery rhyme which begins "Sing a song of six-pence, a pocket full of rye, four-and-twenty blackbirds, baked in a pie." And in John's vision of heaven, recorded in the Apocalypse, the last book in the Bible, in a circle around the central throne were 24 other thrones on which 24 elders, dressed in white and wearing crowns of gold, were seated [4:4]. This reminds us that there were 12 tribes of Israel in the Old Testament and 12 apostles of the Christ in the New. Finally, 24 is the factorial of four, which means that when all the numbers up to four are multiplied together, the result is 24. -------Recently there was a notorious hassle over the attempt of a father to name his son Akuma, which means devil. I do not think there are many parents in the United States who choose the name of a newborn infant on the basis of its meaning. It is rather the sound of the name or its connection with other people or things that is more important. In Japan, however, the meaning of a name is an important factor parents take into consideration. Even so, names with the same pronunciation may consist of different Chinese characters. A recent survey revealed that the most popular name given to newborn girls in 1993 was Ayaka, but there were 17 different ways of writing that name. The second most popular name was Haruka, followed by Mai, Natsumi and Misako. Traditionally, the most common female names ended in "ko", but such names have been decreasing in recent years. Last year, however, girls' names ending in "ko" showed an increase of 1.1 percent over the previous year to 15.1 percent of the total. It is believed that the popularity of the two princesses, Masako and Kiko, is part of the reason for this increase. More important than the meaning of a name is the character of the person who bears it. -------On a couple of occasions last summer, when talking guests sightseeing in Chicago, we stopped to have lunch in an underground shopping area connected to Union Station, which is the starting point or end of the line for certain railways. Specialties of the various fast food restaurants located there included hot dogs, pizza, Chinese food and ribs. Small shops nearby sold other kinds of specialties, but the one that regularly attracted my special attention was one that was filled with countless kinds of nuts--of all sizes, shapes and colors from a great variety of trees and places. Normally, I am not that interested in nuts, but it was the name of this shop which caught and held my attention. Its name was: "Nuts on Clark". My given name, of course, is Clark and the word "nuts" is used in the name of this shop with a double or triple meaning. Its primary meaning is simply the plural of nut, which is the hard-shelled fruit or kernel which the shop was selling. As a slang term, however, "nuts" may mean crazy or foolish. It may mean to like something very much or, when used as an interjection, may express disgust, scorn or disapproval. I asked the shop manager about the reason for the name and he informed me that the shop was originally located on Clark Street in Chicago. I received from him a small card with the name of the shop on it, which I still have among my mementos. -------In ancient Rome, a public celebration was held when a commander and his army returned following a victorious campaign. Such a celebration, when clouds of people welcomed the soldiers led by their commander riding on a horse, was called a triumph. The entry of Jesus into Jerusalem a few days before his crucifixion is commonly called the Triumphal Entry. Jesus, however, did not enter the city riding on a majestic horse. Rather, he rode on a lowly ass. In this symbolic way, he fulfilled an Old Testament prophecy regarding the coming Messiah and highlighted a contrast between the kind of kingship he came to establish an d that of political authorities. Jesus' kingship was not based on force or external authority. The way to kingship that taught and exemplified was the way of humble self-sacrifice. In the Christian Church calendar, this Sunday, before Easter is called Palm Sunday because people waved branches from palm trees to greet Jesus as he entered the city. Jesus' Triumphal Entry did not celebrate a past victory. It preceded his arrest, suffering an death. But it also anticipated his triumphal, victorious resurrection. For Jesus' followers also, true victory comes through self-sacrifice. -------At graduation ceremonies in Japan it is common to hear a Scottish tune to which a Japanese song, Hotaru no hikari, is sung. The name of this tune, Auld Lang Syne, literally means "old long since", denoting good old days of years gone by. At traditional high school graduation exercises in the United States, graduates march in procession to their place of honor to the tune of a musical place called Pomp and Circumstance. The title of this march by Sir Edward Elgar comes from Shakespeare's play, Othello, where we find the words, "pride, pomp and circumstance of glorious war." "Pomp" from a Greek word meaning "procession", now denotes a dignified or magnificent display. The Latin root of "circumstance" literally means "stand around" and, in Shakespeare's day, it also denoted a ceremony, where people did just that. Congratulations to the new graduates! -------Today, March 29th, is the 104th anniversary of the birth of John Tyler. Although not considered a famous American, this 10th president of the United States achieved a number of firsts as president. He was the first man to become president who was not elected to that office. In the election of 1840, he was elected Vice-President. William Henry Harrison, the military hero of a battle with Native Americans along a river in Indiana called Tippecanoe, was elected President. Their campaign slogan, "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" was one of the most famous in American electoral history. When General Harrison died of pneumonia a month after his inauguration, John Tyler succeeded him as president. The next year Tyler's wife died and two years later, he became the first president to be married in the White House. Because of his independent spirit and conscientious refusal to support policies he disagreed with, he alienated his own political party and became the first president against whom an impeachment resolution was introduced in the House of Representatives. Although it failed, he has been called by historians, a "President without a party". Perhaps his most notable achievement as president was the annexation of Texas at the very end of his presidency in 1845. -------If you make a visit to a zoo, you will see many different kinds of animals. Those that most closely resemble human beings are monkeys and apes. Do you know the difference between these two types of primates? Both apes and monkeys live in trees and their main food is fruit, berries and other vegetable products. A basic distinguishing factor is a tail. Monkeys have tails, but apes do not. Apes also have an appendix, which is lacking in monkeys. They also have a more complex brain and tend to stand erect. The main kinds of apes are chimpanzees, gorillas, gibbons and orangutans. When used as a verb, "ape" means to imitate or mimic. Sometimes apes or monkeys may mimic the actions of people and, in fact, a Japanese word for ape, 'hitonizaru', literally means a monkey that resembles a human being. A playful, mischievous child may be called a "monkey" and, as a verb, "monkey" may signify playing or tampering with something or behaving in a mischievous manner. Mark Twain once said: "I believe our Heavenly Father invented man because he was disappointed in the monkey", but according to the Bible, God is more disappointed at the cruel, sinful, inhuman or inhumane actions of the human beings he created. -------Latin phrases are often used in matters related to both law and logic. Today I will mention two Latin phrases used in logic which are applied to erroneous reasoning which has the appearance of soundness. Such reasoning is called a logical fallacy. The phrase 'post hoc ergo propter hoc', literally meaning "after this, therefore because of this", is used when something is assumed to be the cause of something else merely because it preceded it in time. For example, if a man falls over after drinking a glass of beer, it does not follow that the beer was the cause of his fall. Another logical fallacy, 'petitio principii', is also know as "begging the question". In this case, an attempt is made to demonstrate a conclusion by using arguments that assume the conclusion is true. It is similar to "arguing in a circle". For example, to say that parallel lines will never meet because they are parallel is begging the question. Although our limited, present understanding places certain areas of belief beyond the reach of strictly logical reasoning, we should try to be logical in our thinking and humbly recognize the unproven assumptions which underlie some of our conclusions. -------There are various subjects I could choose to talk about in today's message related to this first day of April, which is also the Friday before Easter Sunday. You probably can guess a couple of them and you may also surmise which subject I will choose. In fact, I will try to combine two of them together. As you know, April 1st is called April Fool's Day in the West. There are various theories regarding how the tradition began of trying to fool a person on this day. Whatever the reason for its origin, it is well to be on one's guard today and to take the words of others with the proverbial grain of salt to avoid being made a fool of. The English word "fool" comes from a Latin word meaning "bellows", or 'fuigo' in Japanese. There is nothing but air in this device, so we may consider a fool to be a person with an empty head. The Friday before Easter in the church calendar is the day we commemorate the death of Jesus on the cross. The first chapter of the First Letter of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians indicates that from the earliest days of the Christian Church, some people considered the message about Christ's death on the cross to be nonsense or foolishness. To those who believe in Christ, however, it symbolizes God's great love and inspires them to begin a new life. According to Paul, the so-called foolishness of God manifested in the cross of Christ is wiser than human wisdom. And according to Jesus' words in Matthew 11:19, "God's wisdom is shown to be true by its results." -------From my hometown of Zion, located in the northeastern corner of the state of Illinois, different roads can be taken to the city of Chicago, about 70 kilometers to the south. Among them are local roads, state highways, national highways and an interstate highway. The interstate highway is a toll road which runs through sparsely inhabited areas to the west. This is the fastest way to Chicago and to the international airport northwest of the city. Other roads run through towns along the way, but the oldest, most picturesque road is the easternmost one that goes through suburban communities along the west coast of Lake Michigan. Taking this route into Chicago is slow because it winds through many towns and the speed limit is very low. On one trip into Chicago last summer, we took this road to show our Japanese guest some of the sights along the way. We saw many beautiful homes of wealthy families and went along the campuses of Lake Forest College and Northwestern University. In the town of Wilmette, we stopped to visit the Bahai House Worship, the American headquarters of the Bahai religion. This nine-sided domed structure took 40 years to complete. The inscription in one of its nine alcoves is the following: "The light of a good character surpasseth the light of the sun." -------There are three different English verbs that denote bringing new life to that which is, or seems to be, dead: revive, resuscitate and resurrect. The first two may be used of a person who has lost consciousness, but the last one means to raise from death. Today is the day that most Christian churches celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Called Easter Sunday, it is the major festival of the Church. From the beginning of the Church, as recorded in the New Testament book, The Acts of the Apostles, the resurrection of Christ was a central emphasis in Christian doctrine and the apostles themselves were called "witnesses of the resurrection". In the letters to churches and individuals included in the New Testament, repeated reference is made to this startling fact which is inexplicable from an exclusively human viewpoint. Christians who believe in the power of God and the deity of Christ base their faith in the resurrection on a deeper element than human reasoning. They have experienced the life-changing power of the living Christ in their own lives and thus share the joyful witness of their faith and experience with others. In this season of new life in nature, I pray that you also may experience new life within. -------In the letter to the church at Laodicea, found near the end of the 3rd chapter of the New Testament book of Revelation, we find these well-known words: "Because you are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I will spit you out of my mouth." From this saying, you may be able to guess the meaning of "lukewarm", spelled l-u-k-e-w-a-r-m. Luke, of course, is a man's name, but that has nothing to do with the meaning of this word. In this case, "luke" is the modern form of an old English word that came from Dutch meaning tepid. Since tepid by itself means moderately or barely warm, the word "lukewarm" is actually redundant. It is used not only to indicate the temperature of a liquid but the feeling or enthusiasm of a person as well. In regard to religious faith, as the above-quoted Bible passage makes clear, it is better to be hot or cold rather than simply lukewarm. ------- |