12/21/13

Utah Bishop on Court’s Lifting the Ban on Same-Sex Marriage

December 21, 2013

[Episcopal Diocese of Utah]  As the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Utah, I rejoice that U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby has struck down Utah’s Amendment 3.  All people should have the right to due process and equal protection enshrined in the 14th Amendment. Gay and lesbian people are human beings with hopes, dreams, and the need for love. I celebrate that now they will have access to the same fulfillment enjoyed by heterosexual people. They are people made in the image of God.

Many people will find this ruling difficult. The change that this represents will cause them heartache, frustration, and a feeling that our country is going in the wrong direction. Understanding, compassion and prayer for people who deplore this decision is important. They are people made in the image of God. I will be offering my prayers for them.

We are one people. We are one state. We can and must work to make Utah into the place where all people are treated with respect and dignity, and where God is seen in the face of each and every person. As the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Utah, I will continue to welcome all people into The Episcopal Church.


Bishop Scott B. Hayashi

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About Bishop Hayashi


Nov. 6, 2010 Photo
The Right Reverend Scott B. Hayashi was consecrated as the Eleventh Bishop of Utah on November 6, 2010, following his election in May, 2010.

Bishop Hayashi served as Canon to the Ordinary for the Diocese of Chicago, for five years, prior to his Utah election. In his Chicago position, he acted as the Bishop’s confidante, Chief of Staff to 20 employees, deployment officer, consultant on congregational development, as leader of Diocesan Council, and as general troubleshooter for the diocese. Prior to holding that position, Scott was a parish priest from 1984-2005, serving in parishes in Washington, Ogden, Utah, and California.

Bishop Hayashi was the youngest of 3 children from an unchurched family from Tacoma, Washington, and he is the only active Christian from this nuclear family. His desire to know and to understand spirituality in general led him to a longing to know Christ when he was 15-years old. He has been engaged in critical Bible study since his conversion.

Hayashi attended Harvard Divinity School where he met his wife, Amy, who was then a student at Episcopal Divinity School. They have been married for 29 years and have three daughters ages 27, 23, and 15. His undergraduate work was at the University of Washington where he received a Bachelor of Social Work degree. He also obtained a Certificate of Theology from CDSP in 1984.

The Bishop was ordained as a priest in the Diocese of Spokane in 1984. In addition to his work in the Diocese of Chicago, he has acted as a Conference Leader for CREDO since 1999 and has worked with nearly 600 clergy of The Episcopal Church in the area of wellness and development. He has served in rural, urban and suburban parishes, thus drawing on a variety of experience in a broad spectrum of the Episcopal Church.

Bishop Hayashi has fought for the dignity of all humans in our immigration laws, health care for all, rights for all who are made in God’s image, and respect for those of other faith traditions.

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12/9/13

Statement by General Seminary's President on Bishop Suffragan-Elect Allen Shin


On Saturday, December 7, the Rev. Allen K. Shin (General Theological Seminary Class of 1996, STM 2001) was declared the bishop suffragan-elect of the Episcopal Diocese of New York at a special election held at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. 

Shin, who is currently rector of St. John's Church, Huntington, New York, was elected by a majority of the active clergy and by a majority of the lay delegates who participated in the election.

"Alan is a great leader of the Church," praised the Very Rev. Kurt H. Dunkle, Dean and President of The General Theological Seminary. "Many recognized him as such this past Saturday. General is proud to send forth its beloved son into the wider Church, well prepared 17 years ago on this very Close."

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12/7/13

Bp. Provenzano: "Blessings on the Diocese of New York at the Election of a Bishop Suffragan"

The clergy and people of the Diocese of Long Island extend to all our sisters and brother in the Diocese of New York our sincere congratulations on the election of one of our beloved priests, Fr. Allen K.  Shin, as the bishop suffragan-elect of New York.  

May the love, grace, mercy and joy of Jesus Christ continue to bless the Diocese of New York as it moves forward in mission. 


The Right Reverend Lawrence C. Provenzano 
Bishop of Long Island


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The Rev. Allen K. Shin Elected Bishop Suffragan on 4th Ballot

Bishop Suffragan-Elect
At 2:40 p.m. on Saturday, December 7, at the special election convention held at Manhattan’s Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, the Rev. Allen K. Shin was declared the bishop suffragan-elect of the Episcopal Diocese of New York.

The new bishop suffragan will work alongside and under the direction of the 16th Bishop of New York, the Rt. Rev. Andrew M.L. Dietsche. Shin, who is currently rector of St. John’s Church, Huntington, LI, NY was elected on the 4th round of balloting by a majority of the active clergy of the diocese in attendance at convention and of the lay delegates in attendance from congregations of the diocese.

Shin was one of five candidates nominated in early October by the Committee to Elect a Bishop, which began work following the call for the election of a suffragan by Bishop Dietsche’s predecessor as diocesan, Bishop Mark S. Sisk, at the diocese’s annual convention in November 2012. Bishop Sisk retired, and Bishop Dietsche was installed as XVI Bishop of New York, on February 2, 2013.

The bishop suffragan-elect must now receive the consent of a majority both of the other diocesan bishops of the Episcopal Church and of the standing committees of the Church’s dioceses, before being consecrated in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on Saturday, May 17, 2014.

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Current Position:

2010 – Present
Rector, St. John’s Episcopal Church, Huntington, LI, NY

Previous Ministries and Positions:

2005 – 2010
Fellow and Chaplain, Keble College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

2002 – 2005
Honorary Assistant, All Saints Church, Margaret Street, London

1996 – 2001
Curate/Assistant, Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, 
New York, NY

1996 – 1999
Assistant Officer, Episcopal Asian American Ministry, Episcopal Church Center, New York, NY

Education:

2001 – 2005
Post-Graduate Research in Patristic Studies, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

2001
Master of Sacred Theology, General Theological Seminary, New York, NY

1996
Master of Divinity, General Theological Seminary, New York, NY

1983
Bachelor of Art, Music/Vocal Performance, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI

Ordination:

12/07/1996
Ordination to Priesthood, Diocese of New York

06/15/1996
Ordination to Diaconate, Diocese of Chicago

Highlights of Diocesan, National Offices and Community Leadership:

Faculty Member, School for Deacons at Mercer School of Theology, Diocese of Long Island

Board Member, Protestant Campus Ministry at Hofstra University, Long Island Council of Churches

Huntington Inter-faith Clergy Association

Episcopal Asian America Ministry Commission, Diocese of Long Island

National Episcopal Korean Ministries Convocation

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11/19/13

Sermon reflection on Typhoon Haiyun

Sermon on November 17, 2013 by
The Rev. Debra Low-Skinner
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Saratoga, California

They say that a woman shouldn’t reveal her age.  Well, I’m all about “Truth, Justice, and the American Way”!  So I am proud to say that, last month, I celebrated my 61st birthday.  One thing about living some three score years is that one has seen and experienced a lot of stuff, some of which were pretty traumatic.  Beyond family of origin issues, there were political crises like the intractable gridlock in Congress and the recent Government shutdown; economic crises like the Great Recession; and international crises like the continuing Mideast conflict and War on Terror.  But, in polite company, one is not supposed to talk about politics or religion.  So, let’s talk about the weather!

Having lived on the East Coast and in California, I have been through some pretty serious climatological disasters:

There was the Big Northeast Power Blackout that took place in August 2003.  Don and I had just moved to Long Island when, during a particularly oppressive hot and humid summer day, a software bug at a power station in Ohio—yes, Ohio, the home state of our Rector Channing—took down the entire power grid of the Eastern Seaboard.  It affected some 55M people living in the Northeast, upper Midwest, and Ontario.  It was the second worse widespread power outage in the past 25 years.  Don and I didn’t have air conditioning or lighting; we couldn’t charge our computers and cell phones; and, because the rectory had an electric stove, we couldn’t cook anything for nearly 24 hours.

There were a few notable winter storms that we saw on the south coast of Massachusetts and New York. But one particularly nasty Nor’easter dumped 18-24” of snow in one day in Feb 2010.  It was named by pundits at the “Washington Post” and by Jon Stewart of the “Daily Show” as “Snow-mageddon” or the “Snow-pocalypse”.  For hours, Don and I checked the snowfall outside and periodically went out to shovel snow from beyond our front and back doors, to keep a path open out of the house and to the car.  We couldn’t drive anywhere because the roads hadn’t been plowed for hours, and stores and offices and local transit were shut down for a day.

Then, of course, like most people who lived here in the Bay Area at the time, we lived through the Loma Prieta (or so-called “World Series”) Earthquake that took place In October 1989.  How many here experienced the Earthquake?  It was a 6.9 magnitude geological shift/jolt along the San Andreas Fault that leveled houses, caused power and telephone outages and gas pipeline explosions, collapsed part of the Bay Bridge killing 42 people, injured thousands of others, wreaked $6B in property damage, and disrupted all our lives for days and weeks afterwards.   With a slight case of PTSD, how many of us remembered shuttering with dread with each aftershock that came?

Yet, throughout all these traumatic events, we persevered.  We made adjustments and learned new things.  We repaired and replaced what was damaged or lost.  We got to know our neighbors better, as we pulled together and helped each other out.  We discovered how strong and resilient we are, as we eventually recovered our equilibrium.  And, by the grace of God, we survived and recognized how truly blessed we are for our lives and having our loved ones still around us.

So, those of us who have been through such disruptions and disasters have some inkling, some sense of understanding, of what the people in the central Philippines are going through, after being struck over a week ago by Super-typhoon Haiyun (also known as Yolanda).  Officials have said that this is the worse cyclone in 25 years.  With 195 mph winds and 230 mph gusts, its destructive force was 1-1/2 times more powerful than Hurricane Katrina and over twice as powerful as Super-Storm Sandy last year.  It is estimated that some 4,000 persons are dead, 2M have been displaced, and there is at least $14B in damage.

Looking at photos in the news, the devastation is massive and mind-bog-gling, with miles and miles of villages and coastlands flattened and debris everywhere.  Aside from a nuclear blast of human origin, one wonders if such widespread and horrific destruction could have been an act of God?

We read from the Book of Job (38:1, 17-18, 25) that “God answered Job out of the whirlwind.  ‘Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?  Who has cut a channel for the torrents of rain, and a way for the thunderbolt?  Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?  Declare, if you know this?’”  Then we read, later on in Job (42:1-3), “Job answered the Lord: ‘I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.  Therefore, I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.’”

In today’s Gospel reading from Luke (21:9a,11), Jesus said, “…do not be terrified…there will be great earthquakes and, in various places, famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.”

Certainly, for the Filippinos suffering mightily from the Super-typhoon, it must seem like the end of the world and the apocalypse has come.  They must be asking themselves, “What have we done deserve this?  Have we angered God (or at least Mother Nature) in some way?  Is God teaching us a lesson?”

And yet we know, from our previous personal experiences of disasters, that by the grace of God and through long hard work, communal cooperation, perseverance, and the charitable generosity and kindness of multitudes upon multitudes of strangers, the survivors of Tacloban and Leyte Province will come through this.  Like Job, they will gain a much better appreciation of themselves, and an appreciation of the sanctity of human life, and an appreciation of the awesome and all-powerful love and mercy of God, our Creator and Savior and Sustainer.

I urge all of us, who have been through our own share of traumatic events and have made it through “to tell the tale”, to be generous in giving to the Episcopal Relief and Development Disaster Fund, which is helping to aid the victims of Super-typhoon.  Let us pray for help and healing for the survivors, and for the safety of those who are traveling there to bring them food and medical aid.   Let us pray for those who may have lost their faith in the face of catastrophic loss.  And let us stand with them, with our hearts open and compassions stirred, as we together sing the words from today’s Canticle 9/Hymn 679:

Surely it is God who saves me; trusting him, I shall not fear.
For the Lord defends and shields me and his saving help is near.
So rejoice as you draw water from salvation’s living spring;
In the day of your deliverance thank the Lord, his mercies sing.

Amen.

DebraL@st-andrews-saratoga.org
Office:  408 867-3493 ext. 244

Pastoral Associate
St. Andrew's Episcopal Church
13601 Saratoga Ave.
Saratoga CA  95070
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References:  Wikipedia:  “Northeast Power Outage 2003”, “Snow-maged-don”, “Loma Prieta Earthquake”; “Time” magazine, 25 Nov 2013 and www.CNN.com on “Super-typhoon Haiyun”.



Prayer Vigil on Friday, December 6 for Typhoon Haiyan Victims

The Episcopal Asian American Ministry of the Diocese of Long Island is sponsoring a Prayer Vigil for the victims of the typhoon and their families on Friday, Dec 6, at 7 p.m. at St. John's Episcopal Church, 149-49 Sanford Avenue, Flushing, NY 11355. 

Fr. Dario Palasi and Fr. Fred Vergara are coordinating the event. 

For more information, contact Fr. Palasi: dariopalasi@aol.com 



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11/10/13

Super Typhoon Haiyan Emergency

REACHING OUT AS PARTNERS IN PHILIPPINES WEATHER SUPER TYPHOON HAIYAN

November 10, 2013 As local authorities continue assessments and communications lines are restored, the scope of the impact of Super Typhoon Haiyan is becoming known. The New York Times reports: "The typhoon left Tacloban in ruins, as a storm surge as high as 13 feet overwhelmed its streets, with reports from the scene saying that most of the houses had been damaged or destroyed in the city of 220,000. More than 300 bodies have already been recovered, said Tecson John S. Lim, the city administrator, adding that the toll could reach 10,000 in Tacloban alone." Please continue to pray for all who were impacted by the storm, and for those working to save lives and restore safety and security.
November 8, 2013  Episcopal Relief & Development has reached out to its partners in the Philippines, as Super Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in the central part of the country on the morning of November 8. According to reports, Haiyan is the strongest typhoon this year and may be one of the strongest in history, with winds that peaked at 195 miles per hour. The impact of the storm caused flash flooding, mudslides and 30-foot storm surges, and knocked out power and communications networks in several provinces.

At this early point in the storm, three deaths have been confirmed and seven injuries reported.  As many as one million people fled to safer areas, with some 125,000 taking refuge in evacuation centers.  Authorities had warned earlier that approximately 12 million people were at risk due to the storm. Among those most at risk were the estimated 270,000 people who had been residing in tents and other makeshift shelters following the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck the central Philippines on October 15, killing 222 people. “Our partner, the Episcopal Church in the Philippines, has done excellent work in the area of disaster risk reduction over the past few years, but when events come one on top of the other like this, challenges are compounded,” said Abagail Nelson, Episcopal Relief & Development’s Senior Vice President for Programs.  “We are standing ready to offer assistance as the local Church assesses needs and identifies areas where it can best help vulnerable people in this difficult time.” Please pray for the Church in the Philippines and for all those affected by Super Typhoon Haiyan.

Your donation to the Disaster Response Fund will enable Episcopal Relief & Development to offer immediate assistance where most needed in times of disaster.

9/19/13

WSJ: "Asian Newcomers Drive Immigration"

The Wall Street Journal reports that "America's foreign-born population grew by nearly 447,000" in 2012. Of that, "the latest increase was a jump in the nation's foreign-born Asian population of more than 309,000.  (The increase in foreign-born Hispanics was relatively modest.)

"A growing share of the immigrants in the U.S. have higher education and income levels and could be filling higher-skilled jobs," according to the report.

Another effect of this immigration trend is that it provides "a bigger pool of workers to power the American economy -- and a bigger tax base to draw from to pay for the social benefits of older, retired Americans. A more fluid labor market -- with workers flowing in and out of jobs, and in and out of states and countries -- also improves economic growth over the long term by allowing for a more efficient matching of employers' and workers' needs."


Source:
Wall Street Journal Sept. 19,2013, Page A2

7/5/13

June 27 - Toua Vang is first Hmong priest in Anglican Communion

Detail from Episcopal News Service
Toua Vang, First Hmong priest in Anglican Communion

June 20 - 24, 40 Years of Asiamerica Ministries Celebration

The Rev. Winfred Vergara, the Episcopal Church’s missioner for Asiamerica ministries, and Priest in charge of St. Jame's Church Elmhurst, preaches June 20 during Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry @ 40 gathering’s opening Eucharist.

Fred Vergara’s sermon at Episcopal Asiamerica Ministries gathering

The full text:

ARISE, AFIRE, ATONE
(Message of the Rev. Dr. Winfred B. Vergara, Missioner for Asiamerica Ministries of The Episcopal Church at the Opening Eucharist Celebrating the 40th Anniversary and Consultation of the Episcopal Asiamerica Ministries held in San Francisco, California last June 20, 2013)

I welcome you to the Consultation and 40th Anniversary of Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry. Please turn to the person next to you and say, “Happy Anniversary!” Thank you. Please be seated.

EAM Consultations always serve as my barometer to measure the mood of Episcopal Asiamerica Ministries. Nine years ago today, in June 2004, I was commissioned as the second missioner of EAM, right at this very hotel (Hyatt Regency in San Francisco.) It was a great and wonderful day, when then California Bishop Bill Swing, acting on behalf of then Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold,  anointed me for the task. Notably present on that day and attending the EAM Consultation for the first time, was then Bishop of Nevada, who two years later, in 2006, would become the first woman Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church, the Most Rev.  Katharine Jefferts Schori.

As I shared my hopes, visions and dreams, everything looked rosy and pregnant with possibilities. My wife and I sold our home in San Jose, California, left our parish and diocese, Holy Child Church in El Camino Real and moved to the Big Apple. The song I sang was “Start spreading the news; I’m leaving today, I wan’na be at 815, New York, New York.” (“815” is the insider language of The Episcopal Church Center to refer to its address, 815 Second Avenue, New York City.)

In my first year, I learned that our budget in The Episcopal Church Center was adequate for holding annual consultations. We also had some grant moneys to help start-up new missions and strengthen existing ones.  So during the 2005 Consultation in Seattle, Washington, I sang to the EAM clergy, “When you’re down and troubled, and you need a helping hand, and nothing, nothing is going right…you just call 815.”

In the succeeding years, we had consultations in Hawaii, in Los Angeles and for the first time, in Kaohsiung. We had a wonderful time of transnational networking as we savored the grand hospitality of the Diocese of Taiwan, the Asian frontier of Province 8. We jumpstarted, among others, the Korean Center for Mission in Los Angeles, with the Rev. Aidan Koh as director,  which developed a partnership with the Anglican Church in Korea, through Archbishop Paul Kim, a missionary exchange in some dioceses.

But in June 2009 Consultation in Florida, as we faced the worsening economy, the restructuring of The Episcopal Church, the cut in the budget and the moratorium on church wide conferences, I sang the song “Lean on me, when you’re not strong; don’t be afraid, I’ll help you carry on, for, it won’t be long when I’m gon’na need somebody to lean on.”
We adapted to the situation, cancelled annual consultations and decided to meet as Ethnic Convocations in order to economize. We also decided to meet less in person and more in teleconferencing. We altered the ways we do business, trying to do more with less. In lieu of EAM consultations, we participated in pan-ethnic and pan-cultural “New Community” and “Everyone Everywhere” conferences. Our youth participated more in the Episcopal Youth Event, our young adults in “Why Serve” and our leaders in various collaborative leadership and ministry training.

But I know, so many of you still long for the EAM Consultation which has not happened in the past three years and so this 40th anniversary of the EAM provided us with a strong reason to do it.

Yet we know that times have changed and things are different. As the economy continues to slow down, unemployment continues to rise, and the church in general has declined, with many parishes and dioceses struggling, and our budget is too lean and too tight to afford this Consultation, my song is from the Beatle’s “Help! I need somebody help! And just anybody… help!”

So now, I pause to thank God for helping make this day possible. 

I thank the EAM Council for their partnership in raising funds. For the first time in history, the EAM Council has ceased simply being the implementing arm of the Asiamerica Ministry Office at 815, which used to provide all of the funds. Today, Asiamerica Office and EAM Council have become full and equal partners in holding this Consultation and I thank the leadership of its president, Bayani Rico. I’ve never seen him play golf when he was on earth, but I think it’s nice that one of your fund-raising is the Winston Ching Golf Tournament.

I thank the Church Pension Group for assisting us with some amount, through the EAM Council.

I thank the Youth & Faith Formation Office for giving us a partnership grant to help cover our expenses for the EAM youth and Young Adults program.

I thank Province VIII for providing scholarships to some of its delegates.

I thank the Diocese of California and Grace Cathedral for hosting this event along with the Dioceses of El Camino Real and Northern California.  I thank the Asian Commission of the Diocese of California for the legworks they’ve done in logistics and liturgy. I thank the Church Divinity School of the Pacific for donating giveaways.

I thank my fellow Ethnic Missioners and all my colleagues in The Episcopal Church Center for sharing their time and expertise to lead workshops and assist in whatever ways to make this Consultation work.

I thank our overseas guests, especially the primates and bishops from Asia, for coming. In the past, we had some funds to partially assist in their travel, but today, we can only offer room and board. So we are grateful for their share of the burden and we are thankful for their love and support.

I thank the Presiding Bishop (Bishop Katharine), the President of the house of Deputies (Gay Jennings), the Chief Operating Officer (Bishop Stacy), and the Director of Mission (Sam Mc Donald) for their inspiration, encouragement and support.

I thank you all who are here today. You honor us with your wonderful presence and remarkable patience in bearing with our logistical problems. Truly, it takes a whole “Episco-Village” to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Episcopal Asiamerica Ministries!

GOSPEL TEXT: LUKE 11:9-13
In the midst of trials and challenges, not the least being financial, my mantra has always been: “Where God guides, God provides. God’s work, done in God’s way, in God’s time will never lack provision.” As people of faith, we must always believe that God answers our deepest needs, mends our broken hearts, wipes the tears from our eyes—and leads us to abundant life. Our gospel today reads: “Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto you.”

A poor, unmarried and blind man was praying and God said to him. “Ask of me only one thing and I will give it to you.” The man was torn in turmoil for he has many needs. If he asks for wealth only, what good would it be if he were blind and with no wife and children to share it with. If he asks for wife and children, what good would it be if he were poor and blind; and if he asks for sight, his heart would only be broken to see his wife and children wallow in poverty. So he set out into thinking and in moment of inspiration, he prayed to God: “Lord, I ask you of only one thing: Give me THE JOY —of seeing my wife and children eating New York steak on a silver platter!”

Perhaps this was the kind of wise prayer expressed by the eight (8) Asian priests and one lay woman,  who gathered in San Francisco in June 1973: James Pun, vicar of True Sunshine, San Francisco; John Yamasaki, rector of St. Mary’s, Los Angeles; Winston Ching, vicar of St. John’s, San Francisco; Lincoln Eng, archdeacon of Diocese of Oregon; Tim Nakayama , vicar of St. Peter’s, Seattle; Albany To, vicar of Church of Our Savior, New York; Victor Wei, vicar of Church of Our Saviour, Oakland; and Robert Tsu, vicar of St. Anselm’s, Lafayette, California and Betty Lee, a laywoman leader of the Diocese of San Francisco.

The nine disciples gathered for fellowship and decided to ask to ask of only one thing—a meager fund to develop a Newsletter that would connect the few Asian churches to one another. There is a Chinese proverb which says, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.” That first step resulted in a resolution which was presented to the 64th General Convention held in Louisville, Kentucky on September 29-October 11, 1973.  As the resolution journeyed to the floor and presented by Convention deputy, John Yamasaki, it was finally worded as “Resolved, that the 64th General Convention calls for the establishment of Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry in order to deepen and strengthen the existing ministries of the Episcopal Church involved with Asian and Pacific Island peoples as well as to establish new ones.”

The response of the General Convention was overwhelming. The resolution was unanimously adopted with an annual budget of $50,000 which at that time was quite substantial. At the initial organizational meeting of the EAM, again in San Francisco, Canon James Pun, the prime mover of the original request said and I quote: “I only asked for a bicycle; but they gave us a bus and hired a driver!”

The first driver of the EAM bus was the Rev. Dr. Winston Ching. He stayed in this job for 30 years, working the infrastructure with great diligence and wisdom. Today, we pause to honor his legacy and that of the pioneers of Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry. We are, today, standing on their shoulders.

As the second bus driver, I endeavor not only to preserve the legacy but to be faithful and continue the vision even amidst the changes and chances both in American church and society. What began as a gathering by a handful of clergy forty years ago, has now become a conglomeration of around 150 churches and missions identified as the “EAM Network.”  Like answer to the prayer of the poor, unmarried and blind man, the grace of God is beyond what we can ever ask for or imagine. God is able to do exceedingly, according to the power working in us, even in our weakness.

And so today, as we celebrate the 40 years of God’s grace and blessing, we are again asking for wisdom as we gather in God’s name and in God’s presence. We need the wisdom of the past, the confidence of the present and the hope of the future.  I am happy that the theme of the Consultation aptly describes my own sentiment: “EAM at 40: Remember, Celebrate and Re-Envision God’s Mission.” We are not really that old. Some people even say, “Life begins at 40” So I am confident that EAM will not only survive but will continue to thrive in the 21st century and on to the next forty years or more!

I feel in my heart that the best legacy that Winston Ching and other pioneers of the EAM have left us, more than the foundational infrastructure of the EAM, is a word, just one word–“Asiamerica.” Nobody in these United States use the word “Asiamerica” but EAM.  In many circles, the word used is “Asian American,” but for us, we use the word Asiamerica.
What is the meaning of Asiamerica? In origin, it was meant to be a two-pronged ministry: ministry to immigrants from Asia and to American citizens of Asian ancestry.  As EAM has evolved in history, it has now become a three-fold ministry: ministry to Asian immigrants, ministry to Asian Americans and ministry of building bridges to Asia. It is a cultural ministry, a cross-cultural ministry, a transcultural ministry. It is an ethnic ministry, a generational ministry, an ecumenical ministry. It is an immigrant ministry, a domestic ministry and a global ministry.
With this in mind, I would like ask, seek and knock for a three-fold vision. This Trinitarian vision is expressed in three acronyms: ARISE, AFIRE and ATONE.

1. ARISE –means “Asiamerica Research in Strategic Evangelization.” Episcopal Asiamerica ministry historically began not in 1973 but in 1873, (not 40 years ago but 140 years ago), when a Chinese lay worker named Ah Foo evangelized and built a church among the Chinese railroad workers in Carson City, Nevada. That self-governing, self-supporting and self-propagating ministry was cut in the bud when the United States passed the Anti-Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Ah Foo and his congregation were among those who were driven out of this country after they had built the transcontinental railroad and mined the “Gam Saan,” the “gold mountain” of California.

I therefore visualize ARISE to be a major research work of EAM to discover, analyze and interpret the relationship between hospitality and evangelism, between racial justice and church growth against the background of Asiamerica history. I visualize ARISE to unmask the destructive power of racism and colonialism that hinders the spread of the kingdom of God from the experience of early Asiamerica Christianity.

One of the living pioneers of the EAM, the Rev. Timothy Nakayama, is instrumental in bringing to the attention of the Anglican Church of Canada the injustice done to the Japanese Anglicans when the Diocese of New Westminster sold two Japanese churches while their congregations were in Internment camps. The Anglican Church of Canada very recently acknowledged “the error of our ways” and issued an apology to the Anglican Japanese Canadians and resolved to make amends and reconciliation.

I visualize ARISE to make a corrective work on the history of racism against Asiamerica as embodied in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the Anti-Miscegenation Laws against Filipino farmers in the 1930’s and the Japanese American Internment in 1940’s.

2. AFIRE – means Asiamerica Fund for Immigrant Rights and Education. Our hearts must be is afire for God’s people suffering in the cold and hiding in the shadows because they are undocumented immigrants. Today, there is the issue of the comprehensive immigration bill that promises a path for their legalization and citizenship. Our Presiding Bishop has spoken many times on this issue but how are we as immigrant churches involving on this issue of our time? It is estimated there are 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country. The fact that there are over one million Asians among them is not the only reason why EAM should get involved. EAM should get involved because our ancestors have experienced being rebuffed in history and we owe it to their memory to stand in solidarity with all the marginalized, to be helpful to the undocumented, to be kind and hospitable to strangers, because we were once “strangers from different shores,” ourselves.

I visualize AFIRE ministries to be developed in every parish, partnering with the Episcopal Migrations Ministries, with Public Policy Network and other agencies in transforming our EAM churches to become spiritual oases for strangers, and centers advocating for and providing services on immigrant rights, education and legalization.

3. ATONE – means Asiamerica Theological Online Network Exchange.  The word “atonement” means in the Old Testament as a “reparation from sin” and in the New Testament as “reconciliation.” But I like to see the image of atonement as “at-one-ment” or the character of being of one mind and one heart, despite our great diversity. I visualize ATONE to be a continuing dialogue and reconciliation with Asia and the global diaspora in the area of theology, mission and ministry.

One of the exciting things that happened during my first year as missioner was when Margaret Larom, the former director of Anglican Global Relations and I had a conversation that led to the appointment of my colleague Peter Ng as the first Partnership Officer for Asia and the Pacific. It has further led to the strengthening of our Asian relations and the development of Asia-America Theological Exchange Forum. I visualize ATONE to be a continuation and expansion of this direction, using the tools of modern technology.

I visualize EAM to develop a virtual Asiamerica Theological Seminary that will continue to connect EAM with Asia and the Asian diaspora as well as other cultural and global communities. Isn’t it amazing if EAM can be of service to its neighbors to develop Anglican “AsiaCanada,” “AsiaBritania,” “AsiaEuropa” and “Asiaafrica,” ministries  with and among the global Asian diaspora? It is estimated that the diverse and pluralistic peoples of Asian descent, comprise almost two-thirds of the world’s population. Don’t we have the mandate to reach the whole world with the message of the reign of God? Maybe we can do ATONE in partnership with seminaries like CDSP, EDS or Vancouver School of Theology—as we have done with our Doctor of Ministry program at Episcopal Divinity School.

Surely this vision is not as simple as asking for bicycle or a bus. But let me end from the words of President John F. Kennedy, when he launched the Space program of the United States on September 23, 1962. JFK said, “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.”
In my flesh, I maybe out of my mind thinking these things I visualized can be accomplished in my tenure as missioner for Asiamerica Ministries. But visions and dreams, according to the scriptures, are not works of the flesh but the language of the Holy Spirit. Yet to calm your feelings, I still have another quote, from W. Clement Stone, who said, “Always aim for the moon, that way, even if you miss, you’ll still be among the stars!”

So ARISE, AFIRE and ATONE. Let this trilogy vision be the defining stars of Episcopal Asiamerica Ministries in the 21st Century!

Now unto God who is able to do exceedingly more than we can ever think, hope or imagine, Thine be the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

4/19/13

May 4 - Asian Heritage Month Celebration



St. Mark's
The Episcopal Diocese of New York EAM group will host a joint service on Saturday, May 4, 2013, at 11 am, celebrating Asian Heritage Month.

You are invited to the Asia/Pacific Heritage Celebration (Eucharist, Lunch and Crafts Fair)

The service will be at St. Mark's-in-the Bowery Church, Manhattan.

The Rev. Winnie Varghese, rector of St. Mark's said, "A festive Eucharist will be followed by music, lots of great food and cool crafts to buy."

The proceeds from the day will benefit the outreach ministries of the Diocese of New York's Asian American Ministries group.  The outreach includes Bethune House, an outreach to migrant women in Hong Kong, the rebuilding of a kindergarten in Japan that was destroyed in the Fukushima Daiichi accident and support of the Asian American Institute at All Saints, Valley Cottage.

Come celebrate with us!

An invitation to the event has been extended to the Diocese of Long Island EAM by Mr. Samuel Cheung of the Episcopal Church of Our Savior in Manhattan and EAM NY.

St. Mark's Church is at 131 East 10th Street, New York, NY 10003

Church office:  (212) 674-6377

4/16/13

Presiding Bishop's Okinawa Anglican Peace Conference keynote address

From The Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs

Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori presents keynote address
at worldwide Anglican Peace Conference

“It is only together as the Body of Christ that we can hope
to find healing, reconciliation, and genuine and lasting peace.”


[April 16, 2013]   In her keynote presentation at the Second Worldwide Anglican Peace Conference in Okinawa, Japan, Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori addressed The question of US military bases in Okinawa - The role of the Anglican-Episcopal Church.

“I want to challenge us all to consider similar situations around the world, and the roles that our respective churches, and the Anglican Communion, might play in reconciliation and peace-making in the face of violence, military force, and war,” she began. “It is only together as the Body of Christ that we can hope to find healing, reconciliation, and genuine and lasting peace.”

More than 80 clergy, lay people and bishops, from the host countries of Japan and Korea as well as Australia, Canada, Ireland, the Philippines, United Kingdom, and the United States, including Bishop John Holbrook representing the Archbishop of Canterbury, registered for Peace Conference which began April 16.

The opening prayer service, featuring a sermon by the Primate of Nippon Sei Ko Kai, Bishop Nathaniel Makoto Uematsu, and the Presiding Bishop’s address were presented in Japanese, Korean and English, reflecting the languages of the attendees.

Prior to the beginning of her address, the Presiding Bishop paused to speak about the bombings hours before at the Boston Marathon, asking the assembly to pray for the dead, the injured, and all those affected.

__________________________________________

The following is Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori's keynote address at the
Worldwide Anglican Peace Conference in Okinawa, Japan

16 April 2013

The question of US military bases in Okinawa - The role of Anglican-Episcopal ChurchI have been asked to speak about the American military bases here in Okinawa, and what role our respective churches have to play in regard to those bases.  In order that we might all begin with a shared understanding of these realities, I want to start with a broad outline of the history behind the present situation here, from three different perspectives:  the history of Okinawa, the history of the military bases, and the history of the Church in these islands.  I believe that will offer us a better base on which to consider what the role of the church is in making peace here.

I want to challenge us all to consider similar situations around the world, and the roles that our respective churches, and the Anglican Communion, might play in reconciliation and peace-making in the face of violence, military force, and war.  I know that my telling of these histories will be done from perspectives that may cause discomfort or offense.  It is not my intent to tell these histories in a biased way, and I know that part of the healing needed among us can only come through hearing the stories of each person and part of this deeply painful chapter of history.  It is only together as the Body of Christ that we can hope to find healing, reconciliation, and genuine and lasting peace.

Let’s start with where we are, in Okinawa.  This island is part of the Ryukyu arc or chain of islands, running some 800 miles between Kyushu and Taiwan.  Okinawa is in the middle of that chain, 400 miles away from the main part of Japan.  For several centuries, these islands were in a tributary relationship with China and Korea, which began to facilitate sea-going trade in the early 15th century.  The status of the Ryukyus changed in 1609, when they were invaded and occupied by Japan.  For the next 270 years Okinawa and the Ryukyu kingdom were in a dual quasi-colonial relationship with both China and Japan.  In 1879 this kingdom was abolished and the islands were incorporated into the Japanese nation as the Okinawa Prefecture.  It’s important to note that Okinawa constitutes a very tiny fraction  - less than half of a percent of the land mass of Japan, and about 1% of the nation’s current population.

The people of Okinawa and the Ryukyus are ethnically and culturally distinct from the peoples of the main Japanese islands, and there have been periodic and sustained initiatives for independence from the rest of Japan.[1]  Americans would recognize similar dynamics in relationships between Hawai’i and the United States, Puerto Rico and the United States –“ both of these territories originally invaded or occupied by US military forces and later incorporated into the larger nation.  Japanese academics have called Okinawa an internal colony of Japan, some have compared it to the relationship of Hokkaido.[2]   There are further parallels with the American territories in the Virgin Islands and Guam.  In both the Japanese and American situations the islands are of strategic military significance because of their geographic location and their ability to provide a critical staging area to support military presence and intervention.

Modern military development in Japan.

Japan began to develop a modern military force in 1867; the Imperial Japanese Army, supplied by conscripts, was established in 1873.  Japanese victory in the first Sino-Japanese War in 1894-95 resulted in the occupation of Taiwan, a shift in control of Korea from China to Japan, and the occupation of part of the Chinese mainland adjacent to the Korean peninsula.  The war also opened Chinese ports to trade.  The treaty that ended this war was soon renegotiated at the behest of Russia and with the support of France and Germany, to return the Liaodong peninsula to Chinese control.  Once Japan withdrew, Russia immediately entered to occupy the territory, particularly the year-round maritime base of Port Arthur.  Japan entered a mutual defense pact with Great Britain in 1902 to protect the interests of both of those nations.

The Russian occupation soon led to the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-5, as the two nations vied for strategic control of Manchuria and Korea.  Negotiations failed, probably because Russia did not believe that Japan would go to war against its numerically superior forces.  Again Japan emerged victorious, having shown its military prowess on land and sea.

Japan participated in the First World War with the Allied Forces against Germany, and intervened briefly in the Russian Civil War against the communists.

In the early 1930s Japan began to expand further into Manchuria, and in 1937 vastly increased its control over Chinese territory, including Shanghai and Nanjing.  In 1940 Japan joined Germany and Italy in the Axis alliance.  In the same year the US began to limit the supply of war materiel to Japan, which soon invaded French Indochina.  Japan and the Soviet Union entered into a non-aggression pact in 1941.  The US and other Allied nations increased the strength of the embargo on military equipment and resources, and increased support to China.

Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 resulted in a declaration of war by the United States, United Kingdom, and the Allies.  Japan achieved remarkable geographic success in the Pacific, occupying Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore, Dutch East Indies, the Philippines, and a number of Pacific islands.  They also conducted operations against Australia, Burma, Solomon Islands, and New Guinea.

The final major campaign of the Second World War in the Pacific theatre included a major battle here on the island of Okinawa.  The American invasion began Easter Sunday, 1 April 1945 with intense naval bombardment, and the landing of 60,000 troops.  Some 3800 tons of ordinance were launched within the first 24 hours, called the “storm of steel” (tetsu no bow).  The Japanese Army had 100,000 well-entrenched troops on the island, controlling the high ground away from the beaches.  The battle included the deployment of nearly 1500 kamikaze flights against American naval forces.  The ground battle was intense and protracted, lasting well into June.  By spring, the ground had turned to mud and the conditions and carnage were appalling.  Following the United States bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the final peace agreement was signed 7 September 1945, but American fortification of this island for a planned invasion of the main Japanese islands had already begun many months before.

The death toll over the five months of battle on Okinawa was immense:  over 107,000 Japanese and Okinawan troops died; nearly 24,000 people were sealed in caves; more than 10,000 were captured; and at least 100,000 civilians died – somewhere between a quarter to a third of the local population.  The death toll on Okinawa was higher than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined.  American losses here on this island were much lower – some 12,000 killed and 36,000 wounded.

Occupation of Japan began in late August 1945, and continued until the treaty of San Francisco took effect in April 1952.  Okinawa was handled differently, remaining under US administration for another 20 years.  In 1972 the United States government returned Okinawa to Japanese administration, having built a number of bases on this island since 1945.  In 1960 Japan and the United States signed a Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security, designed to foster international peace and security in the Far East, and to encourage friendship and economic cooperation between the two nations.  The treaty provides for the continued presence of US bases and military forces in Japanese territory, and requires both nations to respond to threats to mutual concerns for peace and security when they occur within Japanese territory.

One of the provisions of the post-war Constitution of Japan is a prohibition on developing or maintaining a standing army, beyond the scale needed for self-defense.  Those defense forces are forbidden to wage war against other nations.  The Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security, and the maintenance of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, have permitted Japan to devote significant resources to needs other than military ones.  Japan’s military expenditures have consistently been under 1% of GDP.[3]   Public opinion polls in Japan demonstrate that Japanese citizens expect the United States to be responsible for Japan’s security, even though that is not the primary purpose of the Treaty.  At the same time, the Japan Self-Defense Forces are among the world’s most technologically sophisticated, and in recent years have been deployed for international peacekeeping purposes.[4]

Since 1945, the number of US military bases and troops on Okinawa has grown, and the bases were used to support forward operations during the wars on the Korean and Vietnamese peninsulas, as well as more recently during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.  The US military presence continues to be significant for strategic concerns throughout the Far East, particularly in relationship to China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan.

Today there are 32 US military bases in Okinawa, which occupy nearly 20% of the land area of the island.  That represents three-quarters of all Japanese land occupied by American forces (remember that Okinawa is about 0.3% of Japan’s total land mass).  About 25,000 troops are based in Okinawa, and another 11,000 in the rest of Japan.  Fully 90% of all Marines in Japan live in Okinawa.  Dependents (family members) of these troops, and other associated civilians, represent at least as many additional persons.  The bases in Okinawa are used by the US Army, Navy, and Air Force, for naval and air operations, for training, for bombing and shooting ranges, for ammunition depots, as well as support facilities for troops and civilians.  There are reports that nuclear weapons may be present or available, as well as the possibility that the US might use them in time of threat to Japan.[5]

The military bases in Okinawa, in addition to occupying one-fifth of the land mass, account today for only about 5% of the economy, down from a high of 50%.  In several cases the bases occupy land that would be highly valuable for other uses.  The most problematic of the bases houses Futenma Marine Corps Air Station.  It is in the heart of a residential neighborhood in Ginowan City, north of the capital of Naha.  Its use by helicopters and fixed wing aircraft for training operations in a residential area brings strong opposition to the accompanying noise, crash and other hazards, and the impacts of pollution. Occasional criminal activity by military personnel has also generated significant local outcry.

During the period of US military control of Okinawa there was little space or ability for local political influence.  That situation has changed somewhat since 1972.  In particular, soldiers who are charged with crimes against civilians are usually subject to Japanese law, rather than facing only an American military response.  Indeed, two soldiers were sentenced to lengthy Japanese prison terms in early March of this year.[6]   The US military has worked diligently to prevent violence and criminal behavior by soldiers, but has been unable to completely prevent it.  There appears to be somewhat differential publicity about criminal acts by American personnel, compared to those committed by local residents, and compared to humanitarian acts by members of the military and their dependents.

It is abundantly evident, however, that Okinawa bears a disproportionate burden due to the American military presence and the resultant exposure of Okinawans to hazards, nuisance, and the threat of military retaliation by other nations.

Protests and objections by Okinawans over the last several decades resulted in a 2006 agreement between Japan and the United States to relocate several of the Okinawan bases to other parts of the island and a number of the troops to other places, principally the island of Guam.  That agreement proposed to move 8000 troops off Okinawa by the end of 2014, to relocate military activity to other bases on Okinawa or elsewhere, and to return significant amounts of land to local control.  In particular, the land on which Futenma sits would be returned to Okinawa following the base’s relocation.  As part of this agreement, Japan agreed to fund about 60% of the costs for facility construction in Guam and northern Okinawa, as well as relocation of personnel.  The US government agreed to fund the remainder.  This agreement has been reconfirmed by both governments in 2009 and in 2010.  In 2009, the new Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio vowed to move Futenma out of Okinawa, and when he was later unable to fulfill that promise, he resigned in June 2010.  The agreement has been repeatedly reconfirmed, most recently this past February.[7]

The relocation of Futenma to another area of Okinawa has been the source of considerable controversy.  Even before the agreement was signed in 2006, Prime Minister Junichiro noted that no other prefecture in Japan was willing to take the relocated military base, even though the government recognized the undue burden on Okinawa.  When it was first proposed, that replacement base was planned as a floating facility adjacent to Camp Schwab, off the Henoko Peninsula.  That initial proposal has been replaced by a plan to build on filled lands, by reclaiming a portion of the marine environment.  That in turn has provoked controversy and objection from those who consider the environmental effects to be unacceptable.  That site includes dugong habitat as well as significant coral beds and fisheries.

History of Episcopal/Anglican Church in Okinawa.

After Japan expelled the Jesuit mission and the suppression of Christianity in the 16th century, the first evidence of Christian presence in Okinawa was the immigration of French missionaries to the Ryukyus in the 1840s, where they kept vigil hoping to eventually enter the main part of Japan. [8]

The Episcopal Church sent the Rev. Channing Moore Williams from China to Japan in 1866, but there is no evidence he ever got to Okinawa.  The Episcopal Church’s presence and ministry was apparently limited to the main islands of Japan, as was that of the Church of England’s mission societies.

The first Anglican presence in Okinawa dates from the early part of the 20th century.  An English woman and former CMS missionary, Hannah Riddell, founded the Kaishun Byoin, the first Japanese leprosarium or Hansen’s disease hospital, in Kumamoto in 1895.  A young man named Keisai Aoki entered another sanatorium on Oshima as a teenager around 1911, and he was baptized at in 1918 at the age of 25.  He wrote to Riddell, who later sent him to Okinawa to work with other lepers.  He found them living in caves on Iejima and Okinawa, and worked to feed and clothe them, and pray with them.  The local people feared and rejected the lepers, and after having their shelters burned down and being forcibly evicted, Aoki eventually established a community on the small island of Yagaji.  In 1938 this community became the Airaku-en Okinawa Sanatorium.  Aoki was a lay catechist and instrumental in organizing a worshipping community, which became a central part of the facility as “The House of Prayer.”  During the war the sanatorium was mistaken for military facilities and bombed by American forces; a number of people were killed.  After the war Aoki became a deacon, the first ordained person with Hansen’s disease anywhere in the Anglican Communion.[9]   During the US occupation of Okinawa, military members helped to rebuild the sanatorium.  Today it is the largest in Japan, and the chapel community is the largest congregation in the Diocese of Okinawa.

After the war, the primate of Nippon Sei Ko Kai, Michael Hinsuke Yashiro, went to The Episcopal Church’s General Convention in 1949 and asked for particular assistance for Okinawa.  The Episcopal Church took pastoral responsibility for Okinawa that year.  In March of 1951 two American Episcopal priests arrived, William Hefner and Norman Godfrey.  Both of them were veterans whose war experiences motivated them to seek ordination; Hefner had served on Okinawa. The Nippon Sei Ko Kai sent priests and church workers.  Canada sent an interpreter, the Rev. Gordon Goichi Nakayama.  A congregation began in Naha which became the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul.

Military personnel and dependents formed the initial English-speaking congregation in 1958, which built the church of All Souls, dedicated to all who died in Battle of Okinawa.  Kindergartens were begun, a convent was founded, as well as an orphanage for children of lepers, a dormitory for junior high school students from other islands, and other new congregations.

In 1967 Okinawa became a missionary district of The Episcopal Church, and Edmund Browning was elected bishop, having served All Souls and St. Matthew’s, as well as congregations on the military bases and leper colonies in northern Okinawa.

In 1971 the Nippon Sei Ko Kai asked that the church in Okinawa might become part of it, and as Okinawa returned to Japan, the church joined the Nippon Sei Ko Kai in 1972, and a new bishop was elected.  Paul Saneaki Nakamura had been a suicide pilot who survived WW II because there were no more planes or torpedoes to pilot.  His shame at having encouraged other Okinawans to volunteer for those missions left him unable to return.  While he was in seminary, he met that Canadian priest, Fr. Nakayama, who convinced him he must return to Okinawa with the good news of new life in Jesus.[10]

Peacemaking.

It seems important to point out that this is an immensely complicated history, with overlapping threads of racism, militarism, colonialism, and fear of the other.  Okinawa has been treated as a colony for centuries.  Its residents feel their exclusion and commodification by the larger Japanese public and by the American military.  The United States has its own history of racial exclusion toward Japanese Americans, both before and during the Second World War, a history that has not been fully explored or reconciled.  The United States and Japan governments have a common interest in maintaining an American military presence to provide defense for Japan as well as strategic deterrence in the Pacific and East Asia.  That military presence comes primarily at the expense of Okinawans.  Proposals to remove some of that military presence are likely to simply shift the burden to other island populations – either in other parts off Okinawa or on Guam, another “colony” which governments believe can be used for such purposes.  Even the proposal to relocate Futenma northward to Camp Schwab involves colonizing an environmentally sensitive area.

The larger theological questions in the middle of this thorny dilemma have to do with the right use of creation, the burden that one community or people (particularly an oppressed or marginalized one) can be asked to bear for a larger community, the place of military force either as deterrent or aggressor, and the baptismal charge we share to build a beloved community and society of peace.

The underlying motivator for military presence or occupation in Okinawa is fear.  Japan fears retribution from neighboring nations for old wars of aggression.  Governments throughout the region fear aggressive territorial expansionism from more powerful neighbors.  North Korea fears its wealthier neighbors’ ability to challenge its apparently oppressive social policies, as well as the scarcity experienced by its own people.  Okinawans fear death and destruction as a result of the military forces lodged in their midst.  The United States fears having its other territorial possessions colonies attacked by Asian powers, increased military access to the Pacific by those nations, it fears destabilization and the possibility of escalated violence migrating out of the region, it fears threats to its economic interests, and the loss of strategic military outposts.

The ancient and most central part of the Christian gospel is about answering fear with love.  Our task can be none other than challenging military responses to fear with non-violent and peaceful approaches.  We proclaim that loving the enemy is the only ultimately life-giving response.  That is why the Archbishop of South Korea took the group gathered for the first TOPIK conference into North Korea.  That is why Japanese, Koreans, and Americans continue to ask and offer forgiveness for the sins of old wars that continue to infect our world and diminish the possibility of embracing more abundant life.

Until we begin to examine our own participation in those varying kinds of fear, we have little hope for reconciliation.  Why does the wider Japanese society permit Okinawa to bear an inequitable burden for the nation’s self-defense?  It undoubtedly has at least something to do with many people’s unwillingness to have greater military presence in their own neighborhoods – what American speakers call NIMBYY (not in my back yard!).  Why does Japan rely so heavily on the United States for defense?  I can’t pretend to understand the complexities of that question, but undoubtedly the people who live here can share their own theories.  Why do Americans permit and encourage ongoing colonial occupation of other lands?  That has something to do with the captivity of my government to business interests, many of them related to the military-industrial complex.

Underlying all of these is a fundamental fear of the other, of people who seem different from me and my kind, and fear that they will take from me what I most want and need.  Those fears grow out of a sense of scarcity – that there is not enough land to live on, not enough foodd to eat, not enough economic possibility, not enough hope for the future.  The church’s role must be about proclaiming the good news of God’s creative encouragement of new possibility, about engendering hope, and proclaiming the vision of abundant life for all God’s creatures.

Our hope is based on the reconciling love of God – and reconciliiation requires vulnerability.  Without some openness to a future different from the present entrenched reality, there is little real possibility for lasting peace.  To me it’s fascinating to consider how challenging it is even to find words and metaphors for that lifeless reality of being stuck that aren’t violent or evocative of war.  Trench warfare is often used to describe this kind of immovability.  It evokes those crushing stories of dug-in troops lobbing projectiles toward each other, and never seeing the enemy’s face except in the sights of a sniper’s rifle.  That’s what a lot of the battle of Okinawa was like.  But those images also evoke stories of profligate possibility – like the German and English troops of World War I who listened to their enemies singing Christmas carols, recognized the tunes but not the words, and then crawling out of their muddy holes for a few hours during on the ceasefire on Christmas Eve.  There are stories that they exchanged signs of peace with the few luxuries they had – cigarettes or shots of scchnapps – and shared pictures of their sweethearts.  And thenn those precious hours drew to a close, with officers calling their troops back to duty and the work of killing the enemy.

Reconciliation just might require sitting in the trenches long enough to hear the song of other human beings, both lament at what is lost and yearning for what might be.  Reconciliation requires sitting in the mud, knowing despair and depravity, and daring to dream of a different future.  When we know the depths of our helplessness, that we are made of dirt and cannot ultimately save ourselves or fix the emptiness, we just might begin to welcome the stranger as an essential part of our own salvation.  When that recognition begins to be mutual, reconciliation becomes possible.

The trench around here is almost literally the ground on which these bases lie, the runways and berths and silos for tools of war, set in the midst of cities which are supposed to be signs of creativity and the possibility of peace.[11]   There are some hints that the conversation about constitutional change in Japan, that would permit a standing military with greater capability than defense, is garnering support from unlikely partners.  There are some stark realities that cannot be ignored, but just might be provocative of creative response if they can be met with vulnerability and hope, and I would like to name seven of them:

• Increasing tension over islands and borders in the East or Souuth China Sea,[12]  on the Korean peninsula, and off the coast of Japan

• Increasing military capacity in North Korea, as well as very rrecent escalation in rhetoric and military activity

• Poverty in North Korea as well as the abundant fear

• A new (25 March 2013) military pact between South Korea and thhe US in response to recent developments in North Korea

• Declining willingness of Okinawans to bear an inordinate burdeen for military deterrence on behalf of the Japanese nation

• Abundant lack of trust on all sides

• Rising interest in oil and other natural resources, as well ass marine transportation lanes and strategic access across the region

That list is exceedingly challenging, but it might also be the prod that is necessary to get people out of the trenches.  It is time to climb out and tell the stories of lament and hope.  Build relationships with the other, and go search for opportunities to tell the truth of your own experience, and  use surprising, novel, or humorous methods to destabilize old habits, expecting creative results – and keep shoowing up for this radically vulnerable work of reconciliation.

And finally, expect that what is birthed and learned here might offer creative possibilities to other systemic conflicts, like Rwanda, Congo, Sudan, Syria, and the whole of Middle East.
The hard work of reconciliation requires an openness or vulnerability to being transformed.  The cosmic transformation that we claim in the Paschal mystery is a result of divine vulnerability.  We won’t experience a different outcome or a shift in the status quo without that vulnerability. Our own efforts at reconciliation must echo or imitate that same relinquishment of power, privilege, and fixity of position.

Reconciliation here is going to require dreaming that emerging future and moving toward those we see as enemies.  The fear that separates us is a symptom of frustrated yearning for that different future.  Interacting with our differences creates possibility, and it requires the ability to climb out of the trenches of despair that anything will change.  That entrenched despair is another definition of hell!  We must walk into the division and conflict to find a new possibility –“ like joint administration of those China Sea islands, or cooperative security efforts that relieve colonized peoples and places.  Reconciling work creates a different future, something that would never have existed without the tension that called forth our journey across that boundary of fear.

The question is only where and when and with whom to begin.  Practice here, with those who advocate different avenues toward peace.  Discover that the tension of difference will create an alternate future to what any participant expected.  That is the kingdom of heaven at work in our midst!

A brief example.  The Episcopal Church adopted a new calendar of saints in 2009, and we continue to encourage local congregations and dioceses to propose additions to the calendar.  The Diocese of Nebraska proposed Hiram Hisanori Kano, who came to the United States in 1916 to study agricultural economics.  He was born in Tokyo in 1889, and baptized as a teenager before he left Japan.  In the United States, he worked to improve farming methods, especially in the Japanese community, which was facing enormous discrimination.  He challenged the Nebraska legislature about racist land ownership laws and immigration policies.  The bishop of Nebraska stood with him in the legislature and eventually persuaded him to become a pastor to the Japanese community; he was ordained deacon in 1928 and priest in 1936.  He was arrested the same day war was declared in the Pacific, and he was the only Japanese person in Nebraska to be interned.  While he was imprisoned, he ministered to German prisoners of war and American soldiers facing court martial.  He continued that pastoral work after the war, and died in 1988, just short of his 100th birthday.  His witness continues to draw together the frayed edges of human community in the heartland of the United States and in The Episcopal Church.

As we begin this conference, it may help to consider where we have learned to cross boundaries or climb out of trenches in pursuit of reconciliation.  How and when have you chosen vulnerability?  Who has forgiven you, and how have you received it?  How have you disconnected from the spiral of fear, retribution, and violence?  Those choices flow from a deep well of hope, something deeper than we can express in words.  In the darkest time of crucifixion, as Jesus hung on the cross, feeling abandoned, God was still at work.  The creative and unexpected response to that particular entrenchment is what we call resurrection.  Do we have faith enough to dream that God’s creative possibility might yet emerge from this seemingly intractable conflict?

Can those of us caught up in this web of interconnection dream of being drawn more closely and deeply into the ties that bind us?  Will we, like Jesus, pray for the fellow on the next cross, and the ones who set the cross into the earth?  Peace and harmony in every part of the world ultimately depend on discovering our common humanity, our shared yearning for a meaningful place in this life, the hopes we have for our children and the world around us.  No one, no other, is beyond God’s love – or else we are all beyond that possibility. 
Our task is to continue to plant and nurture hope in the face of fear when threat arises.  We must confront our own fear and move toward the human beings behind the threat, rather than retreat or dig deeper trenches.  That is what it means to run to the empty tomb; that is the direction of more abundant and resurrected life.  May resurrection begin again in this place, in the hearts of these blessed people – and in the hearts of those we fear and thoose who fear us.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church

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1 For a current example of the conversation about independence for both Okinawa and Guam (or the Chamorros): 
http://minagahet.blogspot.com/2013/03/okinawa-independence-4-dealing-with.html
2 Dominant Narratives of Colonial Hokkaido and Imperial Japan: Envisioning the Periphery and the Modern Nation-State.  Michele M. Mason.  Palgrave MacMillan, NY: 2012
Japan and Okinawa: Structure and Subjectivity, Glen D. Hook, Richard Siddle, eds.  Routledge Curzon, London: 2003
3 Engelhart, K. (2010). The Battle for Okinawa.  Maclean's, 123(10), 29�30
4
http://factsanddetails.com/japan.php?itemid=819&catid=22&subcatid=148
5 For example, http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/03/11/will-south-korea-and-japan-take-the-nuclear-route/for-japan-there-are-other-options-besides-nuclear-weapons
6 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/02/world/asia/japanese-court-convicts-2-us-sailors-in-okinawa-rape.html?ref=militarybasesandinstallations
7 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/23/world/asia/japans-leader-shinzo-abe-tries-to-restart-plan-to-move-okinawan-base.html?ref=militarybasesandinstallations
8 Members of the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris.  Handbooks on the Missions of the Episcopal Church: Japan (1934)   http://anglicanhistory.org/asia/jp/missions1934/01.html
9 http://anglicansonline.org/resources/essays/nakayama/hansen.html
10 http://morgue.anglicansonline.org/060514/letters/index.html
11 Zechariah 8:4-5   Thus says the LORD of hosts: Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of their great age.  And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.
12
http://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/abe-seeks-mongolias-support-in-china-island-dispute

3/20/13

National EAM to Celebrate 40th Anniversary in June 2013

EAM@40: Remember, Celebrate and Re-Envision Our Mission

March 20, 2013  -- The Episcopal Church Asiamerican Ministry will convene a national consultation to celebrate its 40th anniversary June 20 to 24, 2013, in San Francisco CA

Focusing on the theme: "EAM@40 Remember, Celebrate and Re-Envision Our Mission," the conference will celebrate the 40 years of Asiamerican Ministry, from its beginnings, when a small group of Chinese and Japanese clergy gathered in San Francisco March 1973.

"What began as modest vision has grown into a conglomerate of diverse ethnic convocations of over a hundred self-identified churches -- Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, South Asian and Southeast Asian," explained the Rev. Dr. Winfred B. Vergara, Episcopal Church Missioner for Asiamerican Ministries.

"Asiamerican" as a term was coined by the EAM pioneers and has evolved into three areas of ministry:

 - Ministries to Asian immigrants in America;
 - Ministries to American born Asian-Americans; and
 - Ministries of bridge-building with churches in Asia and other parts of the world.

At the consultation opening Eucharist two historical Asian American leaders, the Rev. Hiram Hisanori Kano and the Rev. Dr. Winston Ching, will be remembered and honored along with living pioneers.

Fr. Kano, whose name is being considered for "Holy Women and Holy Men" recognition by the church, championed the cause of immigrant farmers in the 1930's and became a spiritual leader in the infamous Japanese Internment Camps during World War II. 

Dr. Ching pioneered the EAM and sought to establish links with Asian churches.

Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves of El Camino Real will be the celebrant and Dr. Vergara will preach.

Consultation speakers will include clergy and lay leaders who will emphasize the memory of those who pioneered EAM.

Among key events at the consultation:

• Bishop Stacy Sauls, chief operating officer of the Episcopal Church Center will keynote on "Domestic Mission: Focus on Poverty."

• Dr. Rodger Nishioka, professor of Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta, GA, and noted motivational speaker, will keynote on "Global Mission: Focus on Asiamerica."

• The June 23 Eucharist service will feature a multicultural liturgy complete with a Chinese dragon dance, Philippine gongs, Korean drums and other colorful Asian culture displays.  The preacher will be Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori; the main celebrant is Rev. Dr. Fran Toy, the first Asian American woman to be ordained in the Episcopal Church.

The conference Registration form is here:  https://www.formstack.com/forms/DFMS-eam40

For more information, contact Dr. Vergara: wvergara@episcopalchurch.org

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