Listen | The Chance
THE CHANCE
It is everywhere in Japan. Huge, rather ugly constructions, with catchy English names. Pachinkos. The name comes from the sound that these game machines make, “pachin”, combined with the diminutive “ko”, which means child in Japanese.
When I think of Pachinkos, bright shining lights, everything glimmering and glittering , with a cacophony of noises from blaring music and little pinballs, usually not rolling into the winning holes, come to mind. And of course people glued to their screens, hoping for that magical 3 matching images. Pachinko is a hybrid of pin ball and slot machines and the player basically only has to push a starting button and pull a lever. Actually, gambling is illegal in Japan, but Pachinkos have found a loophole somehow. You never receive any money directly. It is a system based on little balls exchanged for tokens, which in turn you can exchange for cash in a round-about way and at an off-premise site. But it is obviously still addictive.
On my early morning jog, as I “free” down a blessed hill, I notice again the conspicuous sign of yet another Pachinko in our nearby vicinity (within walking distance from our house there are quite a few pachinko parlors and nationwide there are more than 11 000!). This one is named The Chance. Big in neon red. The chance? To beat the odds and actually win some balls, to be exchanged for cash if you have the will power to stop? The chance? To escape from the daily mundane, to another world? Or to find release from a personal tragedy? After all, the famous American naturalist Henry David Thoreau said, “The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation.” And people have always tried to escape from some kind of desperation – whether it be a sudden tragedy, or from a slow lapse into meaninglessness.
You might wonder why Pachinkos are so popular in Japan? Why millions waste their time and money on something as mindless as this. These days, avoiding distractions and enhancing mindfulness have become buzz words in our Western culture, and we all probably know that we should try to limit distractions and choose to not waste our time and lives. But at least, we might be comforting ourselves, while we stare at our little screens, we are not also wasting a lot of money (hopefully). Well, actually we might be all holding little pachinkos in our hands. How many of us try to grab any opportunity (chance) that comes our way to forget, or to pacify ourselves, or to distract ourselves. Or to think that if we can only attain THIS CHANCE, oh surely then, we will escape our desperation.
Forgive me, but while I was struggling up the hill back home, this crass Pachinko name started to change into something very positive for me. The Chance…to listen to the quiet whisper of the Holy Spirit daily. Especially, when we feel we are in a desert of desperation, where things we have treasured before have lost their attraction, and activities and our daily rhythms feel meaningless. Or we are in the dark grips of unexpected pain. The Bible and the history of the Early Church, and its church fathers, as well as the lives of Christians who have emulated the Christian life for us, have all told us the story of the desert. We humans need deserts to sometimes really hear God’s voice. In the desert we realise yet again that we have been holding on to false gods, just like the Israelites. Just like people who have never had a personal relationship with Jesus. The desert gives us a choice to turn back to God and the only Way of True Contentment.
And when our friends and life mock us with, “So where is your God now?,” then we should grab onto the chance, to listen attentively. When circumstances seem most desperate, or most unexpected, this is when the Holy Spirit can work powerfully in our lives and through our lives.
Makita sensei is 78 years old, still full time pastor, and travel monthly on a 6 hour train journey to the seminary here in Kobe to come and lecture. This month in the sermon Makita sensei gave, he said these following words, which I’m paraphrasing: “If you are sharing the gospel, you have a responsibility to be filled with joy. Your life should testify of the greatest Hope inside of you. And this joy should be here, in whatever circumstances you are.”
Isn’t this an amazing chance that have been given to us all? It doesn’t matter what age you are, 80 or 8, or what your circumstances are, Jesus Christ has given us this chance to commit our lives fully to Him with joy. I pray that I in the first place, but also you, our dearest supporter, will not let this chance go by when the Holy Spirit prods us today.
By Carina van der Watt
Carina presents the wordless book as means to evangelize (at RCJ Kita Kobe Sunday School)
Firework advertisement (read below in prayer requests)
Pray with us
- Our local church, Kita Kobe Church, although small and frail, are continuously trying to attract newcomers from the neighborhood. In July we will have a summer firework festival, with singing, Bible message, a Mexican Pinata (I will share photos if the pinata has not failed), as well as fireworks of course. Please pray that local children will attend this event. See Poster about the firework festival.
- We will also go to Sendai in the Tohoku region for our annual leave, where we will stay at a 133 year old facility in which missionaries from all over Japan have been going as an escape from the oppressive summer heat, but also to find encouragement and fellowship from fellow missionaries in Japan. Please pray that we will be able to encourage each other and to find renewed energy and fervor for Christ.
- Please pray for the many churches in Japan who do not have pastors. And especially for the Reformed Church of Japan who are struggling with few members, limited resources, and few missionaries to help the pastors looking after their own flock as well as doing evangelization work. In the 1970s the Reformed Church of Japan professed that evangelization should be foundational in their daily life as church.
