My wife and I just returned from a ten-day holiday in Japan. During the trip, we were in Tokyo for two Sundays and visited two different churches for their Sunday services.
On the first Sunday, we attended the early morning service at Tokyo Union Church. Tokyo Union Church is an interdenominational English-speaking church that’s over 150 years old! The church is located near Omote-Sando Station in Shibuya. There are two services every Sunday. Last visit we attended their 11:00 a.m. service, which includes a section like our children’s talk called “Good News for Kids.” This time, we attended the 8:30 a.m. service. The flow of the service was quite similar to our 12:00 p.m. service - with a first Scripture reading, a second Scripture reading, and a doxology sung in the middle of the service. This particular service was unique because there was no sermon! It was replaced by choir anthems. To be honest, I often struggle to concentrate during choir anthems, especially when I can’t clearly hear the lyrics. But this time, the choir’s performance was excellent - the multi-part harmony, the clarity of the lyrics, the thematic continuity across the four anthems, and their storytelling and link to the Scripture readings all helped me become fully engaged. I felt the dramatic tension in the story of Elijah’s flight for his life and was deeply moved by the call to respond to God by serving Him.
On the second Sunday, we attended the 11:30a.m. service at Lifehouse Tokyo Church. Lifehouse was founded by an Australian pastor and is a bilingual (English and Japanese) church. Compared to Tokyo Union Church, Lifehouse is a younger church, but it already has more than 20 years of history in Tokyo. They do not own a church building, but they rent a conference hall for their services. They also hold two services every Sunday, both in a contemporary worship style. They have three praise and worship hymns, brief announcements, offering, testimony sharing, followed by the sermon. The entire service is conducted bilingually. A distinctive feature of their service is that every sermon ends with a call - inviting non-believers to give their lives to Jesus, accept Him as Lord, and commit to Christ.
Attending these two very different worship services gave me much to reflect on. Must a service always include a sermon? How can hymns be used more effectively? How can the sermon, Scripture readings, and hymns be made more coherent? Can I make a call for people to commit to Christ every time I preach?
In these two services, believers used different forms and languages to worship. They came from different places (we even met fellow travelers from Sydney at Tokyo Union Church!), backgrounds, and cultures, and mother tongues. Yet, they sang, prayed, and worshiped God together in spirit and in truth. To me, it was a beautiful picture, and I am truly thankful to have worshiped with them. Dear brothers and sisters, how is your worship life? May we all encounter God in worship and respond to Him.
我和太太剛放了十天假，去了日本旅行。在這旅程中，我們有兩個禮拜日在東京，到訪了兩間教會的主日崇拜。
在第一個禮拜日，我們去了東京聯合教會(Tokyo Union Church)，參加了他們的早堂崇拜。東京聯合教會是一間歷史悠久的教會，是一間跨宗派的英文教會，成立了已經超過一百五十年！教堂座落於涉谷區表參道站附近，他們每個禮拜日有兩堂崇拜，我們之前參加過他們十一點的崇拜，崇拜中有類似我們童訊的「兒童好消息」(Good news for Kids) 。而今次，我們參加了八點半的早堂崇拜。崇拜的流程與我們教會十二點的午堂崇拜相近 -有第一段讀經(First scripture reading)、第二段讀經 (Second scripture reading)、和三一頌(Doxology) 在崇拜的中段頌唱。這個崇拜有些特別，因為沒有講道！取而代之就是詩班的獻唱。坦白說，很多時，我在崇拜中因為聽不清楚詩班頌唱的詩歌歌詞而未能集中精神，但這次詩班的獻唱非常精彩 -多部的合唱、清晰的歌詞、四首詩歌的連貫性、和之前讀經的連繫和故事性，都使我非常投入，感受到以利亞逃命故事的張力，和要以服事回應神。
第二個禮拜日，我們去了東京生命堂教會(Lifehouse Tokyo)，參加了他們十一點半的午堂崇拜。東京生命堂教會是由一位澳洲牧者所建立，是一間雙語(英語和日語)的教會。與東京聯合教會相比，東京生命堂教會是一間年輕的教會，但也在東京已經成立超過二十年了。他們沒有教堂，只是租用會議展覽廳進行崇拜。他們每個禮拜日也有兩堂崇拜，都是現代的敬拜模式 -三首敬拜讚美的詩歌、簡結的報告、收奉獻及見證分享、接着就是講道。整個崇拜都是用雙語進行，而特別的地方，就是每次講道都會作出呼召 -向參加崇拜中而未信主的朋友作出呼召，叫他們將生命交給耶穌，以祂為主，決志信主。
參加了這兩個不同的崇拜，給我帶來對崇拜的一些反思：崇拜一定要有講道嗎？詩歌可以怎樣運用呢？崇拜的信息、選讀經文、詩歌怎樣可以做好連貫呢？我每次講道後可以作出呼召叫人信主嗎？
在這兩個崇拜中，信徒用不同的形式、語言去敬拜。信徒來自不同的地方 (我們在東京聯合教會遇到同樣來自雪梨的旅客！)、背景、文化、有不同的母語，但信徒一同唱詩、禱告，用心靈和誠實去敬拜神。對我來說，這是一幅很美麗的圖畫，我實在感恩能夠與他們一起敬拜！弟兄姊妹，您的敬拜生活怎樣呢？願我們都在崇拜中遇見神，向我們的神作出回應。
