Participation, Attendance, Service (and coffee)

Today’s coffee… was at school. 3 cups was probably too much. But considering the number of mistakes in my translation-work pre-coffee…

Speaking of coffee, it’s been hard to get to a café to write lately, since I’ve been in Japanese class every morning (and there’s a coffee pot always on, hence today’s 3 cups). By the time I get home, I’m too tired for the next several hours to do anything other than sit on the couch and stare out the window. Thankfully, Keith has finished peeling the annoying lace-patterned film off the living room window, so now I look out on a garden full of wildflowers, bamboo grass, boulders, and trees. (I think it was worth renting this house just for the garden…) So by the time I recover enough to go out to a café, it’s too late to drink coffee (and I already had 3 cups… I do want to get some sleep tonight…)

But I have been writing--a lot. Sometimes in my journal, sometimes poems which ostensibly are part of “Japanese study.” I included several poems in a short devotional talk I’m giving at our friend’s graduation from language school tomorrow. The biggest project I’ve been working on (also as part of my Japanese study) is translating my CD liner notes into Japanese. (Japanese version coming soon!!)

Translation work sucks--even though I’m just translating stuff I’ve written myself. I think it’s especially hard for those of us who are decently good at writing. Whereas I’m fairly eloquent when writing in English, in Japanese, I am not. This is frustrating. I know exactly what I want to say, and what nuance I want it to carry, and yet… Japanese is a completely different language, and some things just don’t translate. I found the same to be true when translating Japanese folk song lyrics into English for the CD liner notes.

Today I was working on the story which accompanies Rachmaninov’s Vocalise. (It’s a version of the main article in our February newsletter.) As I was expanding the explanation of what I had hoped to accomplish with my Regent arts thesis project and coming up with a translation for the title, I ran into a slight difficulty. The title is Praise the LORD with Stringed Instruments: Instrumental Music as Participation and Contemplation. After some discussion with my teacher, I translated the subtitle “器楽による礼拝への参加と黙想” which specifies that participation and contemplation happen in the context of worship. But this translation might not stick.

To give you some background, my arts thesis project was my response to a push in North American worship-leading circles for congregational participation. This has always been a big thing for us Protestants--we are the “priesthood of all believers,” so inviting everyone’s participation in corporate worship is hugely important. However, I found the definition of participation in most books I read to be troubling: most focused on doing and completely ignored being. Singing, moving, reading, speaking, and praying (out loud) were okay, but listening (sermon excepted), art which doesn’t communicate propositional truth, silent prayer and just being together in God’s presence with one's church family didn’t rate very high. Furthermore, spoken word took precedence over everything else, leaving little to no space for reflection. Therefore I explored nonverbal means of participation, especially through instrumental music, in my project. Vastly oversimplified, but that’s the basic idea.

The reason the translation of my title (and a lot of other parts of my arts thesis, if I ever get around to translating it) might not work is because, as my teacher explained, in Japanese we do not use the word participation (参加 sanka) to refer to what we do in worship. We use the word which means attendance (出席 shusseki). You don’t participate in worship, you attend worship. The most important thing is that you show up, even if you sleep straight through the service. (There was an interesting article on this phenomenon throughout Japanese society on BBC news recently. Not that I really have any right to complain about this. I was always the worst offender for sleeping in class through undergrad and two master’s degrees.)

And participation? That’s called service (奉仕 houshi), which means more like cleaning the church once a month or teaching Sunday school or taking your turn leading the service or doing your part for the church bazaar. Some kids in our youth group confessed that they didn’t want to get baptized because then they would be expected to do “houshi.”

It seems like a first step for arts ministry in Japan might be to redefine, together with my friends at church, what participation in worship looks like...

Edit: I just want to add that regardless of what it's called, many (most?) Japanese Christians do "participate" in worship. I was moved by the hearty singing at church last week. :) I'm looking forward to many conversations with friends as I seek to understand what worship means to each one.

My sermon is online!

In case you missed our November newsletter (previous post), I preached at Newport Covenant Church (my home church) last Sunday on Psalm 145 for our Thanksgiving service. I never would have thought I'd do that when I left for college 11 years ago... but now I have. Then again, I never thought I would become a missionary.

Well, it's over... I think it went pretty well. (This was my third time preaching, but I got a lot of public speaking experience in Japan, since I gave my testimony a whole bunch of times.) What was really great was the open mic time afterwards. Many people had the opportunity to publicly thank God for his goodness in their lives for the encouragement of the congregation. I was encouraged. :) Oh, I also got to lead communion for the first time in the second service. I remembered the words of institution, but forgot the prayer. Oops.

On Monday I wandered around wondering what to do with all my free time... and quickly filled it with other things I had neglected to do last week while writing the sermon. Oh well. On to the next big thing: on Saturday my parents and Keith and I will be providing music for the Newport Covenant Church Christmas luncheon. I'm also hosting a table. What fun!

The sermon, as the title says, is online--you can download it here or listen from the church's website.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Concerts and whatnot

As you may know, my primary job here in Japan is playing my cello. This is not a big surprise, since my primary job when I am at home is playing my cello and doing other music related activities. Keith has also been playing piano and singing a lot. Here's a little snapshot of some of the things we've been doing since we've been here, and a bit on what's coming up in the next couple of months...

Our first musical responsibilities were playing for worship at church. We've been doing this with some regularity since our arrival.

Then, our first concert was part of JCE5--the 5th Japan Congress on Evangelism. A couple thousand people were there, from all over Japan! This was a really important conference, since it only happens once every 9 years or so, and it probably won't happen again in Hokkaido for a long time. Can you find Keith in the choir? He really blends in quite well. It was his first time performing in Japanese! I got to play with some excellent violinists to accompany the choir.

In this picture, the word which you see repeated over and over on the screen can be transliterated "hareruya." Any guesses what piece we're performing? ;) The other pieces we performed were the Sapporo Olympics theme song ("Snow Ballad"), Beethoven's Ode to Joy, and You Raise Me Up. We're performing with this group again this Thursday at a big Christmas concert.

In October, Keith and I played together as part of an art show. I played two mini-concerts by myself (unaccompanied Bach suites--first complete performance of the 2nd suite!) and Keith and I played a longer concert together. A pastor from Hokkaido is quite a gifted artist--he did a number of copies of famous Biblical-themed paintings, as well as a number of his own works. All of the paintings featured scenes from Jesus' life. We had expected that people would walk around and listen the the music while they looked at the art... but no, they sat down and watched us. Our hosts kept adding more chairs... Keith found this to be a rather nervous situation, as it was his first time playing solo piano in a "concert" setting, rather than providing background music. He did really well, and we had a lot of encouraging feedback after the event!

When we played Arvo Pärt's Spiegel im Spiegel, we asked everyone to go look at the pictures--that piece really reflects the idea of God coming to us as we reach up to him, seen most clearly in the incarnation of Jesus.

The very next day, we played for the worship service at Kibou no Oka church, where Keith has been teaching English (and practicing the organ). This was part of the church building's first birthday festivities. There was a special celebration in the afternoon, and I played a couple of pieces and joined with an ensemble of musicians from the church to play some movie theme music.

 

I played again at Kibou no Oka in November for their monthly "kirakira time" outreach. (Kirarira means "sparkle sparkle." We are amused.) I played a movement of Bach's G major sonata for viola da gamba and harpsichord. I played with Naho, who is the organist at Kibou no Oka. We "made do" with a cello and an organ. (Ahhh... that organ is soooo nice... but I miss my viol!)

Keith and I, along with our friend, John, provided music for the ceremonial opening (hakkaishiki) of a new church--Hiragishi Izumi Kirisuto Kyoukai (translated, that means Hiragishi [a neighborhood of Sapporo] spring of water Christian Church).

 

(No, those people aren't all members of the new church--they came from all different churches in the area to pray for an support the new church!)

Coming up...
Right now I'm preparing for Christmas concert craziness. I had my first rehearsal with my pianist, Shino, on Saturday. We'll be preparing for 2 concerts on December 22 and 24, in Asahikawa and Chitose respectively. We're working on Brahms, Beethoven, and Bach. In addition, I'll be giving my testimony, and we'll sing some Christmas songs together! (Presently I'm looking for an opportunity to play the same concert in Sapporo so I can invite my friends... hopefully I'll have an update on that soon.)

Actually, the Christmas concert schedule starts this week: we have a concert on Thursday, then on Saturday, I'm playing a Bach suite and giving my testimony at a local church here in Sapporo. This will be part of Sakae Church's patchwork quilting exhibition.

In addition, I'm playing for all kinds of Christmas parties and events throughout the month! I think on Christmas day, when it's all over, I'm going to want to sit on the couch in my pajamas and stare at the wall.

And finally, a few prayer requests...

• I'm thrilled to have finally found a pianist! Praise God! I was pretty nervous for a while there. It was a little bit last minute, but we had our first rehearsal last Saturday. Please pray for good communication (neither of us are really comfortable in the other's language), good and efficient rehearsals, and a good working relationship.
  
• There are a lot of concerts and other engagements, so I need to be able to use my time wisely, not only to practice and rehearse, but also to rest well. I'm also continuing with student work, various tasks at our church, and language study. 
• Please pray for me as I'm planning the concerts for December 22 and 24. I will also be preparing my testimony for these two concerts, as well as the one this coming Saturday (December 5).
  
• Please pray for the possibility of a concert in Sapporo. I'm looking for a church to host us. At the minimum, it would be a very informal chance for Shino and I to invite our friends and family to hear us. Or, it could be a chance for us to partner with a church for an outreach event. Please pray that we would find the right opportunity and the right place to play.

Our Church

(I finally have some pictures in which we are not eating. It was getting a bit embarrassing... all our pictures seem to revolve around food. We like food... but we also like other things.)

Since we've been in Japan, we've been attending Satsunae Lighthouse Church. Our church is about 10 years old, and it was started by OMF missionaries. It is still pastored by foreign missionaries (Tony and Pat Schmidt), but most of the other leaders are Japanese. Right now the church is in the beginning stages of preparation to call a Japanese pastor. One of the first steps was to become a part of JECA (which I believe stands for "Japanese Evangelical Church Association"... but don't quote me on that).

The church is small, but it feels big because it's so lively. There are children everywhere. I'm finally starting to figure out which children belong to which parents. It's taken quite a while since no one seems to sit together with their families in the church service or during lunch. We meet in what used to be a large house. Tony and Pat live on the second floor.

Today we helped lead worship. Keith played the piano and I played cello. Kaori-san planned the service and sang. Maybe we will lead singing someday too, but for now it's nice to play the cello, because then I don't have to worry about text! Singing is great language practice, though.

Every Sunday after church we eat lunch together. On the first Sunday of the month, there's a potluck. My contribution (lentil and bean stew/chili/whatever) is in the red pot in the foreground. Today there was also a birthday cake for Keith and four other people. (We couldn't escape entirely from food now, could we?)

Please pray for our church:

• As I mentioned, we are making preparations to call a Japanese pastor.
• We are starting an Alpha course in 2 weeks (October 18). Please pray that this class would be a blessing to the neighborhood... and that it would be well attended by people who are curious about Christianity and eagerly seeking God.
• Our pastors (Tony and Pat) are currently on vacation in Vancouver! Please pray for their safe travels and for those who are taking care of things in their absence.

New Blog

I've just been on a roll lately. Not only is this the third post this month on THIS blog, but I started a new one too! If you are interested in the work I've been doing for my arts thesis, I'm going to be writing a series of articles/posts/whatever related to the topic of instrumental music in worship. Eventually I will branch out into other topics--I'm guessing working in worship ministry with Japanese churches will provide me with ample food for thought and comment (yay, so excited!!)

The aim is to develop a bunch of material for a potential book on the subject of instrumental music in worship. In the process of writing my arts thesis paper, I already had far more ideas and material than I could write about in the time and space allotted. I really think this is an important topic; the responses of the participants in each of the worship services suggested that there was a great need for silent, contemplative prayer, to foster the disciplines of stillness and listening. We live in a noisy, busy world, so we desperately need to be silent before God.

I'll still be posting on this blog. This is our "personal blog" (I say "our" even though Keith has never posted anything... ha ha), so we'll keep posting our stories, pictures, concert announcements, etc. here. I still have several more update posts to do before I'm caught up... :)

So, the new blog: http://celiaolson.blogspot.com/
Please visit, comment, and share it with any friends you think would be interested!

Update 2: Big Projects

Here we go again: another update. This was a busy semester, and now you will see why.

Keith took his Old Testament comprehensive exam. He read 9000 pages for the OT and NT exams together (he took the NT comprehensive exam in December), and was tested on all that material. He met weekly with Professor Bob Derrenbacker last fall and with Professor Phil Long this spring to prepare (hooray for awesome professors who take time to meet with students!) That's Phil's book he's reading upside down there. Keith also took classes on the books of Mark and Joshua and continued working as a teaching assistant for two Greek classes.



I spent this year working on my "arts thesis" (officially it was called an "interdisciplinary project in the arts and theology"), which was a huge project with both written and practical components. Having finished my worship internship at our church, I was ready to use what I had learned through the internship and in my classes at school to try something new: contemplative worship services with a rather high proportion of silence and instrumental music.

This was not something my congregation was accustomed to, and there were concerns about how the congregation would be able to participate in a worship service in which they were "observing" someone else's worship. With the help of my two wonderful advisors (Janet Danielson and Maxine Hancock), I set up four worship services with the aim of educating the school and church community in worshiping through music and silence. The first three services progressively had less words, until the only words in the third service were the call to worship and the benediction. I expected that one to be really difficult for most people, but I was surprised that people seemed to respond well. The final service took a more balanced approach, incorporating the passion narrative from the Gospel of John (read by Keith), a few hymns, and a lot of vocal and instrumental music.

I wrote a paper, too. It was very long. I traced the development of thought among Christians from the early church to the present on the subject of instrumental music, and I dealt with possible problems. I actually want to write a book... and Maxine suggested that I might want to start a blog with weekly posts on this subject and other worship-related topics. I'm sure I will have lots to write about in Japan! So... look for that coming soon. And now, pictures.

Part 1: "All Saints Day: Community." Lots of musicians, lots of singing (Genevan Psalms and Reformation-era hymns), lots of scripture. I posted about this service previously.



Part 2: "Advent: Longing." Music for cello and piano (played by Andrea Tisher and me), scripture readings, a few hymns. There was also a chance for everyone to light prayer candles. Most of this service took place in the dark. This was hard for the word-oriented people. Still, using candles as a symbol of hope is not effective unless it's dark.



Part 3: "Epiphany: Joy." This one had no words at all other than call to worship and benediction. Well, that's not entirely true. There were printed words to guide the times of contemplative prayer, but people were free to use them or ignore them. Music was string quartet, piano trio, and string duo (viola and cello), provided by Kathy Kwon, Jon Ng, my brother, Colin Wilson, and me.



At one point in the service, we did "origami prayer." Everyone received instructions to fold an origami star for Epiphany. The sounds of rustling paper became the sounds of prayer.


Here is the string quartet. I also had some wonderful visual elements for this service, including an icon made for Keith and me by a fellow Regent alum (Matthia Langone)! She's still tweaking things on it, and won't give it to us until she's convinced it's perfect. :) Thus you only get a picture of it from a distance.


Part 4: "Lent: Reflection." This service was built around the reading of John 18-19 (read by Keith) and Isaiah 52-53 (read by Maria Beversluis). In essence it was a Tenebrae service, but not on Good Friday (that would have been too late in the term), and we heard an entire passion narrative rather than bits of all four. After each section of the reading, some of the candles on the table were snuffed out, until we were left in darkness. (The sun cooperated too--sunset happened 10 minutes into the service.) Music this time was a variety of ensembles made up of the same crew plus Catriona Day, who teaches cello with me at the Saint James Music Academy. The selection of music was chosen to fit with the scripture. Afterwards everyone had a chance to ask questions about my project.






Oh yeah... when I wasn't busy with my arts thesis (when was that, you may ask), I continued work as a teaching assistant for 2 Hebrew classes and studied Biblical poetry and the Dead Sea Scrolls--in Hebrew! (My update took up much more space than Keith's... there's just not as many pictures to be had from a comprehensive exam. Although he did wear a 3 piece suit with Dutch clogs the day of the exam. That would have been worth a picture...)

More updates coming. Look forward to it!

Merry Christmas!

So... it is Christmas (or rather Advent) again. As you can see from the picture, it actually snowed in Vancouver. :) This year Keith and I are with Keith's family in Iowa. (Luckily we managed to get out of there before more snow came!) There will be 10 adults, 2 children, and 4 dogs, all sleeping in the same house. It will be quite the wild time. :) I like being here, because, now that I am finished marking Hebrew finals, all my responsibilities are finished, and I don't need to worry about schoolwork for the next couple weeks. At present, there is a lot of snow, and nothing to do outside the house, so staying in the house and loafing--knitting, sleeping, reading, talking, watching movies, etc.--is the order of the day. Yay! We worked hard, and now it's time to rest.

Traditionally, this is the time of year to reflect on what has happened in the past year. We don't have too much earth-shattering news at present. We have been very busy at school and at church. However, in spite of that, I think we traveled more miles this year than ever before. We started the year with a trip to North Dakota to witness our nephew, Michael's baptism, went to Kauai in May with my family, took a road trip through the Midwest to visit Keith's family in May and June, visited our friends, Alan, Libby, and Anna Thorp in New Zealand in August, I went to Peru to visit another friend in October, and now we are in Iowa again! Anyone want to add up the miles and tell me the total? Really, the purpose of all this travel was to see people who are dear to us and far away. We had wonderful times with both our families, enjoyed hanging out in New Zealand with the Thorps, and I got to meet Sindy face to face for the first time in Peru! This is typical for us; scenery and activities are nice, but people are more important.






















At school, this has been our busiest year ever! I am working on my Arts Thesis, which is a series of four carefully planned worship services making use of lots and lots of string instruments. I will also be writing a paper on this subject. Meanwhile, I am also keeping myself sane by working as a Hebrew TA (teaching assistant)--I get to keep up on my Hebrew skills, while helping other students learn.

Keith has been working as a TA as well, for Greek! My, aren't we a nerdy pair! A common sight over the summer was the two of us sitting together at a table in the Atrium at school marking the daily quizzes for summer language classes. Keith has been very busy taking upper level seminars and language classes, as well as studying for comprehensive exams. He successfully completed the New Testament exam at the beginning of December, and will be taking the Old Testament exam in the spring. He has been supported through the process by some very helpful professors.

At church, I worked as a worship intern from October 2007 until August 2008. It was an amazing learning experience, which has helped me greatly in my arts thesis. In particular, I learned how to better craft a worship service and how to better encourage others to use their musical gifts. Now that I'm done with my internship, we're both still regularly involved in music at church.

On an entirely different music-related note, I've been teaching cello in an after-school music program. I have three students, whom I share with my friend, Cat. They had their first performance in June. We were so proud of them! A few weeks later, we all gathered at my house (with moms) for a tea party to celebrate their accomplishments.

What's next? We're graduating in the spring (April)! I will complete my thesis, and Keith will complete his exams! Then I think we're done with full-time school for a while, or maybe permanently. That will total 10 years of college for me, and 8 years for Keith! As for what comes after that, we have some ideas, but nothing is certain just yet. Stay tuned for next year's Christmas letter! (Or read our blog.)

I hope all of you, our dear friends and family, have a marvelous Christmas, wherever you are, and whatever you are doing! May you always remember our incarnate Lord who came to dwell among us. Blessings on your celebrations!

Love, Keith and Celia



p.s. We'll have an Olson family picture up on our blog soon, too! We haven't gotten to it yet...

Singing Psalms in the Living Room (and also at church)

Well... everything went off without a hitch! (Let me know if you disagree, because chances are, I will want to hear from you. I'm gathering feedback for my "field research"!) I refer, of course, to Arts Thesis Part I, the All Saints Day service we had at church last Saturday.

Here are a couple of pictures. One highlight in the process was playing and singing Psalms in the living room. Yes, playing and singing at the same time! I have to say, Sarah is very talented. She was singing alto and playing bass. I just was singing and playing the same part... I really think this is just what Calvin intended for at-home Psalm singing. It was so fun! We had 4 viols, harpsichord, and baroque guitar. Mom and Keith came upstairs to sing too. We sounded good. :) Incidentally, this took place on Halloween, so I put on my costume. I guess I was Anne Boleyn. I wonder if she played the viol?


There were a lot of us! That's what I wanted for this part: lots of congregational involvement. I invited people from church, school, and from the local music community to be involved. It did my heart good to have a worship service with viols. :)


The next one will be November 30! That's a Sunday night. Same time and place. This one will be Advent themed, with 19th and 20th century music. There will be less emphasis on congregational singing, but more silence, scripture, and instrumental music (this time, it will be cello and piano stuff). I hope to see you there!

Part 1, coming up!

Part 1 of my IPIAT/"arts thesis" is right around the corner... less than a week to go! Wow, I have a lot to do this week. This first worship service is much less cello-intense than the others will be, but there's still a lot to do, a lot of people to organize, etc. There will be a lot of people involved in this one--4 viols, 4 singers, guitar, harpsichord, and organ! We're sticking with the theme of Reformation-era music... although Calvin would be rolling over in his grave. Genevan Psalms... played on VIOLS??

So, I wanted to give a few details about this worship service. Although my project is on instrumental music in worship, I wanted to start with baby steps in that direction. Thus, instrumental music in this service will be interwoven with hymns, sung psalms, scripture, and times of silence. Also, I would like to help my church learn to worship by listening, by allowing others to pray on their behalf through music, and to pray with them. Basically, I want to have music played as an offering by a small group, without losing the sense of corporate worship. Then in the next several services I will remove more of the words from the service, but for now they stay as a reference point.

Well, I'm looking forward to this! I just hope that I will not be so busy that I can't enjoy it. That can definitely be a problem.

I have posted the invitation, which has dates and details for all 4 worship services! Everyone is welcome to come (and bring friends)! There will be coffee, snacks, and discussion afterwards... and that's also a great time for you to give feedback, since these worship services are somewhat experimental. I hope you can come!

Mark your calendar!

Greetings! I have dates for my Arts Thesis events. Details are below. This is my promotional picture. Cool, yes? It features me (playing the cello), my cello students, a mom of a cello student, and my co-teacher, Cat!

Praise the LORD with Stringed Instruments:
Instrumental Music as Participation and Contemplation

Praise the Lord with Stringed Instruments explores the use of instrumental music in Christian worship, especially in the Protestant context, through a series of three experimental worship services, each with progressively less words. Praise the Lord with Stringed Instruments seeks to challenge the nature of participation; the congregation’s involvement will be encouraged in listening and in contemplative prayer. Wordless music will become a means of being silent before God. Each worship service will be followed by a time of coffee discussion. The fourth worship service will serve as a reflection on the previous three services.

All events will take place at Vancouver First Christian Reformed Church, 2670 Victoria Drive, Vancouver, BC, at 7:30 p.m.

I: All Saints Day: Community
Saturday, November 1

II: Advent: Longing
Sunday, November 30

III: Epiphany: Joy
Sunday, February 22

IV: Lent: Reflection
Saturday, March 28