A letter from Bill Geppert in Japan
August 31, 2009
Dear Friends,
Greetings from Japan. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I warmly greet those who are interested in the mission of our church overseas. I have now been in my present position, professor of English, for 14 years. In addition, I’m involved in a local Japanese congregation. It is a rather strong congregation by Japanese standards. Unlike many churches, this church has a number of young people and families to help keep it strong for the future. Quite a few churches are filled mostly with seniors who joined the churches right after World War II, joining with those who were Christians during the time of Japanese imperialism. As the seniors slowly pass away, the church’s numbers dwindle, and some churches simply disappear. It is a serious concern among Japanese Christians. The number of Christians in Japan may drop below 1 percent. To me this is very serious. As missionaries we are working in a very naturalistic and materialistic society. Yet underneath it all, there is even a greater need for a spiritual stability among the citizens.
So there is not only hope for evangelism but a need to keep spreading the good news of Jesus Christ. Labor in the mission field is always rewarding, even when the work creeps along at a snail’s pace. Mission work is vastly different than it was in Paul’s time, building the early church. But I still feel like a tentmaker who lives and teaches the good news of the gospel even when teaching. Students know I am a missionary, and they know I care about what they are doing in their education and their worries about the future. They like the idea of God, but not the idea of a personal commitment. So as educators we continue in a gentle way to encourage them to think about the gospel, especially in light of their anxieties about the future.
The vision of the present and the future is very much guided by modern society. In particular, it is guided by the media. The media really is the conscience of the people. It’s hard to tell to what extent the media determines the concerns of the people and to what extent it reflects what the people are concerned about. I suspect they do more of the former. For example, look at the concern about swine flu in Japan. When it first appeared in Mexico and the United States, the media became deeply concerned about it and followed the story with detailed interest. It’s hard to tell whether the government’s concern directs the media, or if the government quickly follows the media’s concern so as to not give the impression that they don’t care about the people. And since it is difficult to determine whether the media reflect the people’s concerns or vice versa, it is almost impossible to try to spread a calm wind through the society.
Medical stations were set up at all major airports to try to screen possible flu virus carriers upon entering the country. They were desperate to try and keep the flu from entering the country or to keep it at bay. Carriers were taken to hospitals and isolated for eight days. Eventually, Japanese within the country began to develop the symptoms of the flu virus. It was with real fear that the media reported that some of these flu patients had not traveled outside the country or had any contact with people who had. Face masks quickly sold out of all drug stores (China had the similar experience). The number of people traveling on trains for tourism dropped sharply. Shopping centers already hard hit by the economic crisis lost even more business. Large gatherings were canceled or postponed.
For a while it seemed as if the flu had finally run its course, and life returned to normal. But now an epidemic has been declared. An epidemic occurs when at least one person reports to every major hospital in the country with the H1N1 flu virus. The latest news is that the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry is considering subsidizing all hospitals and clinics in Japan with equipment to better deal with the new strain of H1N1 influenza, expanding the scope from the current 6,000 designated hospitals.
The ministry envisions earmarking 20.7 billion yen for fiscal year 2010 but is also considering spending part of that this year to combat the epidemic. About 100 quarantine officers and doctors would be added to the quarantine setups, and the government plans to buy up all domestically produced flu vaccines before in order to prevent confusion at medical institutions.
Sales of overseas travel at Japan’s major travel agencies fell in June to their lowest level since the SARS-ravaged month of June 2003, according to Travel Journal International (TJI) Online.
Japanese passengers flying internationally from Tokyo, the country’s busiest airport, fell by 11.69 percent in the first half of 2009, and international traffic in June 2009 was 24.4 percent less than the previous June, largely due to rising concern over the H1N1 flu virus.
To be sure, the flu virus is a legitimate concern, especially among the elderly and the young. But the fear and anxiety among much of the population is out of proportion to the actual problem. I don’t have the figures for Japan yet, but Boston TV 5 reports 91 deaths from the H1N1 virus in the United States so far this year. From the common seasonal flu, for which there are plenty of vaccines, the number of deaths in the United States is 36,000. If percentages in Japan are similar, then there is a concern about too much focus on the new flu.
I think the fear and anxiety is about the unknown. It is the fear about what this new strain might turn out to be in terms of numbers of deaths. The worst case scenario suggests 1 in 5 persons will become infected by October. As many as 1,250,000 people may die by the end of the year. These are truly horrendous numbers. In the case of the SARS epidemic, which has come and gone (will it return again?), Japan had 16 confirmed cases and no confirmed deaths. The media reported heavily about it in 2003, but it failed to materialize into the expected epidemic.
I often think about the unknown and the known in Holy Scriptures concerning what lies beyond human physical death. I have not preached on the subject in a fire-and-brimstone way, as I do not want to alarm and panic non-Christians. I preach the love that will save us from the judgment of God in hopes that this will bring about a change in the individuals. But I try to get people to think, “What if …?” What if the promised coming judgment is true? At the very least, all of us ought to at least think about it. To make any choice we must examine honestly what the options and possibilities are. If we fear the epidemics and diseases in this world while we yet live, what about the Scriptures’ revelations about life beyond this world?
If there is even a possibility of it being true, then we must consider it. The great love of God does not exist in a vacuum. The need for salvation also does not exist apart from this world we live in. If we are consumed with fear and anxiety, we need to consider seriously Jesus’ promises of eternal life. It is not a vaccine for the ills of this world. It is the promise of life and love itself.
The Rev. William Geppert
The 2009 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 123
