Matthias Krammel in Japan

Did you know that about one third of food in Japan, most of it perfectly edible, is thrown away? In a nation that has to import more than half of its food, this is simply unbelievable. On top of that, an estimated 650.000 people do not have food security, meaning they do not know where their food for the next days ahead is going to come from.
Japanese society is very good at hiding problems such as poverty and other social issues. But they are there, one just has to look a little deeper to find them. You would think that churches here would be true to the ways of Jesus, and would assist the poor and feed the hungry. While there are some exceptions, the majority present a very disillusioning picture.
I was lucky to be able to meet the executive director of “Second Harvest Japan” yesterday. We had a good conversation about the challenges and opportunities for food banks in Japan. Click on the logo above to learn more.

“… even if the whole world believed in resurrection, little would change until we began to practice it. We can believe in CPR, but people will remain dead until someone breathes new life into them. And we can tell the world that there is life after death, but the world really seems to be wondering if there is life before death.
There is the kind of conversion that happens to people not because of how we talk but because of how we live. And our little experiments in truth become the schools for conversion, where folks can learn what it means for the old life to be gone and the new life to be upon us, no longer taking the broad path that leads to destruction. Conversion is not an event but a process, a process of slowly tearing ourselves from the clutches of the culture.”

Shane Claiborne in “The Irresistible Revolution”

We need resurrected lives today as much as ever. Especially in a society like Japan, where the bulk of people seem to be corporate slaves, wandering through their existence like aimless zombies.
Oh, how I wish churches here would point to the new life in more practical and authentic ways.