It is the beginning of the spring term and our seven-year-old daughter comes home from school and tells us that they will soon start practising for sports day. But it is not just sports they will be practising for. The culmination of sports day is when the students perform the Hanawabayashi, a traditional dance with strong connections to spirit worship. The children use beautiful fans and move gracefully to the rhythm of the drums in a display that mirrors the rural town’s popular annual festival held later in the year.
For us as Christians there is a hard decision to make. While the actual festival will have shrines paraded through the streets, the school sports day only involves the dance and music. Is there anything wrong with the music or the dance? Is it only wrong to dance when a shrine is present?
As we talked to our young daughter about those things, she told us that she doesn’t feel comfortable to join in because she wants to follow Jesus. When I talked to her teacher she was really surprised. She explained that our daughter is the first Christian at this school and they still have much to learn about integrating people from other religions. What a positive and encouraging reaction this was for us.
Even though it was hard for our daughter to sit by herself on the sidelines and watch the practice and final performance, we could see how God was strengthening her faith and ours too.
This is just one example of spiritual and cultural decisions we have to make on a regular basis as we live in rural Japan. Will you pray with us for our children to be a light in their school? Will you also pray for the children of Japanese Christian families, who often find it even harder to stand out?
By Manuela, an OMF missionary
