Valuing Unity

Aug 10
7 min read

Valuing Unity

Bible Passage: Corinthians 12: 12 – 31a

Preacher: Ted Kitchen, Jr.

Kobe Union Church

August 10, 2025

Message

Good morning! I’m honored to be back preaching here again at Kobe Union Church. My name is Ted Kitchen, and as most of you know I am the KUPC manager working here at church. Today I want to preach about the importance of unity: unity in our congregation, unity for churches around the world, and unity for all nations and people. I also want to talk about the importance of having peace in our world, so forgive me if my sermon seems to go in different directions.

This Sunday we remember the victims of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki 80 years ago. As fewer and fewer survivors are left, it has become more important that future generations know about the horrors of nuclear attacks. I remember when I first visited Hiroshima after going to Expo 70 55 years ago when I was eleven. After going through the Peace Memorial Museum and going outside. I totally lost it and broke down sobbing, as my family members tried to console me. It was so hard to believe what happened, and I felt ashamed to be an American. Later, after moving to Kobe in my twenties, I read a picture book about the bombing called “Pikadon”. That night I had a terrible nightmare that I was there experiencing the bombing. People were melting in front of me, and I could feel the intense pain they were feeling. I will never forget that terrible feeling. The threat of nuclear attacks is still real, so we need to continue to oppose nuclear weapons. The world still suffers from conflicts around the world. Right now the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine weigh heavy on our minds. We need to continue hoping for and praying for peace to prevail. War can never be justified. It ignores the value of precious human lives. I’m sorry, but I can’t agree with slogans such as “America First” or “Japan First”. I think it should be “Human Beings First”.

I am so glad to be a part of this church, Kobe Union Church. We have been a union church or united church for a long time, 154 years now. There are many different Christian denominations, but here at KUC we don’t dwell on the differences so much and think about what is the same and what is the most important. In Galatians 3:28 it states: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Historically, our church has been influenced most by the mainline Protestant denominations (mainly Congregationalists, Presbyterians, and Methodists), but more recently we have become more of a mixture of other denominations. Recently in our history, we have had Baptist pastors, and now we have a Mennonite pastor for the first time! Also, in the past most members were American, but now we have really become an international church. I think this is wonderful. Also, we have different ways to praise God. We have hymns and the organ, and we have praise songs. I think it is great! I want to encourage using our diversity in a way to learn more from each other. I hope we can respect and enjoy each gift that each person has, and, most importantly, we need to use our gifts, for ourselves, to praise God, and for the benefit of others.

I have basically only ben a part of united churches or union churches. I grew up in Tokyo and grew up going to Tokyo Union Church. Historically, it too has been influenced most by the mainline denominations. We used the United Methodist Hymnal, like we do here at KUC. My parents were Methodist missionaries, and I also worked for many years in a Christian school as a Methodist missionary, but I never really felt more Methodist than something else or understood what that meant. One reason for that could be that there is no Japanese Methodist church. During the Second World War the Japanese government forced all the Protestant denominations to come to together as one denomination, and the United Church of Christ in Japan was formed. After the war, the different denominations were allowed to leave. Many left, such as the Baptists and Lutherans, but the mainline denominations decided to stay together. I didn’t know it for a long time, but interestingly in Canada there is the United Church of Canada and in Australia there is the Uniting Church. These churches were formed by combining the mainline denominations. When I moved to Kobe after college, it was only natural for me to join the union church here, Kobe Union Church, although in those days it was located in Sannomiya. Now we’re up here shining on top of a mountain! When I moved to Hawaii, where I went to graduate school, I went church shopping. I checked out the Methodist churches, but I ended up joining a Presbyterian church. The main reason is because they had the best choir, and I really liked singing.

It could be that denominations don’t dwell on their differences as much as they did in the past. Historically, in Northern Ireland, Christian Protestants and Catholics fought a war over their differences. Actually, my mother was from the Nazarene denomination. Her family were farmers and very conservative. They were against having a TV and believed the only reason to have a car was to take produce to the market and to go to church. When she met my father and decided to marry him and become a Methodist missionary, her parents disowned her. After the birth of their first grandchild and years later they accepted her back into the family.

As I said before, I worked as a Methodist missionary, but never really felt more Methodist than something else. I am embarrassed to say that until quite recently I didn’t know that Methodists accepted infant baptism. This is because my parents believed that a person should make that decision as an adult on their own. Because they were Methodist missionaries, I thought that was what Methodists believed. However, it was only what they personally believed. So anyway I was baptized after attending confirmation classes when I was 13.

Let change the subject slightly for a moment. What famous brothers or sisters do you know? How about the Wright brothers, Grimm brothers, Kennedy brothers, Takashima brothers, Koizumi brothers, Venus and Serena Williams, Kinsan and Ginsan? Well, today I want to talk about John and Charles Wesley. Most people have heard of John Wesley who was the founder of the Methodist church in England. My father respected John Wesley very much and I was also influenced by his theology. John had a partner who was his brother, Charles. Charles was a musician and organist. He wrote the lyrics of 6500 hymns. Many of his hymns are in our church hymnal. In the seventeenth century they worked to try to reform the Church of England and worked for social justice. The two of them went to Georgia (in America) as missionaries, and then came back to work for social reform in England. They pushed for the abolition of slavery, prison reform, and women’s rights. They encouraged lay preaching, and going out to communities and preaching outdoors to the poor, not waiting for people to come to the churches. This spirit of helping the underprivileged has driven the Methodist church to this day, and the church has helped start many schools and hospitals, and many here in Japan. It has been motivated to offer training and education to all people so that they can use what they have learned to help others. I want to mention an interesting point here. I worked at Keimei Gakuin which is a Christian school affiliated with the United Church of Christ in Japan, and also where our pastor Mark works. However, although the school is affiliated with a untied church, it still really identifies with being Methodist and its Methodist roots because the school was founded more than 100 years ago, long before the war.

The Methodist church is known for helping those in need and the powerless, and that is the main area I think all of us should imitate them. However, John and Charles were also very spiritual people. They started a spiritual holy club that used a certain method. That’s where the word “Methodist” comes from. They held prayer meetings daily from 6 to 9, had communion every week, and fasted until 3 pm every Wednesday and Friday. I am sure that these holy spirit inspired meetings were what gave them the motivation to go out and help poor and suffering people. One of the most famous quotes of John Wesley is: Gain all you can, Save all you can, Give all you can.

I am not trying to push being Methodist today. Instead, I am encouraging us to do away with the divisions that divide denominations, and have us strive for the most important goal of spreading the good news about Jesus and helping people the way Jesus helped people. Today is a special day when we remember the victims of a terrible war and terrible atomic bombings. Let us end with the prayer for peace attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi. Do you know who he was? He as a man who lived in the twelfth century in Italy. He came from a wealthy family, but he renounced his luxurious life and decided to live a Christian life of poverty. He founded the religious order of the Franciscans. They were among the first missionaries to come to Japan. Let us strive to be instruments for peace today and every day.

Let us pray.

The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi (Prayer for Peace)

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console,

to be understood as to understand,

to be loved as to love.