Surprise at the Judgement

We welcome you all to join us online at 10am Japan Time for the WTUC worship service this Sunday, November 26, 2023, the 26th Sunday after Pentecost – the Reign of Christ Sunday. Advent is on it’s way… Dec. 3 will be the First Sunday of Advent.

The Rev. Dr. Jim Sack will be preaching the message this Sunday entitled, “Surprise at the Judgement.” The scripture readings will be Ezekiel 34:11-16 and Matthew 25:31-46. Our hymns will be… “Rejoice, the Lord Is King” — “Be Still, My Soul” — and “Because He Lives.”   

Carol Sack will be the liturgist, Kazuko Sacon is the organist and Ruth Ingulsrud and friends will bring the children’s message.

We hope that many of you will be able to come and worship with us!

WTUC Thanksgiving Gathering Photos + December Events

Thank you to everyone who made the Thanksgiving service and potluck a great success. Photos are shown below. Good food, good company, so many things to be thankful for. Praise God for abundant blessings. Please join us at our next in-person worship gathering on Dec. 17 at 10am in our regular worship space on the campus of the Japan Lutheran College in Mitaka.

WTUC members are invited to go Christmas Caroling at the Nozomi-no-Ie orphanage on Dec. 10th at 5pm. Choir members from the American School in Japan will also be attending. Please let Ann or Mark know if you can attend and if you need transportation.

The Christmas Eve service is a joint-service planned with Mitaka Lutheran in their sanctuary and will be celebrated from 10:30 to 11:30 am on December 24th.

Next week’s worship service on November 26 at 10am will be held online with Rev. Dr. Jim Sack preaching. We look forward to seeing you. Have a blessed week.

Trust – Join our WTUC Online Service + Japan Women’s Conference Sign-Ups

You are invited to worship with the West Tokyo Union Church family online on Sunday, November 19th at 10am, Japan Time.

Our speaker this coming Sunday will be a guest preacher, the liturgist is Esther Yomoah and our organist is Kazuko Sacon. The message is entitled “Trust.”

The children’s message will be given by Ruth Ingulsrud and Hamlet the Pig.

The scripture readings are from Psalm 123 and Matthew 25:14 – 30 (Parable of the Talents). The hymns will be the “Hymn of Promise” and “Send Me Lord.” 

We hope that many of you will be able to join us online and worship with us!

The Japan Women’s Conference, is coming up and registrations are open! Don’t miss this amazing opportunity to join a rejuvenation and jubilation of women coming together from March 1 – 3 in the mountains of Nagano. Save money by registering now while the Early Bird Rates are in force. Here is the link to the WoCon website: https://woconjapan.wordpress.com

Don’t delay! Register today! Our keynote speaker will be WTUC’s own Carol Sack –– the theme of the conference this year is “Just As I Am.” Come as you are and be filled with blessing and connection and grace. We hope to see you there.

Living as Children of the Light – Thanksgiving Hybrid Service

WTUC will be holding its in-person and online hybrid service tomorrow, Sunday, Nov 12 from 11:00 AM to 12:00 AM (Tokyo Time) at the Mitaka Lutheran Church. Please note the difference in the time of the the worship start; 11:00 am instead of the usual 10:00 am.

Our annual Thanksgiving Potluck Lunch will begin at 12:00 in the cafeteria of the Japan Lutheran Theological Seminary in Mitaka. Here is the address: 大沢3-10-20, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan, 181-0015 Please bring a dish to share!

Our speaker this Sunday is Rev. Dr. Paul Shew, the liturgist is Jill Ito, our organist is Kazuko Sacon, the slides were prepared by Misae Urata and tech support is provided by Zeke Wilson and Mark Hisamatsu.

Zoom log-in information:  ID: 840 9415 4793   PW: 583756

The WTUC offering link is found here: https://wtuc.net/offering/

Paul Shew will be preaching the Thanksgiving message entitled: “Living as Children of the Light: Embracing Hope and Gratitude in Uncertain Times.” The scripture readings are: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 and Philippians 4:6-7. Here are the hymns: “We Gather Together,” “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” and “How Great Thou Art.”

We hope to see many of you online or in person tomorrow, at 11:00 am.

What We’ve Learned on Our Journey – Sally Witmer

Please join us on Sunday, November 5 at 10am as we welcome back previous WTUC member Sally Witmer for our online worship service. Sally’s message is entitled, “What We’ve Learned on Our Journey.” The liturgist is Betsy Terada, our organist is Kazuko Sacon, and the slides were prepared by Misae Urata.

Zoom log in information:

ID: 840 9415 4793

PW: 583756

Dan and Sally Witmer met, married and raised their family in the San Francisco Bay Area. From 2006 to 2011, they lived in Fuchu with their three young girls, Katy, Sarah, and Molly. During their time in Japan, the WTUC community played a central role in their lives, and they came to know the WTUC congregation as a small but mighty, hugely generous community of faith.

Jesus became real to both Dan and Sally at early ages. But they came to Japan not having questioned much about perspectives outside the American Christian bubble. Japan was the place God chose to open their eyes to a bigger God of love reigning above a wider world of children He calls his own. Especially through hardship in Japan, they learned to trust God more intimately and experience the peace of God’s presence.

The Witmers now live in San Diego where Dan works as a wireless electrical engineer and Sally is finishing her license as a trauma therapist. They are very active in their church, Commons, which is another small but mighty church, serving the poor in downtown San Diego. (The girls live in Santa Barbara, CA and Walla Walla, WA).

We hope that many of you will be able to come and worship with us!

The Tension Between Grace and Judgement

We welcome you to our online worship service this Sunday, October 22 at 10am.

This Sunday, our speaker is Rev. Tim Boyle. His message is titled, “The Tension Between Grace and Judgement.”  Our liturgist this Sunday is Steve Eskildson. Thank you to Kazuko Sacon for playing the organ and to Ann Tang for arranging the slides.

Photo by Tim Boyle

New Testament Reading: Matthew 10:28-31
Epistle Reading: Ephesians 2:1-10

WTUC Sunday Worship Zoom Link:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84094154793?pwd=UmhGUXlac1B1ZHMzY3ZBMnBHaWtuUT09

ID: 840 9415 4793

PW: 583756

We hope that many of you will be able to come and worship with us!

The Ten Commandments for Modern Life

This Sunday. October 15 at 10am JST, please join us in-person or online from 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM.

We will be meeting at Mitaka Lutheran Church, Room 105. Our speaker will be Rev. Dr. Paul Tsuchido Shew with a message entitled, “The Ten Commandments for Modern Life.”

The liturgist is Esther Yomoah, the organist is Kazuko Sacon and the slide and tech coordinator is Zeke Wilson. 

The Old Testament reading is: Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20.
The Psalm is 133; 12 – 20.
The New Testament reading is: Philippians 3:4-14.

We hope that many of you will be able to join us, at the church meeting room on the campus of the Lutheran Seminary or online.

30 Years That Changed the World

Join us online via Zoom this coming Sunday, Oct. 8 at 10am JST for a special message from our guest preacher, Malcolm Foster! 

Malcolm Foster is a journalist, artist and missionary kid who was raised in Hokkaido. He was a member of WTUC until about a year ago, when he and his family moved to Washington DC, where he works for Radio Free Asia, (click on the link for more information), which sends news to countries in Asia where the news is censored. His wife Mio, who will be liturgist this coming Sunday, has just started a job teaching in a public charter school in DC. They have two boys, Jacob (21) and Miles (19), and ferret named Luisa (4).

Malcolm will be preaching a message entitled, “30 Years That Changed the World.”

The Bible passages for this Sunday are:
from the Old Testament: Jonah 3:1-10
from the New Testament: Acts 10: 13-48

The hymns will be:
“O God, our Help in Ages Past” 
“Breathe on me, Breath of God”
“O Master Let me Walk with Thee”

We hope that many of you will be able to come and worship with us!

Here is the link that we will be using:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84094154793?pwd=UmhGUXlac1B1ZHMzY3ZBMnBHaWtuUT09

Meeting ID: 840 9415 4793

Passcode: 583756

Daily Repentance

On Sunday, October 1, you are welcome to join the WTUC family online for a worship service at 10am JST. The Rev. Dr. Jim Sack will be preaching from the Old Testament reading, Ezekiel 18:25-32 and from the Gospel lesson, Matthew 21:28-32, on the subject of “Daily Repentance.”

The hymns for this coming Sunday will be: #463  Lord Speak to Me, #430  O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee, and #396, O Jesus, I Have Promised.

We look forward to seeing you next Sunday. Please use the regular Zoom link to log in:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84094154793?pwd=UmhGUXlac1B1ZHMzY3ZBMnBHaWtuUT09

Meeting ID: 840 9415 4793

Passcode: 583756

Jesus, the Revolutionary

Please join us this Sunday at 10am JST on Zoom as Rev. Tim Boyle brings us a message on the Biblical stance towards discrimination. Rev. Boyle’s sermon title: The Revolutionary Message of Jesus Regarding Discrimination. Here is the Zoom link for 10am on Sept. 24:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84094154793?pwd=UmhGUXlac1B1ZHMzY3ZBMnBHaWtuUT09

Meeting ID: 840 9415 4793

Passcode: 583756

The scripture readings for Sept. 24th are: Gen. 1:26-27 and John 4:1-42

Our hymns from the United Methodist Hymnal will be: God of Grace and God of Glory (577), The First One Ever (276) and the closing hymn is Lord of the Dance (261).

The photos that we will for the liturgy during the service are gorgeous pictures captured by Tim Boyle, many of which were taken in and around Lake Nojiri. Please join us for this online worship service!