By Carson Foushee

Each country celebrates Christmas a little differently. Japan has inherited many traditions from the West, but there are also some that are uniquely Japanese. Like in America, shopping malls are full of beautiful Christmas trees as shoppers seek gifts for loved ones with familiar English seasonal songs playing in stores. Christmas lights, known as “illuminations,” can be found in the trees along city streets and with displays in city parks.

Lines at KFC locations wrap around street corners for customers to pick up pre-ordered fried chicken buckets, a tradition that began with an incredibly successful marketing campaign in the 1970’s. Choirs and orchestras perform Handel’s “Messiah” in large concert halls across the country to packed houses. Couples sometimes even attend Christmas Eve services as part of date nights due to the romantic candlelight atmosphere. And like in America and other nations around the world, there are also many who gladly partake in these annual holiday traditions, but do not know the real meaning of Christmas. To share the joyful news of Jesus’ birth, we held the first Kanazawa International Baptist Church (KIBC) Christmas Party since we moved away from Kanazawa seven years ago.

Forty-nine people from 11 nations of various ages and faith backgrounds joined in the fun. For us, this was a wonderful chance to spend time with dear church friends as well as invite friends unconnected to our faith community to learn more about the birth of Jesus and experience some of our favorite holiday traditions. A Kenyan friend led origami ornament making. Laura and a few others baked cookies from mixes purchased with funds provided through offerings from supporters of our ministry so that participants could decorate them with icing and sprinkles as they sipped on their hot cocoa. We split into 12 teams to act out the “Twelve Days of Christmas,” learned about Christmas traditions from around the world through trivia, and the children even decorated Christmas trees with Carson and a few international friends with tinsel and other shiny items. However, the heart of the party was the reading of the Christmas story.

KIBC members read from the Gospel of Luke about the miraculous birth of Jesus as the words were displayed in English and Japanese on the screen for all to read and understand. For some of the children, it was a retelling of the story they performed just a few weeks before at our church’s preschool Christmas pageant. For others it was a part of an annual faith tradition. And for still others it was the first time they may have ever heard or read the story in their lifetimes.

The Christmas party was a blessing in so many ways, however, greatest among them may be that it offered an answer to a question we still often receive, “Why did you come to Japan?” We moved to Japan 10 years ago to offer witness to the love of Jesus in our lives and to share this transformative love with our neighbors. We are grateful for the opportunity to share about the light that shined in the darkness 2,000 years ago and that we can reflect Christ’s light to all we meet in Japan.

Carson Foushee is a Cooperative Baptist Field Personnel serving alongside his wife, Laura, in partnership with the Japan Baptist Convention (JBC) in Kanazawa, Japan. Click here to learn more about their ministry.