【2022年】アメリカの日本人教会のイースター礼拝・エッグハント

2022 7/19

2022年4月27日 2022年7月19日

こんにちは！シロックマ（@shirokkuma_pa）です！

アメリカの日本人教会は、幅広い交流の場になっており、特に、クリスマスやイースターの日は、多くの方が教会に来られます。

イースターは、日本では馴染みのないイベントで、私自身もクリスチャンではありませんが、今回、アメリカでのイースター礼拝を経験したので、その様子をご紹介します。

イースターとは

イエス・キリストが十字架にかけられて、亡くなった後、3日後に復活したことを祝うイベントで、毎年行われています。
2022年は4月17日（日曜）でした。

アメリカでは、宗教を持つ人がほとんどで、クリスチャンの方も多く、普段の日曜礼拝に通わない方でも、クリスマスやイースターは特別で、教会に礼拝にいく人が多いようです。

日本では、あまり馴染みのないイベントですが、クリスマスよりも特別なイベントであるようです。

クリスマスのサンタの仮装や、プレゼント交換は、後付けで、商業的な意味合いが入ってきたものであり、あまり教会では行わないそうです。

礼拝に来る日本人

礼拝に来ている日本人は、元々クリスチャンの人もいれば、クリスチャンではないけど、アメリカに来てから、聖書の言葉で、人生の困難な場面で救われたという人、交流のために来ている人など、様々です。

イースターまでの流れ

毎年、イースターの期間に、灰の水曜日、レントの期間、そして、復活祭があります。

レント（Lent）

灰の水曜日（Ash Wednesday）から始まり、イースター前の日曜を除いた40日間の期間を、レントといいます。
灰の水曜日は、教会で灰で額に十字架を描いてもらう人もいるようです（私は見たことがありません）
2022年は3月2日の水曜日でした。

灰の水曜日から、レントの期間、40日間に渡り、キリストの苦難と死を思って、お祈りが行われる期間があります。

受難というのは、イエス・キリストが十字架により苦難を引き受けたことを意味します。
この期間の教会では、礼拝後の食事会を控えたり、断食をする人もいるようです。

グッドフライデー（Good Friday）

グッドフライデーは、イエス・キリストが十字架の死を遂げた日のことです。

特別に、教会を1日開放し、蝋燭を灯したり、お香を焚いたり、讃美歌を自由に歌ったり、各々が好きな時間にきて、好きなように過ごせます。

礼拝で、毎週唱える、使徒信条の「3日目に死人のうちより蘇り」というのは、金曜に十字架で亡くなって、日曜に復活（死から蘇った）という意味のようです。

イエス・キリストがテーマの動画

イースター前の週に、下の動画の一部が礼拝で流され、後半の方の、実際に十字架にかけられ、死を迎える場面をみました。

宗教画について

このテーマを取り上げた宗教画は、数多くあります。
例えば、「最後の晩餐」の絵は、イエス・キリストが処刑される前夜に、使徒12人と共に、祝った晩餐の様子を描いたものです。

フィラデルフィア美術館にも、展示はありますが、作品の中には、白人で、ブロンドヘアとして描かれていることもあることを知りました。
実際には、上に挙げた動画でもあるように、イエス・キリストは、中東人で、黒髪であり、質素な服装をしていたということがわかりました。

イースターの教会の様子

毎年、クリスマスとイースターは、多くの子供たちが参加するので、子供向けのイベントも企画します。
クリスマスでは、イエスについての誕生をYoutubeを使用して、英語の訳を新しくつけて読み聞かせました。

イースターでは、教会にあった紙芝居（イースターがテーマのもの）を用いて、英語の訳をつけて、紙芝居をすることになりました。

現地の子供たちは、現地校に普段は通うので、英語の方が理解しやすい方が多いため、子供向けのイベントは英語で行いました。

普段の礼拝では、日本語がメインで、英語が混じることがあるくらいです

対面とZOOMの併用

当日参加できない人、遠隔で参加する人に向けて、対面とZOOMの併用で行いました。

毎年、常連さんがいる中で、子供たちも何人か来られて、合計40-50人くらい集まりました。

普段の日曜礼拝では、牧師のお説教がありますが、今回は子供向けのイベント（紙芝居）をすることになりました。

紙芝居（イースターがテーマ）

紙芝居中は、子供たちの反応を見ながら、質問を挟んだりしながら、進めました。

What do you notice about this picture? (Talk about what they are wearing and explain that this took place a long time ago)
Who is this baby and Who will this baby grow up to be?
This is Baby Jesus. Jesus is God’s Son and he grew up to be our Savior, our Friend who loves us, even when we have done bad things. What are bad things that people do? Why are they bad? Those bad things are called sin. Has someone ever said or done something that hurt you? Because God is our friend, He feels hurt when we do bad things. Jesus wants us to be friends with God because both God and Jesus love us. When you don’t listen to your parents, what happens? Jesus decided that He would be punished instead of us and that is what He did when He grew up. Here is His story.

Here is Jesus with his friends. He is explaining to everyone that He is God’s Son and He is here to be our friend and to give us forgiveness and love. I want you to close your eyes and think of a movie star. What do they look like-how are they dressed? What would you say if I told you that the most famous movie star wore old clothing, hung out with people who didn’t have a lot of money, and instead of going to Hollywood, was helping sick people? Back then, people thought the Son of God would be like a movie star-flashy and fancy. When they met Jesus, they were surprised that he wasn’t like a movie star at all. This made some people angry because they couldn’t understand this. Because they were angry, they were planning to kill Him.

Sounds scary, right? But God had a plan. Because actions always have consequences, all the bad things that everyone in the world has ever done would need to be punished. Remember what I said before about how Jesus would be punished for us? That punishment would be death-but death is not the end of God’s plan. Before Jesus was taken away to be killed, Jesus prayed, telling God about how scared He was. Jesus felt sad, alone, and scared. All of His friends fell asleep and could not be there to comfort Him. Because Jesus experienced what it is to be scared and alone, He is with us and comforts us when we feel scared and alone.

When the people took Jesus away to kill Him, they hurt him, saying mean things to make fun of him. They hit him and hurt his body so that he bled and had bad injuries. Because Jesus experienced what it was like to be made fun of and badly hurt, He is with us and comforts us when we are made fun of and badly hurt.

Back then, if someone was punished, they put nails in the person’s hands and feet to stick them onto a cross until they died. Jesus did not do anything wrong, but He was treated like a criminal and put on a cross. He accepted the pain and guilt from all of the bad things everyone has ever done or ever will do so that we don’t have to experience punishment ourselves. He loves us so much that He protected us from that. It would be like if you didn’t listen to your parents and as punishment, you had to give up your favorite toy, but your friend who loves you so much gave up their own favorite toy instead so that you wouldn’t have to do that. How does that make you feel?

Before He died, Jesus cried “Father, I feel so alone. Where are You?” Jesus was in so much pain-His whole body hurt and He felt alone and sad. Because he endured so much pain, He can be with us and comfort us when we feel hurt and alone. “Father, I trust Your plan. I am coming to see you soon.” And with that, Jesus died. The sky grew dark and the earth rumbled, as if it also were sad that Jesus died.

Back then, instead of being buried in a coffin with a tombstone, people were buried in a cave. So Jesus was buried in a cave and a big stone was rolled in front of the entrance.

Three days later on Sunday, three of Jesus’ friends came to take care of His body so that it wouldn’t smell bad. When they came to his tomb an angel appeared and rolled the stone away. The angel said to the women, “Please don’t be scared, because I know you are looking for Jesus Who died. But, Jesus is stronger than death and He has come back from the dead. Come, see where His body used to be.” The women tip-toed over to the tomb. “He’s not there, He is truly alive!” the women shouted.

The women ran to tell their friends that Jesus was alive. “Are you kidding me? You’re talking like a crazy person, how could He be alive, we saw Him die?” their friends said. “No, He is alive!” insisted the women “He is God’s Son and His power is greater than we can imagine. That means even He can come back from the dead!”

One of those friends, Peter, ran to the tomb. “Could it be, is He really alive?” He wondered. Sure enough at the tomb, there was no body to be found-only the cloth Jesus’ body was wrapped.

Later on, when the friends were all eating together, Who should show up but Jesus Himself! At first, they didn’t recognize Him, but when they did, they were so happy. They had so much to talk about-it truly was a celebration. Jesus is alive! Sin and death were defeated by Jesus. His resurrection gives us hope that our pain and sadness is not the end of our story.

This is not the end of this story. After spending a lot of time with His friends, Jesus went back to Heaven to be with His Father. Jesus is still in Heaven now and He wants to be friends with you and me. Because He went back to Heaven, His Spirit can be with us, to listen to us, love us, and comfort us. When we believe in Jesus, we become friends with Him. Because He became human, He knows the joys, the sadness, and the pain we have. Because He died and came back alive, He knows and wants us to know too, that there is new life and forgiveness. Jesus is alive!