昨日の日曜日、私が通っているキリスト教会では、オープンチャーチと銘打ち、献堂一周年を記念して、伝道集会を開催した。キリスト教に興味がある人や魂の救いを求めている人たちに教会に来てもらおうと、チラシを4,500枚刷って近隣の住宅に配るなどして宣伝に励んだ。私の教会はホントに小さな教会で、普段は10数名で礼拝を守っている。ギューギューに詰めて座ってもらっても、70名も入ったら身動きが取れない。チラシを4,500枚も配って、例えばもし100名もの人が集まったらどうするのだろうと、内心ドキドキしていた。駐車場は数台分しかないので、来場者は途方に暮れてしまうだろう。駐車場係を仰せつかった私としては危機感を感じ、もしかしたら開催自体が危ぶまれる自体になるかもしれないと思っていた。
　そんな私の心配をよそに、主催者である牧師先生は「たくさん来てくれるといいな～」などと涼しい顔をしている。予約制にはしていないのに、まるで未知の来場者の数を把握しているようだった。「困ってしまうほど、そんなにたくさん来てくれることにはならないだろう」と達観されていた。牧師先生の考えでは、こうして地道に開催を重ねていくことで、近隣の方々に「ここにキリスト教会がある」ということをまずは認知してもらいたいという願いがある。4,500枚は未来へのちょっとした投資だろう。蓋を開けてみると、初めての方が数名いらっしゃったが、久しぶりに来て下さった方も含めて、30名前後のほぼ想定通りの人数だった。

　伝道集会のプログラムは普段の礼拝とは違って、ギターやハーモニカの伴奏に合わせてみんなで讃美歌を歌ったり、オカリナの演奏があったり、またクリスチャンを代表して、私が受洗するに至った経緯を証ししたりして、キリスト教に馴染みのない人たちの為に分かりやすい内容になるように心がけた。牧師先生の説教も、ご自分の生い立ちなどを話されて、より親しみやすいものになっていた。
　稚拙な私の証しに加えて、楽器の演奏者たちもプロ級というわけにはいかなかったが、私には世界に一つだけのかけがえのない一時になった。上手い下手ではないことが本当に分かった気がして、「気持ちを込める」ということが心に染みた時間だった。歳のせいか、感動しやすくなってきたかもしれない。神さまに感謝した。

　集会の後にみんなで丸くなって交わりの時を持ち、お茶を飲みながら一人ずつが自己紹介を兼ねて、抱えている問題などがあればみんなで分かち合った。そんなわけでこの日もまた初めて会った方々と話す機会に恵まれたのだが、人見知りの私は驚くほど饒舌に活躍した。私の中で、間違いなく何かが起きている。私が証ししたあとの交わりだったので共通の話題があり、皆さんが私に話しかけやすい状況になっていたことはあるが、それにしても心温まる時間を共有できたと思う。

　緊張して、働いて、心を開いて、感動して、学び深い素晴らしい一日だった。朝から夕方までの長い一日でもあり、帰宅してからドッと疲れが出て、ちょっと動けなかった。でもそれは精いっぱい誠実に生きることができた証拠でもあり、幸せを感じていた。これが毎日だったとしたら体力的にもなかなか厳しいものがあるが、たまには良いかと思う。細かい所をもっと突き詰めていけば、もっと良い集会にできるような気もするけれど、突き詰めない脇の甘さがまた笑え、良いような気もする。キリスト教会での出来事であり、まさに主の道を進んだ主日だった。

　来年もやるんだろうな……

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Evangelistic Meeting

　Yesterday, on Sunday, the Christian church I attend held an evangelistic meeting to commemorate the first anniversary of the dedication of the church, calling it an ‘open church’. We printed 4,500 flyers and distributed them to nearby houses in an effort to advertise the event and encourage people who are interested in Christianity or seeking salvation to come to the church. My church is a really small church, and we usually have a service with just over ten people. Even if we squeeze everyone in, there’s no room to move if we have 70 people. I was secretly nervous about what would happen if we handed out 4,500 flyers and, for example, 100 people turned up. There’s only room for a few cars in the car park, so visitors would be at a loss. As the person in charge of parking, I felt a sense of crisis and thought that the event itself might be in danger.
　Despite my worries, the pastor, who was the organizer, was keeping a cool head, saying things like “I hope a lot of people come”. Even though the event wasn’t by reservation, it was as if he knew how many people would come. He seemed to have a philosophical view of the situation, thinking “I don’t think that many people will come, to the point where it would be a problem”. The pastor’s idea was that by holding the event steadily like this, he hoped that the people in the neighborhood would first become aware that there was a Christian church here. The 4,500 flyers were probably a small investment in the future. When the event was held, there were a few first-time visitors, but including those who had come for the first time in a while, there were around 30 people, almost as many as expected.

　The program for the evangelism meeting was different from the usual service, and we sang hymns together to the accompaniment of guitars and harmonicas, there was an ocarina performance, and I gave a testimony about how I came to be baptized as a Christian on behalf of Christians, so we tried to make it easy to understand for people who were not familiar with Christianity. The pastor’s sermon was also made more approachable by talking about his own background.
　In addition to my poor testimony, the musicians were not professional-level, but for me it was a one-of-a-kind, irreplaceable moment. I felt that I really understood that it wasn’t about being good or bad, and it was a time when “putting your heart into it” really sunk in. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, but I think I’m becoming more easily moved. I thanked God for this.

　After the meeting, we all sat in a circle and had a time of fellowship, drinking tea and introducing ourselves one by one, and if anyone had any problems, we shared them with each other. So, on this day too, I was blessed with the opportunity to talk with people I had never met before, and despite my shyness, I was surprisingly talkative. Something definitely happened within me. Although we had a common topic of conversation because it was a time of fellowship after my testimony, and everyone was in a situation where it was easy to talk to me, I think we were able to share a heartwarming time.

　It was a wonderful day, full of tension, work, opening up, emotion and learning. It was a long day, from morning to evening, and when I got home I was exhausted and couldn’t move for a while. But it was proof that I had lived with sincerity to the best of my ability, and I felt happy. If this was every day, it would be physically demanding, but I think it’s good to do it once in a while. I feel like if we could work out the details a bit more, we could make the meeting even better, but I also think that the fact that we didn’t work out the details is also kind of funny and makes it good. It was an event at a Christian church, and it was a Sunday where we truly followed the Lord’s path.

　I think we’ll do it again next year…