Out of Place….And Yet the Perfect Fit

Today we spent a beautiful day in Kyoto. The sun was shining, the air was brisk, the colours were starting to change, and the company was great! Among other things, one of the sites we saw was the Kinkakuji, one of Japan’s most famous temples. It was originally built in the 1220s (although it was burned down by a madman, so had to be rebuilt) and is plated in gold!

As we were leaving, we happened to pick up some strains of the Hallelujah Chorus! Rod and I just looked at each other and shook our heads…it was so typically Japanese. In the aspect of Christian influences on western culture, it seems as if Japan is a country that doesn’t quite know what to believe. It is not uncommon to hear Christian songs in the most unusual of places. I was walking down the main shopping stretch on my way to work one day, and heard the tune of “You are my Hiding Place.” A favourite tech store of Rod’s, Midori’s, plays “When the Saints Go Marching In” non-stop (literally), with variations in style anywhere from Japanese-Pop to orchestral. I was browsing in a shop yesterday and was pleasantly surprised to see a Christmas card with a picture of a beautiful church on the front…but, when I moved the box that was in front of it, there was a picture of Santa waving in the church doorway.
And so, while it seemed incongruous to hear Handel’s masterpiece on the grounds of a Zen temple, it was by no means startling. And then I thought about the words to the song… “For the Lord God, Omnipotent, reigneth! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!”
Yes Lord, even here!