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--- jn_en_2019_02_01 [2019/02/01 07:32] – created potthast
+++ jn_en_2019_02_01 [2019/02/01 08:10] (current) – potthast
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 ====== Truly International ... ======
-Friday, Feb 1, 2019.
+Friday, Feb 1, 2019. Two weeks ago I attended a Christian service in a very young and
+dynamic church in Kobe, Japan. I arrived a day before for a conference, which took place
+there at the local supercomputing center. So I looked in the internet and found a worship
+service for Sunday 10am, and I dropped in there to join the congregation. There were
+many young people, students and people with small kids - in a very exciting atmosphere.
+It was 20 minutes of worship and dance, then some dedication of two kids, sermon, prayer,
+vision day for 2019 and much more.
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 ** Community without Limits ... **
+When it comes to Christian community, it is a community without the limits and boundaries
+of nation or origin. In Jesus Christ, we are one people. We are his, and our origin or
+language or the way we have been shaped before is no longer important. What is important is
+that HE shapes us now!
+In Colossians 3, Paul writes about this words which had their echos throughout the centuries:
 <color #aa0000>
-Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave,5 free; but Christ is all, and in all.
+Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
 </color> (Col 3, 11)
+As a Christian, you can come to other Christians in many countries, and you find astonishing
+community right away. I had this experience many times in the past, with people from the
+UK, from France, from Japan, from Germany, from Korea, from Pakistan, from the USA ...
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-**  ...**
+** Through Christ ...**
+Christ can do astonishing things. There is a spirit in Christian community which is showing
+a deep band between Christians from very different background. A week ago in Kobe, I had
+nice chats with different people, one of them was the pastor of the church, originally from
+Australia, now in Japan. The whole worship service was in Japanese and English, with people
+from different countries of Asia attending the service.
+To have community with many nations is a deep experience. In science, of course, we have
+this experience all the time. We meet colleagues from dozens of countries, work with them,
+discuss and exchange ideas. That is great as well! But I still think that Christian
+community is shaped one layer deeper.
+The holy spirit is there, and it is not just an idea
+that the spirit of Jesus lives in us, who believe. He is reality. And we are all one through
+this spirit, all who are believers and disciples of Christ. We are all one through him,
+with all our differences, our personal history and our character. In him, differences become
+valuable assets. In him, our personal history becomes our special contribution to the
+community. There is so much to be gained, and the experiences with churches around the globe
+give us a tiny vision about what heaven might look like, when all who believe in him are
+united in a great feast.
 (Roland Potthast)
 [[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/en/topics_collection_ix|... further texts]]