Praying for Japanese Youth at Christmas

See Christmas and Japanese Youth to learn how they celebrate Christmas, then use the following to pray for them.

One thing that is missing from Christmas in Japan is Jesus. This is a bit different from the intentional effort to leave Jesus out you get in many Christmas things in modern Canada. It is rather a unawareness that it had anything to do with him. Jesus Christ sounds like "Iesu Kirisuto" and Christmas sounds like "kurisumasu" so they don't even look or sound that same. Last Christmas we met a lady, a mother of 2 who was quite surprised to learn from her child after a church Christmas party that Christmas was celebrating Jesus' birthday.

At the same time, there is a lot of curiosity about the Christians' Christmas. Most Japanese have seen enough to see that somehow it means a lot more to us than they can understand. It is often a nice chance to tell people some good news in a very friendly, warm and happy atmosphere.

As students approach Christmas there are many things you could pray for them.

- Pray for students affected by the tsunami, as this is their first Christmas after the event.

- Students in the last year of Jr. High and last year of High school face entrance exams in January and February. The pressure is huge and is a cause of suicide for some. You can pray that they will survive and find hope.

- Most students have discovered that Santa was just a story. It reinforces the idea that nice stories they were told are just not true. You can pray that they will discover the story of Jesus and overcome to skepticism that they have been taught.

- Most students are wanting warmth and friendship. You can pray for Christians in Japan to be able to give that and to share the warmth and love of Jesus to students.

Also see Alberta Christmas Network and Developing a Christian World View in the Alberta Context