HRPC Office

September 3, 2017

Comments from Dr. Tsunao Oyama, Chairperson, Board of Trustees, Hokusei Gakuen School System. (Hokusei Gakuen means North Star Academy).

To the members of Hunting Ridge Presbyterian Church:

It is a great honor for me to be here and to have a chance to express our thanks to you, which we should have done much earlier. This year we celebrate the 130^th anniversary of the Hokusei Gakuen School System, one of the Protestant Christian Mission schools in Japan.

Back in January 1887, Sarah C. Smith, a Presbyterian missionary from Elmira, NY, opened a tiny school for seven girls in snowy Sapporo, Japan. Today it has grown into a system consisting of one junior high school, three senior high schools, one junior college, one university and one graduate school with a total enrollment of about 6,000 students. Continue reading “A message from Japan, September 3, 2017” →

Delivered by Ruling Elder James Parks, August 13, 2017

Psalm 22: 1-5, 19-26; Matthew 14:22-33

In the movie “Monsters Inc.” the fictional city of Monstropolis is literally fueled by the screams of frightened human children. Ironically, the monsters who are best at scaring the children are terrified of them. It is common knowledge in Monstropolis that human children are “poisonous.” Their very presence threatens to contaminate the purity of the city that the monsters have worked so tirelessly to maintain.

It is not until someone inadvertently brings an actual human child into their world that the story of these dreaded others begins to unravel. As it does, the fear-based economy of Monstropolis is revealed to be unstable. Continue reading ““What Are You Afraid Of?”” →