“Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy” (Psalm 126:5)
Greetings to you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!
One day, when I was driving late at night, I saw the harvesters with
the combine were still working in the field. Wow! It is truly a season of
harvest, whether it is day or night, because the field is full of fruits of
this year! Are you enjoying watching the waves of the golden field around us
now? They are dancing waiting to be harvested! Then I realized that I was singing
with an old thanksgiving season hymn in my early Christian years in Korea,
“Far and near the fields are teeming with the
waves of ripened grain;
far and near their
gold is gleaming over the sunny slope and plain.
Lord of harvest,
send forth reapers! Hear us Lord to Thee we cry;
Send them now the
sheaves to gather, Ere the harvest time pass by!”
(J. O. Thompson,
1885)
It is now truly the season of thanksgiving! And we are
celebrating!! But as I prepare to celebrate the season of thanksgiving, it
makes me ponder... “what kind of fruits I am harvesting now in my spiritual
field? Is my spiritual field full of golden grains of joy, love, peace
kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control as Paul
listed in Galatians 5:22-23, now?” As a Wesleyan perfectionist (?), it did not
take long to answer. “No, it could be better than that!” How about you all?
Whatever or however we are harvesting now, we are still thankful
for what God has done for us this year. Even our God provides another day and
another year to grow in Him bearing more of those fruits of the Holy Spirit for
the Kingdom eternal. But we harvest what we plant as the Holy Spirit makes it
alive in us in our spiritual field!
As followers of Jesus Christ, we plant the five spiritual seeds.
Those are the seeds of our faith in God through five simple practices as we put
God first in our daily life - prayer, presence, gifts, service and witness. As
we celebrate this season, are we ready to plant those seeds again committing
ourselves to God little deeper and stronger?
Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is the season of celebrating
what our living God has done for us through this year as we give thanks to Him
with joy! But also this is the season of the preparation for our new days as we
plant more seeds in our spiritual field. And through those seeds, someone’s
life may be touched and transformed in their faith journey to the Kingdom
eternal. What a great life it would be when we find a joy in that!
So now, I want to invite all of you to plant those seeds for our
new season remembering what God has done for us through his son Jesus Christ,
our savior. Join me!
In Christian Love,
Pastor Kyochul
P.S. Just in case if anyone wonder what those seeds mean, here we
go...
-The Seeds of Prayer:
Pray for the church, the pastor and staff, family, friends, neighbors, and the
country and the world personally as well as communally; daily, weekly or
regularly with the heart of Christ.
-The Seeds of
Presence: Attend worship service weekly or regularly, come to
the bible studies, participate church events in the time of happy or sad, to
celebrate, to support, to be nurtured and be equipped for the ministry of the
Church.
-The Seeds of Gifts:
Give tithe (One tenth of your earning) or beyond or proportionally, regularly
setting aside them first as a cheerful giver as well as give generously to
support other miscellaneous projects for the ministry of the church.
-The Seeds of
Service: Share the gifts from God for the ministry of the church
through the various leadership areas, i.e., teaching, serving, leading,
visiting, caring, organizing, cleaning, praising, guiding and through all sorts
of service opportunities throughout the year.
-The Seeds of
Witness: Share the story of Jesus Christ through your life with
anyone around you, in the church as well as outside of the church, to
strengthen the believers as well as to connect those who do need God in their
life through your story.
