Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return..

"A joyful heart is good medicine! But a crushed spirit dries up the bones” 

(Proverbs 17:22, ESV)

    Greetings to you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

    As we enter into the new month, March, how's your heart working now? I just assumed that we could begin to talk about spring since we had a Groundhog Day in Feb already. However, from the outside, I see snow is still falling… snow on snow on snow. And my neighbor’s two big dogs in a distance are jumping back and forth with joyful hearts tasting the white stuff from above in a wide open field.

I know they don’t have to shovel the snow to clear their side walk. They don’t have to drive with the semi trucks splashing salty ice water over us and they don’t have to walk on the icy hills worrying about falling. It is no wonder why they can keep joyful hearts with snow. What a good life and what a good medicine!

As you all know... that white stuff, the snow flakes, don’t have any taste because they are just a combination of two hydrogen atoms with one oxygen atom. In other words, it is a kind of water! With my playful heart, I try to count them like a child.. and after a few seconds, I realize that it is not possible because they are infinite to me. 

However, can you believe all those infinite numbers of snowflakes are different to each other in size and shape? It is due to the differences in surrounding temperature and saturation as they are formed in the sky. Amazingly, God created them all one by one for certain days like today. Believe it or not, so also humans in this world! Even God can count all the numbers of hairs in our heads. It sounds like infinite numbers though...

“...the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; 

you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.” (Luke 12:7, NLT)

Some years ago, an apostle named Paul, one of those people in God’s creation, shared his heart with us. However, it is rather strange at first because he sounded like he had a crushed spirit that dried up his bones.      

"Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is 

dominated by sin and death? (Romans 7:24, NLT)

I wonder what kind of snowflake he was. I am pretty sure he was formed like that by the surrounding environment, some hardships in his life caused by the human reality of sin and death. He is a truly unique snowflake, one and only in human history like all of us here on earth in the 21st century. However, he shared one element that all of us should realize. 

It is Jesus Christ, the image of God in him! So his ending was totally different as he found the answer through that image! So he has a new heart even under the same reality of sin and death. This is his song of a joyful heart after he found it.

“Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 7:25a, NLT)

Worthy Is the Lamb by Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are now entering into the season of Lent as we prepare to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. It is God’s searching journey through us as we spend our time for fasting and penance, instead of me searching, because as we let God search us through this season, God will renew our heart to celebrate the new life, full of joy and thanksgiving! Are we now ready to let God search us as we enter into the season of Lent together and find the answer like Paul did? Yes, we are! Join me..

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Kyochul

Praise to Our God

Today, I vision visions...

 Gadol Adonai  from Praise to Our God Concert

Great is the Lord

Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised!

In the city of our God, in His holy mountain,

 I will come to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy.

I will bring the fruit of my lips as an offering before You.

Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised!

In the city of our God, in His holy mountain,

Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men

 they shall be His people

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

There shall be no more death, pain, nor crying.

Hallelujah for the Lord our God reigns!

Hallelujah for the God Almighty reigns!

Let us rejoice and be glad and honor Him!

Hallelujah for the Lord our God reigns!

Hallelujah for the God Almighty reigns!

transcribed by Isa Camson of NIHOP

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Immanoel  from the worship at Cave Church, Egypt

Immanuel

Your people declare their faith, holding onto your promises.

 You are our shepherd and precious, covering us in your grace.

Immanueul, Immanuel, God with us!

Whenever war toughens on us, Your Spirit’s manifestation is in us.

 You are ours, and who could satisfy us But You, our Savior?

Immanueul, Immanuel, God with us!

You teach us your word, a Lamp to our feet.

Your Spirit in us comforts us, and enlightens our eyes.

Immanueul, Immanuel, God with us!

†

Dona Nobis Pacem by St. Olaf Motet Choir with Congregation



Grant Us Peace.... 

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring

"Someday, we all will be able to see the love of Christ Jesus fully from each other's lives..."

I dream dreams today as I listen this divine music leaking from heaven above...

Heart and Mouth and Deed and Life....

by J S Bach

Well for me that I have Jesus,

O how tightly I hold him

that he might refresh my heart,

when I'm sick and sad.

Jesus I have, who loves me

and gives himself to me,

ah, therefore I will not leave Jesus,

Even if I feel my heart is breaking.

Jesus remains my joy,

my heart's comfort and essence,

Jesus fends off all suffering,

He is my life's strength,

my eye's desire and sun,

my soul's treasure and pleasure;

Therefore I will not leave Jesus

out of heart and face.

“Jesu, Meiner Seele Wonne” written by Martin Janus, 1661

Be Still, and Know that I am God!

Hide me now under your wings..

Still by Gospelhaus Choir

Come, behold the works of the Lord; 

see what desolations he has brought on the earth.

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;

he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;

he burns the shields with fire.

"Be Still, and know that I am God!

I am exalted among the nations,

I am exalted in the earth."

the Lord of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Psalm.46.8-11, nrsv

†

Still by Jennifer Jeon

The Lord Almighty is with us;

the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Come and see what the Lord has done, 

See what amazing things he has done on earth.

He stops wars all over the world;

he breaks bows, destroys spears,

and sets shields on fire.

"Stop fighting," 

he says, 

"and know that I am God, 

supreme among the nations, 

supreme over the world."

The Lord Almighty is with us;

the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Psalm 46:8-11, tev

†

Hide Me Now Under Your Wings & Where It Moves by Whanil High School Choir

"The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, 

but do not know where it come from and where it is going; 

so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8)

†

We want to go as it leads us...

What Is Love?

As I hear numerous responses from many different places on the results of the special session of General Conference of the United Methodist Church this week, I begin to wonder what the love truly mean for us, the followers of Jesus Christ.

Two thousands years ago, people were confused with what they thought of the most crucial thing for them to practice as a body of Christ and what actually Jesus showed them through his life, death and resurrection as the most crucial thing for them to practice as his body, the church. Simply saying, they were confused with what they wanted to do and what God wanted them to do.

Apostle Paul described it vividly and tangibly through his letter to the church in Corinth, the 1st Century Postmodern World, so to speak, drawing the healthy boundary between God's and human's. 

The healthy line is "Love", not humanly love but divine love - the active love of God for his Son and his people, and the active love his people are to have for God, each other, and even enemies!

Without Love, We Are Nothing based on 1 Corinthians 13 by Ansan Choir

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have 

not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and 

all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, 

but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, 

and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothings." 

(1 Corinthians 13:1-3, NKJV)  

†

  

Two thousand years later, we are still confused with what we thought of the most crucial thing for us to practice as a body of Christ and what actually Jesus showed us through his life, death and resurrection as the most crucial thing for us to practice as his body, the church. Simply saying, we, the 21st Century Postmodernists, are now also confused with what we want to do and what God wants us to do.

Now we want to hear Paul again...

Without Love, We Are Nothing based on 1 Corinthians 13 by a Family Group in Rome United Church

"Though we speak with the tongues of angels that can touch people's heart and evoke 

their feelings and emotions and make them to applaud, but have not love, we have 

become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though we have the gift of prophecy, 

and understand all mysteries and all knowledge in the scripture with a sound theology 

and though we have all faith, so that we could remove mountains, but have not love, 

we are nothing. And though I bestow all our goods to feed the poor and heal the 

sick, and though we give our body to be burned for the transformation of the world, 

but have not love, it profits us nothings." (1 Corinthians 13:1-3, paraphrased)    

What are we doing now?

It is time to love with the same love of Jesus through our joyful obedience together!