West Union United Methodist Church
Friday, March 29, 2024
Luke 10:27

Pastor's Corner

 

From Mee to You

From Mee To You

He sustained him in a desert land, in a howling wilderness waste; he shielded him, cared for him, guarded him as the apple of his eye.

-Deuteronomy. 32:10 (NRSV)

The fresh air outside is still cold but the bright sunshine through my windows makes me happy and hopeful this morning. The other day, as I drove around suddenly I realized the sense of busyness in a quiet, still wintry field alongside the roads. I saw that many farmers were out to check their fields and some were already irrigating their lands. That made me think of the works of our God. God works in silence, miraculously and most of us are not able to even sense the miracles that God has been performing in our midst. Then, we realize the works God has done either majestically on a big scale or a small, tiny scale. I am impressed by the small or tiny scale of God’s work, particularly. For example, sprinkles of rain, early morning fog, even the sound of dripping water from a faucet in my bathroom. Anyway, what I am trying to say here is: if we begin to see the beauty from the little stuff, we may see the most awesome beauty of Divine works in our lives.    

Probably you may not notice that I’ve been having a hard time to deal with events that made me feel isolated and lonely with sadness and dismay. That caused my intention to work actively in the place I thought I belonged diminished and reduced. It impacted me so bad that I found myself immobilized and not able to focus on anything for a while. Then, the word of God was upon me one day during my early morning devotion. I felt the miracle of healing power working within my heart and eventually I was able to find renewed sense of self-worth and to be in peace with God. God’s word reminded me of what I should believe and how to live in that belief as God sees me as “the apple of his eye,” even in the hardest times when I couldn’t do anything but blame others and ourselves.

God came to us, lived with us, and died our death. Not only that, He rose again from the mortal death and claimed us worthy for the kingdom. He promised his everlasting presence with us, “I’ll be there with you until the end of the world.” Do you need anything more than this? I wasn’t. Knowing God’s presence in everything I am and do, I see the miracles, even small tiny ones, in my days even in the hard times. I rejoice a day God allows me to live with hope and new prospect. Moreover, I pray for you with thankfulness in my heart that I am a part of your life. It was the spiritual revival, I can tell.  I pray for you to have the same revival during these forty-day Lenten period. I pray for you to focus on the meaning of being a Christian, the name we bear. I pray for you to be still and hear the voice of God through your intentional, yet spiritual discipline.

The typical Lenten disciplines involve with fasting and giving up or taking on something as Christians focused on the meaning of Easter and the reaffirmation of their Baptismal Covenant. This year, I would like to invite you to participate the way Christ our Lord showed us for our Lenten Discipline. In Luke 4:1-13, Christ our Lord rejected the power of the devil by two mighty powerful ways. He used neither magic dust nor sword to reject the devil. His mighty act against the devil was in two personal ways. The first was done in the strength of spiritual discipline that came from the 40 days of fasting in the wilderness. Please don’t get me wrong! I am not advocating 40 days of fasting to you. I am just pointing out a model of spiritual discipline that you probably take part in inward and outward journey already. The second was done by using the Word of God. Jesus was completely bathed in the Word of God. Jesus found his story from the Story of God so that He could recast the Word into His own encounter with the devil. The Word of God is definitely not the magic spell that we used to expect in the magic show. However, that was enough for Jesus to reject the power of the devil. Remember, the battle against the devil is ongoing - "he departed from Jesus until an opportune time (NRSV, Luke 4:35)." Through immersing ourselves in the power of the Holy Scripture, as exemplified by Jesus Christ and facilitated by our Wednesday Lenten Bible Study, I pray we can claim our faith and live a life that glorifies God in Christ who journey with us still.   

 

-Pastor & your sister in Christ, Mee Kang