I am a Methodist minister serving Living Faith UMC in Putnam, CT.
Come and join us at 10 am on August 11, 18, and 25 for meaningful and lively conversation on how we understand the grace of God. How could the films help us in this theological conversation?
Our summer worship schedule begins on June 16.
Our worship time is at 10:00 am.
See you at the worship service.
The New England Annual Conference will be held from June 13 to June 15 in Manchester, NH.
We encourage you to pray for laities and clergy who will be attending this conferencing and especially for the sessions as we discern the next for the United Methodist Church.
If you wish, you could follow it through the live stream service.
Live Stream – New England Annual Conference
Pastor Bob will share his report and reflection on the Annual Conference 2019 on June 23 (Sunday) during the worship service.
June 9 is Pentecost Sunday which is considered as the birthday of the Church.
On this joyous day, our children will lead the worship service sharing the stories of
their learning from Sunday school.
We will celebrate the confirmation of Samantha who has completed the confirmation class this past year.
Our preacher this day will be Bishop Jane Middleton.
The service will be followed by a fellowship with cake and other deserts.
Our youth group is going to Ski Ward Ski Area in Shrewsbury (MA) on March 23 (Saturday). Whether you have children or not, you are welcome to join us and have fun together.
We will meet and leave the church at 9:00 am. If you wish to meet us at the ski place, please contact Pastor Bob first so you can pay the group pricing. ($25 for 2 hours)
If you need financial assistance, please speak with Pastor Bob (508-685-6291).
We invite you to join us for our 3rd Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast in Putnam.
Time: January 21 (Monday) 2019 8:00 am – 10:00 am
Place: Putnam Lodge of Elks 574 (64 Edmond St. Putnam, CT 06260)
Guest Speaker: Mrs. Leah Rolls, president of NAACP Windham/Willimantic
Music: TMHS Modern Music Ensemble
Special Performance, “I Have a Dream” speech by DeShawn Chapman (6th grade)
Date: September 23, 2018
Text: Psalm 148
Title: Praise the Lord!
When I was 8 years old, my father moved to the countryside of Korea where he took a new church as a pastor. It was a small village where most people worked as farmers. After school, most of my friends went to the fields to help their parents with fertilizing the soil, sowing the seeds, or harvesting in the fall. Although we did not own a farm, my mother made a small garden next the parsonage where she planted flowers, vegetables, and fruits. She would spend hours working in her garden. One day, my mother, while working in her garden, turned to me and said, “Look at these flowers. Look how beautiful they are. As they wave in the wind, don’t you think that they are singing and praising God, their Creator?” As she was humming the melody of a hymn, it still lingers in my ears like yesterday.
The Psalmist also sings and praise the Lord. He says that everyone needs to praise the name of the Lord. It is not just human beings that praise God. Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his heavenly hosts. Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars. Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures. You mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds. The Psalmist says that everything created in the world should praise God because at God’s command, they are all created. It is God who has established them forever and also issued a decree that will never pass away, which is the natural law that governs the movement of the universe.
Have you visited a place and witnessed the grace of God in the beauty of God’s creation? In August 2003, I was studying English in Sydney, Australia. Toward the end of my stay there, I decided to travel from Sydney to Melbourne with my friend from college. If you drive the car straight to Melbourne, it takes about 8 hours. But we traveled by the shore enjoying the ocean road, which took us about 15 hours in car. Our second evening, we stopped the Phillips Island where we could see penguins come out of the oceans. There were about 50 people sitting on the beach, not being able to take pictures because the flashlight could make them go blind. I was surrounded by the sound of waves, sea gulls, and wind. We sat and waited for about one hour. And there, in the middle of dark evening, we saw hundreds of penguins come out of the ocean and make a little parade right next to us, heading toward their nests.
When I saw the miraculous actions of these penguins, I could do nothing but praise God who designed God’s creature with instinct and beauty. I am sure that many of you have witnessed something like that in your lives. Maybe when you visited Niagara Falls for the first time and heard the might sound of the water fall, you praised God in awe. Maybe when you visited the Grand Canyon and saw the eagles flying high, you gave thanks to God for allowing you visit there while you still breathed. Maybe you did not have to travel that far to witness the wonderful hands of God. Just like my mother, you sowed the seeds of flowers at your garden. When the spring came, you saw the little plants come out with life and blossom into beautiful flowers. Winter was there. But spring surely comes. And you praised God for the faithfulness of God at your little garden.
The Celtic Christians also had wisdom in joining the creation of God for praise. In the Celtic Spirituality, there is a sense of unity with all creation, both human and nonhuman, that transcends time and space. Its unity brings the whole world together as participants in the singing of one great hymn of praise. In the Celtic tradition, there is a story about a mother who tells her children that each day must start with the human voice joining in the song of the birds, since in the whole created order, all the creatures of earth, ocean, and sky were giving glory to God, it was foolish for the human beings not to join them. So from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, from the literate and the illiterate, from the earliest to the present day, we have the same message: Join in the worship of the whole universe. Alexander Carmichael says in Carmina Gadelica, “it is dumb of us not to join the creation of God in their giving glory to God.” (Esther De Waal, The Celtic Way of Prayer)
I know that we often have a difficult time to praise God. From time to time, in our spiritual journey, we encounter trials and tribulations along the way. We often suffer loss, grief, loneliness, illness. We feel not appreciated and loved as we are. How can we still celebrate and praise God? As I drove around the town this week, I start to notice some red on the trees. It means that they are changing their color from green and red. No one told them to change their color. But they obey the words from their Creator. And they praise God even though they might lose all their leaves soon and even wither during the cold winter. But they still praise God because the spring is surely coming after the long night and cold weather. In the same way, the Celtic Christians also lived with a rhythm keeping the relationship between the light and the dark, both winter and spring. The Celtic year begins with the feast of Samhaine on November 1, when darkness overtakes the light. By entering the season of winter, the Celtic Christians considered their life as the gift of God, not something to control.
When we realize that the main purpose of God’s creation is to praise God, and that all God’s creation is already praising God whether we join them or not, the boundary between what is sacred and what is secular collapses. This whole world reflects the wonderful hands of God who has created everything with power, grace, and love. When we talk in the woods thinking that we are having some alone time for ourselves, we are actually surrounded by the nature that is already praising God in their very beings. Our walk turns to a time of celebrating and rejoicing along with God’s creation. As Beth Richardson beautifully writes in Christ Beside Me, Christ Within Me, we see the bird nest looking fragile and sitting on the electrical box. As we see the protection of the eggs by the mother bird, we rejoice with them in our praise of God who also protects God’s people and creation, giving us what we need for today and tomorrow.
Because life is seen as the gift of God, we are enabled to fill our hearts with praise and thanksgiving. As we give thanks to God for the material world and nurture the gratitude and reverence, we become a more faithful stewards entrusted to preserve the earth rather than exploit and destroy it. As we glimpse the presence of God surrounding all God’s creation and the universe, we also give thanks to God for the mundane activities of daily work. When we appreciate the goodness through God’s creation, our response is not complaints or grumbling. But it is gratitude and thankfulness. Even when we sleep at night and rest, God still grows the crops on the field with morning dews, wind, sunlight, and rain. We often think that it is us who needs to do all the works. But even when we fail to do our works, God is still faithful in providing us, helping us, and saving us.
Amen.
Time: January 15 (Monday) 2018. 8:00 AM
Keynote Speaker: Rev. Mike Clark, “The Life and Legacy of MLK”
Special Music from TMHS Modern Music Ensemble
Breakfast Price: $8 per adult. $4 per child.
We are grateful local business/organizations that have donated toward this event generously.
American Legion, Post 13
Cargill Council No. 64
Gerardi Insurance
Greater Putnam Interfaith Council
King GMC
Knights of Columbus
Putnam Bank
Date: December 10, 2017
Text – Psalm 85: 1-2, 8-13
Title – Home Is Where We Meet
When we say the word “home,” it seems to bring many emotions. Comfortable. Relaxing. Embracing. Peaceful…etc. Advent and Christmas is the season that people think about the meaning of home more. People drive or fly to be with their families. One of the images is that the families sit around the fireplace next to the Christmas tree. Children are excited to tear open the gift boxes on Christmas Day. Grandparents tell the stories holding their grandchildren. Ham is cooking inside the oven for the dinner. Children from college come home for the vacation. Soldiers come home to be with their family. When we say the word “home,” I wonder if you have any specific place in your mind.
For me, it is hard to pinpoint and say that this is my home. In growing up as a Methodist pastor’s kid, my childhood was always on the move. I remember living in 3 different towns until I turned 8 years old. After finally spending 12 years at one small church in the countryside, my life started rolling again from place to place. I went to the college. I joined the military. I wanted to explore the world and learn English so I went to the Philippines and Australia. I finished the college. I came to Boston to study theology. Then, my life now is that when the bishop says, “It is time to move,” my family pack everything and move. So, it is hard to pinpoint and say, “This is my home.”
Recently, I had an incident that made me feel like I was far from home. When I was waiting to pick up Daniel at the school, some children were exiting their classroom for recess. As they were passing by me, one of the boys, looking like 7 or 8 years old, started laughing at me and saying, “Chinese!” Well, it is not the first time people look at me and say, “Ni Hao?” What am I supposed to say? “Not all Asians are Chinese?” It is a little boy so I cannot judge what implication he had exactly in his mind. But in the hallway, this boy was laughing at me for being different. I looked at him directly with a stern face, implying “stop.” But he kept going on. And I started thinking what Daniel is going through at the school now.
Well, my case is different from most of you in this church. But I wonder if some of you also share similar experience as mine. I wonder some of you feel like you miss home. I know that some of you are not from here originally as well. Some of you are from the mid-west. Some of you are from the south. I know that you all have your family around here. But you always feel like that there is another home in your heart. It is not that you can go back there now because the place you grew up is not recognizable now. Probably new restaurants. New neighbors. New buildings. But in your dream, you often find yourself being back to the place with your father and mother and your siblings. The sense of missing home in your heart.
In today’s text, the writer of Psalm sings such memory of being home. “Lord, you were favorable to your land. You restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people. You pardoned all their sin.” In other words, the Psalmist is saying, “O God, you used to be so much nicer.” Why does the singer say that God used to nicer? Many biblical scholars agree that this song was written either while the Israelites were in exile in Babylon or they just returned to their homeland they found ruined. In other words, they miss their home where they had and enjoyed the abundance in God. But they are all gone now. They are far away from their home and miss it badly in their hearts. So, the song praises God who was very gracious in the past.
In the Disciple Bible Study, we have been recently studying how Moses was instructed by God to build the tabernacle as the place of worship for God. What is interesting is that God ordered Moses to put the ring on each corner of the arc of the covenant. But it was not just the arc of the covenant. God ordered to put the ring on the tabernacle as well so that when the time came to move, the priests could carry the tabernacle and the arc of God with the poles. God guided the Israelites through the wilderness by the cloud and fire. When the cloud came down and stayed around the tabernacle, it meant that God was there. When the clouds moved, it was the time for them to pack everything and follow and move.
It was interesting to me that the Israelites did not find the sense of home through the houses, their hometowns, or buildings. In their journey through the wilderness, they constantly moved from place to place. So, there is no point arguing which place they could pinpoint and say that this is our home. Rather, they found their security, their comfort, and their hope in God who was constantly on move. Wherever the arc went, it symbolized the presence of God who was with them. Wherever God was, the Israelites found home. When the Israelites were about to lose their battle against Babylon, Jeremiah told them that it is ok. God would go with them to the foreign land and surely be with them there.
And I was reminded of the special Christmas Eve I spent when I was in New Hampshire. While people were growing excited to spend Christmas with their families and friends, I realized that I and Sungha were not the only ones that did not have families here. In my church, there was a young man with a mental illness who lived alone with his cat. He yearend to come to the church every Sunday because the church was the only place that was nice to him. Since he did not have a car, he walked 1 hour and 30 min to the church every Sunday. There was also a family of single mother and her 3 years old son that lived in the housing project that was considered as dangerous. After the Christmas Eve service, we gathered for a special celebration with burgers and soda from McDonald.
As we shared the spirit of fellowship and hospitality, I felt in my heart that I was home. It is not the physical building that brought the sense of home. The house was rather unorganized, messy in the dangerous neighborhood. But the sense of being together, embracing one another as friend, and seeing the face of Christ was what brought a sense of home to me. The church is Greek is ecclesia. It means “being called out of the world.” It is interesting to notice that we do not choose to come out of the world and decide to become Christians. It is the work of the Holy Spirit who calls us, even though we might not share much in common, even come from many different places, and make one body in Christ together. As Christ welcomed strangers, forgave sinners, and healed the sick, we know that Christ is in the middle of us when we gather in his name and serve one another in humility. Home is right here with us.
Advent is the season that we hear the story how God came to this world and found home by dwelling among us. Christ did not come as the prince of the powerful or the rich. Rather, he came as a meek and humble baby of a carpenter and his teen mother surrounded by animals and shepherds. And the message Christ brings to us is “Emmanuel” – God is with us. God is right here with us even we struggle with despair, hopelessness, and anxiety. God is right here with us and we find home in the presence of God. We find the presence of God when we are called by the grace of God to make new family by welcoming and embracing one another as new brother and sister in Christ. And I want us to watch a video this morning which is shared in this season of Advent.
Somehow, I think this story illustrates what Christmas is about. When we were far from God because of our sins and brokenness, God still came to us in Christ and adopt us as God’s children again. God comes to us and dwells among us calling our place, however messy it might be, home. And whenever we gather in God’s name, sharing the spirit of radical hospitality, love, and peace, it is our home. May God bless us all as we faithfully wait for the coming of Christ whose message is this, “God is with us.” Amen.
