Dear My Beloved Family of God

2021 Lent can be a time of mourning and grief since we have lost many of our loved ones, near and far! We also lost a half million lives due to COVID-19 nationally. I pray for all of them that our loving God embrace their souls with warm bright light and everlasting hope and life and that the Holy Spirit comfort their families and friends on their long grieving journey.

For this Lent, we may decide to give up something to discipline our lives – sweets, sodas, TV, social medias, etc. But during the pandemic, we have already given up so much – in-person gatherings, singing together, hugging together, visiting one another, etc. So, I’d like to encourage all to do something positive and constructive…with thanksgiving and gratitude…because God has been gracious and generous in so many ways.

Let us look into our hearts and minds and reflect on what are there! The left column below tells us the list of negative things that make our life more difficult and miserable. Let us give up on them and instead start taking up the ones on the right column! I hope this list helps us to be stronger and wiser as we continue to walk our COVID-19 challenging journey:
 

               FOR 2021 LENT

          WHAT TO GIVE UP        WHAT TO TAKE UP

            *Anger   *Gratitude

       *Bitterness   *Forgiveness

          *Conceit   *Humility

          *Despair   *Hope

            *Guilt   *Grace

        *Giving Up   *Hanging On with Patience

           *Hatred   *Understanding

        *Falseness   *Authenticity

        *Gossiping   *Solidarity

         *Jealousy   *Trust/Friendship

Prayers and worship are always the best medicine for our souls. You are invited to join our online Worship Service each Sunday. You will continue to receive ZOOM invitation with Sunday Bulletin every Friday. And you have three options as follows:
          1. Watch and interact on ZOOM

          2. Watch without interaction live on YouTube (There are clickable links on our

              website home page and our Facebook page for the Live-Stream Service)

          3. Watch the recorded service on our web page and FaceBook after 7 pm Sunday

We will continue to be together and connected through prayers, praises, ministries and worship! I am thinking
of you every day and praying for you. Let us keep moving forward with our Risen Lord in our hearts!
 

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you!” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Your Pastor, Hyesung Lee

(March 2021)

Due to a technical problem, our Pastor's letter to the congregation for February was not uploaded to the website.
Here is Pastor Lee's February letter.

Dear My Beloved Family of God

When this February edition of D’s and O’s is published, I will be on vacation. I will try to go hiking (since it looks like there will be rain every day during my vacation) and walking with my family and also go down to San Diego to see our daughter and son-in-law before they move to Texas in the middle of February. Their moving has something to do with the pandemic. They are hoping for more financial stability and affordable living condition there.

Before they moved, they gave us a beautiful gift - a new puppy, Sammy, a two-month-old Russian Springer Spaniel last November. His is now four-month-old, full of energy, affectionate and playful. Every morning we go for a walk with him to a nearby park where we often meet our neighbors with various kind of dogs. We enjoy meeting them repeatedly over the last 2 months.

We often find our relationship with God in Sammy’s relationship with us. One day, a big dog, unleashed, began to run toward Sammy. The owner didn’t do anything about it while his dog was running toward us. My husband quickly pulled Sammy up high and help him tight in his arms. Somehow that big dog stopped coming. Sammy had no idea what just happened. He didn’t even notice the dog running after him. He was just happy that his protector held up high and hugged him tight for whatever reasons. We thought…how many times God must have done the same thing to protect us from dangers and harms which none of us didn’t even notice.

While we were yet sinners and not knowing what we were doing or what situations we were in, God sent his only begotten Son (see Romans 5:8). Jesus Christ came in flesh, went through all the trials and tribulations, died on the cross and destroyed the power of sin and death to save us. How many of us would actually understand what kind of acts of love and sacrifice our God and the Son had done for us? We are eternally humble and grateful for all the graces, known and unknown, freely given to us.

So, let us continue to worship our God. I hope and pray that all of you may continue to participate in our live worship service every Sunday. You will continue to receive ZOOM invitation with Sunday Bulletin every Friday. You still have three options as follows:
1. Watch and interact on ZOOM
2. Watch without interaction live on YouTube (There are clickable links on our website home page
and our Facebook page for the Live-Stream Service)
3. Watch the recorded service on our web page and FaceBook after 7 pm Sunday

We will continue to be together and connected through prayers, praises, ministries and worship! I am thinking of you every day and praying for you. Let us keep moving forward with our Risen Lord in our hearts!

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you!” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
Your Pastor, Hyesung Lee
(February 2021)