12th December 2021 (Advent 3) Title: Rejoice in the Lord  (Scripture Reading: Zephaniah 3:14–20 & Philippians 4:4–7)                                                                                       By Heeyoung Lim In Zephaniah 1:4, God had fought against Judah and now He will save and defend them. Believers do not need to fear because the LORD, the King of Israel, is with them. 3:14–20 rejoices in the hope of Jerusalem’s restoration through the One who will gather Israel. Zephaniah is calling the people of Jerusalem “daughter” and renewing his love for them (14, 17). How does God bring us home or destination in this season of preparation and waiting?  Today’s text includes God’s exaltation of the suffering and the outcast. God’s presence protects and rejoices. God shows us the fulfillment of God’s promises in the journey of Advent through prophets. Christ’s presence and blessing will bring inexpressible joy and absolute security to His people in accordance with God’s words. As the joy candle is lit, may we give thanks for our gladness, remember all who are in sorrow, and care for them. As a result of social injustice, the oppressed are fearful, while the powerful are corrupt and reject divine correction. In Zephaniah 3, the ways in which God will deal with the oppressors have been described for those who have suffered at their unjust hands: “I will deal with all your oppressors and save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth” (3:19) God’s promises are being achieved for protecting and lifting the lowly, the suffering, and the oppressed. We find an unfolding of God’s promises in many places throughout the biblical narratives such as the prophetic word, the coming of Jesus, and the kingdom of God. The prophetic word through Zephaniah affirms that some of God’s purposes are to make injustice right, to heal the shame that results from oppression. In the exaltation of the humble and lowly, Zephaniah finds both a divine rejection of the abuses of power and a divine promise to protect the weak and the outcast. In verse 15 and 17, the prophet affirms that God is with the people and will continue to be in them. God’s presence protects His people from harm and God rejoices with them. The people will live without fear, trusting that God saves them from disaster and all kinds of attack. However, God’s presence does more than remove threats. A theologian Jennifer said, “His presence among the people is animating, in that God rejoices with them, renews them, and exults over them.” I believe that God frees and strengthens us by being present among us and God’s presence heals and leads us to lean into God’s promises. In dwelling among the people, God makes real the promised future of peace and joy. This is a hopeful message that will encourage the faithful on this Third Sunday of Advent. As the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus nears, we are challenged to remember God’s living promise to protect and exalt the lowly. This is the time in which the prophetic word, the coming of the Messiah, and the shape of the kingdom of God are derived and embodied. It is also the place in which the character of God is revealed. Biblical thought and the tendency of obeying God’s word understands hope as the expectation of a good future which rests on God’s promise. A good future itself is not our ultimate goal, but we can look to Jesus as our hope and expect even in the dark times and difficult trials. May we praise the Lord for the promise of our glorious future with Christ. However, when we are in the middle of sorrow, despair, and suffering, we often do not recognize the work of God. Why can we not live in joy? When we forget the gladness of salvation and God’s unconditional love, we will be living without joy. What are we doing where it seems there is no better place? How can we deal with dark times? How can we help suffering families and grieving people?  In these complicated circumstances, Philippians 4 invites us to be joyful in the Lord. Gospel joy is always shared joy. When Paul calls on the church to rejoice, in those times, Christians were being hunted, persecuted, and killed in Rome. During persecution and fear, Paul simply points to the promise and recalls the peace of God that passes all understanding.  “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (4-7)  In 4:4–7 Paul powerfully exhorts his Philippian friends to rejoice. Happiness from contemporary social discourse is something that is pursued, and it is tied up in the pursuit, but rejoicing in the Lord comes even in the face of trials and suffering. As in verse 5, may our gentleness or Christlikeness be known to everyone.  In accordance with these Bible verses, we can rejoice in the Lord and this word is a command. Joy Brings Patience, and prayer is the answer to anxiety, but our joy cannot be complete without peace. Paul’s advice to his readers to counter the anxiety of their lives with prayer is not just a simple alternative designed to hide or avoid the fear and uncertainty of their daily existence. This is a call to take those anxieties to God in prayer and allow God to reform us.  And joy Brings Peace. Peace is not simply the absence of

5th December 2021 (Advent 2) Title: Prepare the Way of the Lord! (Scripture Reading: Luke 3:1-6; Philippians 1: 3-11)                                                                                       By Heeyoung Lim We usually clean our house every time we invite a guest, but Advent is a time to purify ourselves and await the coming of the Lord. Advent offers the church the opportunity to remind of Christ’s coming and prepare in faith. At home people are cleaning, getting out their Christmas decorations, purchasing gifts, hosting, and attending parties, and simply getting ready for Christmas. However, John demands that we get ready for Jesus. Advent is a time to prepare to welcome Jesus and not simply our invited Christmas guests.  God’s salvation is available for every person, not just a chosen few. God’s invitation for salvation reaches out both men and women, poor and rich, Gentiles and Jews. This Advent Sunday is a great time for us to be reminded of that. A key theological theme in Luke is that God’s invitation toward salvation is for all people. In Luke 3 John the Baptist prepares the way for the coming of the Messiah by calling on people to repent from their sins. Forgiveness of sins comes only through repentance that involves a change of lifestyle, not just a momentary feeling or statement.  Today’s text invites us to confess our sins, repent, and ask God for forgiveness. Repentance is sometimes accompanied by discomfort and heart-breaking moments, but it is a time of being cared for by the word of the Lord in our relationship with God, and it is a time of joy and peace that the Lord has given us. We can ask God to show us the changes repentance should bring in our daily life. May we change our life in the ways God shows us through words, prayers, and praises. God sent the message to John, not in Rome, not in Jerusalem, but out in the wilderness. John prepared for his ministry and proclaimed his message in the wilderness. It is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. Isaiah 40:3–5 was a word to the exiles in Babylon and it brought comfort to the people of Israel who were in their time of oppression. The oppressed and the least will be comforted with God’s rescue because God had not forgotten them and would not neglect them. Isaiah called all people to prepare for the Lord by making crooked paths straight, lifting up valleys, and making rough places plain. Luke uses Isaiah’s words to show the continuity between the ministries of John and of Jesus: John’s coming was not only predicted, but his message was the good news, for his message of repentance was the one that prepares the way for the Lord. John’s challenge is to repent and prepare. True repentance means to change one’s mind, turn around, reorient oneself. Luke 3 calls all people to turn to God, to seek God’s forgiveness, and to prepare the way of the Lord. How to prepare the way for the Lord? I believe that we can prepare the way for the Lord through being peacemaker and doing true repentance.  In addition, as in Isaiah 40, the way for the Lord would be prepared by making crooked paths straight, lifting up valleys, and making rough places plain. All of these can be connected to making peace. This week we live in the prophetic message that makes twisted paths straight, lifts valleys, and makes rough places plain to prepare for the Lord. God is consistent, sticks to his purposes, fulfills his word, and then brings new fulfillment for new generations and times. For John’s generation, salvation came in the similar setting as for the exiles who were in the wilderness. However, it came in a new way. People did not have to cross the dry desert, they had to cross the line of self-centred religious pride. Even now, God allows and leads us to cross our hurdles of our faith and life. The appearance of the wilderness and the things we need to overcome through repentance are constantly changing, but the fact that the truth is proclaimed in the wilderness and that we are living in preparation for the coming of the Lord does not change. In Luke 3:1–6 John the Baptist implores those gathered people to remove any obstacles that are hindering openness to the renewed ways of peace and justice that God has promised to reveal through the child to come. John was the messenger of change and prepared the way for the Lord.  In Philippians 1, Paul expressed his gratitude to God every time he remembers the church. God brings grace and peace to his church, and those are possible only from our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Bill Lawrence, a theologian, once said, “Happiness is based on happenings, but joy comes from relationships.” A relationship with Christ is necessary to achieve fruit in the Christian life. The Philippian Christians had supported his efforts and participated in the gospel since they had trusted Christ as their Saviour during Paul’s ministries. The partnership through active participation in the gospel caused Paul’s joy. (5) Being partners in the gospel of Christ will bring joy in our lives. Especially, love is a primary characteristic of Christlikeness, and God is the witness of Paul’s love for Philippians. (8)  Paul expressed his love Jesus showed, prayed for love and faith growth of Philippians, and continued to pray for discernment of what is best. (10) Christian love must be rooted in wisdom from God’s Word if we are to love both God and people in greater ways. We are to base our decisions on Scripture so that the best way is selected. When these are observed in our lives, we can be pure

28th November 2021 (Advent1) Title: In the Light of Christ’s Coming   (Scripture Reading: 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13; Luke 21:25-36)                                                                                    By Heeyoung Lim Children Time & Advent Greetings  Paul showed his great joy at seeing progress and strength in the lives of those he loved. Although Paul was thrilled with the strength of the Thessalonians’ faith, he prayed throughout the day and night fervently. Everything is up to the all-knowing and all-powerful God, but Paul was not passive and wanted God’s divine intervention. He asked for God to step in and make possible a return trip to this Thessalonian church to supply what is lacking in their faith. Spiritual progress is always to be commended, but it is never to be considered complete.  Love, gratitude, and other virtues spring from the heart, it is not from just following rules. Paul’s prayer was that the believers’ hearts would be strengthened. Faith is not about temporary once-off matter, it is related to lasting change that comes from our hearts. However, there will be no longer growth and development in our faith and life unless the heart is firmly established.  Faithful obedience to Christ is often misunderstood by those outside the faith, but in these circumstances, warm encouragement from each other is a source of strength in our relationships and in our lives. As the great proof of the Christ-life in us, love must always be on the increase. (12) It was to convey the love of God to other believers or non-believers. The love of God through us needs to extend to all, even our enemies. Our Christian relationships will be characterized by love and care for the good of others. May we care about other’s faith and pray for one another as Paul did. We were in very unstable COVID related situations for a long time, and we had to go through unexpected difficulties. May we find the way to overcome existing difficulties through renewal of heart and growth of faith even in this transition period. Short-term change can arise from changing habits or willingness, but long-term change begins with the heart and faith that the Lord has given us. The reason our hearts need to be strengthened is to be blameless and holy in the presence of our God. (13) But how can we be blameless before God on the day of judgment? With God’s grace, we are to lean on the strength of Christ to “live a life worthy of the calling we have received”. (Eph. 4:1) May we seek to make righteous decisions in Christ and try to be holy before God. I hope we can deal with our sins immediately through repentance, confession, and transformation whenever those enter our heart.  With this additional grace, we will stand blameless before our Lord, now and when Jesus comes in all his glory. May we be blameless and holy in the presence of our God when Christ returns. What are you waiting for everyday? I expect and wait that we will be grown or transformed in faith and life through renewal in Christ. Now we are waiting for the birth and return of Christ at the same time in Advent. In this season of Advent, may we concentrate on Jesus first and seek the kingdom of God. Our faith can be expressed as a daily commitment to believe Jesus, no matter what happens to us. It is not about a certain moment or the end, it is about growth or fullness. May we lean on God more daily, even though pain and temptations are regular components in our lives. I believe that God helps us grow in His holiness and love. May our lives be filled with joy, gratitude, and a sense of belonging to the kingdom of God until when we die, or Jesus returns.  In today’s gospel reading, Jesus becomes more specific about the heavenly signs that lead up to the end times. (Luke 21:25) Sun, moon, and stars can be warnings that represent the ends. Such signs will fill the earth with fear and a sense of being trapped because there would be no place to escape. (25) Jesus said, if you follow the two sinful ways of life, you will find yourself in a trap. We should not think we can escape the second coming and its judgment. It comes on the whole earth. Everyone is involved and no one escapes. (35) The heavenly signs will come before the end and cause people to swoon in fear. Jesus said, they will have no source to trust and no reason for hope. (26) This will bring greater fear to those who are unprepared, but not for you who are prepared in faith. (27) His imminent arrival will terrify the inhabitants of the world, but the redemption on a worldwide scale will be at hand for the faithful.  How will we react when this takes place? Jesus tells us, “Stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (28) In full glory, the Redeemer will be coming to judge and rule the earth. I believe that we can stand up straight and lift our head high without fear because Jesus will save us and give us our rewards. Jesus’ emphasis is not on knowledge but on action. We need to pray, stay alert, and ask God for strength to escape the persecutions, wars, and destruction rather than staying in spiritual stagnation. Christ is coming again and has given us the signs that ought to make us pray and get ready for his coming to establish his kingdom. (38) I believe and pray that we will stand before Christ as He judges the world, and we will receive the reward coming to His faithful ones

21st November 2021 (Christ the King Sunday) Title: Reign of Christ (Scripture Reading: Revelation 1:4 – 8; John 18: 33 – 37) By Heeyoung Lim Grace and peace to you! Today is Christ the King Sunday or Reign of Christ Sunday. It brings us full circle in the liturgical year. Next week, we will begin again in Advent, preparing for the birth of the Christ child. Today, our texts show us the circle of hope in which our faith is grounded, and our lives transformed. It is about God’s covenant, Christ’s reign, and the Spirit’s abiding presence. The Book of Revelation begins and ends with grace (1 & 22). The greetings in 1:4 bestowing grace and peace from the God ” who is and who was and who is to come” are connected to the circle of hope in Christ. “Grace and peace” had become a standard Christian greeting by the time John wrote. Grace is the great privilege of the Christian life and peace was the great privilege of the Old Testament age (Num. 6:26), in Hebrew, shalom. Christians share in all the blessings God has to offer. Grace and peace are privileges God extends to all believers. In the book of Revelation, “Lord Jesus” is more mentioned instead of “Jesus Christ”. Revelation shows the fact that Jesus is the ruler of the kings of the earth and his sovereign role as King. This was written during the reign of the emperor Domitian. Domitian had instituted a decree that he be addressed as “Lord and God.” Those who refused suffered persecution or death. Christians in those times faced an extraordinary crisis. The book of Revelation highlights the promissory message it gives and offers hope and encouragement, especially to suffering people. The real authority over their lives is God, revealed in Christ, not earthly kings. Jesus is worthy of all praise because of who he is and what he has done. In today’s text, Jesus is the Alpha and Omega who is the First and the Last. He is the Living One, the firstborn from the dead, the one alive forever, the faithful witness, and the one who holds the keys of death. Regarding the reign of Christ, Jesus freed us from our sins, made us to be a kingdom and priests and he loves us. His second coming will be glorious and public, because the Lord God Almighty will make it happen. The Almighty One – who is, and who was, and who is to come – encircles us in hope before and beyond all time. His power is seen in the title the Almighty, the one whom none can resist. What truth maintains and shapes your daily living? How does our faith community express its hope in God’s eternal truth both individually and collectively? Power and authority belong to Christ. Christ’ power, exercised and embodied in love and freedom, is contrasted with the oppressive power confronted by the community of this book. Especially, in verse 6, the verb love is a form that could be translated “keeps on loving.” The verb love is not a past recollection of what had been done on the cross. It is not restricted to the promise of hope that will someday be fulfilled. Christ’s love is continued in our lives. The crises and problems that affected us do not define us. Christ makes us as “kingdom” and as “priests” even in our difficulties as in the expressions of Revelation. Jesus is King over the kingdom of God, and we can believe that Christ will come again. The public, glorious return of Jesus Christ is the theme of Revelation. We do not know when Jesus will return, but the second coming of Christ will be glorious and public rather than lowly and private, and it would not be hidden, it can be seen in public. In today’s Gospel reading, Pilate, the imperial governor of Judea, could not imagine this beaten man was the king of the Jews. When Jesus is standing before Pilate, Pilate asks, “Are you the King of the Jews?” But this is not his real question. The real question is, “What is the truth?” Jesus has come to testify to the truth, so Pilate asks again, “So you are a king?” But through the conversation, Pilate gets one answer, “My kingdom is not from here.” Earthly kingdoms find their source with sinful humanity, but Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world. When we live in his spiritual kingdom of truth rather than worldly kingdom, we recognise the lordship of the King over the lives of his people. Jesus said, “everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” Once again Jesus set truth as the dividing standard for right and wrong, but the truth was not all he cared about. In John 18:38-40, Pilate declared Jesus’ innocent: I find no basis for a charge against him. Nevertheless, to satisfy the Jews, he let them select a prisoner of choice for release at the Passover. Whereby the sinner, Barabbas, which means “son of the father” was released, and Jesus, Son of the heavenly Father, went to death row. In this chapter we see religious people twisted by hate. Pilate characterized this trial as a religious bickering among these Jews whom he was authorized to control. He tried to get at the truth about Jesus, but on a limited level. He needed to know the truth that Jesus was a completely different being who has genuine authority, but he was just confused and wanted to be rid of religious worries as quickly as possible. However, Jesus was in control of all events related to his death and resurrection. Christ is, was, and always will be not just a king, but “ruler of the kings of earth,” to use the title from Revelation. Today’s text is model for the faithful witness of the early Christians and Christians today. May we never be caught ourselves at the temptation of Jesus’ enemies. I hope we