Category: From the Pastor

Christianity can be understood as the dynamics of holiness and piety. Christianity does not mean membership in a religious system or institution. Christianity is the dynamic state of experiencing and remembering holiness in the dimensions of life, spirit and love. The word “holy” symbolizes the state of encountering the mysterious Being in life’s events, or absolute Being and power, or ultimate truth and beauty. We meet this holiness in Jesus and confess this holiness is God in Jesus. The deep dimension within human beings has the ability to feel, experience and recognize the holy Being—absolute Being and power, or ultimate truth and beauty, or mysterious amazement. Those in whom this sensibility grows and develops can have deep spirituality. We grow through understanding, recognizing and accepting Jesus. For this, we call our faith Christianity.

Those who feel and experience the holy Being—absolute Being and power, or ultimate truth and beauty, or mysterious amazement in Jesus—have a pious attitude. We call this attitude of life “piety.” In Christianity, this attitude can be understood as the virtues of Christian spirituality. I can show Jesus’s great example of this virtue, his teaching of “the beatitudes” in Matthew 5:3-10: the poor and thirsty heart-mind (5:3, 6) as the state of loving the Lord; the mournful and merciful heart-mind (4, 7) as the state of loving others; the meek and the pure heart-mind (5, 8) as the state of loving oneself; and the heart-mind of working for peace and justice (9, 10) as the state of loving community. Apostle Paul also shows this attitude: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).

The season of holiness and piety is coming. We start “Lent 2024” with an Ash Wednesday Service on February 14, 2024. I name this season “the season of holiness and piety.” This season offers the process to express our piety based on our holy experiences. This is a holy season that the church offers to this world. Christians reveal our piety so that this world can see the holy Being. Let us express our piety so that worldly people can know holiness and Christian piety.

– Rev. Yong Sub Sim

We are born and grow up in this world. We breathe and drink worldly cultures made and produced by people. Our physical being is used to the material conditions in the world, and our heart-minds have adapted to the world’s various trends. This pattern seems as natural to us as water is to a fish because we have always lived in the midst of the world’s patterns.

Even though we grow up and live in this world, we as Christians fundamentally rebuild our lives in new conditions distinct from worldly trends. This is Christian faith. For this, Christians sometimes radically resist worldly patterns, negatively calling this world “sinful” or “dark,” as in the New Testament. In this, Christian history has stories of conflicts with worldly patterns. Because of this, Christians basically live with tension between worldly cultures and Jesus’s direction. This tension is natural to walking with, working with and following Jesus in the world.

When following sinful trends instead of Jesus, Christians need to repent and rebuild new patterns of life according to Jesus’s teaching. In this, Christian life can be dynamic and vital. Today’s Christians are too comfortable in worldly trends. I would like to show an example. It is the market pattern (1) in Christian life within the church. Churches tend to follow religious business patterns, and Christians tend to follow as religious consumers. Christianity is treated like a religious product or religious entertainment. These patterns have the power to accelerate the secularization of Christian faith and lifestyles. When most of Christian life and church life follows the market’s power instead of the power of the Spirit, we lose the original source of Christian spirituality.

We begin the second year of rebuilding St. Mark’s. To rebuild, we need to give up the worldly patterns and find and accept the original and pure source for our spirituality. What is the original source for your vital and dynamic spiritual life? I pray that you will find the answer to rebuild St. Mark’s. You are St. Mark’s!

– Rev. Yong Sub Sim

(1) The market pattern means to follow one’s personal and emotional satisfaction according to the trend of prioritizing what is pleasing to oneself. Consumers choose and buy for their individual satisfaction. This is a worldly trend that appears with markets and consumers.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.

From the Pastor

I was appointed to St. Mark’s in 2017. I proclaimed my ministerial plan at the charge conference in 2017: “Resetting St. Mark’s.” First, I reset St. Mark’s worship service with changes to the Sunday worship service form and order and through preaching sermons and leading communion services focused on Jesus. Now, as we gather in the sanctuary, all of us focus on Jesus. This is a spiritual resetting. Second, we reset the lighting system—first in the worship center, then in the education building, kitchen and Fellowship Hall. Third, we cleaned out the upstairs classrooms of the education building. They were full of old stuff. The Yucca Studios school uses three of these rooms now. Fourth, we removed the old sound system and set up a new sound system in the sanctuary. We experienced an amazing difference between the sound before and after. Fifth, we reset Sunday school as class meetings. Class meetings are a new way that supports communal and individual spiritual growth. Sixth, we began a Korean ministry. We are now used to more languages and cultures. After the charge conference in 2017, I said, “Let us watch the works of the Holy Spirit in the next year.” Through five years of resetting, St. Mark’s has become a new St. Mark’s. We are its witnesses.

This year, we start rebuilding St. Mark’s, a long-term project of five years. For the first year of this project, we began the campaign to increase the worship attendance rate to 70% or more. This campaign, 70% or more, needs to be the general lifestyle of St. Mark’s worship. I encourage you to do this. Each week I give you the opportunity to walk with Jesus and hear his gospel proclaimed. Come, walk with and learn from Jesus. This month, a member offered a $20,000.00 donation. We have received unexpected donations of more than $50,000.00 this year. I understand this as a mysterious sign showing that the Holy Spirit works in our project of “Rebuilding St. Mark’s.” I would like to say to you like I said in 2017, “Let us watch the works of the Holy Spirit in our project, Rebuilding St. Mark’s.”

 – Rev. Yong Sub Sim

Non-Christians also know this statement of Jesus well: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s” (Matthew 22:21, Mark 12:17, Luke 20:25). This statement has produced a lot of disputations about the separation of church and politics. It also produces disputations about religion’s freedom from worldly or political powers. Now, I would like to focus on another point in this statement. It is about the thoughtful attitude of Christians who live in a secularized world. Caesar represents secularized powers, systems, and rules. “What is God’s” means Christians’ values, meanings, and faith from Jesus as the Christ. We are between both. Therefore, we have to thoughtfully decide which is the best even though it is not easy to distinguish God’s from Caesar’s. We always have to have questions about why should I do this? Whom do I act for? and How should I act? We can call this attitude a ‘Christian ethical attitude’ or ‘thoughtful Christian faith.’

But most people are uncomfortable having an ethical or thoughtful attitude. They want to easily act without questioning about the reason, purpose or meaning. For this, the church has given Christians simple rules or dogmas. With these they don’t have to question about the reason, purpose or meaning of their spiritual life. Finally, their Christian life becomes a habitual pattern, culture or style. “Habitual” means to regularly or repeatedly do or practice something or to act in a routine way without thinking about purpose, meaning and the reason for acting. Unfortunately, many Christians stay in habitual faith. Jesus named this stagnant type of faith as hypocritical faith. It is faith without spiritual vitality.

We started a spiritual movement to rebuild St. Mark this year. This also means to build “thoughtful faith” and an ethical Christian life. I pray that St. Mark’s becomes thoughtful Christians who have ethical attitudes. If you are thoughtful, you can experience spiritual vitality in your life. May the Holy Spirit of Jesus be with you.

– Rev. Yong Sub Sim

Prophets in the Old Testament—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the other twelve books from Hosea to Malachi—proclaimed repentance of sins before God and hope of salvation from the hopeless situation and tragic destiny of the Hebrew people. Their message of hope used the concept “The Remnant.” This means that God keeps a small part of his people as seeds for the future even though they are in a hopeless situation with a tragic destiny. Isaiah metaphorically expressed it as a seed and a stump (Isaiah 6:13): “The Remnant” became a symbol for the hope of salvation.

Apostle Paul uses this meaning as well: “There is also at the present time a remnant chosen by grace” (Romans 11:5). Even though most people left God, there are a few people chosen by God. Do not be afraid about the age of apostasy, inhumanity, animality or things. God will use the remnant chosen by grace for his righteousness. In this meaning, Paul used 1 Kings 19:18: “And what was God’s answer to him? ‘I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’” This was the message of hope for the prophet Elijah who was exhausted through fighting against political power, false prophets and substitute religions.

In the beginning of the new year, I am comforted by Paul’s confession, “There is also at the present time a remnant chosen by grace.” I am also a remnant chosen by the grace of Jesus. I hear Jesus’s voice in Matthew 7:13-14: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” All of us in St. Mark’s are the remnant chosen by the grace of Jesus. Let us continue following Jesus, listening to the heavenly voice saying “I love you; I am well pleased with you” (Mark 1:11).

– Rev. Yong Sub Sim

Image by HerbertGeorg on Pixabay.