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Please take note of our pastoral letter regarding general offerings, tithes and a special offering for Daehakdong Methodist Church.
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April 19th, 2020
ONLINE WORSHIP SERVICE
| Family Worship - 19 April 2020 |
This week’s preacher is Rev. Lee Joung Chul
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Dear Chungdong family,
Welcome to our online worship service. Along with our brothers and sisters all around the world, we’re now coming to terms with the ‘new normal’ brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. Due to the spread of COVID-19, Chungdong First Methodist Church, English Ministry will continue worshiping online until further notice. We hope and pray that things will get back to normal soon. In the meantime, please join us with your family and friends for online worship. You can follow the liturgy here along with the video sermon. Click on the links provided for hymns. The order of service has been simplified to include a prayer and two hymns. We will keep you updated about services during the following weeks. Please remember to pray for the country, the leaders and those affected by this crisis. |
HOME WORSHIP
Call to Worship
As our call to worship today, let’s confess out loud the following words:
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea… (Psalm 46:1-2 NIV)
Amen.
Song of Praise
Singing is an ancient Christian tradition. By singing from home, we are telling the world that no matter what it throws at us, we will be faithful to the God who casts out fear.
Now Thank We All Our God
Call to Worship
As our call to worship today, let’s confess out loud the following words:
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea… (Psalm 46:1-2 NIV)
Amen.
Song of Praise
Singing is an ancient Christian tradition. By singing from home, we are telling the world that no matter what it throws at us, we will be faithful to the God who casts out fear.
Now Thank We All Our God
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1 Now thank we all our God
with heart and hands and voices, who wondrous things has done, in whom his world rejoices; who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way with countless gifts of love, and still is ours today. |
2 O may this bounteous God
through all our life be near us, with ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us, to keep us in his grace, and guide us when perplexed, and free us from all ills of this world in the next. |
3 All praise and thanks to God
the Father now be given, the Son and Spirit blest, who reign in highest heaven the one eternal God, whom heaven and earth adore; for thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore. |
OPENING PRAYER
God our provider, we all need you in different ways.
Some of us need strength because we are facing big challenges.
Some of us need hope because we are feeling like giving up.
Some of us need love because we are feeling alone.
We trust in you and know that you will provide for us in these difficult times,
as we all face the impact of the coronavirus and our daily lives.
Give us the strength and guidance to love one another and to reach out to one another
with a helping hand especially to those desperately in need.
Help us define joy, optimism and hope in our lives.
We are also grateful. You are here. You are with us.
We ask these things through Jesus Christ our strength and our redeemer.
Amen.
~ Timothy Nichols
God our provider, we all need you in different ways.
Some of us need strength because we are facing big challenges.
Some of us need hope because we are feeling like giving up.
Some of us need love because we are feeling alone.
We trust in you and know that you will provide for us in these difficult times,
as we all face the impact of the coronavirus and our daily lives.
Give us the strength and guidance to love one another and to reach out to one another
with a helping hand especially to those desperately in need.
Help us define joy, optimism and hope in our lives.
We are also grateful. You are here. You are with us.
We ask these things through Jesus Christ our strength and our redeemer.
Amen.
~ Timothy Nichols
CONFESSION OF FAITH
We believe in God, the Creator of all that we see and all that we do not see.
We believe in Jesus Christ, God becomes flesh;
in death the Forgiver of sinners, in rising the Healer of the broken.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, God within us,
Comforter, Strengthener and Friend.
Amen.
We believe in God, the Creator of all that we see and all that we do not see.
We believe in Jesus Christ, God becomes flesh;
in death the Forgiver of sinners, in rising the Healer of the broken.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, God within us,
Comforter, Strengthener and Friend.
Amen.
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
Prepare our hearts, o Lord, to accept your word.
Silence in us any voice but your own;
that, hearing, we may also obey your will;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Prepare our hearts, o Lord, to accept your word.
Silence in us any voice but your own;
that, hearing, we may also obey your will;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
READING OF THE SCRIPTURES
Psalm 72:12-14
12 For he delivers the needy when they call, the poor and those who have no helper. 13 He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy. 14 From oppression and violence he redeems their life; and precious is their blood in his sight.
Leader: This is the Word of God.
People: Thanks be to God.
Psalm 72:12-14
12 For he delivers the needy when they call, the poor and those who have no helper. 13 He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy. 14 From oppression and violence he redeems their life; and precious is their blood in his sight.
Leader: This is the Word of God.
People: Thanks be to God.
SERMON
Save Souls
Save Souls
Scripture: Psalm 72:12-14 (NRSV)
12 For he delivers the needy when they call, the poor and those who have no helper. 13 He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy. 14 From oppression and violence he redeems their life; and precious is their blood in his sight.
Greetings
Good afternoon, brothers and sisters in Chungdong English Ministry. I really wanted to meet with you face to face by this time, but unfortunately Covid-19 is still preventing that. Until we meet again, I hope all of you stay healthy and safe.
If you are from abroad or if you have an experience of living abroad, you must understand how it is more difficult to encounter this kind of situation where a global crisis is taking place, yet families are apart. For those who are currently apart from your family members, I pray that God gives you and your family strong faith in one another.
I also want to send my blessings and prayers to everyone for their well-being and safety, including yourself, your family and friends, all people in Korea, all people in your home country, and people in all other nations, especially those in the countries whose medical or political systems are not strong enough or just enough to respond to the current situation successfully. Please God, stop this suffering and grant mercy and care for everyone affected.
The message I want to share with you today is a simple one: Save souls. Please become people who can save many souls in the world. Some of you may be wondering “what does this preacher mean by ‘saving souls’?” (clarification) You may also ask, “is it my job to save souls?” or “why should I save souls?” (rationale). Some of you may also ask, “Haven’t we done our best to convert others to Christianity?”
All these questions are valuable and appropriate. So, throughout the message that follows below, I’d like to answer those questions and provide more explanations about what I mean by ‘saving souls’ and why I am telling you this.
Saving Souls as a Universal Message
First of all, by saying “save souls,” I’d like to say that I do not mean that you need to convert other people into Christianity. For some Christians, ‘saving a soul’ refers to a very particular thing: teaching someone about what Jesus has done and encouraging the person to accept Jesus as their savior and make the person confess it explicitly.
However, I am trying to convey a more universal message. By ‘saving a soul’ I mean helping someone who is especially in need to have a better life. It means helping the person get out of his or her state of hopelessness, breakdown, self-disappointment, self-loathing, hardship, and misery. By ‘saving souls’ I mean giving those people power to stand up again and live again with new hope, with new energy, and with new vision. It means helping them move a little bit further from despair towards hope, from suffering to well-being, from oppression to liberation, and from death to life. This is what I mean by saving souls today.
Saving Souls as Plea
I don’t want to tell you to save souls as an imperative. Of course, I believe that this mission must be the mission of Christians and all other human beings. But I’d like to express it as a plea. This is a plea. I beg you: please think about this message seriously. And if you will, please commit yourself to saving souls in this world. At least, don’t be a person who lives only for themselves and their own family, for their own success. Instead, live for others and see what you can do for your own local and global community.
I make this plea because we, all human beings, need such people desperately. We need a lot of them, because there are so many people who need someone else’s help to survive. At this very moment, there are many people who have reached their limit and feel as if they can’t make it any further in life financially, mentally, or perhaps physically without some kind of help from another person. At this very moment, there are many people who are so frustrated with their situation, who think that their life is so worthless, meaningless, and pointless, that they want to give up their life.
As you may know, the rate of suicide in Korea is the 10th highest in the globe and the first or second highest among OECD countries (the leading countries in the world). More than 34 people in Korea commit suicide every single day. Due to shame, failure, financial crisis, relationship pressures, false charges, bullying, etc., people choose to kill themselves. Among people of every age and gender, suicide is the 4th highest cause of death in Korea, and the leading cause of death for young people aged between 10 and 39. This is just one of the examples that show how desperately the world needs someone who is committed to helping others. Such needs are everywhere in the world.
Savings Souls: This is My Prayer
Save souls. This is my plea and also a prayer. I pray for you and all other Christians as well as all humanity to be people who are committed to helping the needy, touching their hearts, and reviving their souls – just as King David wanted for his son Solomon. In Psalm 72, King David prayed to God for his son Solomon. He wanted his son Solomon to be a person who “delivered the needy when they called, the poor and those who had no helper.” David wanted Solomon to be a king who “had pity on the weak and the needy and saved the lives of the needy.” And he wanted him to be a king who redeemed those people from oppression and violence. In other words, David wanted Solomon to be a person who had heart for the work of saving souls. I pray for all people to have this mission in mind like David prayed for Solomon. I especially hope that Christians see their primary mission not as making more conversions (identity change) but as saving people who are ‘dying’ from so many sufferings and despair.
A French Catholic Priest, Abbé Pierre, reminds us of the meaningless of having Christian identity without the essence of Christian faith that is love. He says, “I am sure there is no fundamental distinction between a believer and a non-believer. There is only a distinction between a person who turns his head in front of someone else’s suffering and a person who fights to save others from suffering, and there is only a distinction between a person who loves and a person who refuses to love.” I fully agree with him. I’m sure that it is not enough to be called Christian. What is important is whether we act like Christians. As Priest Pierre indicates, what we need is love, compassion, empathy, and action. The first thing Christians should say in the street must be “do you need any help?” rather than “come to church.”
For Christians today, this is my prayer: Lord, may you grant us love, compassion, and empathy so we can take care of the needy, when they call, the poor and those who have no helper. Let us have pity on the weak and the needy and save their lives by giving them hope and comfort. Use us to redeem those people from oppression and violence.
Jesus’ Ministry of Saving Souls
It is no doubt that for Jesus, the ministry of saving souls was crucial. Of course, Jesus saved all of our souls by his own death and resurrection. However, in his daily ministry on earth, he also saved so many souls who were crying, suffering, and literally dying. He spent most of his time and energy to help and therefore revive the souls of the weak, vulnerable, socially marginalized, demon-possessed, and physically disabled people, whom society had forced to live as if they were dead.
Jesus helped:
They were mostly those who were disdained and avoided in Jewish society then. They were disdained and avoided because of their ethnicity, their illness, their social status, stigmatization, the Jewish law, traditions, prejudice, and different kinds of phobias. However, Jesus took a different approach to them. He came close to them, ate with them, talked with them, and told them they are his friends. Rather than saying, “you need to repeat after me, ‘I accept you as my Lord...’” Instead, he said, “go in peace,” or “your faith saved you,” “do likewise,” and sent the person on their way, back to their family and their community. Saving souls like Jesus must be our primary ministry.
Conclusion:
By death and resurrection, Jesus has saved the souls of all humanity, eternally. However, he left homework for us, something we should do while we are living here. That is the ministry of saving souls on earth. That is helping the needy and mourn with those who mourn, until we finish our life on earth. He expressed it, “love your neighbor.” This commandment is an invitation from Jesus, saying come, join me, you can do what I do. Serve others, save others, that’s how we all live together.
So many people are dying today. Due to Covid-19, due to many other diseases, due to wars and terrors, greed and arrogance, hatred and prejudice and lack of knowledge and rice. People are dying due to isolation, abuse, discrimination, oppression, and even unpredictable accidents. As we are seeing them, let’s examine ourselves whether our heads turn away or not in front of someone else’s crying and suffering. We need people who are committed to stopping these by standing by them and share life with them, and you can be one of them.
12 For he delivers the needy when they call, the poor and those who have no helper. 13 He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy. 14 From oppression and violence he redeems their life; and precious is their blood in his sight.
Greetings
Good afternoon, brothers and sisters in Chungdong English Ministry. I really wanted to meet with you face to face by this time, but unfortunately Covid-19 is still preventing that. Until we meet again, I hope all of you stay healthy and safe.
If you are from abroad or if you have an experience of living abroad, you must understand how it is more difficult to encounter this kind of situation where a global crisis is taking place, yet families are apart. For those who are currently apart from your family members, I pray that God gives you and your family strong faith in one another.
I also want to send my blessings and prayers to everyone for their well-being and safety, including yourself, your family and friends, all people in Korea, all people in your home country, and people in all other nations, especially those in the countries whose medical or political systems are not strong enough or just enough to respond to the current situation successfully. Please God, stop this suffering and grant mercy and care for everyone affected.
The message I want to share with you today is a simple one: Save souls. Please become people who can save many souls in the world. Some of you may be wondering “what does this preacher mean by ‘saving souls’?” (clarification) You may also ask, “is it my job to save souls?” or “why should I save souls?” (rationale). Some of you may also ask, “Haven’t we done our best to convert others to Christianity?”
All these questions are valuable and appropriate. So, throughout the message that follows below, I’d like to answer those questions and provide more explanations about what I mean by ‘saving souls’ and why I am telling you this.
Saving Souls as a Universal Message
First of all, by saying “save souls,” I’d like to say that I do not mean that you need to convert other people into Christianity. For some Christians, ‘saving a soul’ refers to a very particular thing: teaching someone about what Jesus has done and encouraging the person to accept Jesus as their savior and make the person confess it explicitly.
However, I am trying to convey a more universal message. By ‘saving a soul’ I mean helping someone who is especially in need to have a better life. It means helping the person get out of his or her state of hopelessness, breakdown, self-disappointment, self-loathing, hardship, and misery. By ‘saving souls’ I mean giving those people power to stand up again and live again with new hope, with new energy, and with new vision. It means helping them move a little bit further from despair towards hope, from suffering to well-being, from oppression to liberation, and from death to life. This is what I mean by saving souls today.
Saving Souls as Plea
I don’t want to tell you to save souls as an imperative. Of course, I believe that this mission must be the mission of Christians and all other human beings. But I’d like to express it as a plea. This is a plea. I beg you: please think about this message seriously. And if you will, please commit yourself to saving souls in this world. At least, don’t be a person who lives only for themselves and their own family, for their own success. Instead, live for others and see what you can do for your own local and global community.
I make this plea because we, all human beings, need such people desperately. We need a lot of them, because there are so many people who need someone else’s help to survive. At this very moment, there are many people who have reached their limit and feel as if they can’t make it any further in life financially, mentally, or perhaps physically without some kind of help from another person. At this very moment, there are many people who are so frustrated with their situation, who think that their life is so worthless, meaningless, and pointless, that they want to give up their life.
As you may know, the rate of suicide in Korea is the 10th highest in the globe and the first or second highest among OECD countries (the leading countries in the world). More than 34 people in Korea commit suicide every single day. Due to shame, failure, financial crisis, relationship pressures, false charges, bullying, etc., people choose to kill themselves. Among people of every age and gender, suicide is the 4th highest cause of death in Korea, and the leading cause of death for young people aged between 10 and 39. This is just one of the examples that show how desperately the world needs someone who is committed to helping others. Such needs are everywhere in the world.
Savings Souls: This is My Prayer
Save souls. This is my plea and also a prayer. I pray for you and all other Christians as well as all humanity to be people who are committed to helping the needy, touching their hearts, and reviving their souls – just as King David wanted for his son Solomon. In Psalm 72, King David prayed to God for his son Solomon. He wanted his son Solomon to be a person who “delivered the needy when they called, the poor and those who had no helper.” David wanted Solomon to be a king who “had pity on the weak and the needy and saved the lives of the needy.” And he wanted him to be a king who redeemed those people from oppression and violence. In other words, David wanted Solomon to be a person who had heart for the work of saving souls. I pray for all people to have this mission in mind like David prayed for Solomon. I especially hope that Christians see their primary mission not as making more conversions (identity change) but as saving people who are ‘dying’ from so many sufferings and despair.
A French Catholic Priest, Abbé Pierre, reminds us of the meaningless of having Christian identity without the essence of Christian faith that is love. He says, “I am sure there is no fundamental distinction between a believer and a non-believer. There is only a distinction between a person who turns his head in front of someone else’s suffering and a person who fights to save others from suffering, and there is only a distinction between a person who loves and a person who refuses to love.” I fully agree with him. I’m sure that it is not enough to be called Christian. What is important is whether we act like Christians. As Priest Pierre indicates, what we need is love, compassion, empathy, and action. The first thing Christians should say in the street must be “do you need any help?” rather than “come to church.”
For Christians today, this is my prayer: Lord, may you grant us love, compassion, and empathy so we can take care of the needy, when they call, the poor and those who have no helper. Let us have pity on the weak and the needy and save their lives by giving them hope and comfort. Use us to redeem those people from oppression and violence.
Jesus’ Ministry of Saving Souls
It is no doubt that for Jesus, the ministry of saving souls was crucial. Of course, Jesus saved all of our souls by his own death and resurrection. However, in his daily ministry on earth, he also saved so many souls who were crying, suffering, and literally dying. He spent most of his time and energy to help and therefore revive the souls of the weak, vulnerable, socially marginalized, demon-possessed, and physically disabled people, whom society had forced to live as if they were dead.
Jesus helped:
- a Samaritan woman at the well, who was socially stigmatized and had to come out to draw water when no one was out;
- a woman who was suffering from bleeding for twelve years without knowing the reasons;
- a man near a pond, who has been sick for 38 years, hopelessly waiting for someone to help him to go down to the water, which he believed would heal him if the spirit troubled the waters;
- those who were blind, deaf, and bullied; he met with prostitutes, victims of violence, those suffering from leprosy, the paralyzed, the mentally ill, and reviled tax collectors.
They were mostly those who were disdained and avoided in Jewish society then. They were disdained and avoided because of their ethnicity, their illness, their social status, stigmatization, the Jewish law, traditions, prejudice, and different kinds of phobias. However, Jesus took a different approach to them. He came close to them, ate with them, talked with them, and told them they are his friends. Rather than saying, “you need to repeat after me, ‘I accept you as my Lord...’” Instead, he said, “go in peace,” or “your faith saved you,” “do likewise,” and sent the person on their way, back to their family and their community. Saving souls like Jesus must be our primary ministry.
Conclusion:
By death and resurrection, Jesus has saved the souls of all humanity, eternally. However, he left homework for us, something we should do while we are living here. That is the ministry of saving souls on earth. That is helping the needy and mourn with those who mourn, until we finish our life on earth. He expressed it, “love your neighbor.” This commandment is an invitation from Jesus, saying come, join me, you can do what I do. Serve others, save others, that’s how we all live together.
So many people are dying today. Due to Covid-19, due to many other diseases, due to wars and terrors, greed and arrogance, hatred and prejudice and lack of knowledge and rice. People are dying due to isolation, abuse, discrimination, oppression, and even unpredictable accidents. As we are seeing them, let’s examine ourselves whether our heads turn away or not in front of someone else’s crying and suffering. We need people who are committed to stopping these by standing by them and share life with them, and you can be one of them.
THE LORD'S PRAYER
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Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever. Amen. |
BENEDICTION
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Numbers 6:24-26
The Lord bless you and keep you, The Lord lift His countenance upon you. And give you peace, and give you peace, The Lord make His face to shine upon you. And be gracious unto you, and be gracious, The Lord be gracious, gracious unto you. Amen, amen, amen. Amen, amen, amen. |
