Pastoral Letter: “After Thanksgiving, Toward Hope”
Dear beloved SUM family,
As this Thanksgiving week comes to an end, I find myself wondering what these days have held for each of your homes. Thanksgiving brings warmth and abundance, yet it also carries a quiet mixture of emotions. Some of us enjoyed joyful gatherings. Others held tender conversations with care. And for some, the day brought memories and longings that surfaced when we least expected them.
In all of these moments, I trust that God was already there—gently surrounding your tables, your conversations, and your reflections. We do not perfectly prepare ourselves to meet God; God comes first and creates a space of grace in the midst of our ordinary days.
Where Gratitude Continues
This week, I hope to share a simple meal with several Korean clergy families who serve in the U.S. Thanksgiving Day itself is often full with church responsibilities and invitations from congregations, so we chose to meet quietly on Friday for lunch. Because we are coworkers in Christ, I believe this gathering will be a gift to all of us.
Many families spend Thanksgiving by sharing the blessings God has given throughout the year. Yet we know that not everyone experiences the day in that way. Some spend it alone, or far from those they love.
Many of us know this experience well. As immigrants, we carry countless reasons for gratitude. And in these months since moving to Simsbury, the joy and peace we have shared with the SUM community are beyond measure. Yet whenever we think of our families back home, a tender ache rises. There is a quiet sorrow in being an ocean away from the people who shaped our earliest memories.
Some find comfort by gathering with close friends or colleagues. Others do not even have that option and move through the holiday in solitude. Among our SUM family, I imagine there are those who carry loneliness, longing, or disappointment during a season that is often assumed to be full of joy.
Our Savior Jesus Christ knows the deepest places of every heart. May his gentle comfort and quiet peace surround you, especially where you most need his nearness today.
Walking Together Into Advent
As Thanksgiving passes and routines return, gratitude often finds its deeper place. Thankfulness is not the closing of a year but the moment when we receive strength for the path ahead—strength God provides quietly and faithfully.
And so, as we carry gratitude back into our everyday lives, we now turn toward Advent, the season of waiting and hope. It is a time to slow our pace, to open our hearts, and to recognize the God who draws near in small and gracious ways.
My prayer is that this Advent restores in us a quiet joy—a joy not found in large moments, but in noticing the steady, patient work of God among us.
Tomorrow’s worship will be the doorway into this sacred season. I warmly invite you to step into Advent together as one community.
Invitation to Worship
Let us carry the spirit of gratitude into worship and stand together in God’s grace. Tomorrow, Sunday, November 30, we will gather for a Joint Worship Service at 10:00 AM.
This is a special schedule for the week, so please take note of the time—we hope no one misses this shared moment of beginning Advent together. Your presence will be a gift to our community and a blessing to this season of hope.
In Christ,
Pastor DH