A Pastoral Letter as We Begin 2026: Knowing God - Rooted in Christ - Growing in the Spirit

As we watched a movie together,
we shared the popcorn the kids had prepared ahead of time.

Still laughing and saying they were hungry,
the children sent their mom back to the kitchen,
where she warmed up dumplings and pizza once more.

And so we spent that night
quietly letting one year come to a close,
waiting together for the new year to arrive.

As the evening slowed down,
my heart naturally turned toward the year ahead.

The words we will carry into 2026
did not come to me suddenly that night.
They have been forming quietly over the past several months,
as I prayed for our SUM community
and listened for what might remain when the noise settled.

There was a verse I kept returning to in prayer:

“Let us know,
let us press on to know the Lord.”
(Hosea 6:3)

I found myself lingering there,
not because the words demanded action,
but because they invited attention—
to whom we are turning toward,
and to where our hearts are being drawn.

Another passage stayed with me as well:

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord,
continue to live your lives in him,
rooted and built up in him.”
(Colossians 2:6–7)

In a world that moves quickly,
this quiet call to remain
settled gently into my prayers.

I returned often to these words, too:

“By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control.”
(Galatians 5:22–23) 

“Until all of us come to the unity of the faith
and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
to maturity,
to the measure of the full stature of Christ.”
(Ephesians 4:13)

These scriptures did not outline a plan.
They did not press for urgency.
They simply named the kind of life
that grows when we remain attentive
to God’s presence among us.

And so, as we stand at the beginning of a new year,
three phrases remain with me—
not as a program to master,
but as words we may return to,
again and again,
as we walk together.

Knowing God

Rooted in Christ

Growing in the Spirit

We do not need to grasp these words all at once.
We do not need to move at the same pace.

But we may choose to look in the same direction,
to carry the same questions,
and to walk this path side by side.

Throughout 2026,
in our worship and prayer,
in our reading and reflection on Scripture,
and in the ordinary ways we care for one another,
may these words quietly shape our shared rhythm.

At the threshold of a new year,
I invite you to walk this journey
not alone,
but together.

May the grace and peace of God
rest upon your home
and upon every place
where your life unfolds.

In Christ,
Pastor DH