Pastoral Letter: Holding Two Stories in My Heart

Dear SUM Family,

Celebrating Independence Day in the United States has become a familiar part of my life. Yet every year, this day invites me to pause and reflect.

I am an immigrant who now calls America home, and Korea remains deeply part of who I am.

So while I celebrate America’s Independence Day with gratitude, I also find myself remembering the story of my own homeland. As I give thanks for the freedom celebrated in this country, I also remember the long journey toward freedom that shaped the nation where I was born and raised.

The American Declaration of Independence was written with the hope of building a new nation. Korea’s March First Declaration of Independence was written with the longing to reclaim freedom for a nation under occupation.

One looked toward the future.

The other longed for restoration.

The histories are different. The languages are different. The circumstances are different.

Yet as I reflected on these two stories, one shared longing stayed with me.

It is the longing for each person’s life, and each community’s life, to be honored with dignity.

I do not think a good community is built by fear or by power. I think it is built when people are treated with dignity, freedom, and care.

That reflection gradually became a question for me.

What kind of community are we building together?

Over this past year at Simsbury United Methodist Church, I have found myself returning to that question again and again.

What kind of church are we becoming?

Can we become a community where people of different generations, different backgrounds, different experiences, and different perspectives worship together, learn together, share life together, and serve our neighbors together?

By God’s grace, I have already seen many glimpses of that kind of community.

I have seen people seeking the same God in different worship services.

I have seen volunteers investing their time and love in children and youth.

I have seen quiet acts of prayer, compassion, and care that few people ever notice.

I have seen many of you serving beyond the walls of our church, loving neighbors in ways both visible and unseen.

Each of those moments has become a small sign of hope for me.

This Independence Day, I celebrate the freedom of the country where I now live, while remembering the freedom of the country where I was born.

Holding both stories in my heart reminds me that God has entrusted each of us with something important.

We are not called to establish a new nation.

We are not called to reclaim freedom for a nation under occupation.

But we are called to pray and to live the prayer Jesus taught us:

“Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

That prayer begins close to home—in our families, in our church, and in the community we share.

My prayer is that Simsbury United Methodist Church will continue to be a place where people from many different walks of life encounter God, honor one another’s God-given dignity, learn from one another, and love their neighbors well.

Perhaps the community God is shaping among us is not built only through extraordinary moments, but through ordinary people who faithfully choose, day by day, to live out God’s will together.

May God’s peace fill your home, your family, and all those with whom you celebrate this Independence Day.

Happy Independence Day.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor DH
Simsbury United Methodist Church
sumct.org
pastordh@sumct.org