Light From The Hill May, 2020...The Pastor’s Corner…Rev. Dr. Eo

We Belong to the Body of Christ as One!

It was a Tuesday lunch time on September 11, 2001, when we got the news. I was a Doctoral student at Wesley Seminary in Washington DC, and the first terrorist hit one of twin buildings and in hours, the second one was hit too. We were watching all of these horrible evil things at the student hall with deep sighs, nervous moaning, and crying. Within hours, gathering at the chapel, we worshiped, praised and prayed to the Lord with our crying, deep sighs and grievous moaning. I hurried to drive to Richmond and called a special worship service that evening. I picked up words from Lamentations of Jeremiah. Our city was ruined by people unknown. There was uncertainty and fear in the people’s hearts. We knew that no words would make this better. Now, about 20 years have passed and I have a dumb feeling about this global COVID-19 pandemic. There is uncertainty and fear the same as I felt at 9.11. But different. 9.11 was done in a distance while this global crisis could happen everywhere. 9.11 happened during a limited time of one day, while this pandemic stopped people on a global level for months and months. As the pastor of Laurel Hill, I was seeking for measures to connect to the congregation because all of a sudden we could not gather together in person. Bishop Sharma Lewis sent a letter with comfort and advice recommending not to have in-person service until June 10. Even in the crisis, we are fortunate to have the ability to livestream Sunday worship. So at least we can share the time together through Facebook. Thanks be to God! But that presents the problem of what to do with the sacrament. Do we celebrate communion when those watching cannot partake? The answer is mixed in our denomination now. In 2013, a group of United Methodist leaders demanded that our bishops call a moratorium on online Communion. With in-depth study of online Communion, in 2016, Bishop Carter reaffirmed it again. We can’t presume to give an answer for all time. But it seems that right now, since the body is prevented from meeting together, we need some sort of resolution. As UMC Discipleship Ministries suggests, I want to begin with the Love Feast. The Love Feast has historical precedence in the early church and was recaptured by the Wesleys from the Moravians and used frequently in the movement. The Love Feast often substituted for the sacrament where there were no clergy present as a way of experiencing of Jesus Christ and the fellowship of community by sharing together. The Love Feast could easily be done virtually, as folks in their homes can find the elements (usually water and some bread, or crackers or wafers of some sort) and share them with those in the household at the same time as those in the wider online community. Before beginning the service, gather a candle and matches (or a small lamp), a Bible, a piece of bread, and a small glass of water. And then I will serve the Liturgy through Power Point. Remember we are connected to the Body of Christ. Hallelujah!

THINGS TO REMEMBER…

MAY SERMON SCHEDULE

5/3 Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ (Rev. 1:4-8) 5/10 The Noble Character of Our Mothers (Proverbs 31:10-15, 29-31) Happy Mother’s Day

5/17 Beginning of the Tribulation (Rev. 6:1-14)

5/24 The Great Multitude of White Robe (Rev. 7:9-17)

5/31 Rev. Ed. Johnson Preaching

FISH is collecting canned tomatoes and canned greens (any kind) for May. You may bring them to church and leave them on the porch where you enter the offices if it is not during our regular office hours. Pam will take them the FISH collection location. Also, if you have other items to donate, it is also good to bring them.

OUR WORSHIP SERVICE will continue to be on Sunday morning at 11 A.M. live on the Laurel Hill UMC Facebook page and later on Youtube at Yunho Eo. Thanks to all who have been watching. It is a big encouragement to be with each other even if it is on the computer.

Also, you have been so generous with bringing or sending your contributions in the mail. Thank you! If any of you have a need for food or pick up of medications, etc. and we can help, please call the office at 795- 2772 or Barbara at home at 222-9223. We miss you all and love you. We will continue to keep in touch.

FACE MASKS-we have been blessed by Pam Wilson, Meade Welch, Ann Hechler and Janet Stoneman who have used all those quilt scraps to make face masks for our congregation. We have passed out quite a few to very happy recipients. If you need a mask, please let us know in the office.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to all our mother’s, grandmothers, great- grandmothers, aunts, sisters and other women who love and mentor us throughout our life. May you all be blessed. Take time to send a card or note to the women that have made your life more special with their steadfast love, devotion and concern over the years. Say thank you! Thought you all would enjoy this testimony from Sean Wayland. He and Nancy Nelson Wayland and family are our missionaries through CRU. Nancy grew up at Laurel Hill and graduated from Varina High School and Virginia Tech. We are so proud of the work that they do each day to further the Kingdom of God.

Testimony, It's the little things

Wed, Apr 29, 12:13 PM (22 Sean Wayland hours ago)

In this edition of our update, I am including my testimony and an email of thanks that I received from our director in Mexico.

If you have a moment and can send me your testimony as well, I would love to receive it. Sometimes, just the act of thinking through and writing down our testimony can remind us of what God has done and prepare us to share it with others. Wouldn't that be amazing if God gave you an opportunity to share yours with someone this week? It also encourages me to hear how God has worked in the lives of others.

When I was young, my loving and kind mother made sure that my sister and I went to church every Sunday. In that small church, I heard the Gospel repeated from the pulpit several times. When I was 9 years old, I remember being at my grandmother's house and my sister asking me if I had received Jesus into my heart. She was especially concerned for me, but I wasn't sure that I was ready at the time. Later that year, we had a revival service at church, and I went forward to publicly say that I wanted to accept Christ. In our church, you walked the aisle to the front to show that you were making that commitment. My simple understanding at the time was that if I trusted in Christ, I would go to heaven when I died.

Throughout the rest of my school years, I was a bit confused. Even though I tried to be a good Christian sometimes, it wasn't that easy. I read the entire Bible when I was 16, but it really didn't do much for me except that I learned some facts that I didn't know before. Of course, I was also trying to get the most out of life and was doing things that I knew were not pleasing to God. I also had a tendency to try and please people which made it difficult for me to stay firm in my faith. Plus, our home life was a bit of a wreck. Sadly, my dad struggled with alcoholism and although he was a good father overall, it was chaos and a lot of pain when he was drunk. I struggled with anger and resentment toward God for allowing me to be brought up like that. My high school quote kind of summed up my life at that point when I chose a quote from a popular song by U2 at the time, "...but I still haven't found what I'm looking for."

Arriving at college, I thought, would solve all my problems. I would be away from home and the chaos. I would be able to do what I wanted and pursue all the things that could make me happy. My mindset was to succeed, party, chase girls, and go to church. That was my formula for happiness. What a shock that after a very short time, I was empty and miserable. The most important question in my life then was what was the purpose of life. It was at that time that God brought two people into my life. First, I met and became friends with Mike, another engineering student who lived in my dorm. Second, I filled out a survey being done by Cru and was visited by Brian, a Cru staff member. Mike was a strong Christian, and he and I clicked right away. We had conversations sometimes late into the night about God. Brian asked me questions that challenged my shallow understanding of the Gospel. He shared with me how I could live a victorious Christian life, and I finally understood. Here is a link to the material that he shared with me. My world was turned upside down. I remember thinking while Brian was sharing with me that this was what my life had been missing. I prayed a prayer of surrender, asking the Holy Spirit to take control and direct my life. The next morning I woke up with a joy and a peace that was different than I had ever experienced before. Slowly from that point on my life changed, and I started following Jesus as a Spirit-filled believer.

Over the next few years, I was trained in how to share my faith, went on retreats, attended conferences and summer mission trips and joined the staff of Cru so that I could share the life-giving message I had received. My motivation was and is to help others experience the joy, peace, and abundant life that Jesus came to offer (John 10:10) and to be spared from the pain and emptiness of not knowing and walking with Him. It's incredible to me that the Lord has entrusted this treasure to me, as a fragile jar of clay (II Corinthians 4:7-9) What a privilege to be able to share it with others.

Before the Coronavirus pandemic, globally we made a change in our accounting tools. Our finance team in LAC led our entire Area in the transition to the new accounting set of tools called Netsuite. Prior to this change, we had been using the same accounting software for more than 20 years, so it was a huge change for all of us. Yesterday, we received an email from our National Director in Mexico expressing his gratitude. It seems like a small thing, but we rejoice in how God is using it to facilitate ministry throughout Mexico and the entire LAC (Latin America and Caribbean) Area. The email is lengthy and in Spanish so I'll give you a short summary:

• Thank you for your excellent work in Administration and Operations, especially Netsuite. It has been a great blessing for the entire group of staff in Mexico. • Netsuite, which is cloud-based, has allowed the accountants to work from home with ease which has been great since the office has been closed due to COVID-19. • We used to have a discrepancy between payroll and our accounting because payroll went out the month after the donations were received, which raised questions by the Mexican government. Now payroll is sent within the same month that donations are received making it easy to reflect accurately and clearly the financial state of the ministry. • Staff have daily access to updated information from their national and foreign donors. • The change in sending the International Transfer (a transfer we send to countries with money for projects, donations received from other countries, and money for general use) in the first days of the month prompted us to look for a different bank that is now giving us a more favorable exchange rate, helping us to be better stewards of all that we receive. • From Cru Mexico, Thank you very much!!

"If you cannot rejoice in your circumstances, you can always rejoice in the Lord who controls your circumstances. Fix your attention on Him. He may not change your situation, but He will change you; & that is even better." Warren Wiersbe, pastor Sean Wayland Director de Operaciones, Cru LAC Cel: 506.8312.3274 U.S. Cel: 484.485.7893 [email protected]

LAY MINISTERS FOR APRIL, 2020 Praise & Worship: 8:45 A.M.-Sunday School: 9:45 A.M.-Worship: 11:00 A.M.

OUR USHERS April 5 Joe Corley, Randy Welch April 12 Stuart Walton, Raymond Stevenson, Buddy Whitlow April 19 Gene Russell, George Kaloski April 26 Phil Deane

CHILDREN’S CHURCH CHILDREN’S MESSAGE TBA Nancy Henry

ACOLYTE COMMUNION April 5 Peggy Singlemann & Scott Englehart Kathie & Buddy Whitlow April 12 Theresa Duke April 19 Debbie Deaton April 26 Joanne Corley

OUR GREETERS April 5 Dot Gay and Barbara Wendel (Palm Sunday) April 9 Barbara Wendel (Maundy Thursday) April 12 Rachel Hawk and Marsha Williams (Easter Sunday) April 19 Kim Davis and Connie Madison April 26 Julia, Todd and Gracie Levy

TELLERS April 5 Jenny Nelson and Marsha Williams April 12 Debbie Deaton and Phil Deane April 19 Chris Ragland and Linda Kinsey April 26 Peggy Singlemann and Phil Deane

BIRTHDAYS IN APRIL, 2020…Miriam Pendleton, Doug Gottwald, Evelyn Steele, Billie Brockman, Brenda Jennette, Tyrone Franklin and Lela Hall

As per the Bishop’s instructions, we will not meet again for worship until April 26th. This, of course, is subject to change. Thank you to everyone who have mailed or dropped off your offerings. This is a great help as bills continue to come. Stay safe and be well! Preaching Plan for April, 2020

4/5/2020 Philippians 2:5-11 Jesus, our Lord and Savior! 4/9/2020(Thu.) Matthew 26:31-35 Peter, you will deny me…. 4/12/2020 (Easter) Matthew 28:1-10 The Cross, the Tomb and the Stone 4/19/2020 John 20:19-31 Thomas the “Doubter” 4/26/2020 Rev. Thomas Austin will preach.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION…

FISH NEWS… WE ARE COLLECTING THE FOLLOWING ITEMS FOR FISH in the upcoming months: April-canned juice.

Do you like to golf? The FISH Golf Tournament will be held at Brookwood Golf Club in New Kent on June 6. If you are interested in participating please talk with Gail Dagenhart or Pam Wilson.

Dear Laurel Hill UMC, May the Lord be with you in this Lenten season SPRC Chair, Pam Johnson, introduces the New Incoming PASTOR (Hyeonho Lee) on Facebook, March 22, 2020. Please continue to pray for a smooth transition as well as the crisis we are facing globally. Yunho Eo, Pator

[Good afternoon, Your staff-parish relations committee is happy to report that our projected new pastor is the Rev. Dr. Hyeon Ho Lee. He and his wife, Miyeon, come to us from the Eastern Shore where he has served Guilford and St. Thomas UMC for the past 5 years. Previously, he was serving churches in Northern Virginia. Following the example of Jesus, and also the example of John Wesley, he pursues a balanced faith between acts of piety and works of mercy. The description of the early church in the book of Acts, chapter 2, is his model community. In a recent email to us he wrote, "It was my joy to meet with you and the SPRC members. I pray that we will have a blessed journey together serving God's people in Richmond and beyond." In the meantime, let us keep Dr. and Mrs. Lee in our prayers as we enter into this time of transition. Pam Johnson, SPRC Chair]

REV. DR. HYEON HO LEE

About My Ministerial Journey: I was born in November 15, 1965 in Incheon, . Becoming a pastor has been my dream from childhood. I started my ministry in January 1990, was ordained in 1992 in the Korean Methodist Church, and served several churches for more than eleven years until I came to the United States to study in July 2001. In July 2003, I started to serve the Korean Methodist Church in Sacramento, CA. In July 2007, I moved to Virginia and started my ministry at Korean United Methodist Church of Greater Washington in Fairfax, VA as an associate pastor. In July 2010, I was appointed to New Light Korean United Methodist Church in Fairfax and served that church for five years. In July 2015, I was appointed to Guilford & St. Thomas United Methodist Church in Eastern Shore, VA. It was my first appointment towards an English-speaking congregation.

About My Family: My wife, Miyeon (born in March 1965), and I got married in May 1990. She has been a wonderful companion of my ministry ever since. We have two children, Joy and Jeongin. Our daughter Joy (born in January 1992) studied pastry and hospitality management at the Culinary Institute of America, NY. Now she is working at Grand Hyatt San Francisco Airport, CA as a Food & Beverage Director. Our son, Jeongin (born in October 1994), studied computer science engineering at the Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. He is now working at Epic Systems in WI as a software developer.

About My Academic Journey: 1984-87 Methodist Theological Seminary in , Korea (BA) 1988-1990 Graduate School of Methodist Theological Seminary in Seoul, Korea (MTH) 2001-2003 Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA (MA) 2005-2010 San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo, CA (D. Min.) 2017-2019 Academy for Spiritual Formation (The Upper Room’s two-year certificate program)

About My Ministry: The two scripture passages are the foundation of my ministry: “Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39); “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn” (Romans 12:15). Following the example of Jesus and John Wesley, I pursue a balanced faith between works of piety and works of mercy, between justification and sanctification, and between contemplation and social action. The primitive church as described in Acts 2 is my model community. My gifts for ministry are pastoral care, spiritual formation (helping church members build a good relationship with God and neighbors), teaching (leading church members to a deeper understanding of Christian faith and the Methodist tradition), and administration (building systems for more effective ministry). And I respect lay leadership and love to work with laity.