Little Piece, Big Masterpiece

Last year, Joy and I moved to our first house. Moving was always not so easy, especially in America. In my country, South Korea, you can hire a moving company and they can move and place your things just as they were in your old home. Literally you can go out and shop on your moving day without worrying about your moving. In America, you need to do all your moving by yourself, although you can hire movers or borrow the hands of your friends. My hardest part of moving last year was putting furniture together. I was already exhausted from the moving; however, I had to assemble the pieces of my beds, dining table, and some more furniture all by myself. When I looked at the pieces of furniture that needed to be assembled in my new home, I was thinking, "O, no.. when do I ever finish this!" I couldn't see how beautiful my furniture was from looking at the separate pieces of wood. I patiently assembled the pieces one by one. When I finished putting them together, I was surprised and I shouted to myself, "Wow~... this is so beautiful!"

From that experience, I have learned a lesson: first, pieces that do not seem beautiful in our lives can become beautiful if we patiently work on them. And second, we as individuals can become a part of a big and beautiful masterpiece when we try to put ourselves together into one community.

I think my lesson can be applied to many aspects of our life and we can also apply it to our Christian faith. Sometimes we do not see the beauty of God's big picture in our life. All we can see is pieces that are scattered and disordered in our troubled lives. However, God sees each piece of those as special and He has a plan to make those pieces into God’s masterpiece. I think that our Christian life as the church is also a part of God’s plan to create a masterpiece. This is why we need Christian friends and families in our lives so that we can hold and sustain each other and finally become God's big and beautiful masterpiece.

I have served in the English as a Second Language ministry at First Church for four years. My faith, thoughts, and relationship have been enriched by meeting our students from different cultures and backgrounds. We have learned so many things--not just English-- but also the diversity of our world that can expand our understanding of God's family.

There are two good opportunities in which you can experience this richness of God’s family here at First Church in upcoming weeks, the All-Church Picnic (September 30) and World Communion Sunday (October 7). I am sure that these events will make you feel that you are part of God’s Big Family and will also enrich your faith in Christ through meeting other people from around the world. We want to celebrate our unity and diversity in Christ Jesus by participating in the events on those days. On World Communion Sunday our E.S.L. students from many parts of the world will usher and greet us at the doors.
I hope and pray that you can come to these two events and enjoy the beauty of God’s big and beautiful masterpiece as each of you participates in the events as a little piece of the whole.

“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”
(Ephesians 2: 19-22)