04/05/2026
A beautiful Easter letter from our bishop:
Go to Galilee”
On the morning of resurrection, the angel spoke with quiet clarity:
“He is not here… Go to Galilee; there you will see Him.” (Matthew 28:7)
The risen Christ does not summon His disciples to a place of power,
nor to the certainty of the holy city, Jerusalem. He calls them back – to Galilee.
To the place where their lives unfolded. Where work was ordinary, where burdens were real, where the weight of empire was deeply felt. And it is there that the promise is given: “You will see Him.”
Easter is not a departure from the world. It is an invitation into it – renewed. A gentle but unmistakable call to return to the very places we know, now with awakened sight.
The resurrection does not erase the wounds of life. It meets us within them and begins something new. It invites us to step again into the fabric of human life – into neighborhoods, relationships, and the unfinished stories we carry.
Yet we do not return empty-handed. We carry the quiet assurance that Christ has gone ahead of us, that He is already present in places of need, in moments of care, in simple acts of love.
There is quiet joy in this.
A joy that opens the heart, that makes room for others, that sees the neighbor not as a burden, but as a gift. In offering kindness, in sharing bread, in standing with one another, we begin to recognize Him.
Easter becomes real in this way: in a word of encouragement, in a hand extended, in the courage to remain present where it would be easier to turn away.
Here, the risen Christ is victorious and offers eternal hope. He is encountered amidst life as it is. And so, we are invited: not to seek Him far away, but to notice Him near at hand; not to wait for certainty, but to walk with trust; not to withdraw, but to participate in the quiet renewal of the world around us.
Go to Galilee.
Return to your life, your calling, your community. Go with open eyes and a welcoming heart. For there, in the ordinary places, among ordinary people, the risen Christ is already present – receiving us, walking with us, and making all things new.-
Bishop Hee Soo Jung,
Bishop of the Ohio Episcopal area of the United Methodist Church 
