Suwanee United Methodist Church

05/31/2026

05/24/2026

05/03/2026

09/21/2024

Suwanee Festival, September 21-22 - Visit our church booth for information and community outreach.

08/02/2022

“Follow your heart”

Bishop Watson was the resident bishop of the North Georgia Conference about 7 years ago before the current bishop Sue. I learned that bishop Watson once held a silent retreat with district superintendents of the conference. The purpose of the retreat was to practice silence for about 2, 3 days without any special program. I thought it was interesting.

Silence may sound boring to some people, but it may be a time to discern spiritual guidance and to search within. It is a process of putting down what distracts us to gain what’s holy.

The world is an insecure place, and the future seems to be uncertain. Often, we choose a path that’s driven by our worries and distractions. We also may need a time of silence to go deep within and to listen to inner voices from the deepest self in us. For without a sense of direction and faith in our Soul, we might be lost.

Years ago, I read a newspaper article about a contemporary Chinese American writer, named Ha Jin. Ha Jin was born in China in the 50’s. He came over to the States to study English Literature. Then, he taught at Boston College while winning awards for writers in America with his novels. During an interview with a reporter, he was asked to say some words for his readers. Ha Jin said, ‘I think people are becoming far too realistic. When I see young people, choosing a future career with a concern only for income stability, I feel heavy – hearted. In life, nothing is secure. Just follow your heart.’

When he said, ‘follow your heart,’ he did not mean to indulge in your life. Instead, he meant to guard your heart in the insecure world and listen to your inner voices. Do not choose a path only by worries or for others’ approval. But be courageous enough in a changing world to search within to find what your heart is telling you because we were born with the potential to be who we are and to live ‘my life.’

Only one thing is needed in our journey. It is this knowledge that we are from God, and we are here for a reason. And we are fulfilling the journey by spiritual guidance. So, follow your calling, your heart.

07/02/2022

“The Kingdom is growing in you.”

Zombie, a movie, was released years ago. The movie and the character(?) of the walking – dead was a worldwide hit. Dead people come out of tombs, and they walk around as if they are living.

The concept of the living – dead also appears in the gospels as a psychological or spiritual concept, reflecting human life. In Luke chapter 9, when Jesus called a person to follow him, he said to Jesus, ‘let me go bury my father.’ Jesus replied, ‘let the dead bury the dead.’

If we are drawn only by daily concerns and worries of life, we might lose ourselves and be ‘buried’ by realities of life. Are we heading in the right direction?

The core mission of Jesus is written in Mark 1. After being baptized, Jesus started his public ministry, and he proclaimed that ‘the kingdom of God is near.’ The coming kingdom of God was a prophetic, eschatological tradition that was inherited by Jesus from the Old Testament era. When Israelites were sent to exile to a foreign nation about 600 years prior to Jesus’ time, prophets proclaimed ‘the day of the Lord’ when God would bring the exiles home. The future reality was embodied as coming and reigning of God’s kingdom ‘here and now’ to transform the exiles with new hope.

God’s kingdom is not far away from us, but it is a new reality of God that is growing here through us.

We are given a clear goal, a clear direction, which is to proclaim the kingdom of God growing in us. Our mission is to live out God’s new reality here and now with hope and to build the new future reality ‘already’ in our communities.

When you keep the vision, the kingdom of God is growing in you.

05/28/2022

“The Spirit will guide us to all the truths.”

In his writing, “How will you measure your life?”, Clayton Christensen, a Harvard business school professor, recalled his reunion experiences. Prof. Christensen is a graduate of the HBS himself, and he had seen more and more of his classmates “come to reunions unhappy, divorced, and alienated from their children.” He wondered why. The professor concluded that many of them “didn’t keep the purpose of their lives front and center as they decided how to spend their time, talents and energy.”

Without a clear purpose in life, we might end up in a wrong direction even if you have the world’s best education and talents. Casting Crowns, a contemporary Christian band, made a song, “does anybody hear her?” They sing about such human reality with the life of an imaginary person, “she is running a hundred miles an hour in the wrong direction…… She’s another two years older and she’s three more steps behind.”

If you read Acts 16, there is an interesting story of Paul, going to ‘the west’ under spiritual guidance. Paul wanted to go to ‘the East’ for his mission, but the Spirit wanted him to go to the west in a vision. When he followed the spiritual guidance, Paul saw how God made a way for him and for the church in Philippi in the west.

When a door is closed in our journey, the spirit may suggest a time to reflect on what’s meaningful and fruitful in life. It may be a time to reflect on a clear purpose in life that stems from God.

The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is still working for us, leading us, and guiding us to all the truths in life. As growing disciples of Jesus Christ, it is our response to surrender to His will and his vision for His kingdom.

05/20/2022

“The New World in Resurrection”

When I was a 4th grader, my class teacher told us some interesting stories about the future. According to her, the world would be a different place mainly due to technological advancements, and one of the examples of the new technology that would change the world, was the invention of the washing machine. She said one day everyone would have a washing machine at home, and the world would be a different place.

This was the 70’s in rural South Korea. I had not seen any family with the washing machine in the small village in which I was living back then. I also thought it would be magical to have a washing machine at home.

Life has been more convenient with the washing machine since then, and now, I even use a 21st century digital, all automatic washing machine that no one could imagine in the 70’s. But why don’t I feel that the world is a different place? Why do people struggle? What will make our world a different place?

In the book of revelation, God proclaims the vision of the new world. The core of the new world is the world without tears according to chapter 21. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Basically, the core of the new world is the cessation of human suffering and brokenness by God’s Spirit. It is all about the newness of life and people who face it, embrace it with new hope because God “will make everything new”

The new world is here and now when we participate in the spirit of Jesus’ resurrection, recreating everything new. The new world is here and now when we participate in Jesus’ resurrection with God’s love, hope and justice for all.

Easter season continues, and we are Easter people.

05/06/2022

“We are raised to newness of life”

I watched a television documentary years ago. The documentary was about a group of cancer patients who had gathered regularly to share their experiences with the cancer and to encourage one another. As I was watching the documentary, I was deeply inspired by the people who saw their struggles as a painful gift in life.

A person described her change after the cancer. She had been preoccupied with promotion at work before the cancer. However, facing the possible death in her 30’s, she realized that all that she had considered important in her life was not that important at all. She came to understand what’s precious in life. The darkest hour was a gift for her to see a new thing.

The darkest hour can be a gift for us. God uses the darkest hour to humble us, and to transform us. Jesus is risen, so we are Easter people. As Jesus is risen from the tomb of the dead, we are called to rise above our old – self, and we are raised to newness of life.

04/29/2022

“We are Easter people”

When I attended University of Arkansas in the 90’s, I took a class called “Comparative Religions,’ which was one of the literature courses. The professor of the class, one day, brought a topic to discuss, the inaccuracy of human perception. We, human beings, understand the world through our perceiving abilities, seeing, hearing, touching, feeling, etc. According to him, about 75% of what we perceive is wrong, inaccurate. So, if you think something is ‘right,’ there are about 75 % of chances that you might be wrong.

Often, our inaccurate perceptions create false images of reality. Some ‘struggle’ with their false pride. On the other hand, others struggle with fears and doubts that are created by their ‘perception’ and assumptions. As a result, we are locked up in our own small world.

In John 20, Thomas, one of Jesus’ disciples, was locked up in his small world with skepticism when he was told that Jesus was risen. However, when he met the risen Jesus, his doubt was changed into a faithful confession, “my Lord and my God.” Thomas meant that ‘you, the risen Jesus, are the master of my life, and you are the maker of all things.’

Thomas’ confession is our confession today as Easter people, “my Lord and my God.” You are the One who directs my life. You are the One who orders my steps. You are the One who shows me the way, and you are making everything new even through the chaos in the world.

As Easter people, we are always open to new possibilities and new hopes. We follow His guidance and His will though it all because He is our master and our God and because he is risen.