“Celebrating God’s Faithfulness”
Dear Centenary,
Happy 125 years Centenary United Methodist Church! That is lot of fruitful and faithful missions and ministries in and through this loyal community.
What a journey! On October 17th, CUMC will be celebrating God’s love and grace. We plan to start our celebration with worship jointly at 10 A.M. with our Nihongo Bu Ministry. I am thrilled to announce our keynote speaker for that worship service, our very own, Bishop Roy Sano. We look forward to hearing his prophetic words as we journey to reflect and respond to our anniversary theme: “Honoring the Past, Engaging the Present, Impacting the Future.” The celebration will be a one-year journey from October 17, 2021 to October 2022. Let’s keep trusting in the Lord and keep uplifting each other and inviting others to join in the mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the purpose of transforming the world to the likeness of the God who loves us all unconditionally.
(Picture Above: Rev. Ki Choi and Bishop Roy Sano)
We honor the past saints who have gone through trials and tribulations to make a way for us to have a life filled with abundance through Jesus the Christ (John 10:10b). We honor those who have sacrificed, persevered, and dreamed for the next generations. We honor the past with our gratefulness and remembrances. Let us continue to work harder and smarter so that the past continues to live in our hearts and in our present lives. I was always told that we can’t change the past, but I am not sure if that is true anymore. How we engage the present can determine the interpretation of the past. In other words, let us honor the past by our faithfulness in the present. When we are faithful to Jesus now, we give more value to the challenging experiences of those who had to endure so much opposition in the past. When we love and respect one another’s thoughts, feelings, and sacred space now, that’s when the sweat and tears of the past is honored. We honor the past by loving our God with all of our hearts, souls, minds, and strength, and by loving our neighbors as we do ourselves (God’s Great Commandment).
We hope to impact the future by living out the dreams God has for the world. This happens when we take the time to listen to God’s whispers. We don’t know what the future holds, but we can have faith that God still whispers prophecy, truths to our current realities, and reminds us of a congregational DNA which stems from the “great cloud of witnesses” cheering for us on this race. We will celebrate throughout the year by:
Meaningful Worship
Stories Shared
Opportunities to Respond with Faith
Fellowship / Fun Events
Prayer
Blessings,
Rev. Ki Choi
Senior Minister