October 2025

Pastor Message: 

Building One Body in an Age of Otherness

As summer fades and the seasons shift, I find myself reflecting on where I am now—and where I am heading. It has been one year and two months since I came to WARM, and I can hardly believe how quickly the time has passed. When I first arrived, I spoke boldly about making a fresh start with you. Yet I am still learning what it truly means to serve three congregations and to carry the calling of an ordained pastor.

I have worked hard to learn your names and faces, though I have made plenty of mistakes along the way. So please—don’t give up on calling your pastor’s name, even if it feels hard to pronounce (fair enough, since many of you are not Korean!). One Sunday, I accidentally called Dave “Mike” and Mike “Dave” (fair enough again—our summer worshippers were rotating between churches each week!). Later that same day, while preparing for Dave Raether’s funeral after three services, I mistakenly called him “Mike” in front of his children, whom I had never met. Lord, in your mercy…

Navigating a three-church structure is no small task. Early on, I began sharing the prayer concerns of all three congregations in the newsletter. I thought it was a wonderful idea—because I believe prayer unites people. But I quickly learned how much discernment is needed: what may be shared publicly, what must remain private, and how deeply communication shapes trust across our congregations. In meetings, I often wrestle with how decisions in one church affect the others, and how best to navigate these complexities with care.

And yet—you should know this: we have already been building the body of Christ together. Especially in this age of “otherness.” As Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 12, “The body is one, though it has many members… and all the members of the body, though many, are one body in Christ.” We are called to live as one body in a world marked by division and fear: gun violence in schools and public spaces, immigration raids targeting vulnerable communities, and political divides that fracture trust. I do not want to see the spirit of otherness overcome the unity of Christ. What we need is solidarity, not separation. Forgiveness over judgment. Patience over quick fixes. Love over fear.

This is what I see among you: three congregations who share one pastor without dividing his body. A people who practice seeing another congregation as part of their own. A community that holds a vision of the heavenly banquet—where no one is “othered.” In your patience before judging, in your showing up even in hardship, in your care for the community and generosity toward the vulnerable—I glimpse God’s kin(g)dom. These are the heavenly values already alive among us, leading us toward the promised land.

So I return to the question: Where am I, and where am I heading? And I invite you to join me in asking: Where are we heading—together—as one body in Christ?

With love, 

Pastor Hyunwoong