November 2025

Pastor Message: 

Movement of the Spirit

Riding my bike on a crisp fall day is always a joy. On a recent clear afternoon, I glided past the water and saw the sky mirrored on the lake’s surface—so calm, so still.

But as I looked closer, I noticed countless ripples—millions, maybe billions of tiny movements, dancing across the water. I didn’t know what they were—molecular dances, perhaps. I had imagined a sharp line between sky and water—but that moment reminded me: the line we call perfect, the surface we call still, has never truly been closed. Even in apparent calm, the water is alive—open, responsive, in conversation with the world around it.

Human life is like that, too. We often call ourselves individuals, as if we were self-contained, separate. Yet in truth, we are currents within a greater flow—our shared breath, joys and sorrows, prayers and hopes, all ripple into one another in ways we cannot always see.

As a circuit rider among our three churches, I have begun to notice this same living movement between us—a subtle, powerful current of mission and grace. Traveling between sanctuaries, gathering for outdoor worship and potlucks, offering WARM gestures, assembling cancer kits with prayer shawls, sewing bags, lending hands to the community—all of these are ripples of grace. I see the Spirit moving freely in us, among us, beyond us, just as the wind stirs the lake.

From its very beginning, the United Methodist Church has been a movement of the Spirit—born from a deep longing for renewal and carried forward by those who responded to God’s call. Its roots trace back to 18th-century England, during the Industrial Revolution, a time of great change and hardship. Many were displaced, labor conditions were harsh, and poverty and marginalization were widespread. The established church often could not meet their spiritual and practical needs.

In this context, the Methodist movement reached out to society’s marginalized—workers, the poor, and women—offering both spiritual guidance and practical care through education, charity, and service. This blend of faith and social action became its heartbeat, and even today, the Methodist tradition continues this legacy, calling us to compassion, and care for the overlooked, guiding communities toward social justice, welcoming LGBTQ+ people and immigrants, and calling all Creation to stewardship, care, and harmony rather than dominion.

The Spirit moves still. Present even before Creation—hovering over the deep, stirring life and hope where there was none (Gen 1:3)—it is with us now. In our prayers, service, support of ministry, and giving—locally, across Wisconsin, globally and even through apportionments that support the wider mission of the UMC—we join this living current of grace. Together, we are ripples of the Spirit upon the surface of the world.

Do you feel it? Do you see it?

—Pastor Hyunwoong