BE A LOVING FAMILY TO A Broken World -- Rev. Joseph H. Lao

​Happy New Year! Our church has adopted new wordings on our vision statement to help us refocus our ministry goal, “Be a Loving Family to a Broken World”. We live in a broken world, whereby we feel the pain and troubles of our hearts. We experience despair, depression, disharmony, frustration, confusion, disorder, separation, even death. When we turn on the television at night, what we hear from it is nothing good but bad news. I look around our world, I see the chaotic and seemingly hopeless situation, it saddens me and gives me a great heaviness in my heart. 
One of the greatest sorrows I feel for people around us is that they work so hard for their existence, yet they feel lonely and lost, have no community life, no purpose in life, and above all, they don’t know God. Most of the people we encountered expressed the anguish of the vanity of life. Many continue to seek the meaning of life. We know with certainty where and with whom the meaning of life lies. But who would be courageous enough to go and share the gospel of Jesus Christ? For the love of mankind, is there anyone who would be like Paul, willing to be accursed and cut off from Christ, so that our kinsmen might be blessed?
As Jesus enters Jerusalem in the last days of his earthly life, he started to have a crisis in his heart. Luke recorded: “As he (Jesus) approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it.” Jesus lamented that eternal peace was within their reach and yet they turned it down. The crowds got caught up in all the hoopla and decided to focus on the festivities. For a moment, they forgot the real issues in their lives. They pretended to live in a knockout world without worry and problems.
If Jesus could, he would have stayed longer here on earth. If he did not have to fulfill the Father’s will, he would have delayed His mission and homegoing. Jesus would have wanted to make this world again as the Father’s world; “where the birds their carols raise, the morning light, the lily white, declare their maker’s praise.” Though oftentimes we imagine that evil seems so strong, yet forgetting that God still rules supreme. Remember that God continues to love the world that He created. Not only He had sent Jesus to reconcile us to Himself, furthermore, He also gave His Holy Spirit to protect, comfort, and direct us.
In his last will, Jesus challenged his disciples. He said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)  We can only continue Jesus’ ministry when we practice loving one another as He has loved us. When Christians learn to love each other, we can extend that same love to the outside world. In doing so, we will have the opportunity to impact our broken world, and change it into a beautiful loving world.
Brothers and sisters, this new year provides a new opportunity for us all. Won’t you commit yourself to God and this church to be an instrument of God’s love, peace, and joy? You don’t need to go to a faraway land to reach our kinsmen. They are just right at our doorsteps, in your neighbors, in your workplaces, in your schools, wherever you are, they are there. 
Have a blessed New Year!