Community of Joy

PRAISE “For All You’ve Done,” “Everyday,” “Offering”
ANNOUNCEMENTS
*CALL TO WORSHIP* (Please stand.)
P: Be still before God, and wait patiently;
delight in God, who fulfills the desires of your heart.
C: With what shall we come before God?
Who is worthy to stand in God’s presence?
P: Come, not in your wisdom, but in humility;
come, not to boast, but to learn.
C: We come without power or pretension;
we bring our weaknesses more than strength.
P: Consider your call, and commit your way to God;
trust in God to grant you light and new life.
C: God’s blessing pours out on the crowds;
yet God’s attention is focused on each one of us.

*HYMN (Please remain standing.)#86,“The Love of God” vss.1, 3
KIDSWORD   (After Kidsword, children leave for Sunday School.)
PRAYER                         Patricia Suhs

SCRIPTURE LESSON    1 Corinthians 1:18-25  David Suhs
Response to the reading: “Thanks be to God.”
SERMON          “Jesus the Jackpot”         Pastor Yani
Let us suppose that I am not Christian and I would like to know about Jesus. So I ask you, “Would you please tell me who Jesus is in a word?” Who is Jesus to you? Why are you Christian? Why do you come to church? When you try to introduce Jesus to those who do not know him, what would you say about him? Can you say that the best thing happened in your life is that you met Jesus and have lived as Christian?
 
I am not the holiest Christian or the most capable pastor. But I can say this to you. Getting to know Jesus and becoming Christian was like hitting the jackpot to me. What I am now and everything I have now is unthinkable without my having been Christian. I am a United Methodist pastor and in the United Methodist Church gambling is prohibited. So it is not the best analogy for me to use the term in a sermon. But in this capitalistic culture, the word jackpot can speak loudly of what I am trying to share with you this morning.
 
The first Christians in the Corinthian Church had the same experience. Encountering Jesus and becoming Christian was like hitting the jackpot to them. They were not from the upper crust of the society. Paul the apostle says, “Only a few of you were in places of power, and not many of you came from important families.” They believed in Christ who was nailed to a cross to save them. They believe in Jesus’ resurrection.
 
Paul says the Christian belief was not well accepted by the public: Most Jews had problems with that and most Gentiles thought it was foolish. According to Paul, God chooses to save only those who believe the foolish message Christians preach. The reason God chooses the foolish things of this world is to put the wise to shame. God chooses the weak things of this world to put the powerful to shame.
 
Just like the first Christians in the city of Corinth, the first Protestants in Korea came from the low class a little more than 100 years ago. Now about 33% of the Korean population is Christian, 20 percent being Protestants and 10% being Catholics. Has Christian faith been a blessing to them? Has Christianity been a blessing to Korea? Have Christians made a difference in Korea?
 
If getting to know Jesus has been like hitting the Jackpot to me, it should be so to the whole Korean society and the whole world. Korean Christians strongly believe that Christianity has made a huge difference in Korea.
 
Let us take a brief look back on the history of Korean economy. In 1963 GNP per capita was $67. South Korea was poorer than North Korea. In the 1950s, Korea exported food such as dried squids, agar, seaweed and mineral products such as tungsten, graphite, and iron ore.
 
When I was a child in the 1960s I saw beggars and homeless people in my village. They lived in huts under the bridge near a stream even in winter. They would come to my house to beg for a meal. They were families with children. There were many of them. I knew some families in the village which sent their young daughters as maids to some homes in cities just to get rid of mouths to feed. Teen girls and boys were sent to cities to work as factory workers. I remember my friend who was the most excellent student in my junior high school. She was from an extremely poor family and could not go to high school. So after graduation, she started to work at a small factory producing matches.
 
Back then teenagers were hired at various work places and worked like adults. Labor unions were not yet born. Young people went to cities and cities to find work. Koreans were willing to work under awful conditions and many hours if only they could feed themselves and their families.
 
In the 1960s and 1970s, 10,030 Korean nurses (1966-1976) and 7,800 miners (1968-1978) worked in Germany and wired money back to Korea. They wired $50,000,000 a year, making about 2% of GDP. They provided Korean economy with necessary foreign currency.
 
n the 1970s there was special movement called Saemaeul Movement (the new community movement) which taught Koreans “We can do it” and “We can get rich.” Then in 1970s and 1980s Korean companies got construction contracts with governments in the Middle East. It also provided the Korean economy with precious dollars. In 1970 Korea passed the $1,000 mark ($1,034) for GDP and exported $10 billion. In 1983, Korea reached $2,000 for GDP 1986 marks the year that the Korean trade got into the black.

In 1995 the Korean GDP per capita was $10,000, making the Miracle of the Han River and in 2008 the GDP per capita reached $20,000. In 1997 Korea faced the “IMF Crisis” and overcame it quickly. The top export goods are semiconductors, computers, motor vehicles, wireless telecommunication equipments, steel, ships, and petrochemicals. This year Korea is expected to export $500 billion, becoming the fifth country to reach that amount after America, Germany, China, and Japan. In sum, Korea was a recipient of official development assistance (ODA) from OECD. In 2009, Korea officially became the first major recipient of ODA to have ascended to the status of a major donor of ODA. Korea ranks 15th in the world by nominal GDP and 12th by purchasing power parity (PPP), one of the G-20 major economies, a member of OECD.
 
The late Harvard professor Samuel Huntington wrote about Korean economy in the preface of his book, Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress. He came across economic data on South Korea and Ghana in the early 1960s. He was astonished to learn how similar their economies were then. The two nations had comparable levels of per capita GNP, similar divisions of their economy among primary products, manufacturing, and services and overwhelmingly primary product exports. They were receiving comparable levels of economic aid. Thirty years later, Korea had become an industrial giant. Although many factors played a role, but according to Huntington, culture is a large part of the explanations. Koreans valued thrift, investment, hard work, education, organization, and discipline. In short, cultures count.
 
Huntington did not include one important factor. It is Christianity. No official statistics would include Christianity as one of the major factors of the Korean development in the modern era. Even President Obama who mentions Korea often in his speeches would not know this secret. But many Christians in Korea share this subjective idea: Christianity in Korea has contributed a great deal to the modernization of Korea. We said about 23 of the whole population is Christian in Korea. But 70% of university presidents are Christian. What does it tell us? From the very beginning of the mission in the land of Korea, Christianity focused on education, democracy, human rights and sharing. Out of the very first six ministers ever ordained in Korea one was sent as a missionary. Now Korea is the second nation sending the most number of missionaries only after America.
 
There are certain choices and experiences that turn your life upside down. What choices and experiences have been so powerful and turned your life upside down in the most positive way?
That experience should be a watershed in your life. For me, meeting Jesus and becoming Christian was the watershed. I am sure it holds true for many first generation Christians.
 
We need to have a personal experience of encountering God. We need to know who Jesus is for us. We need to know personally what it means for Jesus to be nailed to a cross. It does not matter where we are in our faith journey. We are to enliven the vivid experience of encountering God and Jesus every day.

A man dies and meets St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. Peter says to the man, "Here's how it works. You need to have one hundred points to get into heaven. You tell me about all the good things you've done. They are all worth a certain number of points. If your total is one hundred or more, you can come in."
"Well," says the man. "I was happily married to the same woman for 52 years. I never looked at another woman. I was attentive and loved her dearly." "That's great," says St. Peter. "That'll be two points."
"Hmmm," says the man. "This is going to be harder than I thought. Well, I attended church regularly, volunteered my time and tithed faithfully." "Wonderful," says St. Peter, "That's worth another point."
"One point!" says the man. "Okay, okay. I was involved with a prison ministry for twenty-five years. I went into the prison, at least monthly, and shared Jesus with them." "Wow!" says St. Peter. "That's another two points!"
"Only two points!" says the man. "At this rate, it'll be only by the grace of God that I'll ever get into this place." "Bingo!" says St. Peter. "That's one hundred points! Come on in."
Jesus is the answer. I pray that all of you are richly blessed as God’s children and live as a blessing to others. Amen.




*HYMN (Please stand.)  #267, “Christ for the Whole…” vss.1 & 3

*SHARING THE PEACE OF CHRIST (Please greet one another
with a sign of the peace of God.)   
TITHES & OFFERING         “Trading My Sorrows”
PRAYER OF DEDICATION**
God of surprises, you grab our attention in the midst of life's crises and reversals. Those who are at the end of their rope, vulnerable and hurting, see most clearly that you alone are our source of life and hope. As we return to you these gifts for your work in the world, we covenant with you to live as part of your blessing on others, as a manifestation of your love. We pray this through your grace shown us in Jesus Christ. Amen.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
“Lord in your mercy…,” “Hear our prayer.”
PASTORAL PRAYER
THE LORD’S PRAYER (Ecumenical Version)
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen.
*CLOSING SONG         “With All I Am”
*DISMISSAL WITH BLESSING
*CONGREGATIONAL RESPONSE #83, “On Eagle’s Wings”
And God will raise you up on eagle's wings, Bear you on the breath of dawn, Make you to shine like the sun, And hold you in the palm of God’s Hand.
(*Lavon Bayler, Fresh Winds of the Spirit; **from www.gbod.org)

1. Welcome to the Community of JOY! If you’re here for the first time, please join us for a time to get to know each other after the service. Please fill in the welcome card and put it in the offering basket.
2. Happy Lunar New Year!
3. Thanks to Daren Blanck and Ken Gunther who are working on our website: cojdaejeon.yolasite.com.
4. Next Sunday: Communion, birthday party, & cleaning.
* Name Tag. Please wear your name tag when you come to worship. To request a new name tag, send a text to Ken Gunther (010-9101-4233).
* Please write your prayer concerns on the prayer request card and put it in the offering basket.
* Hymnals are on sale at 14,000 Won.

Today’s Greeter and Usher: Jin & Matthew Chung
Today’s Fellowship: Matthew Chung