Sumgmu’s Monthly Message, February 2025

We have a longer season of Epiphany this year as we have a late Easter on April 20th. (Why do we have a different date of Easter each year? In 325, the Council of Nicaea established that Easter would be held on the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after the vernal equinox, March 21st. Thus, the earliest possible date for Easter is March 22nd and the latest possible is April 25th.) Epiphany derives from a Greek word meaning “manifestation.” In the church, it also means the revealing of Christ to humans.

In the past we humans believed that the earth was flat, located in the center of the universe, and everything else revolved around it. Yet, in the 16th century, Copernicus proposed the idea of a solar system with objects, including earth, revolving around the sun. About 70 years later Galileo began to see things in the sky to support that concept, such as the fact that Jupiter had moons. For Galileo, it was a kind of epiphany, one of those sudden realizations that what had been previously accepted was wrong, and that new possibilities now existed.

One of my epiphany moments came to me when I was a teenager. I thought I was the center of the universe. I thought I would live forever. And I acted like God existed for me. Yet, one day I began to think about human mortality seriously: I would die someday. My parents, my sisters and brother, and my friends would also die.

It was a painful moment, but it led me to another epiphany in my early 20s when I was discharged from the Korean Army. As I continue to read the Bible, listen to the sermon of the pastor, and pray to God faithfully, I was invited to experience and meet Jesus Christ through special spiritual experiences. It was another moment of epiphany.

I realized from the bottom of my heart that it is God, not me, who is in the center of my life. I thought that God existed for me, and that God revolved around me. But I exist for God, and I revolve around God. God is immortal, and as long as I keep the relationship with God, I will live eternal life.

As we are in the season of Epiphany, I pray that you and I continuously have the moment of epiphany in our lives and at our church. As soon as you try to be at the center of life, unhappiness will come to you. As soon as you try to be at the center of the church, conflicts will begin.
Therefore, let us remember to put God in the center of our lives and revolve around God, keeping relation with God through our faithful Christian life. May God bless you and reveal Himself to you through the season of Epiphany. Amen.

Sungmu Lee