A Word from Pastor Sun Hee
Hello dear SAINT PAUL friends! I hope that summer is treating you well, and that God is filling you and blessing you through what is hopefully a slower paced, less busy few months of summer. By the time you read this, I will be in Korea on my personal time of trying to slow down, renew, recreate and simply take a break from the many demands and pressures of ministry and other work-related responsibilities. In the world of clergy life, we simply call this “self-care”, and frankly, not many pastors are really good at it. Countless articles and research talk about the high rate of pastoral burn-out, and how many are even leaving the life of ministry. Well, friends, I assure you, I plan on NOT being one of them. Honestly, I love the ministry too much! That’s why times like these are so very precious for me.
Many of you know that one of my primary reasons to visit Korea from time to time is to reconnect with my family that I miss so very much – my mother and father, my brother and sister, my nephews. Many of you might know that my mother is undergoing treatments for Macular Degeneration on a monthly basis. It will be my first time to see her and be able to be there for her. I am grateful for this opportunity to see her and for her to be able to see us. Connecting with your family and friends is very important part of healthy and balanced life. Of course, eating all the amazing and delicious Korean food is also part of the agenda while I’m there. I will be also glad that I will be taking this time to take a break… a break preaching, from administrative duties, from pastoral care and counseling, from meetings, and yes, even from emails! (by the way, if you sent me an email in the past couple of weeks and haven’t heard from me, this is the reason why!) And all of this is in the spirit of self-care.
There is one thing, though, that I will not be taking a break from while I am away… and that is prayer. While I know that people need to rest from their regular duties and routines of life, one thing that we can never ever completely give up is this discipline of prayer. Connecting to God in this way is a part of self-care. In fact, without prayer, none of the other efforts of self-care will really matter. So, while I’m away for these few short weeks, please know that I will be praying. Especially, I will be praying a prayer of thanks for all of you – the faithful members and leaders of SAINT PAUL – that allow me to take a break like this. I will be praying prayers of gratitude for the amazing things that are happening in our ministry right now, and I will be praying prayers of blessing over all of you, that God may keep you all in His care and love and encouragement.
And I hope that you will all be praying for me and Kevin as well. As we travel, enjoy time with family, take in huge amounts of Korean calories, and take time to renew, please pray for our safety and blessing! Also, please keep my mother in your prayers. Thank you all for all that you do! See you in a couple weeks!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Sun Hee
St. Paul United Methodist Church 