Revelation 22:1-12. Chuseok.
Today we went to my wifeamprsquos fatheramprsquos place for our annual Chuseok meal. It is very different from what it was just a few years ago.
At that time, my wifeamprsquos father was a non-believer, so the Chuseok meal was a religious ceremony to him. He bought and prepared all the special fruits and vegetables and fish and meat and arranged them in the traditional way. There was incense and soju. He bowed to the table and then took bits of the food in a bowl and threw them out the door to appease some sort of spirits.
Every year my wife preached the gospel to him and he argued angrily and drunkenly because heamprsquod been drinking since he woke up. Once he was so angry that he picked up a block of wood that he used for a door stop and threatened her with it. I was not impressed with this irascible, heavy-drinking man. But I was impressed with my wifeamprsquos dedication to his salvation year after year.
Four years ago he came to Christ. Heamprsquos attended worship and mokjang regularly. He stopped smoking and cut back on his drinking, partly because of health issues. Heamprsquos a different man. God changed him, and my wife was his messenger.
Today at his place, my wife handed out the church bulletin with the Chuseok worship service to follow, which was basically a family QT. We said the Apostleamprsquos Creed, we read todayamprsquos Bible passage, we shared our lives through the QT questions, and we finished with the Lordamprsquos prayer. Then we ate our Chuseok meal.
The difference between what we did, or witnessed, four years ago and what we do now is extraordinary. Where once there was heavy drinking, pagan worship, discord, and yelling, there is now worship of the Lord, sharing our sins, and Godamprsquos peace.
Application: tell my mother this story on Canadian Thanksgiving.
Lord, continue to pour our your grace on my wifeamprsquos family and leave mine not out in the cold but bring them into the warmth of your love, mercy and grace.
