Lucas Garden

Rev. Hyeon Soo Lim Rev. Hyeon Soo Lim delivered a sermon at Sunday worship in Bethany Presbyterian Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland at October 22, 2017. His sermon title was "Express my gratitude." He emphasized that unthankfulness is the evidence of spiritual degeneration while thankfulness is a key for happiness and blessing, with a quotation from the Bible verse Luke 17:11-19 . Ten lepers were healed on the way to go to the priests, but only one of them returned back to Jesus to praise God although he was not Jewish. He might shed tears of gratitude shouting that God shows mercy even for foreigners. His faith and thanks to God saved him. Lim had done humanitarian works for North Korean people, but was arrested by North Korean regime in 2015, and sentenced to life with hard labor. It was a miracle that he was released from detention on 2017. "I was fully isolated in a vacuum during detention", Lim said, "but I am thankful to God since it was the best...

Race for Every Child 2017 I completed the full marathon course in Race for Every Child at October 21, 2017, starting from Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C. and turning around near United States Capitol and through Independence Ave. The Freedom plaza was crowded with lots of participants, volunteers, and children. When the race began, I was especially very impressed by young women who were pushing a baby carriage but running very fast in an indifferent way. They inspired me to an indomitable "Never-Say-Die" spirit such that I can do as they do. My pace was relatively slower than others and lagged behind the others on the race, but I never stopped and finally crossed the finish line. It was the first but extraordinary experience which gave me great courage and hope although it was very challenging for me to run 5 Km. The marathon was designed to support the Children's National Health System by making a donation so that better medical care can be provided fo...

Sarah Chang with National Philharmonic It was the great Sunday for me to enjoy the violin performance of Sarah Chang . She played Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op, 26 , composed by Max Bruch , with the National Philharmonic (conducted by Piotr Gajewski ) at the Music Center at Strathmore at October 15, 2017. I like Bruch probably because I have a strong inclination toward romanticism. The concerto let me experience ecstatic state by the high tone of a violin produced by the vibration of the strings. The second movement Adagio is exceptionally the most beautiful compared to other movements. I felt an irresistible impulse to gambol happily in the field of a Swiss village, looking out over the tranquil waters of the lake. During solo piece, she seemed to play cadenza, but it's actually no cadenza according to score. I wanted to have seen her inspired performance more, but had to leave the concert hall.

Suzanne Scholte A perfect harmonious sound by Metropolitan Women's Choir pealed out at Bender Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington at October 14, 2017. This music concert was designed to support the Defense Forum Foundation (DFF) and promote human rights in North Korea. The choir was composed of Korean Christian women who are dedicated to praise God and Jesus Christ. Their voice was so dreamlike, irresistible, nostalgic, affectionate, and sometimes mournful that I deluded myself to listen angels' whisper from the Heaven. Indeed, I grasped how women's voice could be beautiful to praise God's grace and glory. One of their songs was "It's You Folks" composed by Hyang-gi Yoon, which let me imagine elder sisters' warm hand stroking my deeply hurt soul tenderly. When you feel lonely I will comfort you When you feel sad I will be your tears It also looked like a Jesus' message toward North Korean people who are the most isolated and ...

Process of the Cross (source: Gretchen Filz) "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church," Colossians 1:24 Most people do not want to suffer any small loss due to others. When we are willing to burden for other people, in general we are assumed to believe that it gives us a benefit in return; otherwise, we should identify ourselves with others so that I never feel any loss by sharing anything with them. Commitment and patriotism toward country without expecting any reward may be an example for the latter case. Likewise, "rejoicing in any sufferings for other people" as a Christian would be feasible under the above assumptions but in the different point of view. First, a true Christian would expect any reward not physical but spiritual. It might be hypocritical to behave any good thing expecting physical compensation or our own spiritu...

Colin Anderson via Getty Images I recently read an article  introducing a religious group founded by Anthony Levandowski, called Way of the Future. The mission of this group was " to create a deity or godhead based on artificial intelligence (AI) for the improvement of society ." Is that feasible? My answer is absolutely NO. I would like to answer back with the question, "How God's handiwork can create its Creator?" Have you ever seen that any chair or airplane can create the person who created it? Such an imagination is totally a nonsense. Of course, any "smart" chair might mimic the personality and intention of the engineer using AI technologies. Imagine such a super-smart chair that communicates with the person who sits down in the chair, adjusts its height and back automatically according to body type and personality, and massages shoulder and back recognizing the emotional status of the user. Then, imagine a person who worships the Chair in...