NCCK Celebrates Asia Sunday at Gureumsan Church with Sunday Worship
The National Council of Churches in Korea celebrated Asia Sunday with a special worship service at Gureumsan Church of Gwangmyeong City on Sunday, September 14th. The Gureumsan Church community also cooperated with the NCCK members in planning the service. Gureumsan has been a strong leader in the Green Movement among churches in Korea as they recently won the Green Prize for their exceptional commitment and care for the environment, so they were natural partners for planning the Asia Sunday service with the theme of, “Longing in Hope for the Freedom of Creation.”
NCCK member churches decided to coordinate this worship with the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK) because the theme of environmental issues coincides with this denomination’s pledge to celebrate an Environmental Sunday every year. The PROK designates the first week of every September as Environmental Sunday. Therefore, we agreed to hold our Asia Sunday worship in September this year instead of the usual summer date. This year, the Chuseok Harvest Festival also fell on the first week of September, so they celebrated Environmental Sunday along with our Asia Sunday on the second Sunday of the month. In addition to collaboration with the PROK and Gureumsan Church, the National Council of Churches of Gwangmyeong City (Gwanmyeong NCC) participated in planning and leading the service.
A highlight of the worship included time for meditation on the suffering of creation assisted by two videos and a reading of prayers. The first video presented examples of natural disasters as the world reels from the effects of climate change. It included images of heavy rains and flooding in places such as Bangladesh and India. They also prayed for the people of Afghanistan and Japan having experienced immense landslides, as well as many other countries recovering from natural disasters across Asia. The second video focused on human-made disasters; including wars throughout Asia as well as the SEWOL Ferry disaster in Korea. They confessed for the sin of neglecting to fight against abuse such as human trafficking, abuse of women and children, as well as private and state terrorism.
During worship Gureumsan also collected an offering for the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) Green Movement. The NCCK wishes to express its gratitude for the ability to participate in the ecumenical movement for a healthier environment.
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