“Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you… I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”
—Genesis 12:1–2

Dear Church Family,

I am Pastor Sophia. We all like familiarity. We like our routines, our favorite places. We know even who is likely to arrive five minutes late on Sunday morning!  There is comfort in the familiar. Sometimes God calls us beyond what is comfortable into something new.

In Genesis 12, God simply said to Abraham, “Go.”

But God did not give Abram a GPS with directions! Abram had to trust God one step at a time. He left his familiar life and stepped into an unknown future—not because he knew exactly where he was going, but because he trusted the One who was leading him.

Sometimes we, too, can feel stuck, disappointed, or discouraged. But Abram reminds us that God can begin something new even when we cannot yet see what is ahead.

I also love what Abram did along the way. Whenever he arrived in a new place, he built an altar to the Lord. He stopped, worshiped, and remembered that God was with him.

I believe we need to build our own altars every day—not with stones, but with our lives. Our daily altar might be a quiet moment with God, reading Scripture, giving thanks, or simply saying, “Lord, I am here. Lead me today.”

Why do we build these altars? Because we come to the altar to receive God’s love, grace, and blessing—and then carry that blessing to others. The altar is not where our journey ends. The altar is where God renews us and sends us out.

God blessed Abram so that Abram could be a blessing. That is our calling, too.

So, church family, what if Pleasant Valley UMC could become a real altar of blessing in our community? A place where tired people find hope, lonely people find belonging, hurting people experience healing, and everyone encounters the love of God.

Every Sunday, we gather at our church to receive God’s blessing. Then we go into the world carrying that blessing to someone else.

Let us build that altar together—not with stones, but with our prayers, our presence, our love, our service, and our generosity.

May Pleasant Valley UMC be more than a building. May we be an altar where God’s love is experienced and from which God’s blessings flow. Amen.

Sophia (Seung Hae) Yoo-Hess