새해 첫날은 울산교회의 아름다운 전통, 신년하례예배가 자리 잡은 날입니다. 새해 첫날 함께 예배하고, 서로 인사를 하는 자리에 나오신 분들에게 특별한 감사를 드립니다. 우린 오늘로서 구주대망 2019년의 새로운 시간으로 들어왔습니다. 많은 사람들이 들어오고 싶었던 시간, 새해 365일이 우리에게 주시는 하나님의 가장 소중한 선물이길 원합니다. 시간을 소중하게 사용하길 위해서는 마음속에 기도가 자리해야 한다는 것을 모두 알고 계시죠? “우리에게 우리의 날을 세는 법을 가르쳐 주셔서 지혜의 마음을 얻게 해주십시오.”(시 90:12) 120세를 살았던 모세의 기도입니다.
“우리의 연수가 칠십이요 강건하면 팔십이라도, 그 연수의 자랑은 수고와 슬픔뿐이요, 빠르게 지나가니, 마치 날아가는 것 같습니다.”(시 90:10) 모세가 말한 상한(上限) 팔십을 기준해서 날들을 헤아려도 만 70세에 들어선 자들은 이제 3,650날이 남았습니다. 만 60세라면 7,300날입니다. 50세입니까? 간신히 10,000날을 넘기고 20대라면 21,900날이 나오지만 모두가 다 산술적인 계산입니다. 아무도 보장 받은 날들은 아닙니다. 우리 모두 남은 날들에 대한 관심을 갖지만 더 중요한 것은 그 날들을 어떻게 사느냐 하는 것입니다. 권하기는 하루를 더 살아도 그 날이 기쁨의 날, 기도의 날, 감사의 날로 삼기를 축복합니다.
새해라는 단어가 사실 시간에 방점(傍點)을 찍지만 우리에게 선물한 새해 속에는 새로운 공간도 포함되어 있습니다. 특히 이웃과 함께 하는 담장개방공사를 끝낸 우리 울산교회 성도들로서는 더욱 실감 있게 새로운 공간으로 진입한 것을 느낄 수가 있습니다. 새로운 공간, 새로운 삶을 보다 확실히 느끼도록 구주대망 2019년 1월 1일을 기해서 층간의 이름을 새로 부르기로 했습니다. 울산교회 예배당에는 더 이상 지하라는 단어를 사용하지 않을 것입니다. 그래서 바깥 마당은 <나눔 뜰>, 몇 계단 내려오면 나오는 안쪽 마당은 <사랑 뜰>로 부르고, 이전 <지하>는 오늘부터 <1층>으로 부르고, 1층에는 마당카페(준비실), 조리실과 세척실로 나눠진 주방과 식당<코이노니아>를 비롯해서 세미나실 <쉴만한 물가>, <새가족실> <두란노 방>, 그리고는 닛시기도실, 개인기도실1, 2, 3 그리고 그룹기도실<아둘람>이 있습니다.
새로 만들어진 방풍실을 통해 들어서면 2층에는 시원하게 넓어진 로비와 <라운지 엘림>, 사무실과 행정목사실, 상담실(회의실), <영유아부 예배실>과 <아기랑 예배실> 그리고 맨 안쪽에 몇 계단 내려서면 아이돌봄 방(탁아방)과 공동체 사역자방이 서로 마주 대하여 있습니다. 그리고 외부에서 엘리베이터로 바로 연결된 울산교회 주 예배실은 3층으로! 그 다음은 4층, 5층으로 부르기로 합니다. 더 이상 지하가 아니라 이제 우리 모두 지상에서 살아가는 새해이길 원합니다.(단, 이는 실질적인 사용자 관점에서 부르는 것이지 건축법적인 명칭이 아님을 밝혀둡니다.)
New Year's Day marks the day when Ulsan Church's beautiful tradition, the New Year's Greeting Service, has found its rightful place. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who came out on the very first day of the new year to worship together and exchange warm greetings. Today, we have entered the new time of the year of our Lord, 2019. I pray that this time—which so many longed to enter—these 365 days of the new year, will be God's most precious gift to each of us. You all know, don't you, that prayer must reside in our hearts if we are to cherish and use time wisely? "Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (Ps. 90:12). This was the prayer of Moses, who lived to be 120 years old.
"Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away" (Ps. 90:10). Even if we calculate our remaining days based on Moses's upper limit of eighty, those who have turned seventy have only about 3,650 days left. If you are sixty, it is 7,300 days. Are you fifty? You barely pass 10,000 days, and someone in their twenties might count 21,900 days—yet all of these are merely arithmetic calculations. Not a single one of those days is guaranteed to anyone. We all care about the days remaining to us, but what matters far more is how we live those days. My earnest encouragement and blessing is that even if you live just one more day, let that day be a day of joy, a day of prayer, and a day of thanksgiving.
Although the word 'New Year' places its emphasis on time, the new year gifted to us also encompasses a new space. In particular, for the congregation of Ulsan Church, having completed the project to open our walls to the neighborhood, we can feel even more tangibly that we have stepped into a new space. To more distinctly experience this new space and new life, we have decided to rename the floors of our church starting January 1 in the year of our Lord 2019. In the sanctuary building of Ulsan Church, we will no longer use the term 'basement.'
Accordingly, the outer courtyard will be called the , and the inner courtyard down a few steps will be called the . What was previously the will now be designated the <1st Floor>. On this 1st floor, you will find the Courtyard Café (preparation room), the kitchen—divided into cooking and dishwashing areas—and the fellowship dining hall , along with seminar rooms , the <Newcomers' Room>, the , followed by the Nissi Prayer Room, Personal Prayer Rooms 1, 2, and 3, and the Group Prayer Room .
Stepping inside through the newly built vestibule, the 2nd floor opens into a delightfully spacious lobby and , offices and administrative pastors' studies, a counseling/conference room, the <Infant & Toddler Worship Room>, and the <Baby & Mother Worship Room>. A few steps down at the innermost section, the Nursery and the Community Ministers' Room face each other. Furthermore, the main sanctuary of Ulsan Church, directly accessible from outside via the elevator, is designated as the 3rd floor, with the levels above named the 4th and 5th floors. We hope that this new year will see none of us living in the 'basement,' but all of us dwelling in the open daylight above ground. (Please note that these floor names reflect practical usability for our church family, not formal architectural building codes.)
Nuwejaarsdag is die dag waarop Ulsan Gemeente se kosbare tradisie, die Nuwejaarsgroetediens, stewig gevestig is. My opregte dank gaan uit na almal wat op hierdie heel eerste dag van die nuwe jaar saamgekom het om te aanbid en mekaar te groet. Vandag het ons die nuwe tyd van die jaar van ons Here, 2019, binnegetree. Mag hierdie tyd—wat so baie mense begeer het om te aanskou—hierdie 365 dae van die nuwe jaar, God se allerhoogste geskenk aan ons wees. U weet almal dat gebed 'n plek in ons harte moet hê om die tyd met sorg en waardering te gebruik, nie waar nie? “Leer ons om ons dae so te tel dat ons 'n wyse hart mag bekom” (Ps. 90:12). Dit was die gebed van Moses, wat 120 jaar oud geword het.
“Die dae van ons jare—daarin is sewentig jaar, of as ons baie sterk is, tagtig jaar; en die trots daarvan is moeite en verdriet; want dit gaan gou verby, en ons vlieg heen” (Ps. 90:10). Selfs al tel ons die dae volgens Moses se boonste grens van tagtig, bly daar vir diegene wat reeds sewentig bereik het, nou nog net 3 650 dae oor. Vir iemand van sestig is dit 7 300 dae. Is u vyftig? Dan haal u skaars 10 000 dae, en iemand in hul twintigs tel miskien 21 900 dae—tog is dit alles bloot rekenkundige somme. Nie 'n enkele een van daardie dae is aan enigiemand gewaarborg nie. Ons stel almal belang in die dae wat oorbly, maar wat veel belangriker is, is hóé ons daardie dae leef. My hartlike aanmoediging en seënwens is dat, selfs al leef u net nog een dag, u daardie dag sal maak tot 'n dag van vreugde, 'n dag van gebed en 'n dag van danksegging.
Al val die klem van die woord 'Nuwejaar' op tyd, omvat die nuwe jaar wat aan ons geskenk is ook 'n nuwe ruimte. Veral vir ons lidmate van Ulsan Gemeente, wat pas die projek voltooi het om ons mure na die buurt oop te stel, voel hierdie intog in 'n nuwe ruimte besonder tasbaar. Om hierdie nuwe ruimte en nuwe lewe nog duideliker te beleef, het ons besluit om vanaf 1 Januarie in die genadejaar 2019 ons verdiepings nuwe name te gee. In die kerkgebou van Ulsan Gemeente sal ons nie meer die woord 'kelder' gebruik nie.
Daarom sal die buite-werf die genoem word, en die binne-werf 'n paar trappies af die . Die voormalige word van vandag af die <1ste Verdieping> genoem. Op hierdie 1ste verdieping vind u die Werf-kafee (voorbereidingskamer), die kombuis—verdeel in 'n kook- en 'n opwasarea—en die eetsaal , tesame met die seminaarkamers , die , die , gevolg deur die Nissi-gebedskamer, Persoonlike Gebedskamers 1, 2 en 3, en die Groepsgebedskamer .
As u deur die nuwe windportaal instap, verwelkom die 2de verdieping u met 'n heerlike ruim voorportaal en , kantore en administratiewe leraarskantore, 'n beraad-/vergaderkamer, die en die . 'n Paar treetjies laer af aan die heel binneste kant lê die kleutersorgkamer en die gemeenskapswerkerskamer teenoor mekaar. Verder word die hoofkerk van Ulsan Gemeente, wat van buite af direk met die hysbak bereikbaar is, nou die 3de verdieping, gevolg deur die 4de en 5de verdiepings. Mag dit 'n nuwe jaar wees waarin nie een van ons meer in 'n 'kelder' leef nie, maar almal van ons bo die grond wandel! (Let wel dat hierdie benamings gekies is met die oog op die praktiese belewing van die gebruikers, en nie volgens bouregtelike kodes nie.)