I am both
I couldn’t see myself as both
not because I did not want to
but because society told me I couldn’t be
both
Psalm 17: A Prayer for Asian Americans
Over time, the soft yet profound distinctions between being Koreans in America and being Koreanamericans settled into our lives. Ye Eun yielded to Julie as I underwent a nearly complete transformation and became a cultural stranger to my ancestors. Yet to this day, no prayer moves me more than ones uttered in my mother tongue.
Where I’m From
I’m from “Did you eat yet?” and “Practice your piano,”
From “Don’t get to dark or you’ll smell like the sun”
Angry Prayer: Tongsung Gido and Our Difficult Emotions
What tongsung gido had been saying all along is this: our negative emotions have a place in our relationship with God and with each other. We are all angry. We all know the contours of despair. We have only to direct our cries heavenward, together.
Who is the Jesus of Advent?
The God of Advent is not a God of wealth, privilege, or status. The God of Advent is lowly–identifying with a forsaken place of our world.
I Didn’t Go to Church This Year…
How can we find peace and hope in the midst of the realities of relationships, anxieties, and responsibilities? Where is the joy?
Where's the Joy in 2022?
But also within the last year, amidst God’s bride acting less than holy, God has reminded me along the way that my hope and joy truly are found in him.
Those Who Walk In Darkness
This holiday season, may we rest in the knowledge that the God we worship is not one who is intimidated by our suffering.
Inhabiting the Hole of Advent: Transfiguring Asian American Futures
What if the problem is not our perceived foreignness at all, but our perpetual propensity to play the game? Maybe the way out of this perception is not ultimate economic empowerment, but a transfigured desire that perpetuates the possibility inherent in the empty space of Advent.
'Mixed Blessing' - One and a Half Years Later
God has plans for us…plans that are sometimes very different from our own goals and strategies.
Living with Intention: Exploring the Intersection of Mixed Identities and Faith
For the sake of love and honor, discover the aspects of identity and heritage that might be different from you. Be curious and ask about the ways that their ethnic histories have combined together. And in doing so, we can remember and celebrate the unique differences of each of us, that we are not monolithic in any aspect of life.
Celebrating Culture in a Mixed Family: An "It's Complicated" Interview with Shawna Klatt
My advice is to love yourself and appreciate your Asian beauty. You don’t need to look or act a certain way and there’s no such thing as not being Asian enough.
Church Community and Global Identity: An “It’s Complicated” Interview with Justin & Carolyn Fung
The way I see it, it isn’t just nice to worship Jesus and be formed in Christlikeness with people who are different from us; we actually need each other to experience the fullness of God—we cannot do it without each other.
Navigating a Multiracial Marriage: An Interview with Andrea and Jairus Justus
In the Bible, I see a God who deeply values cultural expression and connection. Holding our identity in Christ as our highest and truest identity doesn't mean that culture doesn't matter at all.
Reclaiming Mixed Identity and Dignity
Being Mixed does not mean you are part of one culture and part of another; being Mixed means being fully you, as well as the full mix of the entirety of your ethnic and cultural background. You are wholly, uniquely you: A whole, Mixed, beautiful creation bearing God’s image.
Navigating Seminary: A Q&A with AAPI Seminarians
Attending seminary and studying theology can (and should be!) a beautiful experience, as you are literally dedicating your time, energy, and soul to contemplating the highest possible object of thought—our God.
Direction for AAPI Seminary Students: A Professor’s Perspective
It is not uncommon for many Asian Americans to come into the academy in an evangelical context and, well, the complaint is typically something along these lines, “They wanted me for my different perspective but they want me to sing the same tune as everyone else. They just want me to do it [sing the tune], looking the way that I do.”
Being Asian American in Seminary: The Good, the Bad, and the Hopeful
Anti-Asian racism with the rise of COVID-19 and concurrent racism in the classroom thrusted me into the world of racial justice, a topic my home communities had not prepared me to engage. I found myself scrambling up the steep learning curve of student activism. Luckily, I was not alone.
The Need for Asian American Theological Scholarship
Asian American theological scholarship should name and challenge the White normativity of conventional theological scholarship. It must allow Asian American seminarians to critically engage conventional theological scholarship instead of passively absorbing it as if it is objective and universal.
An Asian American Seminarian’s Journey Homeward
I found myself wading in a nascent but already rich tradition of theological scholarship that took my history and my future seriously. It dawned on me that there was no part of my life I could hide away from God’s reach. And for the first time in a long time, I wanted to be an Asian American Christian.