If you have not seen this interview it is REALLY good. Moyers is kind of goofy at times, but Jeremiah is solid solid solid solid. You can see all the of clips over on the PBS Site, but here is a taste from youtube.
UPDATES 04.20.08 - Column posted on Asian Week's Site.
Asian Week, self proclaimed "Voice of Asian America" has got some schmuck to write about religion and spirituality in the Asian American community. The first column, as part of the "Beyond Borders" series by your truly was published in the April 18th edition. Is has not made it onto their website yet, but I think things will get smoother as the series develops. Beyond Borders will tackle some non-traditional topics in the Asian American Community: homosexuality, religion, youth and Black-Asian issues. Asian Week is located free around the city.
My first column was basically asking folks to be open to the complexity of Asian American spirituality just we are with the Asian American experience as a whole. Funny that it was edited down to not be as snarky as I usually am. Oh well.
In any case I also asked folks to submit ideas for future columns and I would try to address them there or on the new Beyond Borders Blog, so if you have some ideas, feel free to leave them here.
Much love and thanks to Virstan Choy for inviting me to be part of a series of lunches hosted by the Center for Asian American Ministry at McCormick Theological Semianry. It was quite fun as talking with seminary students always is. With enough Indian food to feed a small army, we settled in for some good discussion. Thanks folks for hanging out a bit and talking about ministry and call.
I was basically asked to reflect on the my calling/experience of being a racial ethic person that has pastored churches that are not traditionally racial ethnic in it's roots, self-awareness or reality.
Here is a little recap along with some parts that we just never quite got to.
Questions to ponder as you approach the possibilities of pastoring a congregation that is of a different racial ethnic reality:
Who are you? // Claim and be comfortable in your own skin and context: ethnicity, gender, theology, class, etc. AND be able to articulate that reality to those around you in ways that are real.
Who are they? // If not, racial ethnic, know what the homogenizing culture is of the community AND have a nuanced understanding of the positive and negative realities of the common culture.
Who are we? // Understand the complex implications, obstacles and possibilities, that your particular cultural context brings to the community your serve.
Out of those questions, if you can't do this, well . . .
- Assume the best of people and move away from initial responses of suspicion.
- Make no assumptions about people's experience with issues of cultural diversity and race.
- Articulate issues of race in ways that are best heard rather than using old-school vernacular and making over arching generalizations about people's experiences of race.
- While challenging issues of individual and institutional racism be able to humbly understand and have compassion for the experiences of the majority.
Resources
by Keli Goff.Oh now we gone and done it! Our 2008 "Come and Follow Mii" postcard has totally blowuptuated in the gaming world. They laughed, the cried, they defended and they mocked. And in the end I think it is pretty awesome that an small idea born at the end of a book group over bubble tea and laughter has created such a level of conversation.
Unlike many at MBCC, I am not a gamer, so these websites - and much of the vernacular used within them - is totally foreign to me. Still the blend of thoughtfullness, passion, anger, judgment, humor and insight was fascinating.
Here are three sites w/comments worth taking a look at or you just need to google "follow mii" or "mii church" and you'll get a bunch of links. [Ongoing List]
You really have to read the comments yourself, but here are a few highlights that show the breadth and depth of the reactions.
On the color of our Wii Jesus // omicron1
Also, on racial issues: Jesus' human body would have been similar in race to his Israeli parents - neither white nor black, per se, but a sort of deep tanned skin color - sort of like the Mii above. However, as we really don't have any photographs of Christ's Bar Mitzvah, it has fallen to various church elders to reconstruct Christ's visage in their own mind's eyes and transcribe it to statues and paintings - thus we have black Christs in Africa and white Christs in Europe. It really doesn't matter either way, to be honest.
On MBBC's irreverace // Chibi Forte
Can you say “emergent”? “Seeker sensitive”, perhaps? And, obviously, “irreverent”? Really, this whole idea of “Churches being relevant to the culture” is driving me nuts. Can’t we just stick to sermons that are preached exegetically and reverently and go from there? I mean, I would begrudgingly let them pass muster in a few areas on their website (membership classes, membership not equaling true conversion, lack of clown communion, etc.), but the sheer irreverent attitude and the pathetic mission statement disgusts me, frankly. I’ll keep listening to my John MacArthur and John Piper, thank you.
On the intent // OnLegendary86
It's not sacreligious dude. Jesus was a man who had fun and danced and drank wine. There is nothing wrong with some cool advertising that makes people look at Christians and think of church differently.
There are many observations to make from the comments, least of all the passionate and strong opinions that are shared about the church and Jesus. There seems to be both a reverence and repulsion about the church as well as assumptions about what kind of community MBCC is. Again, fascinating. In the end, like our website, if it offends you at that level, MBCC might not be a place where you will be fed. But . . . if you could take it for what it was, a playful attempt at wit and welcome, MBCC might be a place for you. Again, fascinating.
I just listened to the speech on race delivered today by Barack Obama. As I listened to his words, I could only think about Esther and her calling, for such a time as this. The time, the person, the context, the words. All seemed to come together today. This speech was in all aspects, moving and will sit with me for quite a while. I was particularly moved by his appreciation for the struggle, past and present when he talked of the movement towards a more just America.
And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part – through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.
The thing that moved me the most was that he was able to deal straight up with the complexities of race. He captured the complexities of the realities of race, while speaking with a directness that, I suspect, will speak to people across the many lines of our society. I have never heard a politician speak so much to my experience and understandings of such an overwhelming reality.
You can read the entire transcript [here] or watch it in it's entirety [here]. It will be the best 37 minutes of your day.
[image: Alex Brandon/AP]
If you have not heard of this new blog, Stuff White People Like, you might be living under a blog rock. I have been seeing this blog being referenced all over the freaking place. I figured, OK, let me go and see what the big deal is. After all, I have 3 1/2 White people living in my house - well make the 3 5/8 of you count my 1/8 Spanish blood, but that's for another day - so I should know, right?
Oh no!!!!!!
I may just be White.
Or at least we are now defining all upper-middle-class educated urban hipsters as White.
This is freaking funny!
And true.
Welcome to MBCC.
Jokes people, jokes ;-)
This morning, our family listed to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech delivered in Washington DC on August 28, 1963. After listening to this again, it reminds of how far things have come, but how far we still have to go.
Go see The Great Debaters!
If I were going to show some movies to high-schoolers that were meaningful looks as particular times where people overcome obstacles, break through cultural norms, risk for something greater than themselves, The Great Debaters in now on that list.
This is a powerful story based on the life of Melvin Tolson, a professor at a small Black College in Marshall, TX during the 1930's. The depiction of White/Black interaction was well done, appropriately intense and well layered. Denzel can pretty much do no wrong in my book, who along with Forest Whitaker, I imagine, had the set silent during one subtle interaction about politics, Jesus and parenting.
It does feel a bit like a Hoosiers meets Remember the Titans, but when the story ends as it does, sometimes we just have to believe in the unbelievable. If you do not get choked up multiple times by the powerful dialog and imagery, you just might be dead inside ;-)
Here is the trailer . . .
* A few others on that list would be
Hmmm . . . Saturday PM and no sermon to finish up. Just sitting her in the hotel after a great day in Chapel Hill. I have been engaged in a blog conversation over on DJ's post What Piper said about Asian Americans. There have been a great deal of issues raised, but in order to now break my comment length rule - over three paragraphs deserves a post - I thought I would take one of them on here. This comes from an exchange with Ken Carlson that was last addressed by Ken.
Separate from the conversations about Piper's comments, this is good question for folks to deal with when engaged in the practice of preaching. In my 12 years of professional ordained ministry - insert old guy guffaw and belt loop-holding here - I have done my share of unintentional offending and reacting in both healthy and unhealthy ways.As to being responsible for what other people here [sic], I think that that is true only to a certain point. We are obligated to communicate as clearly as we are able, and to anticipate likely points of misunderstanding. But sometimes in spite of our best efforts people will seriously misunderstand us. Sometimes their own assumptions will cause them to “read in” meanings that have no basis in our actual words. In such a case I’m not sure that the speaker is at fault, since it is impossible to guarantee that no one could possibly misunderstand what we say. After all, some people even misunderstood Jesus.
Two items for your calendar
NATIONAL TOWN HALL ON HATE CRIMES: REMEMBERING VINCENT CHIN
June 27, 6:30 PM
Co-sponsored by Chinese Historical Society
Chinese For Affirmative Action
17 Walter U Lum Place
(across from Portsmouth Sqare; on Clay between Grant Ave and Kearny St.)
In June 1982, Chinese American Vincent Chin was killed in Detroit by two white autoworkers, one of whom had been recently been laid off. This hate crime, motivated by anti-Japanese sentiments, served as a rallying cry for the Asian American community and is often considered the beginning of a pan-Asian American movement.
Twenty five years later, Asian Pacific Americans for Progress and local partners around the country look back in time and assess where we are now. With recent high-profile attacks on Asian Americans in New York, Michigan and Wisconsin, APAP is organizing a series of events throughout the nation around the anniversary of Vincent's murder. Each event will include a special screening of the Academy-Award nominated documentary, "Who Killed Vincent Chin?" and panels with local community leaders.
LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT TO GO AND I'LL ADD YOU TO THE INVITE LIST.
SPIKE TV BRUCE LEE MOVIE MARATHON (h/t: Adam Finley)
This Sunday, the 24th, set your TIVO for some classic Bruce Lee.
Recent Comments