Posted in reflections, tagged abundant life, perspectives, relationships on June 19, 2012| Leave a Comment »
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By Elizabeth Chang
We are over halfway through the month of June, and my dry-erase calendar has been staring back at me with the month of May. Where have the past three weeks gone?
A friend of mine once told me of the obsession she used to have with counting the number of steps she took on stairways. (more…)
Posted in reflections, tagged center and margin, context, marginalization on June 5, 2012| 7 Comments »
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By Debbie Gin
During my recent trip to Asia, I was surprised by two things — both of which continue to keep my mind busy and unsettled, so I share them here in hopes for some dialogue.
The first surprise (even after seeing many movies set in Hong Kong) was the realization that Hong Kong is almost all hills. As such, directions to a location come in three dimensions. (more…)
Posted in shared insights, tagged calling, courage, inadequacy, obedience, political savvy on May 22, 2012| Leave a Comment »
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By Kate Hwang
Lately I’ve just been learning a lot about what it means to be obedient in my work. I feel like God has called me to my finance job, but all the things that I would identify myself as – Asian, female, introvert, mother, and Christian – make me feel like a fish out of water in my industry. (more…)
Posted in reflections, tagged expectations on May 13, 2012| 6 Comments »
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By Joy Wong
Several weeks ago, I decided to perm my typically straight hair. It came after weeks of deliberation, and after the perm, I felt glad for the change. However, in the first week, I started getting some reactions from people that were making me extremely self-conscious. I talked to my mom about it over the phone and she said, “Why should you care what other people think? Remember — you have a right to be ugly!”
This struck me as such a strange thing to say, and yet, it felt freeing. Because my mom hadn’t seen my permed hair yet, I knew she wasn’t saying that my curly locks now made me ugly. (more…)
Posted in reflections, tagged growth, relationships, seminary education on May 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »
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“Do you have to put everything through a theological filter?” Such was the response I got from a disgruntled family member. True, I had over-reacted towards his casual remark and almost turned it into a debate over the correct interpretation of the biblical text. My excuse, though, was that I was buried in my theology textbooks at that moment. However, there were some truths to his question, or complaint, for that matter. (more…)
Posted in reflections, tagged culture, diversity, exclusion on April 10, 2012| 4 Comments »
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By Chloe Sun
Last week, I had the opportunity to teach a class of Taiwanese-Brazilians at a Chinese-Portuguese seminary in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The trip also included visits to speak at two different immigrant churches. The makeup of those churches in Brazil was similar to the immigrant churches in North America (more…)
Posted in reflections, symposium, tagged honoring the past, identity, silent exodus on April 3, 2012| 2 Comments »
By Elizabeth Chang
As though studying Marriage and Family Therapy does not provide enough opportunities and perspectives from which to develop my sense of identity and self-awareness, I decided to venture down from Seattle to Pasadena for the Asian American Equipping Symposium. This year, the theme of the symposium was Healing of Memories: Living Out the Gospel. (more…)
Posted in reflections, symposium, women in leadership, women ministers, tagged Confucianism, gender-based exclusion, healing, marginalization on March 27, 2012| 3 Comments »
By Rev Dr Young Lee Hertig, Symposium Organizer
The third Asian American Equipping Symposium, entitled “Healing of Memories,” took place at Fuller Theological Seminary on March 19-20, 2012. Its objective was to create a space for Asian American male and female leaders to understand the interdependent dimensions of pain within our families and churches — for as one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers. (more…)
Posted in reflections, tagged Eastern medicine, miscarriage, pregnancy loss on March 13, 2012| 12 Comments »
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By Joy Wong
In the last month, I’ve come to really dislike the word miscarriage. It sounds too much like the words “mistake” or “misstep,” implying that somebody is responsible for what happened. The word miscarriage also suggests the question of “who miscarried the baby?”, usually assigning blame to the mom. Of course, early miscarriages do go by another name – spontaneous abortion. Can’t say I’m a big fan of that term either.
(more…)
Posted in shared insights, tagged Asian American dream, expectations, measuring up, self-acceptance, success on March 6, 2012| 2 Comments »
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Shared by Aileen Hong
For most of my life, I really struggled with measuring up. Specifically, I felt the need to strive for the Asian American Dream. I grew up hearing stories from my grandmother about my cousins who attended Ivy League schools, got respectable high-paying jobs as doctors and lawyers, and married good-looking successful spouses. As I heard these stories, I wanted to be someone my grandmother could be proud of. I secretly hoped that I would be worthy of her praise too, not just my cousins. So, I internalized these stories of their worldly successes as expectations upon myself. (more…)
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