Resurrection faith testifies of the empty grave and victory over death, and follows in the path of our Risen Lord toward Galilee. The good news of Jesus’ empty grave is declared to all: We have been released from the power of sin and darkness! God has rolled away the heavy stone that once sealed the [...]
There were times I spoke rather casually about Jesus’ suffering and death without first fully reflecting on the gravity of his sacrifice. We feel pain even by a tiny splinter stuck in our hands. What suffering would it be to have nails pierced through your wrists and feet? Just one hurtful word, one hateful glance [...]
The March 16th Atlanta-area shootings have left us in grief and anger. Among eight people that were killed, six were Asian American women, including four Koreans. This week’s Time Magazine featured Cady Lang’s article “Confronting America’s Legacy of Anti-Asian Violence” as its cover story. At the beginning of the article, Lang quotes social media specialist [...]
Spring is around the corner. I took an hour walk at Jones Beach a few days ago. Having stayed indoors for so long, walking on the sand made me short of breath but being out in the chilly ocean breeze was a freeing experience. With windows kept wide open and fresh spring air coming in, [...]
Racism is evil. Racial prejudice is a cruel attitude that denies full humanness in others, and it is a grievous evil when embedded as a normal practice within society and perpetrated by institutions. Racism is also an important issue for us Koreans, given the pain of forced displacement and diaspora settlement engraved in our nation’s [...]
When King Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death, he prayed: “Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” God replied, “I have heard your prayer and seen your tears,” and added fifteen years to his life. Hezekiah’s [...]
“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you,” prays prophet Isaiah (Isa 26:3). Apostle Paul likewise affirms that it is God who makes us stand firm in Christ (2 Cor 1:21) and that we are made strong by spiritual gifts (Rom 1:11). Storm clouds may fill the [...]
Isaiah 17 contains a prophecy against the strong, proud, and self-reliant who have “forgotten God your Savior…the Rock, your fortress.” (v. 10). It’s the path of self-dismantling into “a heap of ruins” (v. 1) and desolation: “the harvest will be as nothing in the day of disease and incurable pain” (v. 11). Personally, I received [...]
A few days ago, a church member told me that he will be getting the covid vaccine soon. He’s not yet 65, but thankfully, being a taxi driver puts him in the essential worker category. I hear my fellow pastors in NJ and MA are also getting their vaccines, as those states decided to include [...]
I heard a few days ago that Rev. Cho Chan-sun went to be with the Lord. He was 104 years old. The last time I saw him was two years ago in Los Angeles. While on a brief trip for a meeting, I had the privilege to invite retired pastors to a luncheon, and Rev. [...]