Blood Orange Sun

We are God’s masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10

Today in Greater Los Angeles, the sunlight is shining blood orange and the skies are littered with ash. When I checked the weather app this morning, I noticed a new forecast: smoke. My kids couldn’t even play outside today because of all the pollution. It’s a painful reminder of the brokenness of our world. Human beings were supposed to be good stewards of the earth, but instead we are abusing her. We need to help bring healing to this world, but it begins with bringing healing to ourselves. An immediate, tangible, and fun way to do this is through creativity. As we learned this past Sunday in our “Creative Faith” message, creativity helps us heal, creativity makes us whole, and creativity helps us help others. As comedian Eddie Cantor said, “Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast–you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.”

Community, Creativity, and Caring

Perch.Church Physically Distanced, Socially Close picnic on August 30

Let us consider how we may spur one another toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another.
Hebrews 10:24-25a

This past Sunday was a wonderful time of fellowship, food, and hanging out. It’s been so long since our church members gathered together in person, many of us forgot how refreshing it was to be in physical community with each other. It was a sobering reminder of how much we really need each other. While many people may consider themselves “spiritual but not religious,” it is undeniable that people of faith are far better together than they are socially distanced. When God’s people gather together in spiritual community, “they spur one another toward love and good deeds, they encourage one another,” and they pursue God collectively.

Righteous Anger

Members of Milwaukee Bucks announce their boycott of NBA Playoffs on August 26, 2020.

God is a righteous judge, who feels anger every day.
Psalm 7:11

The NBA has officially shutdown. Again. But this time it’s not because of a pandemic; it’s a result of the ceaseless gun violence in our nation. When will the violence end? This past week there have been, yet again, three victims of senseless shootings. Jacob Blake who was shot multiple times in the back and two killed at a protest in Kenosha, WI by a teenager with an assault rifle. This is beyond upsetting. This is enraging. But what makes anger righteous? It is when anger motivates the person to make positive changes. It’s when Jesus overthrew a corrupt temple. It’s when God demanded an oppressed people group be freed from slavery in Egypt. Righteous anger compels the individual to acts of justice. As one author so eloquently put it, “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.”

Loving Yourself

Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Matthew 22:39

“The Golden Rule.” “The Great Commandment.” Many people have heard this simple and powerful commandment from Jesus in various ways. I know I certainly have heard it often growing up in the church. But one often overlooked part of this command is the presumption in the latter half… “as yourself.” This was never emphasized to me as a child. The presumption in this commandment is that in order to love your neighbor well, you must be able to love yourself. How can you love yourself? Is it through hours of mindless entertainment? Is it by surrounding yourself with parties and activities to drown out the voice in your head? Or is it through stillness, solitude, and surrender to God to allow Him to love you in a way that you don’t think you deserve?

Burden of Hate

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew‬ ‭11:28

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” I remember reading these words by MLK in high school and not truly understanding it. Part of the reason behind my lack of understanding was because of my inexperience with life. I was too young to truly know that the burden of hate is heavier than the burden of love. But I also wasn’t self-aware enough to realize that I didn’t even know how to adequately love myself. My faith in my formative years was so upward and outward focused that I often ignored self-care. So how can we “love our neighbors as we love ourselves” if we do not know how to love ourselves in a healthy way? This is precisely what we will be exploring at our webinar this Sunday.

Season of Lament

Al and a colleague leading vigil participants in honoring precious Black lives lost due to racial injustice.

In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From His temple He heard my voice; my cry to Him reached His ears.
Psalm 18:6

On Saturday, many leaders and members from various AAPI and Black churches and communities came together for a “Vigil of Love and Solidarity” to lament the racial injustices that have been happening in this nation for the past several centuries. On the surface, things seemed to have improved; but underneath the superficiality of America’s “liberty and freedom” lies corruption of the heart and depravity of racism. In one portion of the vigil, I had the honor and burden of leading the vigil participants in remembering and honoring some of the precious lives lost due to racial injustice. My colleague and I invited the participants to kneel if they felt compelled as we read the names of some of the victims out loud. We expected maybe half of the participants to kneel, we were surprised to see nearly all of the participants kneeling down as we proclaimed out loud the names of precious lives lost in America. For 15 excruciating minutes, we knelt, cried, and lamented the state of our nation. Lamenting is not only acceptable, it is a good and necessary part of healthy spirituality.

Good Lament

Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint; heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long?
Psalm 6:2-3

What’s the difference between being sad, depressed, and lamenting? Lamenting is a spiritual practice that human beings are to observe when things are deeply wrong with the world, yet we don’t ever encourage our people to do so well. Instead, we suppress our laments or we pretend like they don’t exist and it comes out in many unhealthy ways. Our Western culture focuses so much on living a “happy life” that we’ve forgotten how to lament well. Join us this Sunday as we discuss the spiritual practice of lament.

The Work of Antiracism Never Stops

Click banner to watch “Personal Work of Antiracism” Webinar from July 19, 2020.

“God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears Him and does what is right.”
Acts 10:34b-35

The antiracism webinar this past Sunday with our friends Amber, Dr. Sandy Kim, and Emily was raw, blunt, and unfiltered. I walked away from our dialogue a little more enlightened, inspired, and empowered. It reminded me that the American Church still has a lot of work to do in order to bridge racial barriers and end injustice. It’s not enough to show goodness and love ‘out there.’ Sometimes, it’s easier to focus on doing the work of God ‘out there’ because maybe we can avoid looking inward. We need to do in deep and personal work of antiracism starting with ourselves; otherwise, how can we truly love our neighbors from a sincere and unbiased place?

Crisis Fatigue

A few members of Perch.Church delivering groceries for families transitioning out of homelessness.

[Elijah] lied down under the bush and fell asleep. Then an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” He looked around, and there by his head was some bread and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lied down again.
1 Kings 19:5-6

Are you feeling crisis fatigue? I know I am. Which is why I was glad that someone reminded me of this simple passage in 1 Kings. After the prophet Elijah had done a lot of work for God, he was feeling exhausted. Instead of telling Elijah to “get up and get back to work!”, God simply gave Elijah time and space to rest and even provided him with food and water to consume. Because God is a God of love, God is primarily concerned with your restoration and wellbeing. Your spiritual health cannot be separated from your physical and emotional health. Maybe during this time of quarantine, economic collapse, and racial injustice, you feel like you need to be more productive, work harder, or push yourself. But maybe the most radical thing you can do right now is take a nap.

Hopeful Faith Floats

By this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them… But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Matthew 14:24 & 27

As I was reading the story of Jesus walking on the water to the Disciples’ boat, something struck me… being stuck on a boat in middle of the sea accurately captures how I’ve been feeling the past several months. How many of us feel trapped on a boat in the middle of a violent sea storm? At times I feel isolated, abandoned by God, lost in the dark, and beaten by the winds. Actually, I take back the first part. I don’t feel isolated. I’m stuck on the boat with my two little kids asking me questions every five minutes. Yet in the midst of my tension, there’s a glimmering hope. A hope that God can transform my painful isolation into restorative solitude. A hope that God never really abandoned me, but sent me out in order to witness something miraculous. A hope that faith can only exist when mystery exists.