Isaiah 49:1-7/ Psalm 40:1-11/ John 1:29-42

Come and See the Mystery

Eagerly Waiting

Have you ever eagerly waited for something? A lot of us have. For example, I wait for Christmas and the performing arts festival all year round. Sometimes, I wait for a new season of my favorite TV shows to come out. Waiting can be frustrating. But it is important to check our values when we eagerly wait for something. Is it worth it? Worthy according to which values and standards?

Last week, I listened to a Korean folk tale in which two middle level government officers eagerly wait for a higher officer to flatter so they can advance in their careers. They do so while wasting their resources on preparing drinks and other things to welcome him when he arrives. They do so while neglecting their duties of caring for their residents. While they coldly turn away peasants passing by because “We are waiting for an important person,” when he finally passes by, they don’t recognize him, for, as a humble man, he dresses down and not uses government’s resources to travel for personal reasons. They end up making a fool of themselves by mistaking him for a peasant and treating him badly.

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Contextualizing Christmas            

During the past three weeks, we have been learning about the nativity stories in the Bible. We learned that only Matthew and Luke tell stories of the birth of Jesus and why they tell very different stories. We also examined why Mark and John do not tell that story. I explained to you that being historically accurate was not of any importance to the gospel writers and that the purpose of the gospel books was to teach their audiences that Jesus was God’s Anointed One.

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Isaiah 35:1-10/ Luke 1:47-55/ Matthew 11:2-11

Hope of Peace Leads to Joy

Joy Based on Justice

I remember what I felt watching Mr. Obama be elected as the US president. In the country with a history of black oppression, seeing a black man become its president, seeing a black family move into the White House gave hope to so many racial minorities inside and outside of the US. We felt hopeful and empowered.

I have already shared with you how I felt about watching the movies Black Panther and Wonder Woman. Seeing a black superhero and a powerful African country, and seeing a strong and compassionate woman be a superhero made me feel great as a woman of colour. I felt the same when a Korean American actress Sandra Oh won an award and kept getting cast as the protagonist in movies and TV shows, while most Asian American actors only get cast as side characters and often playing stereotypical characters.

What I felt was joy, but it is not the same kind of joy we feel in ordinary circumstances. This is the joy that is based on justice; marginalized people feeling empowered.

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Micah 4:1-5/ Romans 8:31-39/ John 15:9-17

God’s Superheroes

Black Panther and Killmonger

Among the many superhero movies that I have enjoyed, perhaps Black Panther has the most fascinating villain. Black Panther is the king of an imaginary African country called Wakanda. It is a powerful country with rich resources unlike any real-life African countries.

Black Panther is the warrior king of Wakanda. His enemy called Killmonger is his cousin who grew up in the United States with the other African Americans with all their struggles. Killmonger thinks that the powerful resources and weapons of Wakanda could help the black people all over the world. He wants to arm his black siblings around the world so they can destroy their oppressors. Having grown up as a black person in the US, he is full of anger. His biggest problem is that, by destroying the oppressors, he wants to replace them as a ruler. What makes Black Panther great is that he lets Killmonger change his mind about Wakanda’s responsibility in the global community as a powerful nation. In the end, he decides to use their resources for the greater good.

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Jeremiah 31:27-34/ Psalm 119:97-104/ Luke 18:1-8

Need to Study the Scriptures

Getting to Know a New Friend

I shared with you last Sunday that my new friend was going to join us in our Thanksgiving dinner. We first met at my community theatre group this summer and had just started to form a relationship recently. While knowing practically nothing about him, since I had invited him over for dinner, I had to ask him if there was anything he didn’t eat. The told me that he didn’t like pork. It was crucial information to have since we were planning to cook pork. So, now I know one more thing about him; that he doesn’t like pork. As our relationship develops, we will get to know more and more about each other, as it should.

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