Tag: Advent

Don’t Look Away: Insurrection on Epiphany

Don’t Look Away: Insurrection on Epiphany

Jan 17, 2021 | , | 0 |

Late night on Tuesday, January 5, 2020, after holding my breath for several hours waiting to know the outcome of the Georgia runoffs, I sat in the dark in front of the Christmas tree, soaking its irresistible loveliness for a final few moments: its sculptural shape illuminated by carefully-arranged tiny twinkling lights; the combination of kitschy, exquisite, and child-made ornaments; the strands of cranberries; the origami garland my sister made for us this year. This tree gave me much joy this Advent and Christmas, its treasures filling my need for beauty and whimsy, as our local and broader communities creaked under the weight of politics, of the pandemic.

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Advent Season: Trust & Endure

Advent Season: Trust & Endure

Dec 9, 2020 | , | 0 |

Many of us are not passively waiting, but actively searching and advocating for ourselves and for others. And yet the longer our wait drags on, the harder it is to keep waiting. We realize that our efforts can only get us so far—there is only so much in our control. Waiting is exhausting.

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Advent 2019 – Day 25 – Merry Mary Christmas!

Dec 25, 2019 | , | 0 |

Christmas is the celebration of a birth. But a Christmas Jesus is a clean baby wrapped up in cloths, not a sticky one emerging from Mary’s body. Why is that? Is it our discomfort with our bodies, and in particular, women’s bodies (trans or cis)? The strangeness of the incarnation, this mixing of divine and human, that we don’t want to recognize? I’m not entirely sure. But I know that this Christmas, I want to see birth. I want to see a woman’s body intermingled with the divine. I want to see a record of the pain that comes before the joy.

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Advent 2019 – Day 19 – The Patience to Let Justice Grow

Advent 2019 – Day 19 – The Patience to Let Justice Grow

Dec 19, 2019 | , | 0 |

A few weeks ago I returned to Malaysia to visit family, and – lo and behold! – discovered that my mom had planted three coconut trees in the front yard. The coconuts require lots of tender, loving care, demanding precise amounts of fertilizing for a few years before it can bear fruit, before we can enjoy cooling, sweet, fresh coconut!

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Advent 2019 – Day 18 – Mary

Dec 18, 2019 | , | 0 |

Growing up in a Chinese evangelical-ish church, kneeling was taboo unless it was to God. At my grandma’s funeral, our family had even been excused from the traditional Buddhist prostrations before her casket. Yet here is my art history teacher, already getting on his knees before the painting of Mary inside Cavalletti Chapel.

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Advent 2019 – Day 16 – Adventual Tension

Advent 2019 – Day 16 – Adventual Tension

Dec 16, 2019 | , | 0 |

When I was a kid, Advent was an exciting time. Mostly because it was leading up to the reason for the season: Santa Claus and presents. What? Don’t @ me. Now, as an adult, mostly I feel dread and annoyance. I hate presents. I hate shopping. I hate the cold. And apparently, I really hate joy and happiness.

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Advent 2019 – Day 10 – Being Hope to One Another

Advent 2019 – Day 10 – Being Hope to One Another

Dec 10, 2019 | , | 0 |

I grew up with what I called a wannabe “white savior complex,” also known as, “model minority.” My parents were saved by missionaries during the Khmer Rouge. I grew up seeing missionaries as my heroes and decided at the age of18, I would do such. My naïve pride expected me to teach the little Cambodian children English and guide them to Christ. I didn’t realize the injustice I was perpetuating by repeating the message I was taught that “Look at me! God brought me here to bring you salvation and you need to prevent your sins from my teaching.” Halfway through that “mission” trip, I ended up mistaking my homesickness by looking down at the others.

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