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Good afternoon friends. My name is Dr Margaret. Um er I served this campus as academic dean and as the first Presbyterian Church, Shreveport D Thomason, Professor of New Testament Studies. The Robert F Jones

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lectures were established as part of our Midwinter's lectures by the women of the Church of the First Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth In 1949. This afternoon, it is my honor to introduce to you the 2023 Robert

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F Jones lecturer, my friend and colleague, the Reverend Dr Grace G son Kim. Reverend. Dr Kim is the author, editor of 21 books, including Intersectional Theology, Keeping Hope Alive. Hope in

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disarray and her most recent book, Invisible Theology and The Experience of Asian American Women. And Dr Kim is the kind of person who refuses to let anyone be invisible. We were recently at a are together

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and I was sitting down to have a meal by myself and Dr Kim came in with a group of Korean women behind her and saw me and said, Margaret come join us and I ended up in the

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middle of a conversation that I wasn't even a part of initially. It was Lovely. Dr Kim is also the host of the Madang podcast hosted by Christian Century and a member of the working group on climate

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change for the World Council of Churches, originally from Korea. Dr Kim was educated at the University of Toronto. She now serves as Professor of Theology at Earl Ham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana for

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her Jones lectures. Dr Kim has chosen the topic , invisible racism, sexism and the theology of visibility . Please welcome the Reverend Dr Grace, Ji Sun Kim. Thank you so much for that introduction.

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Thank you so much for coming back to hear me . Thank you, President Jose. I'm not gonna get it wrong. It is Irizarry. Yes. Thank you so much, president. Sorry for the

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invitation and Dr. Margaret and Sarah 70 and Dr . Cynthia and Dr. David Jensen. Thank you so much for making my time here. So wonderful . I knew I was gonna get your name wrong

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and on Saturday, I was flying home from somewhere and I always flying into Allentown Airport. Have you heard of Allentown? Yeah. So this poor United woman kept calling it Alinta. None. Yeah,

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someone went to go correct her. She couldn't do it. And so I, I kept thinking of that when I was like, I had to pronounce her name because I asked so many people and then

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I even asked like two minutes ago and I knew I couldn't pronounce it. And I just felt like that poor woman on United and she kept calling in Allentown and she would stop herself. And Alan and

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we all were waiting for town and she kept saying anyway, so wonderful. I, um, as Dr Emma had announced, I grew up in Canada and when I was studying at Knox College, um

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, there's a knock somewhere in this campus. Knocks room. Yeah. So I started at Knox College and the worst class in seminary Was at two PMM because that was right after lunch. So I'm like

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, I didn't realize I was going right after lunch . So now I feel like I have to entertain you to keep you from falling asleep. I think I fell asleep. Every class, it was a

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theology class and every, it was two PM. I couldn't stay awake because I love to eat. We Koreans love to eat. So, yeah, so we got to eat. So I know everybody

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ate a big lunch and I'm sure you're all tired . Another thing is I, you know, when the president invited me, I told them what I was going to do. And then the last minute

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I changed everything and then I realized that people said they saw the video and they saw the little thing and now I'm all messed up, but it will all be clear by tomorrow. And when Dr Bill

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was speaking this morning, he kept saying he's doing three lectures and I thought, I think of only doing two. So I was all panicking. I thought I had to do three to, I was

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in a state of panic because I thought I had missed heard. And now I have to figure out another lecture to do. So after he spoke, I turned to the other professor and he said,

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no, don't worry, you're only doing two. So I was very relieved. I'm only doing two . So, you know, the reason why I love this is actually my second time at Texas,

00:06:03.150 - 00:06:17.400

Texas Austin Seminary. So I had to go back and I realized I came in 2014 for the Frierson Conference. Yeah, that was wonderful. And so to be invited back again, this is really nice

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and um you have the new building for the students . It's so gorgeous. I want to live there and I just feel like everything in Texas is so big, right? Everything's big. And you know

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, I live in Pennsylvania and I feel like the Presbyterian Church is dying. But then I come here and I think, no, it's like you just built another residence, you're building some more things.

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We're not dying. It's just in certain parts of the country were dying, but it's so wonderful to be here. You guys do everything big and you have a big heart. So thank you for welcoming

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me back here um to Austin Seminary. So I was really excited about coming because I thought it was going to be really warm and it's so cold. And last Sunday, um, I got invited to

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speak in ST Simon's Island. Do you know where that is? Yeah. It's like just north of Jacksonville, Florida and no one was prepared for the cold weather. I woke up and it said 33

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I thought here, I thought it was my Pennsylvania climate thing. And I, it was so cold last weekend and then I was looking forward to the warm weather here and it's cold again. But anyway

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, you guys have been so warm. And actually Sunday morning, I had a high fever and I ended up preaching at this church. I'm doing interns work for and I thought I want to be able

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to speak, but I'm so happy that I'm okay , well, enough to travel and speak and be with you all. So I, I um today I'm gonna do a bit on healing our broken humanity

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. And then tomorrow I'm gonna do a bit on um theology of invisibility. And so when I teach students, I always say um theology is biography and biography is theology. So we come to know God

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through our own life experience and our own stories. So I talk about myself maybe a bit too much so you can stop me if I do. And I write a lot about myself too. So you'll

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probably see all these. I feel like my story is like a K drama. Do you guys watch K drama? Yeah, my story, my life is like a K drama. So they all kind

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of come into my books and, and lemon said something really interesting. She said, if you didn't want, want me to write about you, you should have been a little kinder. So, so

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that's how my stories get into my books. Those who upset me may find themselves in my book. I'm just kidding. Okay. So we set this up and then now it's all changed. But anyway

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, I'm hoping before I thought I can see the next slide, but now I can't. So I have prepared slides to help um share some of the difficulties that Asian Americans, particularly here in the U

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S. And Canada go through and people asked me , you know, the title of my last book is Invisible and I'm gonna show you why I named it Invisible Tomorrow. But I'm hoping that the book

00:10:03.450 - 00:10:20.350

becomes a lens for you to see how others are treated or how you feel you are being treated because it's not a story or a book only for Asian Americans. I don't know if you read the book

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Native by Caitlin Curtis. Yeah. And her book became a lens for me to see the world. So I'm hoping that um invisible will be like that too. So I was born in Korea and we

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immigrated to Canada. So here all of I came in 2004 and overnight I just became a woman of color. I just thought it was so weird. I had to get used to the term woman of

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color. Okay. I'm a woman of color now because in Canada, do you know what people called ? People who look like me or those who weren't white? I heard first nations. Okay. That's

00:11:05.540 - 00:11:18.380

for the first nations. And I heard something else . Canadian. Yeah. But they would say something else before the Canadian or? Yeah, but the Canadian is good guests and the First Nations is a

00:11:18.380 - 00:11:37.370

good guest. So here we call people who look like me or African Americans or Latin X community, native American people of color. So in Canada they called people like me now, visible minority. Yeah

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. So I was always a visible minority and then now I come here all of a sudden a woman of color. So, yeah, it's, it's interesting how we get these labels. So I wanted

00:11:50.730 - 00:12:07.940

to share a little bit about the history of Asians in the US. I think this is important to know because I know many um states in the U S do not teach Asian American history. Does Texas

00:12:07.940 - 00:12:20.560

teach it? Yeah, I know. And I raised my three kids in Pennsylvania. They were never taught Asian American history. Um New York State doesn't teach Asian American history. I, I thought New

00:12:20.560 - 00:12:35.290

York State would and we did a big rally last year um for the governor and everyone to push Asian American history in the elementary in the public school system , it hasn't been passed yet. So many people

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do not know our history and our story. So the first asians um in America arrived in 1587. That's a long time ago. That might be longer . I know. Thank you so much for the

00:12:54.400 - 00:13:09.910

two presenters. The ancestors. I always thought of ancestors as the ones before. But it maybe earlier than some of your ancestors who came here into America . And then almost 200 years later, we had

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Chinese immigrants who arrived in Hawaii And the Japanese immigrants arrived at the height of the Gold Rush in 1843 . So we do have this long history of immigration into the us And much of it wasn't that positive

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for us. Okay. So during the gold rush and then they imposed tax on foreign minors and also the Supreme Court in 1850 for ruled that Chinese cannot testify against white people in court. So that's,

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it's not an easy life. We lived as indentured workers. So as Dr Margaret announced at the beginning , I have a podcast called Madam podcast. So yesterday, someone came up to me and said,

00:14:11.800 - 00:14:20.420

oh, I'm so excited to, to come and hear you. I said, oh, how do you know me? And then he said, because he heard me on Home Bird Christianity. So everyone

00:14:20.420 - 00:14:39.050

knows home bird Christianity and then nobody knows my podcast . So I said, oh, please listen to my podcast. Okay. So uh oh why I mentioned my podcast is I had um Lisa Sharon Harper

00:14:39.050 - 00:14:54.930

who spoke on her book fortune and she has her , she did her ancestry and she said some of them were indentured workers. Um And she said that the difference between indentured workers and enslavement is there's a

00:14:54.940 - 00:15:13.950

expiration date for indentured workers. So if they were able to pay back enough, then you would be set free. So that's how many Asian Americans survived in the beginning of our migration. So we know

00:15:13.950 - 00:15:31.400

they built the Chinese railroad and we also know that white people built it too. But the difference is the Asian workers were paid far less and they weren't given food as the white workers were. So with

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a little bit amount of money that they got paid and then they had to pay for their own food and all the dangerous work like blowing out the mountains were done by the Chinese and the Asians. So

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they many people lost their lives working on the railroad . We also know that racism is pervasive here in American society. It is everywhere you turn there is racism and it's something that I thought every year things

00:16:07.160 - 00:16:22.630

would get a little better, but they don't and I don't know how we're going to overcome this racism . You know, I was invited to speak about 10 years ago and I usually take one of my

00:16:22.630 - 00:16:34.440

kids with me. Um just to make my husband a bit happier that I'm leaving to go speak. So about 10 years ago, my daughter was 10 years old. I was speaking in Vancouver and we

00:16:34.450 - 00:16:48.910

, it was a long flight from Vancouver to Philadelphia and you know how to deplane a plane. Every row goes one by one. And I was sitting in the fourth last row and behind us was an

00:16:48.920 - 00:17:00.200

elderly couple and, um, I knew she wasn't very happy with me and my daughter on the plane . You can just feel this animosity. I don't know what it was, but she didn't like us

00:17:00.210 - 00:17:11.330

. And so when it came to de planing the plane, she just got up and just started walking ahead. So I thought okay, she's in a rush. That's fine. And then finally, when

00:17:11.330 - 00:17:19.650

it came to my arrow, I told her husband who was waiting behind, I said, you go ahead and he said, no, no, no , you go ahead and I said, no,

00:17:19.650 - 00:17:29.890

no, no, you go ahead. He goes , no, no, no, you go ahead . So I said, okay, I'm gonna go . So I went ahead with my daughter and then

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his wife was waiting at the, when we deplaned and he, and she saw me coming out before her husband and she was so angry. She said really loud. I can't believe you let the Chinese

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go ahead of you. So you know, they're these acts of racism that happens towards us. If my daughter wasn't with me, I think it would have been less painful but for her to hear it

00:18:02.120 - 00:18:21.150

, um, you know, on many levels, there was something wrong with that statement. But this racism which is weaved into our society perpetuates of, um, these, the sense of entitlement, racism

00:18:21.150 - 00:18:38.840

against Asian Americans are seldom recognized. And I think that's partly because racism here in the U S is talked about in what kind of terms? Yeah, black and white. So if you fall anywhere in

00:18:38.840 - 00:18:57.560

between, it's harder to talk and call out racism . I have said so many times um either in meetings or in some gatherings, in churches, etcetera about my experiences of racism. And you would not

00:18:57.560 - 00:19:18.100

believe how many people would tell me it wasn't racism because you're not black. So because of this, many of us, Asian Americans, maybe the Latin X and Native American community, we get lost in

00:19:18.100 - 00:19:33.690

this discourse in the US because racism is talked about in black and white terms. I think, you know, this dualistic view or this, you know , the economy, there's lots of problems with it

00:19:33.700 - 00:19:51.220

. And when I think about Christianity itself too, we have so many problems because we talk and think in these dualistic terms. So I'll get into the spirit tomorrow to help kind of unpack this problem of

00:19:51.230 - 00:20:11.530

dualism. But here Asian Americans because we're not black people keep saying it's not racism, okay, it cannot be racism. They've said that to me over and over again. Your experience that cannot be racism

00:20:11.540 - 00:20:33.710

because you are not black and we also get distorted . Um elevation of Asian competency is used by white society to polarize minority populations. And I'm gonna say a little bit more um okay, I'm gonna see

00:20:33.710 - 00:20:48.950

if I can skip some slides because I wanted to change the order and it's because of things like this , the model minority myth. I'm sure many have , have you heard of the model minority myth?

00:20:48.960 - 00:21:07.830

Yeah. So make sure you add the word myth at the end because it's only a myth. So in the sixties and seventies, white people got together um sociologists and they started to say Asian Americans are

00:21:07.830 - 00:21:26.240

the model minorities. So they said to the other people of color, to the Latin X community, the native American, to the black community, if only you worked just as hard as the Asian Americans

00:21:26.310 - 00:21:41.720

, you will have no problem, right? You will not be poor, you would not, not go to the top schools, you will have great jobs. The reason why it's a myth is not

00:21:41.730 - 00:21:57.400

all Asian Americans are, are wealthy. Okay. If you go to flushing, I live close enough , we can just drive 2.5 hours to flushing. You know, so many poor Asian Americans living in

00:21:57.400 - 00:22:17.770

flushing and these buildings where they share kitchens and bathrooms with other families and you'll see this in other parts of the US, not all of us have great jobs, not all of us go to top schools

00:22:18.680 - 00:22:37.610

. This myth was used to pit us against the other people of color. There is so much tension between us because of myths like this. The model minority myth saying to the black community, if only

00:22:37.610 - 00:22:55.970

you worked as hard or you tried just then you'll be just like the Asian Americans, but we're not all doing well. So this is a problematic myth and we have to keep talking about it. So

00:22:55.970 - 00:23:15.660

we recognize the difficulties that many of us Asian Americans face here in North America. Another trait is Asian Americans are viewed as perpetual foreigners, right? So it doesn't matter. I gave the history 15,

00:23:15.660 - 00:23:32.890

37 doesn't matter if you were here 100 years, 200 years, people will still think we're a foreigner . We cannot be accepted into this North American. You are an American or you are a Canadian,

00:23:32.890 - 00:23:45.740

you are not, you are this perpetual foreigner? Okay. We get questions like, oh, where are you really, really? Really? Really from ? Because they don't care if I'm from Canada or

00:23:45.740 - 00:24:00.600

from Pennsylvania or from, I don't know Virginia, they don't care about that. They always ask, where are you from? Where are you really, really from? Okay. Now, let me just

00:24:00.600 - 00:24:18.840

go back. So I wanted to kind of go over that because I think it's important to understand the different types of experiences that Asian Americans experience here in the US. So as an Asian American woman though

00:24:18.850 - 00:24:37.780

. What's the other layer that Asian American woman experience ? Yeah. Sexism in the church and in society . Okay. Ageism. Yeah. So I can't cover all of them but ageism. Yeah, that's

00:24:37.790 - 00:24:51.980

, you know, I, I was, I was speaking at an event and I was just joking around. Oh, I'm getting old now. You know, I've got gray hair, etcetera. So

00:24:51.980 - 00:25:04.190

I just, I just said it and then I did a book signing and one woman came up and said, oh, yeah, you got a lot of gray hair. But yeah, ages is another

00:25:04.190 - 00:25:21.150

thing. So actually, if you wanted to know more about that, I co wrote a book intersectional theology and that covers that whole able ism all these types of um of um oppression. But today,

00:25:21.150 - 00:25:37.250

I'm only gonna do racism and sexism because they only gave me, I don't know, 40 minutes I think so, you know, the sexism is a huge problem. Yeah, it's a huge problem.

00:25:37.250 - 00:25:53.550

And uh you know, I sit and I get so overwhelmed and I was speaking at Emory um candler School of Theology and some students asked because I was complaining about the sexism within our church. And she

00:25:53.550 - 00:26:07.360

said, well, why don't you just leave the church? And it's not like I've never thought about leaving the church. I think about that all the time. But I thought if I leave the church

00:26:07.370 - 00:26:25.340

, I cannot then critique the church from the outside because no one's going to listen to me. So I struggle still within the church and um you know , the woman's obedience, especially in, in Confucianism

00:26:26.030 - 00:26:42.630

. So I just finished the Jan intensive course and we covered, we covered Confucianism. I was teaching interfaith dialogue. So in Confucianism, does anyone know the three people that women have to obey? Okay

00:26:42.630 - 00:27:02.290

. Yeah, you have to obey your father, your husband. Oh, mother in law sounds good . But no, it's true. but it's not in this confusion. Yeah, teaching. It's somewhere

00:27:02.300 - 00:27:15.980

else in there. Yeah. So I heard God but that's not right either. Huh? Brother. That sounds good too. But no priest. Oh your son. So when you are young, you

00:27:15.980 - 00:27:30.980

obey your father. When you marry every woman is expected to get married, you obey your husband and then when you become a widow, you obey your son. So those are the three people that women

00:27:30.980 - 00:27:47.080

have to obey. So that is obedience through your whole life. Can you imagine being an eight year old and obeying your son? The one that you change, diapers invade? But that's how it is

00:27:47.080 - 00:28:04.880

. And that understanding is still very much embedded in the Asian culture and here in North America. So the sexism that I experience and many Asian American women and all women experience here in the dominant white society

00:28:04.890 - 00:28:23.930

. But then you have these other multi layers that other black women experience within their own community. And what Asian American women experience within our own community. Okay, the sexism and so women occupy male spaces

00:28:25.540 - 00:28:47.690

in the church and it's difficult, you know, we, we try to use inclusive language because language is so important, isn't it? It forms our thoughts, our ideas, it really is a powerful

00:28:47.690 - 00:29:04.530

thing, you know, and as a theologian, you know, my kids also went into sciences, typical Asia, I feel really bad about that because , you know, I fall into these stereotypes and

00:29:04.540 - 00:29:22.270

I met Sarah last October I believe. And the reason I was speaking at um episcopal clergy conference in Texas, right? And I just wanted a picture , take it and Sarah's walking by said, oh

00:29:22.270 - 00:29:30.790

, can you please take a picture of me? And it turned out to be Sarah and then we realized, oh, we have this connection because I'm coming here. But I'm telling you everything in Texas

00:29:30.800 - 00:29:44.900

, you guys are all rich because that clergy conference that I couldn't believe like everywhere I turned there was food like here to everywhere I turned this food. But we're doing a book signing later. I think

00:29:44.900 - 00:29:56.680

you have to buy your own books, right? Yeah. At the clergy conference they gave all our books away and that they came to us to get it signed. How do they have so much money

00:29:56.690 - 00:30:08.150

? But I feel like Texas, you guys like so much money everywhere. But yeah, but here you have to buy your books. Yeah. Uh what was um I was going somewhere with that.

00:30:08.160 - 00:30:22.540

Oh, okay. So, yeah, they went into sciences. But as a theologian, all we have are words. Right. Either I speak my words in class and the students have to listen or

00:30:22.540 - 00:30:33.790

throw it away or I speak words through writing and students can read it or throw it away. That's all we have. And then as a theologian, so we had practical theologian. And you are,

00:30:33.800 - 00:30:45.850

which area was? Are you, you're all over ? Okay. But you know, I have a church historian friend. There's a few church historians here , right? Yeah. He said, you know

00:30:47.080 - 00:31:04.800

, you theologians make everything up. He said biblical scholars, at least they used the Bible, right ? Church historians use all these church documents and you theologians just make everything up. We don't make everything

00:31:04.800 - 00:31:21.990

up but we use everything to make everything up. But, but all we have are words and so words are so important. And so we try to use inclusive language in our liturgy in our prayers and

00:31:21.990 - 00:31:36.310

our writing. But when you have the word God and that's the word I used to in my writing and my speaking, the problem is in the English language. What's the other word that we have?

00:31:37.330 - 00:31:53.870

Lord? Okay. But that's not the one I'm looking for. Goddess. See that's why she's a professor, but we have the word goddess. So I am sure if I go back to my Presbyterian

00:31:53.870 - 00:32:08.660

church and pray to Goddess there. What was that ? Yeah. They're gonna kick me out. But that's the problem with the language, but that's the importance of language. And we have to remember our

00:32:08.660 - 00:32:37.310

language but the language in our churches are so sexist and so patriarchal usage of Lord I heard and king and father and ruler, so many Sun. Yes . You know, Genesis prologue, it says in

00:32:37.310 - 00:32:51.510

the beginning was the word, right? Pardon me ? Oh, what did I say? Oh yeah , I meant to say in the prologue of John , I don't know what I'm saying today. I

00:32:51.510 - 00:33:06.180

think it's the medicine. Okay. And the, but some scholars would say that the earlier text didn't say in the beginning was the word. Does anyone know what in the beginning was? Yeah. Sophia

00:33:06.190 - 00:33:22.330

who said that Sarah. Yeah, Episcopalian. Yeah , they know their stuff. So yeah, in the beginning was wisdom and wisdom is feminine. But you see the part of me. Yeah, Sophia

00:33:22.330 - 00:33:36.420

wisdom is feminine but you get the church fathers, they don't like the feminine. So in the beginning was the word but some of the Bible they will have a footnote to note. Um Yeah, the

00:33:36.420 - 00:33:47.760

footnote. Yeah, I think I'm running out of time. So I'm gonna kind of skip over. I'm gonna talk about xenophobia where you're afraid of the stranger. Okay. So a lot of xenophobia against

00:33:47.770 - 00:34:07.860

Asian Americans because we are the perpetual foreigners. And when you are the perpetual foreigners, it's easy for the white dominant society to blame you for something, when something goes wrong, We see things like that

00:34:07.870 - 00:34:19.930

even in our scriptures. So, in Israel nine and Nehemiah 10, when they come back from the exile, they have all these foreign women who had married, um, the Israelites and they even had

00:34:19.930 - 00:34:38.400

Children. They get together and then they're wondering, what are we gonna do with these foreign women? What did they do? They got rid of them . They just said go away because they're afraid probably

00:34:38.400 - 00:34:52.970

mostly because they may take the land because their Children may take it. But we don't know exactly but they are told to go away, you can blame them for things. Okay. So when you know

00:34:52.980 - 00:35:10.600

this xenophobia that is against Asian Americans. So when we think about legal discrimination, we also want to talk about the Chinese massacre of 1871. So when we think, and we talk about lynching here in

00:35:10.600 - 00:35:30.190

the US, we automatically think of African Americans because there was a lot of lynching. But other groups were lynched too. And one of the largest recorded lynching happened against the Chinese 17- 20 were lynched

00:35:30.260 - 00:35:45.980

for no reason. We also can't forget about the Chinese Exclusion Act. I think many have probably heard about the Chinese Exclusion Act that was in 1882 and Congress said we're only going to put it in there

00:35:45.980 - 00:35:57.540

for 10 years. So you know, it was a time where they couldn't buy anything. They had to carry papers around. Um they couldn't leave the country because many of them came, they wanted to

00:35:57.540 - 00:36:15.420

come temporarily make some money and go back and they couldn't. But Congress decided to extend it to 1943 . That's a long time. So no more Chinese were allowed. And when we think about voting rights

00:36:15.430 - 00:36:36.910

, we automatically think about African American voting rights. We forget to talk about Asian Americans because we could not vote Until 1943. And that wasn't all Asian Americans either. Slowly, um More Asian Americans,

00:36:36.910 - 00:36:51.100

I think 1946 Japanese were allowed to vote and then slowly the other Asian American groups were added. So this was, this is part of our history of not being able to vote. We also have the

00:36:51.100 - 00:37:06.150

Japanese internment that we are all familiar with. You know, we Americans weren't just in war against the Japanese, but only the Japanese were rounded up. They lost all their belongings and they were interned.

00:37:07.180 - 00:37:19.750

So when I think about this and I only have a few more minutes, I'll just close because I don't want to close on a bad note about these negative things that are part of our Asian American story

00:37:19.760 - 00:37:32.700

, our history here in North America, there are ways that we can overcome some of these. And I know I'm supposed to talk about hopes. I've reserved that for tomorrow after I talk about um invisibility

00:37:34.020 - 00:37:45.880

. But here, um I'm drawing a bit from my healing our broken humanity and why I changed everything was last week when I was in ST Simon Island , all these Episcopalians were there and they said,

00:37:45.890 - 00:37:57.830

oh, they're reading my book, Healing Our Broken Humanity. And I said, wow, that's so exciting. And it's like mandatory reading for the E F M which is like 8000 people. So I

00:37:57.830 - 00:38:09.620

thought this is great. So I thought, oh , then Austin Seminary, we'd love to hear about my healing, our broken humanity. So I started changing everything. But I think lament is very important

00:38:09.630 - 00:38:23.940

when we know that we have suffered or we have caused suffering to others. We especially in the Presbyterian Church because we are in a PC USA seminary, um ordained P C USA. We don't lament.

00:38:24.510 - 00:38:45.830

I've never been in a Presbyterian church where lament is part of the liturgy. I think we need to kind of lament and practice the sense of lamenting which is demonstrative, strong and corporate expression of deep grief

00:38:45.840 - 00:39:01.240

. Okay, we don't do that enough. And I think as a church, as a community of faith, we need to kind of practices more either as individuals or as a group or as a church

00:39:01.770 - 00:39:21.330

, the lament, the suffering that we have gone through or, or throwing upon other people. So it's about uh warning the painful, confessing our sins , complicity and sorrow. We're really calling out to

00:39:21.330 - 00:39:37.850

God, to intervene and to change the situation, okay, to intervene and change the situation. You know, this hate towards Asian Americans. It's not something that happened in the past with the Chinese Exclusion

00:39:37.850 - 00:39:55.640

Act, the lynching the Japanese internment, we experienced it today, you know, during the pandemic because of the president, you know, lashing out, he lashed out at every group. You know,

00:39:55.640 - 00:40:13.420

there was so much hate crime committed against A P I community, it continues on. So we need to lament, we need to cry out to God and there's many reasons for lamenting and we, you

00:40:13.420 - 00:40:28.440

know, it's scriptural, the book of Lamentations, etcetera, etcetera. So I need to stop now . I would love to continue, but I am going to continue part of this tomorrow because this is

00:40:28.440 - 00:40:36.920

so exciting. So thank you so much. Okay