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Posted on 8 January, 2010 by Justin

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Got to preach about the Good News today (my first

Got to preach about the Good News today (my first #Easter sermon in ten years!) through the experience of Mary Magdalene. Because news is never just out there; news always affects people, always impacts people—those who experience it, those who hear it, those who see it.

2,000 years ago, a poor, brown-skinned Palestinian Jew, part of an oppressed minority in a remote corner of the Roman Empire, a man called Jesus was crucified on a cross. On that day, though most didn’t know it, he took the sin of the world on himself and into himself, and three days later, when God raised him from the dead, he defeated sin and death and hell, he exposed violence and scapegoating and shame for the death dealers that they are. That’s what the good news means. It means that God’s love wins; it means that God’s love is not only as strong as the grave, as the poet of Song of Songs wrote, but love is stronger than the grave. In his life, death, and resurrection, God in Jesus showed us who God really is, what God is really like; God in Jesus showed us that we are loved by him, that we are valuable to him, that rescue is at hand, that it doesn’t have to be this way, that new life and a new way of life are possible. In the words of Father Richard Rohr, “Jesus did not come to change the mind of God about humanity. Jesus came to change the mind of humanity about God.”

Easter Sunday is Resurrection Sunday; it’s the first dawn of God’s new week. The darkness is fleeing, the sun is coming out. Easter Sunday tells us that, ultimately, death and sin have been defeated and Jesus has the final word—love has the final say. Though we are not fully there, though we still know sorrow, Easter Sunday is the good news that changes everything. Jesus did die, but he is alive now. And through our tears and in our sadness, he meets us, and he speaks our names, and he asks us to go out as his representatives, wounded healers. He sends us to bring life where there is death, love where there is hatred, light where there is darkness. In a sense, we are all “apostles,” we are all “sent”—just as Mary was—to say, “I’ve got good news: Christ is risen. Love overcame death. Love still overcomes death.”

Grateful to have gotten my (one-time J&J) vaccinat

Grateful to have gotten my (one-time J&J) vaccination shot this Good Friday at the historic Shiloh Baptist Church. Let’s end this pandemic.

Our first passable selfie as the #fungfamilyoffour

Our first passable selfie as the #fungfamilyoffour. #danielignatius #katherinejunia

Introducing ... Katherine Junia Fung. Born on Mar

Introducing ... Katherine Junia Fung.

Born on March 24, 2021, at 12:50pm.

“Katherine” comes from the Greek katharos, meaning “clean” or “pure.” “Junia” is named by the Apostle Paul in the New Testament letter of Romans as one who was “prominent among the apostles,” an example of a strong woman leader in the early church, a witness to the values of God in a patriarchal culture that often prohibited women from leadership positions. [More back story: For most of the last two millennia, it has been accepted that Junia was a woman’s name and that she was considered an apostle, but for a few centuries — and in some circles still today — it was inconceivable that a woman could be in so senior a position, so some translators changed her name to Junias (which appears in only one other instance in historical literature compared to the more common Junia) or engaged in some ‘creative’ interpretive gymnastics.]

We also invited my parents to give our kids Chinese names, as another way of honoring that part of their heritage. (We’ll share Daniel’s shortly.) For Katherine, my parents chose 潔明 (Kit Ming in Cantonese), connoting God’s cleansing and brightness or clarity, in the same vein as her English names.

Our prayer for our daughter is that she would fearlessly pursue all that God has for her and become all that God has made her to be: generous and compassionate, which Jesus said was part of cleanness (Luke 11:41), shining like a star in the world because she holds on to the word of life (Philippians 2:15) — life for herself and for everyone else as well; and that she would be unafraid to lead and love as God enables her.

#katherinejunia

DC Rally for Collective Safety: Protect Asian/AAPI

DC Rally for Collective Safety: Protect Asian/AAPI Communities with @advancingjustice_aajc, @coalition_hn, @ocanational, @cjactionfund, @pivotorg, and others. Grateful to be among fellow AAPI folks as well as friends and allies, including a crew from @christcitydc.

In times like these, I’m grateful for books like

In times like these, I’m grateful for books like this, from @revdrdre. Might from the Margins is an example to me of what decentering whiteness can look like, a reminder that there is a better way.

Excerpt: “Whatever love entails, to some people it includes ignoring the realities of injustice. This seems to be the popular view of love in US Christianity. Popular love shifts the responsibility onto victims, requiring them to forgive while the fate of perpetrators remains ambiguous. Brutalized wives have been told to forgive their abusive husbands. We require victims of racial discrimination to forgive those who have exploited them. This kind of love means handholding, group hugs, and potluck dinners between alienated parties without confronting the underlying causes of that alienation. This perspective of love faults Jews for remembering the Shoah, or African Americans for acknowledging slavery. It requires the ones mentioning racism to apologize for bringing up such a divisive topic. Love without justice claims to seek unity, but in actuality requires uniformity. This love sacrifices truth. Yet we need love. Love is nonnegotiable. Love is the way of Jesus. “Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:8). Dignity is part of true love. Love affirms our personhood. As we forgive those who have sinned against us, we do not jettison truth for the sake of an emotional high. Victims of injustice yearn for better definitions and examples of love.”

This morning, I woke up to the horrific news of an

This morning, I woke up to the horrific news of another mass shooting, this time at several Atlanta-area spas, this time stealing eight lives, including at least four Asian women. I’ve spent the day praying and processing — that makes it sound more tidy and put-together than it’s been. It was a messy mix of emotion of numbness, of rage, of frustration; texting with friends, trying to acknowledge and sit with my own feelings while trying to care for other friends and loved ones affected; of letting myself cry and feel the grief in my own body.

This hit home in a particular way today. I was supposed to be spending time in prayer as Carolyn and I prepare to welcome a biracial baby girl into the world soon. And it was: I was faced with the stark reality my Asian American kids have been and will be born into. Where a toxic mix of white supremacy, misogyny, purity culture, and gun culture can claim multiple lives and devastate multiple families, friend groups, and communities. Where we can be as committed to peace and justice and loving our neighbors as we can — and still be laid low by a complete stranger “having a bad day.”

It was also a reminder to me of the work I am called to: as a pastor, as a Christian, my prayer is — as we were just talking about this week at @christcitydc — for God’s kingdom to come and God’s will to be done. One thing that looks like for me is for every person to be seen and loved and honored as one made in the image of God. It is to do whatever is in my power, in whatever sphere God has given me to steward, to leave the world a better place than I found it, especially for those who will come after me — that includes dismantling systems of “white supremacy, misogyny, male hegemony, fetishization of Asian women, anti-Asian hate crime and violent racism” (per my friend Pastor @aaroncho) and living a better alternative.

A couple more thoughts in the comments.

#stopasianhate #stopaapihate #hateisavirus

I’m so proud of my friend @angelagorrell for the

I’m so proud of my friend @angelagorrell for the release of her book The Gravity of Joy: A Story of Being Lost and Found. Joy is something I think all of us have been longing for; it’s been in short supply, especially this last year. Through the winsome sharing of her own stories, experiences, and, most poignantly, losses, as well as those of people she loves and cares for, Angela points to the possibilities of joy even when it seems hard to grasp. Really grateful for this beautiful, timely book.

Yesterday I misspoke at @christcitydc: I said it h

Yesterday I misspoke at @christcitydc: I said it had been 51 weeks since our last in-person gathering on March 15, 2020. I was wrong. It was one year ago TODAY: March 8, 2020. On that day, we heard from Pastor @watsonopolis about how Jesus used Scripture both to confront and to comfort. And then we had our last community lunch together (pictured). (In retrospect, a potential superspreader for our community may not have been the best idea but we were already beginning to advise folks to stay home if they were feeling sick — going with the recommendations at the time!)

I have all sorts of feelings about hitting the one year mark. It’s been an exhausting year in so many ways. In addition to the pandemic and adjusting to the ‘smaller’ lives we’ve had to live, we have continued to deal with the ways sin breaks things — and I don’t even have the energy to list them out. There has been grief over all that has been lost these last twelve months — including loved ones and relationships — as well as the added weight we have all been carrying as we figure out how to cope.

But there is also gratitude for the ways God has been at work in spite of the challenges — stirring more and more to love and good deeds, to figure out new ways to love our neighbors, and to invest in both community and self-care. I have seen and experienced that in our own church and in our city. I have seen people’s faith rekindled — times of upheaval are often opportunities for people to reevaluate their priorities and ask questions about the deeper things of life, as the veneer is peeled back to reveal the true current state of our lives and the world.

Nine long weeks ago, before the insurrection, impeachment, and inauguration, before the vaccines began to be rolled out more widely, before whatever the last two months have brought to your life, I led off 2021 by preaching from Joshua 1, majoring on the words that God spoke to Joshua: “Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” [more in comments]

Two. How @carolyn85 and I wish we could celebrate

Two. How @carolyn85 and I wish we could celebrate #danielignatius with friends and loved ones. It’s so strange to think almost half his life has been spent in a pandemic. Anticipating the day when we can party in person again.

One of the things we’ve missed about pandemic li

One of the things we’ve missed about pandemic life is being able to have dim sum with friends (especially when they’re dim sum newbies). But ... one of my favorite things about getting it to go is when we have leftovers.

#happynewyear #lunarnewyear #yearoftheox

(Our go-to for the last few years has been @gourmet_inspirations.)

恭喜發財 and happy Lunar New Year from #daniel

恭喜發財 and happy Lunar New Year from #danielignatius, me, and @carolyn85 (who had already left for work) to all who are celebrating! It's the #yearoftheox.

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