My fifth-grade teacher had a box on her desk for loose change that we collected and sent to an overseas children’s mission. We learned the children received food, clothing, vaccines, and were also baptized as a result of our offerings. One day, our teacher said that our offerings had lagged, and the children were not getting the help they needed.

Inequality’s impact on LGBTQIA+ siblings prompted the Faith for Equality coalition to seize this important moment and work--again--to make the Equality Act law of the land.

Our hearts are heavy and exhausted. For some, hopelessness and despair is a daily companion due to the pestilence of mass shootings and violence that appears normalized.

Asian American Christian Collaborative (AACC) condemns and denounces the violence committed in the Atlanta massacre on March 16, 2021. We call Christians and church leaders to make a clear and urgent response condemning this heinous act of hate, and we invite all Americans to work toward the dignity and respect of Asian and Asian American lives, especially women.

Some of my favorite parables throughout the gospels are the ones where Jesus is speaking to us about growth; specifically, the idea that something big can emerge from something small.

Behold, the sacred, beautiful and resilient bodies of Black womxn. For centuries our bodies have been vessels of truth telling. Our bodies, woefully sacrificed, raped, stolen, objectified and commodified. Yet, with tenacious courage and truth, we emerge unbowed and restlessly pursuing freedom and justice.

Over the course of a year, we have witnessed a growing campaign of violence targeting citizens of Asian descent in America. Hate speech from the highest office in the land helped to cultivate such violence resulting in fatalities and propagating stereotypes that threatens to pervade generations.

Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on a rock: “and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. Matthew 7:24-25

When the righteous triumph, there is great glory, but when the wicked prevail, people go into hiding. No one who conceals transgressions will prosper, but one who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. Proverbs 28:12-13

On February 21, 2019, Chicago police burst into the apartment of an innocent black woman, Anjanette Young, based on a faulty tip, handcuffing her while she was naked, forcing her to stand in full view of male officers as they searched her home. It took 22 months for the video to surface and Ms. Young’s voice to be heard.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26-27

I recently came across a poem that I wrote one Lent. It reminded me of the intentionality of the Lenten journey: not merely giving up chocolate or wine to say we did it, but going all the way down the path to find our True Self.

He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry. Matthew 4:2

6 This is the kind of fast day I'm after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. 7 What I'm interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. Isaiah 58:6-7 MSG

Women’s History Month gives us time to reflect on the often overlooked contributions of women to history, culture and society. This month, we give thanks to the women who fought for the right to vote.

As we embark upon a new era with a new administration, we continue to fight for this vision, demanding that just and equitable systems be created.

One of my congregants recently said that churches are doing plenty of good charity work for those who are in need, but little work to change the systems that made them need in the first place. I would say that’s a fair assessment.

Congratulations to our member congregations and dedicated volunteers. In the recent lame duck session of the Illinois General Assembly, Community Renewal Society won many historic changes which will help end systemic racism. Join us in celebrating the passing of four monumental victories.

Too often, police break into homes with guns pointing, shouting expletives and frightening innocent children and families.

People from my neighborhood and other Black and Brown communities in Chicago are hurting.