Yes, I'm a minister. No, I don't have a church.

This is the first blog post for the Companions on the Inner Way retreat. You may find the second blog post here: Seeking Home: Where Do We Come From? Here are the other blog posts: Seeking Home: Where Do We Come From?  Who Have We Become? UnBelonging Exile and Belonging Beloved I am delighted to spend this week as the blogger for the summer Companions on the Inner Way retreat (more information at www.cotiway.org ), a “guided retreat grounded in the Christian tradition. By honoring body, mind and soul, companions are invited to the inner journey with the Spirit.” It is an ecumenical gathering at the Zephyr Point Presbyterian Conference Center at Lake Tahoe. (If you want to make my heart flutter, say “ecumenical” or “Lake Tahoe.”) This week’s theme is “Seeking Home & the Practice of Belonging.” The featured speaker is Enuma Okoro, who is a fabulous human being, author, speaker, and consultant. You can find her at http://enumaokoro.com/ First, a word a...

This post was first published on ecclesio.com on June 18, 2015.  This blog post is not about convincing you racism is real. This blog post is not about how talking about race is not the same as racism. This blog post is not ranking people of color groups from least to most oppressed. This blog post is not going to explain the basics (You can check out the first chapter of Race in a Post-Obama Era ) . Nobody wants to be called a racist.  We in the U.S. tend to think the only racists are the white supremacists on terrorist watch lists. The rest of us are… what? Just innocent, yet well-meaning bystanders to the real problem? I was the Online Conversation Curator for the NEXT Church 2015 national gathering. At the opening, planners discussed the NEXT Church’s commitment to talking about racism. I was struck by the invitational tone with which the NEXT Church strategy team stated its opposition to racism and its commitment to talk more often about race. Anyone who can rea...

I spend a lot of time thinking about race in the U.S., but for me, race is all bound up in religion. The whiteness of my family is shaped by American Jewish and Unitarian and not-religiously-affiliated experiences. The Asian Americanness of my family is shaped by Buddhism, the not-religiously-affiliated, and Christianity in its mainline/Pentecostal/Roman Catholic/evangelical experiences. The multiraciality meshes with our multifaith nature. I remember an early conversation with my parents when they sat us down and explained we would not be sending out Christmas letters to friends and family, because not everyone celebrates Christmas. Instead, we sent out Thanksgiving letters (sorry, Native American friends).  I could decide that all religions are basically the same, because they point to the same things, but I don’t actually believe that. Different religions are quite distinct. There are some qualities shared across religions, and many beliefs in different religions that have no...

Welcome to the blog series celebrating the 2015 Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, inspired by the "Our New Day Begun" series celebrating Black History Month by the Rev. Tawnya Denise Anderson. This month, you will read profiles of Asian Pacific American Presbyterian leaders, spanning many generations and ethnicities. Check back throughout May for more profiles! 
A look at other posts: Presbyterians Celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month The Rev. Charlene Han Powell The Rev. Phil Tom The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow The Rev. Yena Hwang The Rev Joann Haejong Lee The Rev. Shawn Kang The Rev. Neal Presa The Rev. Jim Huang Joey Lee is the Executive Presbyter of the  Presbytery of San Jose , and lives in San Jose, California. Are you a “cradle Presbyterian,” or did you come to the tradition later in life? I am a “cradle Presbyterian,” and God willing, will complete that phrase “…to grave Presbyterian.” I was baptized as an infant at Montview Boulevar...

Welcome to the blog series celebrating the 2015 Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, inspired by the  "Our New Day Begun" series  celebrating Black History Month by the Rev. Tawnya Denise Anderson. This month, you will read profiles of Asian Pacific American Presbyterian leaders, spanning many generations and ethnicities. Check back throughout May for more profiles! 
A look at other posts: Presbyterians Celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month The Rev. Charlene Han Powell The Rev. Phil Tom The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow The Rev. Yena Hwang The Rev. Joann Haejong Lee The Rev. Shawn Kang Jim Huang of New Brunswick, NJ serves as the Senior Pastor of the Taiwanese/American Fellowship Presbyterian Church . Here he is with his wife KuanFen Liu and daughter Terilyn Huang. Are you a “cradle Presbyterian,” or did you come to the tradition later in life? I am a cradle Presbyterian, but from a different country. I was born in Taiwan, baptized as an infant in a chu...

Welcome to the blog series celebrating the 2015 Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, inspired by the  "Our New Day Begun" series  celebrating Black History Month by the Rev. Tawnya Denise Anderson. This month, you will read profiles of Asian Pacific American Presbyterian leaders, spanning many generations and ethnicities. Check back throughout May for more profiles! 
A look at other posts: Presbyterians Celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month The Rev. Charlene Han Powell The Rev. Phil Tom The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow The Rev. Yena Hwang The Rev. Joann Haejong Lee The Rev. Shawn Kang The Rev. Jim Huang The Rev. Neal D. Presa, Ph.D. serves as  Associate Pastor at Village Community Presbyterian Church , Rancho Santa Fe, CA and as  Extraordinary Associate Professor of Practical Theology, North-West University , Potschefstroom, South Africa. He is the i mmediate Past Moderator of the 220th General Assembly (2012) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). ...

Welcome to the blog series celebrating the 2015 Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, inspired by the  "Our New Day Begun" series  celebrating Black History Month by the Rev. Tawnya Denise Anderson. This month, you will read profiles of Asian Pacific American Presbyterian leaders, spanning many generations and ethnicities. Check back throughout May for more profiles! 
A look at other posts: Presbyterians Celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month The Rev. Charlene Han Powell The Rev. Phil Tom The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow The Rev. Yena Hwang The Rev. Joann Haejong Lee The Rev. Neal Presa The Rev. Jim Huang The Rev. Shawn Kang is the pastor at Pathways Church of Houston in Houston, TX. Are you a “cradle Presbyterian,” or did you come to the tradition later in life? I grew up in the Presbyterian Church.  When I was little, my parents were part of a small Korean Presbyterian church in Detroit, Michigan.   What do you most appreciate about this...

Welcome to the blog series celebrating the 2015 Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, inspired by the  "Our New Day Begun" series  celebrating Black History Month by the Rev. Tawnya Denise Anderson. This month, you will read profiles of Asian Pacific American Presbyterian leaders, spanning many generations and ethnicities. Check back throughout May for more profiles! 
A look at other posts: Presbyterians Celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month The Rev. Charlene Han Powell The Rev. Phil Tom The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow The Rev. Yena Hwang The Rev. Shawn Kang The Rev. Neal Presa The Rev. Jim Huang The Rev. Joann Haejong Lee serves as Associate Pastor for Community Formation at Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, CA. Are you a “cradle Presbyterian,” or did you come to the tradition later in life? Cradle Presbyterian! Both my maternal and paternal grandmothers were the first Christians in my family. They shared their faith with their chil...

Welcome to the blog series celebrating the 2015 Asian Pacific American Hertiage Month, inspired by the "Our New Day Begun" series celebrating Black History Month by the Rev. Tawnya Denise Anderson. This month, you will read profiles of Asian Pacific American Presbyterian leaders, spanning many generations and ethnicities. Check back throughout May for more profiles! 
A look back at previous posts: Presbyterians Celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month The Rev. Charlene Han Powell The Rev. Phil Tom The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow The Rev. Joann Haejong Lee The Rev. Shawn Kang The Rev. Neal Presa The Rev. Jim Huang The Rev. Yena K. Hwang is the Associate Pastor for Christian Formation at Fairfax Presbyterian Church , and lives in Falls Church, VA. Are you a “cradle Presbyterian,” or did you come to the tradition later in life? I came into the Presbyterian tradition as a child.  My great-grandfather accepted Christianity through his encounter with early M...