Pastor’s Notes

NOTES FROM THE PASTOR

Pastor Jae Hong

As the deadline neared to write these thoughts, I was slowly gathering my thoughts in an e-mail draft on my phone while lying on the floor of my boys’ room as they struggled to sleep. I thought it was coming together quite nicely! I was going to start with an ice breakertype question to let you know I have moved around a lot in my life (six times in 10 years!), to highlight the irony that with every new place we move into, we bring in the same old furniture. There was going to be a witty transition to how houses are relationships, furniture is our personal experiences that we feel define us, and that sometimes joy is not finding a new house but realizing you are not defined by the bedroom armoire your parents bequeathed to you in remembrance of them.

Then something happened today that I will never forget the rest of my life. My family decided to brave the weekend Costco rush to purchase some household necessities and croissants. With an unexpectedly large receipt in hand, I was pushing the cart towards the exit with my three and five-year-old sons sitting shotgun as my wife walked more surefootedly behind, keeping the baby asleep in her carrier. With daylight in sight, my five-year-old proceeded to hand the receipt to an older man to receive a friendly hello back as the smile behind my mask let my son know it was a welcomed interaction. As the employee handed back the receipt with two smiley faces on its backside, he started to tell my children that he can speak Chinese too. I immediately told him, “Stop,” and repeated it again. But as soon as the second “stop” left my lips, he repeated “Ni hao” twice to them. The man’s brow furrowed and voice grew defiant as he denied my assertion that he made a racist comment. The rest of my words were met with “have a nice day” laced thick with a tone that meant the very opposite. As we rolled away quietly to our car, my son asked, “What happened?...I’m Korean?”

It was the first time I couldn’t protect my son, and I know it will not be the last. It was an absolute feeling of powerlessness and loss of control. Nothing I could say or do would help my son unhear those words or un-remember that man’s angry face, just like the same memories rooted in me and others who were told their places are in the margins of common society.

What does joy look like in those moments and in these moments around us today? In the prolonged backdrop of a global pandemic, from the daily reporting of atrocities in Ukraine, from the constant echoes that the world and weather around us will never be the same, to the daily reminders of our own physical and mental frailty, we find ourselves anesthetized by the tidal wave of pain and despair that we try so hard to just not be pushed back any further.

continued on page ten.

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JUNE EVENTS

June 5 Contemporary Issues Class Pick Up Choir Rehearsal Worship - Confirmation Sunday Newcomers Group Handbell Choir Love Lives On Stonebridge Gathering Divorce Support Group Youth Group June 6 Monday Morning Bible Study AA Church Council

June 7 AA June 8 Love Lives On Cornerstone Community Meal June 9 AA June 12 Contemporary Issues Class Worship - Graduate Recognition Sunday Acolyte Training Newcomers Group Handbell Choir Divorce Support Group Youth Group End of Year Party June 13 Monday Morning Bible Study AA Children & Youth Formation Team Membership & Growth Team

June 14 AA Trustees Worship Ministry Team June 15 Love Lives On Cornerstone Community Meal

June 16 AA Nominations & Lay Leadership Team June 18 Pride Parade June 19 Contemporary Issues Class Worship & Children’s Ministry Love Lives On Handbell Choir Divorce Support Group June 20 Monday Morning Bible Study AA Stewardship/Finance Team Circle of Care

June 21 AA Communications Team June 22 Love Lives On Cornerstone Community Meal

June 23 AA Staff Parish Team June 25 Juneteenth Cookout June 26 Contemporary Issues Class Worship - Baptism & New Member Sunday Small Group Leader Appreciation Lunch Adult Formation Team Witherspoon-Jackson Prayer Pilgrimage Divorce Support Group June 27 Monday Morning Bible Study AA Vacation Bible School

June 28 AA Vacation Bible School Technology Ministry Team June 29 Love Lives On Vaccine Clinic Cornerstone Community Meal Vacation Bible School

June 30 AA Vacation Bible School

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