Jesus is Dead

Descent from the Cross by Van der Weyden

Jesus is dead. His body is wrapped up in linen cloth saturated with spices and ointment, buried in the tomb of Joseph, the Arimathean. His family, friends, and followers weep.

My question to us this Holy Saturday is -- what if he remained dead and buried? What if he's just another dead Jewish prophet, long forgotten in history? Leaving behind not a timeless, far-reaching global legacy, but a small group of disillusioned, frightened followers cowered in their hiding places?

What would your world, your community, your family, your life be like if Jesus remained dead, on the metanarrative and personal level? Let's allow our imagination take us there in a vivid way.

It'll be worthwhile for all of us, atheists and people of faith, to reflect on this today, and to revisit it every Saturday after Good Friday and before Resurrection Sunday -- imagining our life in a world with a dead and buried Jesus with none of his resurrected legacy.

Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.   

Luke 23:50-56

Sunday Thoughts

Stormy Sea Breaking on a Shore by JMW Turner (1845)

This is the third Sunday of being sheltered-in-place here in Chicago. A cold, blustery, overcast day in March. I am finding Sunday to be the best day of the week for me during this time of lockdown. Perhaps it's because it is the Lord's Day. Not that the rest of the days of the week do not belong to God, but that it is the day set aside for us to rest in our resurrected Lord Jesus whose love and power remain with us to this day. This rest in him and his promises is especially needed during this Covid-19 pandemic. I need to take a break from the constant barrage of newsfeed, to find mental and emotional rest in casting my anxieties and cares on the Lord of the Sabbath. I need to take time to refocus, to take in his light and his calm in order to replenish the light that has dimmed within me through the week and to still my growing anxious heart. 

Now that most church services are streamed online, I am finding solace participating in  worship at some of my favorite churches; and in the process, finding connection and belonging that transcends distance and time zones. Covid-19 has ironically made church much more available to those who might not otherwise darken the door of a physical church. 

How we "do church" has drastically changed in the past weeks, as has how we "do life". Tragic in so many ways, but hopeful in others. But "do" we must, with church as with life. Doing it within our new confines yet somehow making it count far beyond our new limitations. I am inspired by the remarkable ingenuity, creativity, energy, and determination of people across the world, to not only make the best of our situation with the coronavirus running amok,  but also to defy the devastation that Covid-19 has wrought. As the virus seeks to decimate our health, economy, and communal bonds, we need to stay hopeful, for the alternative is despair. 

Wherein lies your hope?

Invisible and lethal is covid-19, invisible and powerful is our God. 

And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger.  And they went and woke [Jesus], saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm.  He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”

Luke 8:24-25 

Word for 2020!

Sunrise in Lincoln Park

Hope is my word for 2020! Having a word for the year is a new undertaking for me. Something that I was reluctant to take up when my friend Darlene first suggested it to me. How can one little word interest and impact me for a whole year?

But as it is, in these early days of January, since its inception in my head, that one minuscule word "hope" has helped shape the moments of my day. Life is after all lived in increments of moments. I'm not saying that I'm always aware of the word, but having adopted it, like an underground water channel to shrubbery, it's been giving verdancy to my day,  

Hope helps me start my day with the right perspective; hope provides excitement as I  study it from a sociological, theological and literary perspective (a year-long process, I would imagine); hope gives me hope when circumstances look unpromising; hope draws me closer to God who is the ultimate source of lasting hope.

Hope, at its basic level, is a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen; the feeling that something desired can be had or will happen; or the feeling when we do not know whether something will happen or not, but want it to happen. All of us need hope in one form or another to carry on with our day, especially when life is uncertain, unhappy, or unfathomable. We should never ridicule hope of any kind, but wish for everyone to have reasons to hope. We recognize the devastation the absence of it can have on our existence.

Hope followed by the preposition for and in, I believe, are the underpinnings of our lives. In hoping for something, we find reasons to live. In hoping in something, we find strength to live. They are equal forces that cannot be separated in order for life to take off and have equilibrium, like wings to a bird. In short, the objects of our hope come to define how we live and ultimately who we are.

My wish for me and my loved ones this year is that we will have hope; and not just hope, but hope for and in objects that will shape and sustain us to live intentionally, abundantly, compassionately, and fearlessly.

What is your word for 2020?

No Refugee Admitted in October 2019!

Photography by AT Monaco

For the month of October, 2019, the United States resettled not a single refugee! Of the millions of displaced people in the world, we admitted none? How is that possible? How did we even come to this point? How does an Administration supported by evangelicals succeed in making the nation turn its back on the destitute? Where is the outcry from Christian supporters whose faith should inform them that love, care and justice for the refugee, the destitute, is high on God's agenda? As Christmas approaches, let us not forget that Jesus was born a refugee.

If faith doesn't inform, how about the basic moral code of taking responsibility for one's actions? According to Scott Arbeiter, president of World Relief, this pause in taking in refugees is not only  heartbreaking, it is unjust. “Withdrawing our troops from Syria meant unleashing chaos in the region and forcing even more people to flee their homes. To refuse to open our doors is to abdicate responsibility for a scenario to which we as a nation have contributed." It may behoove us to find out what percentage of people fleeing their homes in recent history has been the result of US policies and intrusion into their homelands..

If faith and morality can't move hearts, how about basic human compassion? Imagine you and your family as refugees, all vetted, holding tightly your precious documents, waiting to board that flight to safety and a future...then to find out that the flight has been canceled due to a change of policy in the United States? You look at the faces of your excited children, your heart breaking at having to take away their laughter yet again. You can't even assure them that it will be a brief delay.  And even if it were to be the case, your security checks would  probably expire by then, and it may be months or years before your number is up again.

If faith, morality and humanity can't inform us of the plight of refugees, what else is left? Are we then a nation without a soul, where only greed and self-interests dictate policy and action?


Deuteronomy 27:19
'Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.' 

Psalm 146:9
The LORD watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.  

Prover 31: 8--9
Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. 

Luke 10:25-37
But he, desiring to justify himself, [the expert of the law] said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus told him the story of "The Good Samaritan," followed by the question, "Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" The expert said said, "The one who showed him mercy." And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do likewise."

The Moon Represents My Heart

My mom and my aunts

I was sorting my cd collection yesterday (well it's actually my parents' which I inherited) and came across cds of Chinese pop music. Listening to them took me back to a different place and time...to my childhood in Singapore where I was surrounded by the remarkable women who have loved me and shaped me. Chinese pop music was always in the background whenever they gathered at my grandmother's, although two of my aunts would probably prefer the Bee Gees to Teresa Teng!

My mother, my grandmother, my four aunts were exceptional women in their own rights; their very different dispositions and their big hearts have contributed to the person I am today. They have left their indelible marks of fierce love, triumph over adversity, generosity, kindness, faithfulness, and determination on the next generation. I didn't have to look far for women to emulate, each of these women has inhabited my orbit since infancy, saturating it with their loving presence, delectable food, endless conversation, and deep affection. When I left Singapore to study in the United States, every one of them was at Changi Airport to see me off, their eyes brimming with tears. I departed carrying with me their last-minute gifts and advice, their hopes and pride in me, and above all their steadfast love. Their sentiments remain with me to this day.

I dedicate this all-time favorite song, The Moon Represents My Heart by Teresa Teng, to my remarkable grandmother, mom, and aunts. They would be tickled pink to know that for her wedding in Chicago, my daughter not only chose to have a tea ceremony but this very song to accompany the festivity. Perhaps their influence has not only molded me but has come to shape the next generation as well!

The Scorecard for Great Leadership

Photography by AT Monaco

I was browsing the  World Economic Forum website when I came across this fascinating leadership scorecard contributed by Lutfey Siddiqi. As the upcoming US presidential election heats up, this scorecard might come in handy as we evaluate the candidates and our current president.

According to Professor Siddiqi,

The first attribute is personal integrity, incorruptibility and sacrifice.
The second is the ability to galvanize support through eloquence, story-telling and charisma.
Third – and arguably the most important factor – is effectiveness or the delivery of results through the length of a marathon, and beyond the sprint of revolutionary rhetoric.

Scoring them on a scale of 1 to 10 in each category, it would be eye-opening to see how our presidential candidates, including the current president, stack up. The first two attributes would be  relatively easier to score with all that is readily available about their personal lives, their past, as well as their speeches and interactions with voters on the campaign trail. The last would require more investigative work. There is plenty of "revolutionary rhetoric" going around from all our candidates, but rhetoric, even the impassioned ones, can hardly translate into effective governance. Experience then, with notable qualifying results, would be an obvious first criteria for evaluating a candidate in the third category.

While I believe that all three attributes are vital, the first to me is the most important, for a rotten tree simply cannot bear good fruit. A leader who lacks personal integrity, out of the corruptness of his heart, can only tear down a nation regardless of his eloquence or the effectiveness of his policies.

How wonderful it would be, come the next election, to elect leaders whose personal integrity, courage and sacrifice are exemplary; whose love for nation comes before personal hubris and gain; whose speeches and actions inspire and encourage, replacing tweets that deride and demoralize; and whose diplomatic, governing experience galvanizes, restores and sustains a nation that has somehow lost its footing since the last presidential election.

Scallion Biscuits

Photography by Lauren Monaco

Discovered this easy recipe for savory biscuits while sorting my old food magazines. I am no longer one to try elaborate recipes, easy recipes with few steps and healthy ingredients are now what capture my attention. Delighted that this scallion biscuit recipe from Bon Appeitite has made its way into my default recipe list! Taste great with soup, salad, or an omelette!

Here's the recipe with some changes. I made mine with less salt and smaller in size.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, cooled, divided
4 scallions, thinly sliced
1½ cups sour cream
Hungarian hot paprika (for serving)

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 400°.
Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and baking soda in a large bowl.
Drizzle in 6 Tbsp. butter and mix lightly with your hands just to distribute butter.
Make a well in center of bowl and add scallions and sour cream.
Mix with a wooden spoon until no dry spots remain and mixture forms a shaggy dough.

Using 2 spoons, drop about 1/4 cup of dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing at least 1½" apart, or into a 12" cast-iron skillet, arranging so sides of biscuits are just touching.
Brush tops with remaining 2 Tbsp. butter; sprinkle with paprika.
Bake biscuits until tops and bottoms are golden brown on top and bottom, 12–15 minutes.