REVIEW
*h/t Maite Villareal-Rodriguez for Year End Recap Questions (translated from Spanish š )
**most of these entries did not come out in 2020 but were a part of my 2020
Best Film: “Jo Jo Rabbit” (a hard to categorize film that somehow captured 2020 in it’s strange way of living in a sort of isolated bubble while the world is under siege, about a boy who ridiculously romanticizes Hitler but who learns the reality of “the other” through relationship)
Best TV Show: “Chernobyl” (a series with eerie parallels to America today that is true horror…because it really happened, captured best in the quote of real life Valery Legasov: āWhat is the cost of lies? It’s not that we will mistake them for the truth. The real danger is if we hear enough lies, then we no longer recognize the truth at all.ā)
Best alternative media: In the midst of all the heaviness, this Tik Tok video made my whole family laugh, and inspired repeated viewings.
Best Sermon/Inspirational Message: This was a morning devotional by Albert Tate near the beginning of the pandemic that turned into a preach that hit so deep, from a reading of Mark 5:1-20 (start from the 20:00 minute mark).
Best Book: Christian Hospitality and Muslim Immigration in an Age of Fear by Matthew Kaemingk (a book that I had to read for my social ethics class that is jam packed with so much good stuff…the reflections from Hans Boersma on the Slave-King and Naked-Christ were so powerful…and so needed in our world today)
Best Restaurant: BBQ Chicken (our new go to to-go Korean Fried Chicken spot that was the source of much savoring around the family table)
Best Song: “Godspeed” by Frank Ocean (this haunting song by a secular artist “took me to church” in its echoes of the spirit of the prodigal Father story in Luke 15)
Best Date: Watching “Long Shot” and laughing it up together with Ji. Pumpkin Patch trailer ride with the boys.
Best Moment: graduation of the faithful and resilient D-School class of 2020 and going on neighborhood walks, holding hands with my boys.
Something I Learned from God: That He hears the cries of the oppressed, working on His timetable.
Something I Learned About Myself: I need to recognize that my boys are a gift from God to teach me to be present to my emotions (Amos) and to be faithfully present to others (Nathan).
Who Did I Pass the Time With: my family, men’s group, Asian American Ally Table Talk, Phil Bahng, and of course Steven and Maite on too rare occasions!
Places I Visited: Port Hueneme and Joshua Tree
Favorite Place: cozy on our bed together with Ji and boys, watching “Night on Earth” on Friday nights with the lights out.
Funniest Moment: (many priceless convos with the boys, here’s one with particular resonance this year)
D: (looking for my son in the house) Amos where are you?
A: Iām sorry, you were on mute.
Obstacles: Covid19
Commitments: To lean on Jesus and not try to be the savior
Something That Didn’t Happen: No in-person 1st quarter of seminary classes
Hope for 2021: Personal: That I come back from my sabbatical a better Father to my boys (one concrete goal is for it to be the norm in my interactions with them to have at least 2 positive interactions to 1 corrective interaction). General: That the American church would step into repentance and be the fiercest advocate for the “least of these”.
REFLECTION
*taken from my end of the year letter to supporters
A World Upside Down
It’s been a year unlike any I have known. My father-in-law passed in February (in hindsight Ji and I see Godās mercy in taking him home early, as I cannot imagine our family not being able to see him in person if he passed in the midst of the pandemic), our state went on lock down in March, our nation erupted in racial protest in May, an unprecedented presidential election contestation in the fall, and we are currently in the 3rd and most deadly wave of Covid-19 thus far. In a year that feels like the world as we know it has been turned upside down, God has been revealing much – our actual priorities, preoccupations, and prejudices. If we didnāt know it before, we know now more acutely how desperately we are in need of Jesus.
In a year of such pain it feels hard to express it since there are those who have it worse, especially the most vulnerable in our society. But, it is okay, indeed good, for us to name how we feel, with God. Collectively, we have felt even more cut off from others and mourn the loss of being unable to welcome others into our homes at this time. But it is in this place that Jesus welcomes us into His arms, inviting us to turn and eat with Him. His arms are strong enough to carry you, us, and even the whole world.
treevalley in the inner city 