Happy Lunar New Year!
Although 2024 has begun, many feel the heaviness of wars, genocides, and violence weighing upon us. We feel so small and often helpless living under powers and principalities of the world. Where can we find hope and sustain ourselves at such a time?
We are reminded of theologian bell hooks who said, "One of the most vital ways we sustain ourselves is by building communities of resistance, places where we know we are not alone."
So we begin this year around the kitchen table, kneading dough to make dumpling wrappers, and mixing fillings with our stories, tears, and laughter. Let us practice hope as we begin this year together.
Email info@reconciliasian.org or message us on Instagram if you'd like to join.
Reflections from the Mennonite Peace Action for Ceasefire in Washington D.C.
by Lynn Hur
On January 16th, Lynn participated in an outdoor peace vigil with about 200 Mennonites in front of the House of Representatives' Cannon House Office Building in Washington D.C.. Some 135 Mennonites and other interfaith allies also entered the Cannon Building and were arrested as they sang songs of peace and called on Congress to support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and release of all hostages in the war between Hamas and Israel. Here are her personal and political reflections.
I have a friend that lives in East Jerusalem, Palestine, with whom I have developed a deep friendship over the last few months. I clearly remember one conversation from the first time we met, as we sat outside and talked for hours. When she had finished telling the story of a particularly harrowing experience in her life, I asked, rather clumsily, “How do you stay sane?” Just as I started to regret asking, she finished taking a drag out of her cigarette and exhaled with the wisdom of a 23-year-old Palestinian woman: “You find people who grieve the same way you do.” We paused, quietly sitting with that profound answer, and then she added with a laugh. Then she added with a laugh, “Oh, and we drink and smoke like, all the time!”
The last few months have been a practice of profound grief for all of us. This grief mobilized me and other Mennonites from all over the United States to gather in Washington, D.C., for a Day of Action for Gaza, organized by Mennonite Action. Here is a breakdown:
Monday, January 15th: Training Day (12:30 p.m., National City Christian Church, Washington, DC.)
There are two things you must know about Mennonites: 1) Mennonites love to sing hymns in four-part harmonies. 2) The Mennonite community is a small world.
This is the most white people I’ve been around in a while, I text my older brother after a long session of Mennonites solemnly putting their heads together to make sure the hymn singing will be in good shape tomorrow. All around, I see welcoming smiles, “Is that my cousin?” and “It feels like a family gathering!” It is heartwarming to see communities and congregations connect and reconnect, and yet it seems that many people do not know how to talk to me. In fact, hardly anyone has talked to me at all today.
Our training focuses on our personal motivations for participating in civil disobedience. I make small talk with an older woman who coolly explains, “I have nothing to lose—I might as well.” For many people, their motivation is that they are with their community, so they feel more secure and encouraged. But I am alone, very much a minority here, and feel very much like an outsider. By the time I have to decide, I realize that I don’t feel grounded enough to participate in civil disobedience, and choose to support the cause in other ways.
Tuesday, January 16th: Day of Action (10:30 a.m., Washington City Church of the Brethren, Washington, D.C.)
In these overwhelmingly white spaces, I often find myself observing rather than reaching out—maybe because it is more comfortable for me. But I’ve realized recently that I am actually just waiting for someone to notice me. I am made comfortable with not being seen.
Perhaps people do notice. As we walk toward Capitol Hill, I see a few people give me a quick glance, a tight smile, a questioning look. A couple people ask me how I had heard about this event, to which I respond, “I’m representing my Mennonite congregation.” A young white woman abruptly asks if I grew up in the Mennonite church, to which I respond with a muted nod. These aren’t intentionally harmful questions, but they arise because they do not think I am one of them.
Outside the Cannon House Building, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. (12:25 p.m.)
There are 150 Mennonites inside the Cannon House Building participating in civil disobedience, singing hymns as they get arrested by Capitol police.
Meanwhile, there are over 200 of us outside, having our own peace vigil. Everyone quiets down, and despite the wind, we can hear faint singing from inside the Cannon House Building. As the arrested protesters begin to be moved into police buses, we cheer and sing to them hymns of protection and peace. The atmosphere is filled with a sense of unity and solidarity as we stand together, transcending physical barriers. It went smoothly as expected: Mennonites and their preprepared plans, and their blasted beautiful four part harmonies.3:50 p.m., Representative Judy Chu’s Office, Rayburn House Building, Washington, D.C.
Office 2423 is far down the hall. We shuffle across the large, white corridor with quiet footsteps that echo through the chamber. As I pass each representative’s office and plaque, I see pasted next to every single one a blue poster that indicates support for Israel. I reel at the sight of a Floridian representative’s office, flanked by a “thin blue line flag” used by Blue Lives Matter supporters, a similar red one apparently in similar support for firefighters (which is a thing, I guess), alongside an American and Israeli flag.
We come to a stop at the office next door—Representative Judy Chu’s office. My community has gathered in front of her office in Pasadena, California, every Monday since the siege on Gaza began. While her office back home is hidden in a commercial strip next to a bank and ATM, this one is formidable and all very official-looking. These people are so flagrantly powerful, I think lamely, as I drop off a petition for a ceasefire in their mail slot. It's a bit of a late observation, but it’s all the more reason to move.
Lynn is dropping off petitions signed by over 5,000 Mennonites at Congresswoman Judy Chu's office in Washington D.C.
Wednesday, January 17th (1:45 p.m., Smithsonian National Museum of Art and Portraiture, Presidential Portraits Exhibit, Washington, D.C.)
The last thing I do before I leave D.C. is visit the Smithsonian’s Presidential Portraits exhibit. I feel a churning feeling in my stomach: the bitterness of our history and legacy of electoral politics, of a bureaucracy dedicated to the agenda of genocide as a Western imperialist strategy.
Grief transforms into resolve as I stand in front of the portraits, as I walk the formidable white halls of powerful politicians, as I speak to their tired aides, and as I realize the stark barriers within my own faith community. What does it mean to “find people who grieve the same way you do”? To me, it means that my grief cannot stay here, welling at the pit of my stomach; it must be carried together and transformed into action. It means I must participate in a reconciliation between myself and my community to do the good work. It means I must choose to place my grief with them for renewed energy to take action.
Prayer Requests
Our amazing project manager, Hyeyoon, is preparing to have her first baby in the next couple of weeks! Please pray for Hyeyoon and her husband as they make room to welcome this precious gift.
Jan 28-Feb 2, 2024: Hyun is in Chiang Mai, Thailand to support leaders of a mission organization for DPRK. Please pray for wisdom, clarity, and unity of hearts for the team.
Feb 3-4: Hyun will continue to support to Dr. Bruce Yoder of AMBS as he is teaching Global Anabaptist History and Theology for the MATGA program. Please pray for the students and staff in the program.
Feb 9-11, 2024: Sue is organizing Hope for the Future, an annual conference for BIPOC Mennonite leaders.
February 23-25: Hyun will be attending a retreat organized by Mennonite Church South Korea. Please pray for a powerful time of renewal, reconnection, and reimagination for everyone gathered.
March 3: Hyun will be leading a seminar on radical hospitality at MMTS, a multicultural ministry training school in South Korea.
Hyun has been invited to be a partnering pastor at 어.울림 교회(Uh.Ulim Church) in Bucheon, South Korea. We are excited to explore how a Mennonite pastor can collaborate with a Korean Christian Reformed Church. This is truly a ministry of reconciliation!
Please send us your prayer requests to info@reconciliasian.org.
Inaugural cohort of Korean Masters of Arts:Theology and Global Anabaptism (MATGA) program in South Korea with Bruce Yoder of AMBS