Each of us at the wedding had unique stories about their life, but most knew how it felt to be an Asian American in this country.

For almost thirty years after coming to the United States, I didn't fully understand the cultural cues around me. Initially, this gave me the false sense of liberation. I often interpreted uncomfortable situations to be my fault, as an ignorant immigrant. Trying hard to assimilate, I unconsciously suppressed what came naturally to me.

Would you be with me in a spirit of meditation, reflection, and prayer. Friends, it has been another challenging week in our world. I want to invite us to start with some silence, time to reconnect with our breath and reground ourselves. Let’s be in silence together. Silence... ring bell. This...

I want to say to all those who would close the door, who would be guided by fear instead of hope, who would clutch in scarcity rather than live in generosity, who would say “No, you can’t come here”— I want to say: How dare you. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, . .

In eighth grade, we were assigned a project: to make a poster about some part of our ancestry. I made mine about the story of the 1930 migration, from Germany to the United States, of my great-grandmother, her husband, and their three children. My great-grandmother, Emma Johanna Jacoba Kranenburg...

We hear it said we are witnessing a “clash of civilizations.” We hear it from presidential candidates, from right-wing talk radio pundits, from white supremacist, nationalist and terrorist organizations. They say we live in the midst of a “clash of civilizations.” This is the first great lie...

For many reasons, people depart. They leave home—or the places given to them, in place of home that might’ve been lost to war—and seek refuge from a thousand dangers and uncertainties. For many reasons—many of them inconceivable to us, who live in relative peace and prosperity—people...

Introduction The Cornbread and Cider Communion is a tradition in some of our congregations. With gratitude for our freedom and for our abundance, let us celebrate this ritual today mindful of Syrian and other refugees who are unable to go home, those for whom we pray safe passage and a welcoming...

Pity the poor dandelion. It is, in many ways, nature’s perfect plant. With a tap root that grows more than a foot long, it can survive in climates of scorching heat and bitter cold. Its tender, young greens make a tasty addition to any salad, or they can be boiled like fiddleheads or as a tea...

Congregation starts, reading the words in italics. They say I am “illegal”; But so is anyone who ever rolled through a stop sign, jaywalked or threw trash on the ground. Not having a visa is a civil infraction, not a federal crime. They say I am here to take your jobs; But the jobs are often...