In October 2025, hundreds of people from all over North America gathered for three days in Washington D.C. at the first ever national conference hosted by the Asian American Christian Collaborative (AACC) at Open Door Presbyterian Church.
Jesus’ life reflects the minjung (민중) of human history, life born in and concluding in unjust suffering. Incarnate Jesus resembles the deepest suffering of the immigrant experience within the diaspora of Asian Americans and beyond.
When I first read about Jacob and his uncle Laban in Genesis, I did not see Laban as anything but a villain. But now, years later, as I reflect on my South Asian culture and the culture of Jacob’s time, I find that I have questions about who Laban is.
I have carried these two perspectives, those of my tito and my classmates, with me for many years, trying to discern the right way to respond. The painful reality has been that biblical passages such as Rom. 13:1–7 have been used to justify the horrors of colonialism; by right of conquest, the imperial powers were granted the divine right to rule.
Asian Americans who are not fully bilingual understand Moses’s dilemma and can identify with his situation. As they are unable to speak fluently in the language of their homeland, they end up stammering and stuttering when they try. They speak hesitantly as they translate from one language to the other in their heads, and when words eventually emerge, they are tainted by an accent. On occasion, native speakers make fun of their feeble attempts, thus shaming and further discouraging them, causing them to shut down.
Alongside “Have you eaten yet?”, “Let’s eat!”—or in my Cantonese household, “sik fan la!”—is a mealtime call shouted loud and clear throughout the house, reaching all the hungry stomachs and drawing them near. …As I read Jesus’s words, “Come and have breakfast” (John 21:12, NIV), I can’t help but recognize Jesus’s anticipation of the disciples’ needs and his preparation of a simple, yet thoughtful meal made with love.
We've inherited a vision of work that prizes achievement, esteem, and productivity above all else. But Scripture tells us something different. Work is about worship, service, and faithfulness. And the gap between those two visions is exactly what the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14–30 invites us to reckon with.
