During the last plenary session of the Progressive Asian American Christians (PAAC) conference this weekend we heard some incredible stories by the LGBTQIA+ community. I was asked to lead a time of prayer and offered the following words for our beautiful sister and friend, Rachel Held Evans, someone who advocated for women’s voices, people of color and women of color voices, and especially LGBTQ voices.

“Domestic work is the work that makes all other work possible.”These are the words are found on the front page of the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), the "nation’s leading voice for dignity and fairness for the millions of domestic workers in the United States, most of whom are women.”Founded in 2007 by activist and MacArthur "genius grant" recipient Ai-Jen Poo, NDWA works for the respect, recognition, and inclusion in labor protections for domestic workers.

I continue to cry on and off throughout the day. Tears of sadness. Tears of betrayal. Tears of confusion at the kind of community it seems we live in now - or apparently, have always lived in since we stepped foot in this country as immigrants.I keep staring out the window wondering, Now what? We lost something on November 9th. More than an election. Something - call it humanity, compassion, hope - faltered and perished, and something in me, too.

We are living in a world with no shortage of trauma each day. From floods to tsunamis, victims of gun violence and terror, refugees seeking to preserve their lives only to find themselves caught in wars and waves, we are constantly bombarded with the reminders of a relentless suffering experienced by God’s children. Where can we turn to find assurance of God’s loving presence in our midst holding us in caring hands?

Even though I don't have a pulpit Sunday, I felt a pull to the call to preach, and so here it is: 

I often take the kids to the protests and vigils in town. From the murders of Trayvon Martin (the twins were barely 6 months old) to the extrajudicial killings of Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and Rekia Boyd, and so many, too many to even begin to count here, when Michael Brown was killed by police in Ferguson, when a Muslim woman was attacked at a cafe to the “Bloomington against Islamophobia” (remarks I gave are here), when we wanted to be a part of “Ferguson Action” and “Reclaim MLK Jr. Day,” when hostilities arose against refugees during the Syrian crisis, when the Charleston 9 were brutally killed by the white supremacist American terrorist, when the Orlando massacre happened very recently.