Walk With Me
The following is a lightly edited transcript and a video of Shin Maeng’s talk from our 2021 Enfleshing Witness gathering.
Shin creates because God has invited him to create and share beauty, brokenness, and redemption; and invites all to be a part of the beautiful, epic story of God and his creation. Shin creates in order to bring a deep awareness of the movement of God in our lives on a daily basis. Shin creates among those who daily walk with the experiences of brokenness, joy, scars, peace, loss, adventure, contemplation, redemption, and love.
Hello, my name is Shin, and I hope you're enjoying this conference. There have been many terrible things that have happened over the past few years. I guess it's been more than that.
However, this past year was difficult in many ways. Black lives not giving the reverence required to thrive and be. Anti-Asian hate boiling over into violence, and Asians becoming COVID blaming targets. Brown brothers and sisters being peddled as unwanted and unclean in our social systems. White nationalistic dogma distorting and corrupting the values of a man from Palestine. He was a brown, unclean, and unwanted target. A man we call Jesus.
While the world has been going through a lot of these tragic events, I live in Scotland, in one of the most beautiful and friendliest places on earth. I love it here. Also, we are the only Asian American family in our town. However, the tensions of the world still strike me and wound me.
It was hard for my friends, my British friends. They all wanted to help but didn't know how to help whilst in a global pandemic. I was getting frustrated with myself because I didn't even know what would help. I just kept on feeling I didn't want to emotionally vomit on my friends who are intentionally wanting to help. Also, I didn't want to lash out in anger towards my friends. I didn't want to say, you should have known, or this, this, and that.
I didn't have that many people to talk to relate a lot of things. And so my wife and I mourned a lot.
My mother-in-law was gifted this Korean illustrated Bible. I've seen many things. It is one of the most beautiful illustrations I've laid eyes on.
Jesus was always dressed as a traditional Korean gentleman. One with a round top hat, indicating his royal lineage. Jesus’s gestures are always gentle and elegant.
Then I remembered this phrase: Walk with me. His response is so gentle. Jesus, in all of the Gospels, invites people to walk with him, to come and see, to see and hear and believe.
To believe that in this broken world, the Son of Man is and was walking with us. I invited my British friends to walk with me, just like my journey of racial reconciliation. My black brothers and sisters walked with me to come and see, and see and hear and believe that in the midst of the darkness, Jesus's redemption still shines.
As Western culture folks, we want answers and deliverables. We want it now, just like our Amazon Prime deliveries. This instant gratification is not a healthy obsession. Just like it's not good for a person to just run a marathon. It takes training. We walk first. We might jog. We might need a massage. An ice bath. We just keep on walking.
I drew this piece as a reminder to walk with Jesus, and with our brothers and sisters. Not everyone knows your story, and may they walk with you in that. Even Jesus says in Matthew 13:15:
“For the people's hearts have become calloused. They hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise, they might have seen with their eyes, heard with their ears, understood with their hearts, and turned and I would heal them.”
Jesus offers us all healing. We all need healing. And I offer you this peace to walk with Jesus. Maybe the question is, can I trust Jesus to walk with me? Will my community walk with me, with my pain?
Jesus loves us even in our messiness. He holds our pain and doesn't erase it. He waits with us, and he walks with us. We can't do this alone. Jesus knows our pain and struggle. He is gentle and kind. He is not like anyone else we know. He is inviting you to heal and also inviting you to participate in his story.
For those who know the suffering of others, humbly walk with them. Hear their stories, walk with them just as Jesus walks among you. This is an invitation to holy ground. Come and see. Hear what Jesus is moving in our hearts.
May we know that Jesus walks with us.
May the Holy Spirit guide us to people to walk with and bless us.
May we walk, hear, see, heal, believe, and seek His kingdom come, His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
We are excited to announce a new chapter in the Enfleshing Witness movement: “Enfleshing Witness: Rewilding Otherwise Preaching.” Learn more about this new grant opportunity and sign-up to stay connected as the project unfolds.
SHIN MAENG
Shin Maeng resides in St. Andrews Scotland. He grew up in Bridgewater, NJ, New Haven, CT and Cambridge, MA. He is married to Sarah and has a wee lass. Shin loves to create on his iPad and also loves to get his hands dirty. He has a Masters of Urban Leadership from GCTS Boston. Music, cities, stories, Marvel comics, dancing, most things on YouTube, food, justice and the movement of God's hand are a few things that inspire Shin's hands to create.
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