By Greg Yee, Superintendent, PacNWC
It was a definite highlight last month, and it will be added to my top list for sure. It was not like a miraculous feeding or major revival, but I saw God so clearly. I saw him sovereignly working over the last 15 years inspiring people to his mission leading up to this year’s Moon Festival at Tacoma’s Chinese Reconciliation Park. Let me start there.
Similar to many Asian cultures, the Chinese follow the lunar calendar. As part of this, many holidays and festivals are connected to the movement of the seasons. For the Chinese, the second most important celebration behind Lunar New Year is the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. It dates back over 3,000 years. The celebration is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar corresponding with the full moon (mid-September to early October). This is when the Chinese recognize the moon at its brightest and fullest size.
OK, God sightings – let’s go back to 2005. Our conference sent representatives to California to join the Pacific Southwest Conference’s pilot Journey to Mosaic (J2M). PacNWC exploratory efforts were led by Rev. Krisann Jarvis Foss who was on conference staff. God inspired her to bring this mobile discipleship workshop engaging racial righteousness to our conference. We successfully piloted ours in 2007. Since the beginning, J2M has stopped at Tacoma’s Chinese Reconciliation Park. You can familiarize yourself with the park and Tacoma’s specific contribution here and to the Chinese Exclusion Act here.
But this is not an article about racial righteousness. It’s about seeing God at work over 15 years.
My family and I moved into our Renton Highlands neighborhood after I was called by you in 2013. After a few years, the conference sponsored our first evangelism cohort with pastors which I participated in as well. We were encouraged to join something; get out into the world and mix and mingle. I really wanted to join a park district softball league, but with my schedule, I settled on our HOA board! Mary and I also were already attempting to know our neighbors better including a young Chinese couple. We would go on to meet weekly with them, studying scripture and praying, and sharing meals and some holidays together. They became fast friends.
As we got to know them, we found out that the wife was a long-time friend of Larry and Theresa Pan Hosley who are the founders of Chinese Reconciliation Park. Larry has been the main docent of the park when J2M stops there. It was fun to connect our neighborhood world with our ministry world.
Do you see God yet?
Earlier this year, our neighbor asked me if I would be interested in joining the Chinese Reconciliation Park Foundation board. I didn’t realize that she was on the board herself. I didn’t even need to pray about it! I said “yes” immediately! It means a lot to me as a Chinese American to be connected to this amazing community treasure and its ongoing work to bring unity and peace to wider Tacoma. It is an incredible honor to serve on this board.
So the first project the board was focused on was the Moon Festival. After two years of doing it virtually, we were excited to go live again. I was asked to help recruit volunteers and immediately thought of two of our churches in Tacoma: Praise Cov and our new plant Garden City. Pastors Mark Knight and George Bedlion enthusiastically rallied their people to volunteer for set-up and clean-up. They were simply amazing! Their can-do spirits were a tour de force. It was an incredible gift to the festival leaving a lasting impression on the CRPF board. I was so proud of them.
George also got to bless the event. Several of the local clergy that normally participate in leading the beginning blessing were not available, so that left George to do it alone. Friends, it was surreal for me to see the streams of God’s call over 15 years and different people saying “yes” leading to this amazing scene of a Covenant pastor blessing the people of Tacoma. Here’s the blessing:
May the creator who fashioned a world of diversity and vibrancy be with us as we embrace life in all its fullness.
We are all created to love and be loved, to share our joys and our sorrows together, to co-create a more beautiful world together. We share gratitude for the astonishing variety of races and cultures in this world.
May our lives be enriched by ever-widening circles of friendship, kinship and solidarity.
May we be empowered to love each other and be good neighbors in our communities.
May we care for both friends and strangers.
May barriers of division be broken and may belonging be given generously.
May the creator of all things bless us and go with us as we find the courage to create a place of welcome and unity for all.
Jeremiah 29:7 comes to mind here:
But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare..
The birth of J2M in the PacNWC, evangelism cohorts, one of our four founding conference churches (originally First Cov Tacoma), and one of our newest church plants, and many other unseen and unspoken streams all coming together and pointing forward to God’s ongoing work in greater Tacoma. I can’t wait to see how these new relationships will develop as Mark and George and our Mission Friends at Praise and Garden City continue to say “yes” to what God invites them into, particularly through what was birthed out of the Moon Festival.
I must add one more connected thought. The day after the festival I traveled to Chicago to meet with the Council of Superintendents for a full week. A new leadership chapter officially began with the new president, two new supes and one interim, and a new executive minister of Develop Leaders. Amidst all of the transitions and uncertainties in the Covenant these days, I want to remember what God showed me in Tacoma. Since 1885 God has been inviting Covenanters to join him in different chapters and at different times, and in different ways. He continues to invite us to join him as he weaves our stories and his plans together.
Friends I returned from Chicago with a deepened sense of anticipation for what’s ahead. I was inspired by my colleagues who continue to eagerly say “yes” to Jesus. And it makes me more excited to think about what God has for us as a conference as we launch into this fall.
Note: Featured above is George Bedlion opening the Tacoma Moon Festival