UniteBoston

Bridging Divides Across Christians for the Flourishing of the City

Beyond Invisible

Shin Maeng and Sarah Shin are gifted artists and conveyors of God’s heart for justice. They both graduated from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and now live with their baby girl in Scotland. Sarah also served as Associate National Director of Evangelism with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) and is the author of Beyond Colorblind. We wanted to share this beautiful piece of art that was inspired by Sarah’s poem, which capture the pain and also hope within generations of those in the Asian community, a powerful piece for reflection during this Holy Week.

“American 한 (Han)” by Shin Happens.
 
“Beyond Invisible” by Sarah Shin
 
The tears were always there.
You just didn’t recognize my face.
Nor did you see behind the hunched back of the one doing your nails
The steel frame of a mother feeding her family with 14 hour work days.
 
Instead of seeing in our bodies and our face 
The altar of the broken faithful awaiting resurrection 
You make them instead into a graveyard for your sins.
But some habits just die hard, huh?
 
Inconvenient convenience it would be
To behold in a flattened story 
The freedom-fighters who battled war, demagogues, oceans, and despair
And tore themselves from everything they knew to be home
The heartache of sacrificing family past to give family future a chance.
 
Anchors they have served to be as we strive to make this home
But cut into them and you’ve cut loose
Everything that told us to bear it
Everything that said hope was worth it 
To swallow tears and keep our heads down.
 
No more now.
 
Our dams are broke and now they flood
All around you, all around me.
 
Do you see beyond just my face now?
Do you see beyond what you didn’t see in my eyes now?
Do you see me
Can you see me
Can you see me now?
 
#StopAsianHate #StopAAPIHate
Explanation of the imagery (from Shin)
 
I am Korean American. Historically, cream-white was the robe of mourning worn by Koreans at funerals, and that is what the woman at the top is wearing over my take on a han-bok. There are lamenting faces woven into the collar of her robe. Her arms are outstretched around her mother, who bears the traditional hairstyle of Korean queens in days past. (“Ma Ma” ironically means your majesty in Korean.) The 할머니 (grandmother) wears the gold-red robes that were only reserved for kings, a rightful honoring of her womanhood and protest against the invalidation, misogyny, and oppression so many Korean and Asian women by their own brothers and fathers. My wife and I grew up with Asian women pastors and leaders. We honor you. The grandmother has her arms outstretched around her granddaughter, who holds a cup full of the tears that flow down her mother’s face, down her 할머니’s face, and cascades out as they are poured onto the ground. There are no tears on the little one’s face which looks up with hope, but the tears are an offering of prayer, pain, and love, the love of mothers who sacrifice for the sake of their future families. It is a plea and prayer for help, of women of faith who have kept the family knit together in their persevering and too-often suffering love.
 
If you want to support Shin’s art go to 
 
From now until the month of April, Shin will be donating the proceeds of selling this piece to two organizations: StopAAPIHate and Asian American Christian Collaborative. These offer helpful resources for reporting and resisting the anti-Asian racism we are seeing and to helping Asian-American mobilize towards faith-based action against racism.

Social Media Revivalists

Hey UniteBoston!  You may remember Kika Ghobrial, our incredible emcee in UniteBoston’s annual concerts such as last fall’s “Love Boston” concert. Did you know that Kika also planted a church called “Lighthouse” for young adults in West Roxbury, and has been working to produce a new Podcast called “Social Media Revivalists?” This new podcast highlights how Christians with hundreds of thousands of followers are using social media to share the gospel. We had the chance to catch up with Kika to hear more about this initiative – Read his story below to hear how people are creatively sharing the gospel and engaging with future generations.

UB: This sounds incredible. Kika, tell us how did this project get started?

Kika: Yeah it’s been a fun journey and honestly, I’ve always been interested in videos and the media world and love having some sort of creative outlet. At the end of 2020, I was ready to commit to doing something big like this so I finally made it happen! I reached out to some “big Christian Tiktokers” who have hundreds of thousands of followers to hear a bit of their story and how they are seeing God use them to bring people to Christ! Here’s a quick clip of one video that shares a bit of that story that I’ve used to promote the show on Tiktok as well. It really is amazing to see Christians online bringing real world revival and I’m just here to listen to their stories and share the good news with the rest of the Christian world. 

UB: Why do you think these posts on social media took off?

Kika: I think that the pandemic increased the isolation and brought many people to ask the big questions about God, the meaning of life, and seeking greater purpose. Christians took to social media platforms, especially to Tiktok, to publicly share their faith and the strength of trusting in God in challenging times. As you’ll find out on the show, there are testimonies after testimonies of young people starting their faith journey because of what they heard others share online. In fact, in a Tiktok livestream, a young man named Elijah Lamb saw over 300 people give their life to Christ! All in one night!

UB: Wow, how does that work for all those people to indicate a profession of faith online?

Kika: With the livestreams they can see how many people are in attendance and then people can respond on the chat so Elijah had people respond through that. Crazy stuff! There’s a lot more going on that I thought when I first started this podcast – I never thought the impact was that wide-spread.  You can watch the Elijah Lamb soon as it will be released on Monday night March 22.

UB: Awesome, Kika. Can you tell me more about yourself and what else you are passionate about? 

Kika: I live on the Gordon College campus with my wife Rachel who is a resident director there. One of the perks of living at Gordon is that we live close to the beach and can go surfing when it’s warm enough! 

I’m also passionate about connecting with young adults and growing the influence of their church to impact the local community. The big project I am working on currently is launching the English church at the Arabic Church which will be called “Lighthouse Church” and will open its doors on Easter! When I look back, it’s been quite a journey since I moved to West Roxbury from Cairo, Egypt in 2002 when my father accepted the position at this church!

UB: What do you appreciate about UniteBoston?

Kika: I love the vision of UniteBoston and the opportunity to bring Christians from all backgrounds together to unite in worship. I have built incredible relationships through those worship nights as well as through the West Roxbury community dinners that UniteBoston also hosts.

UB: What’s next for you with Social Media Revivalists?

Kika: I’m dreaming of creating a resource with names of churches and youth pastors in all major cities, so when young people give their life to Christ through online social media platforms like this, they can get connected to a local church. I recognize that this is key for life-long discipleship – and I am talking to a few people about that now! 

UB: What’s your take-home message to Christians in the Boston area?

Kika: COVID has made it challenging to reach out to others to share our faith because we can’t see people as easily. What if we learned to be comfortable on social media and share our faith through the technology that is available to us? While some say technology is bad, God can use anything and redeem all things, so I would love to see us continue to find creative ways to share the hope that we have even in the midst of a pandemic!

Kika will be releasing an episode of “Social Media Revivalists” every other Monday – Check it out on Kika’s Youtube Channel, Spotify and Apple Podcasts

Worship Singer Jen Aldana’s EP: “Trust in You”

“The biggest thing that has kept me afloat this season is learning to receive God’s love. It’s hard to trust anyone when you don’t truly believe they love you. When I struggle with that trust, I do my best to sit and receive God’s love, to remember He’s a good father that loves me.“

This week, we are excited to share about Jen Aldana’s full EP (Extended Play) release! Jen was one of our featured artists in the Love Boston concert last fall and she has been working hard to put together an amazing array of music collectively called “Trust in You”, which is now available on Spotify, Apple Music, or Amazon Music. Jen took time for an exclusive interview with UniteBoston resident journalist Peter Seremetis; read below to hear the impactful story behind the EP’s creation, and some hopeful words from Jen!

Peter: Tell me about your first EP. It sounds really exciting!

Jen: Yeah absolutely! The whole EP is called “Trust In You.” It’s about trusting in God every step of the way. I’ve had to trust that the path I’m on is the track that God has for me, trust that His promises are good and that they will be fulfilled, trust that even in the midst of a pandemic and struggles and fears, He’s got me and He loves me, and He’s guiding me. It’s like a big part of this whole journey for me. 

Peter: Have you been working on this full EP for a while? Or is this a recent project? 

Jen: This has been a long time coming. 

Peter: Admittedly I’m not as familiar with the music business, so I’m curious what exactly is an EP, and how did you put it together?

Jen: So EP stands for “Extended Play”, and is a collection of songs that’s a little shorter than an album (e.g. albums usually have 7+ songs, and this EP has 5). Usually with music, you first have to write the song and come up with demos. Then you produce the song by bringing in other musicians and record it. Then you get help to mix and master the song, and once this is finished, it is ready for release. So I had this project mastered, done and ready to release (for distribution, shipment, etc.) since December 2018. 

Peter: Wow! So it’s been ready for two years. What had been holding you back from releasing it? 

Jen: The last two years, I was almost waiting for the right moment and I just felt there was never the right time. It was really just fear that was holding me back. I was fearful that it wouldn’t do well, or that people wouldn’t resonate with it, etc. So what I ended up doing was releasing it song by song–like “Heaven Rejoices”, “Trust in You”, and “Your Peace” performed in UniteBoston’s Love Boston Concert last year. 

So come 2020, I’m like “this is the year! I’m gonna release it! No matter what!” And then the relationship I was in at the time ends the week right before quarantine, and now we’re in this pandemic and everything is completely shut down! So all of my motivation and all of my inspiration is just kind of gone and shattered, and I’m like “how am I supposed to go through with this project in a pandemic? What is even going on in the world?” I had so many plans, I was going to do a tour, I was going to do an EP release show, I was going to do this and that, and suddenly I couldn’t do those things anymore. So, I was sad and heartbroken about it, and again, I didn’t release it.

Peter: It sounds like you’ve been through a lot with this EP, and a lot of those feelings definitely resonate. So what motivated you to release it now?

Jen: Come 2021 I was like “Man, I have to do this. I have to move on!” I have other projects and music that I want to work on and release, and by holding onto this project, I just felt like it was keeping me from that. So I said to myself “I have to do this.” But at the same time, I wanted to be obedient to God because I have felt led through the Lord to work on faith-based music to begin with. This wasn’t the direction I was going in before artistically, so this EP is an act of obedience and a leap of faith for me. 

Peter: Since your EP is called “Trust in You” and since all of us wrestle with trusting God sometimes, I’m curious what encourages you to press through in those moments when you have a hard time trusting God? Especially during this challenging season you’ve been going through?

Jen: The biggest thing that has kept me afloat this season is learning to receive God’s love. It’s hard to trust anyone when you don’t truly believe they love you. When I struggle with that trust, I do my best to sit and receive God’s love, to remember He’s a good father that loves me. He’s not a God waiting with crossed arms for me to make the “right decision,” He’s a God waiting for me to run into His arms, and that brings me more peace than anything.

Peter: Such a powerful and important perspective. So what can people expect to see in this EP now that it’s released? 

Jen: People will hear familiar songs I’ve written and released already like “Trust In You” and “Heaven Rejoices,” but also some new songs like “Come Away With Me / Come Away” and “How Good You Are.” The “Come Away With Me / Come Away” song I’m especially excited for people to see because it’s a cover medley between the pop song “Come away with me” by Nora Jones, and a worship song called “Come Away” by Jesus Culture. Even though the two songs are different genres, the medley between them in the Trust In You EP is almost like this love song of God just loving His children and His people. For example one of the Nora Jones verses is “Come away with me on a Bus. Come away with me, I’ll never stop loving you;” and in the Jesus Culture song it says, “Come away with me. It’s not too late for you. I have a plan for you.” So the statement I wanted to make in putting the two songs in a medley together was that God really is in everything, we’re just not always looking for Him. We can find God in a bus. We can find God both in secular pop music and in worship music. We can find God all throughout His creation. So people listening can see that we honor God so much more when we can identify him in the mundane, not just when we’re sitting in the pews of the church or listening to a sermon. 

Peter: Why should people listen to the EP, and how can they support you in this EP release?

Jen: I really just want folks to feel God’s love & peace as they listen, and the EP can be listened to in all kinds of situations. It’s great for background music while praying, a workout playlist, a commute playlist (or while you’re doing work at home!), and really great for any time you want to get in the presence of God. I’ve even had a pregnant mother reach out once that she’s adding it to their birthing playlist, I’ve seen videos of folks listening while working out, and many stories of folks feeling encouraged by the honest lyrics. I’m also just excited for people hearing the EP’s music as a project, a journey and a story being told all the way up until the last note. Heaven Rejoices are the first words of the EP, and I want people to really feel that tug on their heart and come closer to the Lord. In terms of support, any listen, re-share, Spotify follow, and email subscription is super helpful! 

Peter: Do you have any encouraging words for Christians in Greater Boston at this time? 

Jen: I do! My word of encouragement is something powerful my pastor shared: The key to this season isn’t always doing something new, it’s consistency. In a time where it’s so easy to get discouraged in our faith, our ambitions, and relationships, it’s taking one consistent step in front of the other that will help keep us afloat. You’re doing better than you think.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33

Christian Unity Canvas Prints

Looking for a new wall hanging? Now that we’re spending more time at home in the pandemic, this is a great time to spruce up your home. Buying a canvas print from UniteBoston will give you a visual reminder of unity, faith, and resilience in these challenging times.

How it works:

Below are low-resolution photo versions of the prints we can make on either canvas or metal. Fill out this form indicating which print you would like and the size, and pay via Paypal or check here. We’ll order it through a printer and have it shipped straight to you.

Note that the costs below are for standard shipping; for rushed orders there will be an extra charge. All proceeds go to support our church-uniting, bridge-building work!

Costs for Canvas Prints

12″ x 16″ = $40
16″ x 20″ = $50 
20″ x 30″ = $65 
36″ x 24″ = $75
30″ x 40″ = $90 

*For metal prints, add $10

*Cost for digital image – $50 each. We will send you the high resolution graphic for you to use personally, or for marketing materials for your business or organization. 

Order A Print
“Beloved Community” – Drawing by Stephanie Irwin. Background info for this drawing here.
“Light the Night” – 2018 UB Worship Event in the Boston Common. Photo Credit: Koo Chung
“Light the Night” – Pointellism effect
“Light the Night” – Gouache effect
“Together in the Light” – Photo from the 2020 Love Boston Concert. Photo Credit: Elijah Mickelson
“Together in the Light” – Oil Painting Effect
“Together in the Light” – Impressionist Effect
“Together in the Light” – Watercolor Effect
“Love Boston” painting by Lori Dupre for our 2020 Love Boston Concert.
“One City” Painting by Lori Dupre for the 2018 Worship Night in the Boston Common
“Singing over the City” photo from the Boston Pray racial justice event, Photo credit Daniel Ebersole
“Singing over the City” – Gouche Effect
“Singing Over the City” – Watercolor effect
“Surrender.” Photo from the Boston Pray racial justice gathering. Photo credit Shirin Kazimov
“Surrender” – Impressionist effect
“Surrender” – Underpainting Effect
“Do Justice. Love Mercy” photo from the Boston Pray racial justice gathering. Photo credit Shirin Kazimov
“Do Justice. Love Mercy” – Impressionist effect
“Do Justice. Love Mercy” – Gouache effect

Impacting the Digital Divide for Boston’s Most Vulnerable Students

Our blogger this week is Pastor Sam Acevedo from Congregation Lion of Judah. Sam Acevedo is the Executive Director of the Boston Higher Education Resource Center (HERC) since its founding in 1999. He also serves as one of the founding Co-Chairs of the Boston School Committee’s Opportunity and Achievement Gap Task Force. Today, Pastor Sam shares about the need to prayerfully repent and act to change the “Digital Divide” on behalf of our city’s most vulnerable children.

Graduating Seniors from the 2019 Boston Higher Education Resource Center Passport Program

So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.  James 4:17 (ESV)

Sometimes it takes a crisis to inspire us to do what we ought to have done all along.  To do what was always within our power to do, but we lacked the will to do.  And it often takes an arc of years – decades, even generations – to appreciate the depth and devastation of what the ancients called our “sins of omission”.  Our “Lord, I should have . . .” sins.

Take, for instance, the “Digital Divide”.  The first time I heard that term was at a conference in Worcester some 17 years ago.   It was becoming evident that lack of access to data, and the technology that transmitted that data (personal computers and broadband), was opening a new and alarming gap in racial equity and economic opportunity; and that this “divide” threatened most devastatingly the children and youth of black and Latino households.  In the room, and at the podium, was a sampling of those who would arguably play an influential role in closing that divide: people in philanthropy; elected officials; corporate, non-profit, and academic leaders.  “We should do something about this,” they all concluded with great urgency, before we adjourned and went home.  But as late as last March 2020 – as school buildings closed in response to the global pandemic, hurtling 50,000 BPS children into compulsory “remote learning” – 1 in 3 Black and Latino households in America still lacked access to computers and broadband. 

What to do?  Within two weeks of the school closures, Boston Public Schools was distributing 20,000 new Chromebooks to home-bound students of color throughout Boston.  Another 10,000 Chromebooks went out to BPS families this Fall. No internet access?  Portable “hotspots” suddenly appeared in homes with no previous wireless access; cable companies, sounding magnanimous, waved contract fees and other barriers to connectivity.  Eureka.  A yawning “Digital Divide” – that everyone was aware had persisted for decades – was being bridged, seemingly overnight.  But where did all this stuff come from?  And why did it take so long?  And why did it take this – a global pandemic – to address it?

Now take Exam School admissions . . . It is axiomatic that black, Latino, and other students of color are woefully underrepresented among those enrolled in BPS’ elite schools.  It is so axiomatic that for generations – easily over 100 years – there has been one attempt or another to see more children of color enrolled in Boston’s top-shelf public schools, but little has ever changed.  It is, in fact, so axiomatic that eight years ago, when the organization I run – the Boston Higher Education Resource Center (HERC) – began sending Coaches into BPS classrooms to pave a path to college for first-generation BPS youth, we made a conscious decision to focus on “non-exam” high schools: 82% of Black and Latino kids attend a school other than an Exam School, we reasoned – and the few who did make it into an Exam School would be “fine”. 

So I was bewildered when God – and I am now quite convinced it was God – had me serving this summer on the Exam School Working Group, convened to do two things: (1) figure out how to do “Exam School” admissions in a year beset by interrupted learning, and where having masses of children sitting for an actual “exam” would be unwise; and (2) figure out, if possible, how to see more students of color admitted to BPS’ elite schools.  For six weeks, four hours a week, we poured over the data.  As we did, I sensed the Holy Spirit confronting me and convicting me, deeply.  The data shook what we knew, or thought we knew, about our black, Latino, and other historically-marginalized children, and their path to Boston’s Exam Schools.  A path, we saw, that was laden with disheartening obstacles as early as third grade.  “No wonder – why hasn’t anyone seen this before now?”  That data was telling us, as our hearts sank, that there would be no magic bullet, no quick fix.  We did what we could to recommend a path forward for the 1,100 children seeking admission to our Exam Schools in the wake of a global pandemic.  And we steeled ourselves for the long, and difficult, work of ending generations of inequity keeping our black and Brown children from the best education BPS has to offer. 

It can be done.  That is the good news.  It’s just going to take time.  And the will to do it. 

The COVID-19 crisis has shone a glaring beam of inescapable truth, exposing these long-ignored inequities to the surface, and eliminating “inaction” as an option.   It is just like God – the Defender of the powerless, the Voice of the voiceless – to do that.  “Now, you must see; now, you must mourn,” the Lord seems to be saying, “Now, you must act.”  As a community we can celebrate that, after decades, we are finding the way, the means, and the will, to do or at least begin to do, for our most vulnerable children, what we long ago should have done.   But we must also stand, in community repentance, for the countless generations of children whose lives might have turned out very differently, if we had done far sooner what a crisis is compelling us to do now. 

Students studying in the Boston Higher Education Resource Center

Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.  The “Lord, I should have . . .” sins are often the hardest to identify, and repent of, and confess.   As a community.  And as individuals who will stand before the eyes of a holy God who sees into our hearts.  It is a wonderful act of grace that the Lord should reveal to us, and entrust us with, “the right thing to do”.  May He add to that, the grace to actually do it.

Prayer: Lord we bring to you our “I should have . . . “ sins.   Ours, and the “I should have . . . “ sins of our people.   We love our children, God, especially those who face seemingly insuperable hurdles to endure, to overcome, and to succeed.  And we thank you for the treasures you have bestowed on this community – the teachers, the administrators, those in government, those in philanthropy, those in academia, those in ministry, those who lead schools, those who lead businesses, those who lead churches – everything and everyone needed to execute the desires of your Heart, and to see your will done on earth as it is in Heaven.  Bless the children of Boston Public Schools.  And give us the means – and the will – to bless them, as well.  

More on Supporting Urban Schools

The Boston Education Collaborative is currently recruiting volunteers to remotely help teachers with their Zoom classes as well as tutoring in after school/before school programs – They are currently at 1/5 of the way of their goal to get 150 volunteers! More info here.

“Behold, I am Doing A New Thing” – a blog written by Ruth Wong about how God has been at work through the pandemic in nurturing new collaborations between churches and city institutions.

“The Church and the Village: The Value of Church/School Partnerships” – a blog written by Pastor Barry Kang about the value of churches supporting schools.


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