“Alleluia, Christ is risen!”  

Alleluia, may we come alive, fully alive, as Christ is risen!

Since a group of us launched The Gathering in 2017, my greatest joy has been to see my AAPI siblings becoming fully alive in a space where they can be unapologetically, fully themselves, unimpeded by code-switching, and invited to lead with all of who they are – their gifts and talents, cultural sensibilities, sense of humor. I don’t take this for granted because it is not uncommon for AAPIs to feel invisible in the church. I long for spaces where every person feels fully alive.

Isn’t this what Easter is all about?

In Easter and through his resurrection, Christ conquers death and breathes new life into us so we – all of us, the entire us – can become fully alive. Easter and resurrection often can be couched in lofty spiritual language that risks neglect of many facets of our human experience. After all, Jesus, the Jew, died from a Roman execution, resurrected in bodily form, and appeared to his followers in ways that they recognized in their cultural contexts.

 I invite us to reflect on a few questions this week as we hear reflections on Resurrection.

• What parts of us reemerge and resurrect with Jesus on Easter? 

• How might we locate resurrection hope in our cultural selves? 

• What is the resurrection hope that the Church offers to our people and our communities? 

• What different resurrection stories do we invite into our midst?

 Alleluia, may we come alive, fully alive, as Christ is risen!

Peter Huang

The Rev. Peter Huang was born in Taiwan and grew up in Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong and the United States. Nurturing the multiple aspects of one's identity to reflect the image of God in oneself and others is at the heart of his vocations as an Episcopal priest and a psychotherapist. He enjoys cycling, watching sumo, binge-watching Asian dramas, and traveling, and lives in Altadena with his partner and their son.