J.S. Park 박준

This is (not) a hot take:

In any situation where children are harmed,

I will always be on the side of the children.

I was interviewed by the inimitable Lisa Ling for a feature on my hospital chaplaincy work and on grief, faith, and hope.

Thank you Lisa and for all who have kindly been alongside, most especially my amazing coworkers. ♥️🙏

youtu.be/RUVheWGBFd0?...

I was interviewed by the inimitable Lisa Ling for a feature on my hospital chaplaincy work and on grief, faith, and hope.

Thank you Lisa and for all who have kindly been alongside, most especially my amazing coworkers. ♥️🙏

youtu.be/RUVheWGBFd0?...

We cannot say we didn’t know. 🍉🗣️

Reposting: Eight initiatives to feed, clothe, and shelter Palestinians under siege.

www.instagram.com/p/DMVpejexbin/

“How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been; how gloriously different are the saints.”
— C.S. Lewis

Need to say this over and over:

I’m only really free when you are too.

Need to say this over and over:

I’m only really free when you are too.

My book on grief is almost 50% off in paperback today. ❤️‍🩹

Also available in ebook and audiobook. 🙌

On sale here: www.amazon.com/dp/1400336848

Not to overstate it, but there was another 33 year old immigrant who was persecuted for welcoming children, providing food & healthcare, advocating for marginalized people, & speaking against the inordinately wealthy and religious far-right. This time the people got it right and picked him. #Zohran

My dad-in-law asks my almost five year old daughter what family means to her.

She says, “Family means love. Family is when we eat together, we laugh together, we play together, we go to sleep at the same time together.”

That’s my new definition of family. 🫶

흑인의 생명은 소중하다.
In Korean, the phrase Black Lives Matter translates to Black Lives Are Precious. You more than matter. You are more than worthy of protection. Black lives are beloved, cherished, dignified, and made in the Image Divine.
#BlackLivesArePrecious #Juneteenth #FreedomDay

Somebody tried to tell a joke while laughing a lot to my almost five year old daughter, and when it’s done my daughter tells them, “Why are you laughing at yourself over nothing?”

I went asystolic. Brutal. 😭😭💀💀😭😭

Jesus telling the church. I almost want to get this shirt. 🙃

I was terrified of having children because of the trauma & heartache that I thought I’d pass down. But years of help, therapy, safe people, & my awesome wife, & here I am. I can’t imagine life without them. Breaking cycles, building better, for their future & for all our children. ❤️‍🩹🫶🙏#FathersDay

A reminder:

Politeness
does not equal
rightness.

Religious leaders are bravely showing up for their immigrant neighbors and standing up for the kind of sanctuary that our faiths call for! 👊

#LosAngeles

“And so you can try to stretch, stretch, stretch yourself so you can internalize, ‘Homo sum, humani nil a me alienum puto: I am a human being, nothing human can be alien to me.’”
— Maya Angelou, What She Said Life Taught Her

So many mock those who protest, but every single one of us has always benefited from the very road paved by those before us, those who are fighting hard for humanity.

Fighting for our rights will always benefit everyone. None of us got here by settling for less.

#LosAngeles

I am reminded again:

When you see those moved in collective grief, permeated by anger, shouting, marching, singing, and shaking,

this is our necessary & ancient response when we know change must happen.

Listen to this grief.
It has been silenced but can never be silenced for long. ❤️‍🩹

#LosAngeles

It’s a gnawing guilt or ache or anxiety, and it’s a very lonely and hard feeling. Can’t just be me? What do you do about it? #parenting

Asking parents: Is there a word for this feeling when you look at your child and can’t help but internally ask

“Did I do enough for them today? Are they really okay right now? Am I doing okay? Will they be okay out there? Am I badly missing something?” #parenting

that they can trust I had planted the seed of a tree which they can one day sit under its shade.

I love you both,
you are my world,
which is why I clamor for a better one.
May my voice echo for you
not as chains, but wings.

My continued hope
is to raise daughter and son
into the world we are fighting for,

for the liberation and humanity of all oppressed people; to speak clearly against bigotry and genocide; to know our dreams and wounds are connected at hip and heart;

One of the most important things l've learned in the hospital:

If your theology doesn't work for the suffering, it doesn't work at all. If it doesn't matter at the end, it doesn't matter now. The posturing, hatred, exclusion, semantics, debating, hierarchy: none of that was it.

I got some giant pizzas for the trauma bay in the emergency department. I love our nurses, physicians, social workers, the HCW crew. Love and peace and pizza to each of you. 🙏🍕♥️ #healthcareworkers

Your pain needs

no qualification

to be heard—

pain qualifies itself.

Your anger must be given room—

it is a wound to be tended to.

Your pain needs

no qualification

to be heard—

pain qualifies itself.

Your anger must be given room—

it is a wound to be tended to.

The only theology that matters in the end

is not the one you must prove

but the one that carries you through. ❤️‍🩹

One of the most important things l've learned in the hospital:

If your theology doesn't work for the suffering, it doesn't work at all. If it doesn't matter at the end, it doesn't matter now. The posturing, hatred, exclusion, semantics, debating, hierarchy: none of that was it.

I do not expect the unmoved to suddenly be moved by *Palestinian children are being killed.* Bigotry has caused so much brain rot that even children are seen as expendable.

Still, we have to keep speaking up for them. If not to change minds, then to preserve our heart.