54 Quotes by Soong-Chan Rah

Consumerism and materialism have so successfully infiltrated American Christianity to the extent that we no longer question or even notice them.

The evangelical culture moves too quickly to praise from lament. We do not hear from all of the voices in the North American evangelical context. Instead, we opt for quick and easy answers to complex issues.

Just reach a hand across. Let's be equals and partners. I don't need you to rescue me, just like you don't think you need rescuing by me. My rescuer is a Jewish carpenter. I want to be a colaborer in Christ with you, not your reclamation project.

Lament will not allow us to revert to easy answers. There is no triumphalistic and exceptionalistic narrative of the American church that can cover up justice. There are no easy answers to unabated suffering. Lament continues.

The term justice is too casually thrown about without the corresponding sacrifice. We want the popularity associated with being justice activists, but we don't want to lament alongside those who suffer. | The city lament calls us to remember to ongoing pain that is very real on the streets of the city. The funeral dirge calls us to not ignore the painful history. The communal lament reminds us that while sin is personal, it must never be seen as individualistic.

We have yet to engage in a proper funeral dirge for our tainted racial history and continue to deny the deep spiritual stronghold of a nation that sought to justify slavery.

Listening to the suffering community does not imply that one party is completely innocent while the other party is completely guilty. Instead, it acknowledges that the the dead body in the street is once again the body of a black male.

The captivity to individualism in the West leads many to reject the possibility of institutions and systems inflicting social harm that requires a social response.

The funeral dirge opening of Lamentations and the first three verses of Lamentations 1 reminds us that grief that emerges from a very real and painful history must be acknowledged.