Nominee, Ha Na Park to Executive of Denominational Council (Full application)

Nominee: Ha Na Park 
by Manitoba Northwestern Ontario Conference 
Nomination to Executive of Denominational Council, United Church of Canada 

Please note if there are any other identities this nominee holds that might diversify and strengthen the church's leadership

Living in the intersectionality of race, gender, queerness and faith; immigrant woman; newcomer's perspective; queer person/woman of colour 

Please provide a statement from the nominee on why they wish to serve on the Executive 

I would like to enhance my contribution to the life of the United Church of Canada by becoming a Denominational Executive member. In this crucial time of restructuring, my gift of creating accountable theologies from lived experiences and my passion for the call toward equity will add to the voices of reason and experience already on the Council. I am passionate about remaking our church to truly be ours interculturally — our church as an open-ended and growing church which is ready and willing to be changed and transformed towards embracing diversity through strong relationships with all people. For this vision to succeed, we need to learn how to be a boundary-dweller, willing to let go of what separates us from the Others and removing the hierarchical structures which are tightly attached to White privilege, patriarchy and racism. Embracing diversity is not the same as domesticating differences and new voices under the existing models and rules. It is the thoughtful intention to listen to these voices, to reimagine the new norms of belonging and full participation of all peoples in the United Church. I am eager to serve our church. 

I have strong confidence that our church is willing to be transformed through authentic, right relationships; engaging with differences and new voices of change as a life-giving asset for growth, not as a hostile ‘other’. As we move towards restructuring, we need all of us. We need to encourage and affirm proactive initiatives coming from the margins. To make that happen, we must operate on barrier-free principles for promoting radical welcoming, to distribute power fairly, and to persist with courage through the institutional resistance to change. 

In our church, sexism and racism are still prevalent, and white privilege is real. Yet I have a strong confidence in the United Church’s work to strengthen equity in its body and its mothering and nurturing capacity to grow the seeds of vital ministries. If I am selected to serve as a Denominational Council Executive member, I will bring myself as a woman being racialized who embraces queerness and is willing to ask questions for equity. I will work collaboratively, with a respectful awareness of each person’s differences and the shared love of this United Church of ours. I will also bring to the table the deeper understanding of intersectionality in solidarity with linked struggles and hopes. As a person who defines our Christian calling to be a boundary-dweller like Jesus, I will work hard to nurture the culture of mutuality. I am excited about reimagining the new norms for radical welcoming and full participation of all peoples to become a vibrant, dynamic, diverse church where faith, race and intersecting identities all belong. In addition, I believe that my skills and experiences of promoting diversity and organizing cutting-edge intercultural and affirming ministry programming in the church, such as * Friendship Kitchen and ** Queer and Faithful (Please see the following summary of my recent involvement) would make a meaningful contribution to chart the new paths of the United Church, faithfully.

I believe in the wisdom of the circle and embracing the spirit of diversity as the way for shared life. As many indigenous sisters, brothers and kin teach us, the true shared life is inspired by a strong relationship between people and between communities; it should be deep-rooted in mystery — working of the Spirit —  rather than exchanging one style of management for another style of management. In this sense, I am very excited to see our church calling diverse people to serve on the Denominational Executive, especially those who have been historically marginalized in church decision-making due to various kinds of barriers, to share their true desire for the church and their skills and visions coming from their lived experience. I feel called — It is a blessing to be hopeful and excited for our future and want to share myself: my identity, theology and passion. 

Tell us about this nominee's gifts and experiences -- both in the United Church and outside of it.

My journey with the United Church began when I came to Canada in 2007 and enrolled as a student at Vancouver School of Theology in BC. At that time, intercultural ministry was evolving from established ethnic ministries and emerging as a strong, dynamic component of the United Church. Since then, this important ministry stream has shaped me and my ministry from the inside out. My first true encounter within the United Church was through my experience at Sounding the Bamboo (2007), the ethnic (or racialized and indigenous) women’s conference of the United Church. This intercultural conference does not continue in the present, yet I am grateful that I was able to embody the very important ethos of our church: empowering the underrepresented and supporting their leadership, to teach us how we can organize for diversity and translate our actions into a vital ministry. 

• Young adult representative, Intercultural and Diverse Communities in Ministry Unit-wide Committee (formerly - ethnic ministries), General Council, 2007-8

• Student supply minister, solo ministry at Chemainus United Church, BC, 2012-14

• Translator, the first Mutual Recognition of Ministries consultation with the General Council of the Presbyterian Church of the Republic of Korea, Korea, 2013

• Minister at The United Church in Meadowood, Winnipeg, 2014-17 

• Worship leader and preacher at the Annual Meeting of Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario Conference, Winnipeg, 2015 

• Active member of New Pride group (serving LGBTQ+ newcomers in Winnipeg), Rainbow Resource Centre, 2016 to the present

• Chaplain, Zeebu Youth Conference and Centre for Christian Studies, Winnipeg, 2017

• Organizer, * Friendship Kitchen: free cooking classes for newcomers, (Intercultural ministry) at The United Church in Meadowood with the partnership with various organizations, 2017

• Minister at Immanuel United Church, Winnipeg, 2017 to the present

• The MNWO Conference Executive accepted my request/proposal to add one more principle under Guidelines for Electing Commissioners to General Council, 2018 (Draft) that at least 20 percent of the delegation be racialized or indigenous persons. 

• Organizer of monthly planning meetings of ** Queer and Faithful: An interfaith project of reimagining an affirming space, finding a place where race, queerness and faith all belong (on behalf of the Affirming Ministries of Winnipeg Presbytery), 2018 


Profile of Ha Na Park (Applicant, Executive of the Denominational Council)

Ha Na Park

Minister, Immanuel United Church, Winnipeg 

I would like to enhance my contribution to the life of the United Church of Canada by becoming a Denominational Executive member. In this crucial time of restructuring, my gift of creating accountable theologies from lived experiences and my passion for the call toward equity will add to the voices of reason and experience already on the Council. I am passionate about remaking our church to truly be ours interculturally — our church as an open-ended and growing church which is ready and willing to be changed and transformed towards embracing diversity through strong relationships with all people. As we move towards restructuring, we need all of us. We need to encourage and affirm proactive initiatives coming from the margins. To make that happen, we must operate on barrier-free principles for promoting radical welcoming, to distribute power fairly, and to persist with courage through the institutional resistance to change. Embracing diversity is not the same as domesticating differences and new voices under the existing models and rules. It is the thoughtful intention to listen to these voices, to reimagine the new norms of belonging and full participation of all peoples in the United Church. I am eager to serve our church. 

In our church, sexism and racism are still prevalent, and white privilege is real. Yet I have a strong confidence in the United Church’s work to strengthen equity in its body and its mothering and nurturing capacity to grow the seeds of vital ministries. If I am selected to serve as a Denominational Council Executive member, I will bring myself as a woman being racialized who embraces queerness and is willing to ask questions for equity. I will work collaboratively, with a respectful awareness of each person’s differences and the shared love of this United Church of ours. I will also bring to the table the deeper understanding of intersectionality in solidarity with linked struggles and hopes. As a person who defines our Christian calling to be a boundary-dweller like Jesus, I will work hard to nurture the culture of mutuality. In addition, I believe that my skills and experiences of promoting diversity and organizing cutting-edge intercultural and affirming ministry programming in the church, such as Friendship Kitchen for Newcomers and Queer and Faithful would make a meaningful contribution to chart the new paths of the United Church, faithfully.

I believe in the wisdom of the circle and embracing the spirit of diversity as the way for shared life. As many indigenous sisters, brothers and kin teach us, the true shared life is inspired by a strong relationship between people and between communities; it should be deep-rooted in mystery — working of the Spirit —  rather than exchanging one style of management for another style of management. In this sense, I am very excited to see our church calling diverse people to serve on the Denominational Executive, especially those who have been historically marginalized in church decision-making due to various kinds of barriers, to share their true desire for the church and their skills and visions coming from their lived experience. I feel called — It is a blessing to be hopeful and excited for our future and want to share myself: my identity, theology and passion. 

Baptism Sermon: "You are created from everything!", (Psalm 139) May 20, 2018

Baptism Sermon

— You are created from everything! 

Psalm 139:12-14

Happiness, or the state of being happy, is always an interesting topic; it’s what our life’s goal and dream in general is invested in nurturing, attaining or maintaining. “Be happy” is a great slogan, and we actually say it to one another a lot of times! “Happy Easter”, “Happy Birthday!”, “Happy Thanksgiving!”, “Happy Anniversary!”, “Happy Hanukkah!” 

Now, if we add “Always” to “be happy”, it makes us think. In our Christian Bible, we’ve heard the Apostle Paul encourage his readers, repeatedly, to “Rejoice in God, always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians), “Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians), “Rejoice at all times” (1 Thessalonians). Similarly, in the Jewish mystical tradition, there’s a repeated reference to happiness: “It is a vitally important commandment always to be happy.” In both traditions, the emphasis is on “always.” 

How is it possible to always be happy, when we’ve also learned by experience that there is a time for weeping and a time for laughter? As happiness and joy in life are what we largely invest ourselves in exploring, finding and cultivating, I am sure that as Aiden grows and explores this amazingly beautiful, complex and dynamic world he will encounter a deep time to ask this ancient question about what it means to be happy, and indeed to be happy always. (When the issue is not just about being happy, but “to always be happy” it transforms from a lifestyle issue to a matter of spirituality. Think about it.)

To answer this question about happiness, it is necessary to understand the nature of human happiness. Happiness is not the same as comfort; it is not necessarily to be found in ease, in luxury and plenty. Ease, luxury, and plenty are not shameful, but they are not happiness. Too much comfort can, in fact, cause a weakening of the body or depression of the spirit, if comfort is isolated from higher purposes and life-giving forces. 

We human beings, (really, the whole creation living on this sky-blue planet), like God, who created us, yearn to build. I’m not talking about building with bricks and mortar (Well, birds build their nests; beavers dams, but) – I mean our desire to build relationships. Being God’s creation means that our happiness in our world is to be found in creation. And when we are creating, pain, like in the process of birth, is often the channel that moves us to a deeper understanding and true capacity of loving and being loved. You know, the process of birth is hard for both mother and child, yet that is the moment of one more universe being created, opening up in the dynamic of the two. One (mother) becomes two (mother and child), while two is yet one in the body of the mother. Then, after birth, the two become separated physically: becoming two distinctive individuals — mother and child —. Still intensely connected in a spiritual bond of love, this connection expands with father, with grandmother, with grandfather, and so on and on until it expands to the point of interconnection with all human beings and animals and plants and air and earth and water of the present, of the past, of the future. Here’s my favourite approach to reflect on birthing or genesis. And this is my exclamation for every one of you and us and Aiden! 

One of the Christian doctrines that has engaged our Christian imagination for a long time is Creatio ex nihilo, meaning “creation out of nothing’. Which means, there was nothing before “in the beginning”, and with that first event, all things were created after God’s Word, “Let there be…” from Zero (or even minus, negative) to countless millions (positive). God has created the whole universe — the Sun, the Moon, the stars, animals, birds, bugs, water, earth, flowers, human beings, the complicated and delicate web of life, every entity in it and its beauty - out of nothing, from nothing, without any previous material in place before God, and before God’s Word. Yet, the faith I wish to share with you is this: God of Creation exclaims to us that “You are created from everything.” Not out of the void, not out of emptiness, not out of the vacuum, not out of separation, you are created from everything! From light as well as darkness, from the squalling of infants, from supernovas on the far side of the universe. From the tidal waves of human experiences of loss, grief, anger, despair as well as the experience of the extreme, pure joy of laughter and tears. You are created from everything, and you will continue in the process of creation from everything! Your beginning is already full, flooded in the water of everything; God’s breath is hovering upon the face of your beginning, the quiet vibration on the face of the deep… you.

Happiness is not a sensation of ease and comfort. Happiness is the deeper satisfaction we find when we create: indeed, create from everything we experience… No part is less worthy to be used as the right material to create, and to join with God to create: regardless of whatever form it takes in our life: constructing a physical object, composing a work of art, or raising a child. 

We experience happiness when we have touched the world and left it different according to our will — as long as it is attuned and listens to God’s will for love and more love —. And God whispers to us, in small voices, I am “the lover of Justice.” (Psalm 99) We experience the greatest happiness when we have touched the world and left it better. Certain works of ours will only be accomplished through struggle, with pain, and then with true happiness.

Today, let us remember our baptism. Remember how we have begun. We were created from everything and are still now being created. Happy Beginning! 

Sermon: Abiding in Love (John 15: 9-17), May 6, 2018

Abiding in love, abiding in one another…

John 15: 9-17

In today’s Gospel, Jesus says, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love… This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

The beautiful theme emerges: Abiding in love; abiding in one another.

How do we do the “abiding”? How do we abide in one another? What is an example of abiding, and of not abiding? 

In the passage that we read last Sunday, Jesus says, using the image of a grape vine, “I am the vine. You are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit.”

If you read these verses from the Korean translation of the Bible, the word abiding (in Korean) is closer to the meaning of ‘dwelling’. The image you can get from the Korean understanding of the word is close to the scenario of welcoming your guest into your room and letting your guest stay there with you. It is also close to the image of staying close to each other, witnessing what the other does, learning from their behaviour and following the other’s noble lifestyle. 

Now, when I look at the word, “abide”, in the English dictionary, it shows me that with archaic usage, it could mean live or dwell; in our more modern usage, it means accept or act in accordance with a rule, decision or recommendation. If we use the word ‘abiding’ with this definition, abiding in love means love is the ultimate principle and norm we must conform to, and live by, as a rule. 

In our reading today, Jesus’s commandment of love and abiding in love is also closely linked with his calling us to be friends: to be friends to Jesus, to be friends to one another through Jesus, as the divine connector; the divine VINE. Let us hear again verses 14 and 15: “You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.” 

When I tried to integrate the two pieces together — Jesus’ commandment to abide in love and his calling to be friends — I was stunned by an insight: The love we must abide by in our relationship with Jesus does not operate on hierarchy — Jesus as the divine master and ourselves as the lowly earth-dwellers. Jesus says, “I have called you my friends because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.” “Made known everything” to us. The love of Jesus that we are called to abide by is grounded in our desire to know and to be known through mutual relationship. 

Last week I had a chance to speak with my new friend (known through work) by video chat. We share many mutual interests, theological questions and curiosity about life in general, so it was natural for us to try to get to know each other more. While we were enjoying our very first, and twelve minute “virtual” coffee time, and the conversation was flowing, my friend said to me, “If you try to minister to me, we can’t be friends.” That made me wonder and address our next question to explore together: What does it mean to be a friend and not be a friend in a church context? Or in ministry? What is our call for ministry? This calling is not just for those who claim their vocation as a profession. Every one of us is called to be the minister among the ministers, priest among the priests, to be the healer in the world. Can we be both the minister among the ministers and the friend among friends at the same time? 

Following that conversation with my friend, I continued to explore the definition of ministry. One important component we must consider in this exploration must be the reality and the context of hierarchy (in authority or in profession.) In particular, United Church ministers and their role are seen as providing care professionally. In addition to the danger of the misuse of power in the relationship between parishioners and the clergy, it is a profession. The clergy does not expect the congregation to provide care back to them.

Some might say, ministry as a profession is not personal, while friendship is personal. 

One difference between pastoral relations as a profession and providing care as friends may lie in the fact that in friendship, the two in the partnership choose friendship for the benefit of another and themselves, and the friendship is developed through expressing or communicating to clarify the expectations about the relationship (the consent.) 

Ministry and friendship can use each other as a metaphor. True and healthy friendship must abide with our calling to be pastors to all around us. True ministry comes from the heart, like a true friendship, where we are compassionate to each other’s pain and joy, and mutuality. Mutuality is not automatic. In our real and practical worlds, one hundred percent transparent mutuality may be a theory. But we try hard to make barriers lower or non-existent, to be on the same level as much as we can make it be and to truly welcome others to share their stories, and share their life with us. 

In friendship, there’s intimacy in the connection. At the same time, true friends are also plain in speaking to each other and they tell one another the truth.

Speaking openly as friends can be a radical act because we consider each other as companion and partner. In friendship, we risk in hearing, risk in speaking, risk to be friends. 

In our ministry together, at Immanuel and elsewhere, we must keep in our understanding both ethics and the consciousness that our roles operate based on granted power, authority, and respect. Healthy boundaries should always be taken in, acknowledged and respected. With this ethical standard, we must also remember that we are called to be friends to one another, through the model of Jesus, the diVINE, abiding in love, abiding in one another. 

Love is the same calling we must abide by in our home, in our workplace, in our daily encounters, in all of our relations. We are… you know… called to be boundary-dwellers. Personally I have been thinking about my relationship with you, and concluded (as a developing conclusion) that rather than the desire to be professionally distant, I would like to reimagine a true pastoral relationship, differing from the more traditional model of a structured dyadic relationship between an expert and another (less knowledgeable or less healthier). I would live by the high ideal of mutuality: being honest with ourselves and others in our work, inviting dialogue, willing to struggle and willing to change.

Back to the “virtual” coffee time. My friend, then, became excited to tell me, by text message, “Actually, now that I think about JC” — JC is the virtual abbreviation of Jesus Christ — “is all about a life that both was in - and - that transcended boundaries. For example, connecting human/divine, earthly/heavenly, physical/spiritual. Is he not the “/“ in each of these? I feel a book coming on!.” Then a big emoji of “haha”. 

Jesus says, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.” “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” “I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.”

In our sojourning — jour means daily — let us continue our exploration on relationship, … our JC work. How do we do the abiding? How do we abide in Jesus’ love? In one another? What is the example of abiding, and of not abiding? As a vine unfurls in the springtime, growing and exploring the vibrant earth beneath it, let us grow and explore together, in love and friendship.