How Identity and Belonging Inform Our Worship with Tasha Jun

A conversation about identity, belonging, and generational legacy with Tasha Jun

OUR IDENTITY CAN HELP OR HINDER OUR ABILITY TO WORSHIP THE LORD

I have found that one of the most secure men in all of Scripture is Jonathan. It is through his life that we begin to understand that when we yield our identity to the Lord it leads us to serve Him more effectively-even when it comes at the expense of what we once believed we were entitled to.

Although we rarely acknowledge it, Jonathan is definitely a type of Christ. He chose to lay down his life for David so that David could access the throne and it is one that encourages me to become a better friend in every way.

This week, we are continuing to reflect on some of the themes in Session Two of Selah: Worship Invites You To Repentance.

TODAY WE'RE REFLECTING ON JOHN 15:13 ESV

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

A WOMAN YOU SHOULD KNOW

Today, Ty and I get to close out this season by featuring one woman who has impacted both of us. Today, Ty is introducing us to Sharonda Dreamms, a Christian Dating Strategist and Doctoral Candidate at Liberty University. Get connected to her because she is definitely a woman you should know.

MEET TASHA

Tasha is a biracial Korean American melancholy dreamer. She grew up in a multicultural home, and because of that, she’s spent her life navigating cultural collisions and liminal space. 

She writes about faith, cultural and ethnic identity, and living with a shalomsick ache. Writing has always been the way God has led her through pain and towards the hope of shalom. 

Tasha lives in the Midwest with her husband and three kids, and she is the author of Tell Me the Dream Again: Reflections on Family, Ethnicity, and the Sacred Work of Belonging.

I ASKED TASHA:

• Can you tell us about your book and the significance of the title?
• In your book, you talked to us about how hard it was for your family to find a church you could feel welcome in as a young child. You continued to discus this theme as you recounted your adult years, too, and I deeply resonated with the point you made about how you counted the minorities as an adult. Can you share some advice that we can implement today to help others feel more welcome?
• How can leadership teams of churches become more strategic about the ways they include diverse voices?
• Color-blind theology has always been a sugarcoated death threat to everything Korean in me. It pretends to offer something sweet but it does so at the expense of deep connection and community. What is the difference between false unity and true unity?
• You write, "These experiences of trauma passed through generations and the han we carry are not given by God as a means to an end, but what if they are the soil God uses to show us our need for Jesus and open us to love?" Can you share a little more about the soil God shows us our need for Him?
• How might someone who has rejected her culture learn how to worship the Lord more deeply?

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Want to find out what was going on in King David's life when he wrote the psalms He's known for? Grab your download here.