J.S. Park: Hospital Chaplain, Skeptical Christian
From Devout Atheist to Skeptical Pastor: A Blog For Busted-Up, Beat-Down People (Like Me)
When I ask if God is good
I see a cross, an empty tomb.
What He writ large in the stars
is writ small for our wounds.
From the sky to my sin
He is re-making us again.
When nothing else is good,
He is the only one who is.
— J.S.
Good Friday to you, friends. My publisher sent my books early for me. It’s incredible and surreal to finally hold my book in my hands.
My book launch team is still open if you would like to help support the book release. You get an advance copy of the book, giveaways (like art by Red Hong Yi), Q&As, and live video chats: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thevoiceswecarry
You can also preorder my book here, which releases May 5th: https://www.amazon.com/The-Voices-We-Carry/dp/0802419895
God bless and much love to you, friends. All peace and grace be with you.
— J.S.
[Thank you, awesome team at Moody Publishers.]
When I ask if God is good
I see a cross, an empty tomb.
What He writ large in the stars
is writ small for our wounds.
From the sky to my sin
He is re-making us again.
When nothing else is good,
He is the only one who is.
— J.S.
I wonder how they could yell Barabbas instead of Jesus.
I wonder how they sang “Hosanna” and days later, “Crucify him.”
I wonder how Pontius could wash his hands of it, as though a dirty conscience could be so easily cleaned.
But – I am Barabbas, sinner set free.
I yell “Crucify him” as I sing praises with ease.
I am Pontius, who turned a blind eye to glory.
And yet, so Christ still died for me.
Still he died, where I should be,
a perfect love on that tree.
— J.S.
Dear cousin Jimmy,
You died about fifteen years ago. When I met you, you were screaming in pain but you didn’t know why. You were born almost completely brain-dead; you could only eat, drink, breathe, scream, laugh, smile, and cry. I had the privilege of making you laugh once by making a funny face. Or maybe you just laughed at my face.
Why did Jesus have to die? What does the Resurrection do? Why did Jesus punch death in the face?
The story of those three fateful days in three minutes. And why the Resurrection is just as important as the Cross.
Subscribe to my channel here.
Happy Resurrection Weekend and love y’all!
— J.S.
[Thank you to Steven Hause of pudgyproductions]
Hey friends, this is a Spoken Word performance that I gave with Yale University Students in CT. About the three fateful days from Jesus’s crucifixion to resurrection, told from the viewpoint of a modern day disciple.
To download directly: http://traffic.libsyn.com/thewayeverlasting/JS_Park_-_Fri_Sat_Sun_Spoken_Word_1-21-18.mp3
I’m also on iTunes here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/j-s-park-the-way-everlasting-podcast/id395594485?mt=2
Be blessed and much love to you, friends! — J.S.
In Heaven, there will only be one person with scars. You’ll have none because he will have taken yours.
— J.S.
Here’s why I believe in Jesus.
Because at some point in human history, God became one of us and reversed the human condition. Just one place, at one time, in the dirtiest sand-swept stain of a city, He healed our entropy: and He invites us into that better story.
In the cross and resurrection: Jesus absorbed the cycle of human violence. He showed there was a better way than self-centered tyranny and retaliation. He paid the cost of sin on our behalf. He reversed the ultimate consequence of death from the first Garden by turning death backwards in a new Garden. He bestowed that same death-defeating power into those who believed his story. He identified with us by taking on all the harm of sin, though he never sinned himself. He promised us a union with Him by uniting us to the Spirit of God. He inaugurated a new kind of kingdom where the weak can win, the poor can succeed, and all our survival values are flipped into sacrifice.
Jesus redefined what it meant to be human by creating an upside-down kingdom where the humble will be elevated and the prideful would be melted by love.
He walked into the fragments and re-created the pieces. He doesn’t answer why bad things happen, but he gives us a love stronger than all that does.
I wonder how they could yell Barabbas instead of Jesus.
I wonder how they sang Hosanna and days later, Crucify him.
I wonder how Pontius could wash his hands of it, as though a dirty conscience could be so easily cleaned.
But — I am Barabbas, sinner set free.
I yell Crucify him as I sing praises with ease.
I am Pontius, who turned a blind eye to glory.
And yet, so Christ still died for me.
Still he died, where I should be,
a perfect love on that tree.
— J.S.
Hello beloved friends!
This is a Spoken Word performance. It’s a modern re-telling of the three fateful days of Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection, and how the chaos of the cross turned into beautiful death-defying glory.
Stream here:
Or download directly here.
I’m also on iTunes here.
Love y’all and be blessed!
— J.S.
You’ve been in meltdown before, when the world felt unusually cruel and your insides collapsed and there weren’t enough tears to cry through your heaving convulsing sobs. Like the wind was uppercut out of your soul.
It’s not pretty. Not like the movies. It’s not dramatic or cathartic or ironic or Oscar-worthy — it’s ugly, snot all over, face puckered in fifty places, bowled over with all kinds of noises spewing from your guts.
I was reading John 20, and Mary Magdalene was there too.
Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying.
I read this and grew horribly sad, imagining her hunched over and hopeless. Her world was punched through. I knew how she felt.
The man they called Savior, who had rebuked seven demons out of Mary and had been bathed by her family’s precious perfume, was now just a cold lifeless body in an airtight tomb. Along with his body were the dreams of a different future.
The entire storyline of the Bible in two and a half minutes. And a different way to see the Gospel.
Subscribe to my channel here.
Be blessed and love y’all!
— J.S.
[Thank you to Steven Hause of pudgyproductions]
In darkness, He rolls the stone away.
At your worst, He loves you anyway.
— J.S.
Since the resurrection of Jesus Christ really happened, then
1) there’s a heaven, and a hell.
2) we do have victory over sin, now.
3) what we do matters in eternity.
4) we have forgiveness before an all-holy, fearsome, awesome, all-consuming God.
5) we will also be resurrected.
6) every word in the Bible is true.
7) Jesus is everything he said he was, and is.
8 ) everyone else who isn’t following Christ has it wrong.
9) death is not the end. Love awaits.
10) we have to get the good news out.
11) Jesus is coming back for us.
12) the actual Spirit of God lives in those who follow Him.
13) one day all evil will end.
14) a lot of stuff we think that matters doesn’t really matter.
15) miracles can happen.
16) he died for you and for that neighbor you can’t stand.
17) pride, self-esteem, and earning approval doesn’t work.
18) despair, self-loathing, and discouragement also don’t work.
19) you will be called accountable to God.
20) you can be co-heirs with Jesus Christ, and you get his eternal inheritance. Money is nothing.
21) you are friends with the Most High.
22) you have a king in another country, and your citizenship is there.
23) you can trade in your self-pity for endless joy.
24) even when it feels like Friday, Sunday is coming.
25) nothing can ever take away your joy, ever.
— J.S.
Since the resurrection of Jesus Christ really happened, then
1) there’s a heaven . . . and a hell.
2) we do have victory over sin.
3) what we do matters in eternity.
4) we have forgiveness before an all holy God.
5) we will also be resurrected.
6) every word in the Bible is true.
7) Jesus is everything he said he was, and is.
8 ) everyone else who isn’t following Christ has it wrong.
9) death is not the end . . . love awaits.
10) we have to get the good news out.
11) Jesus is coming back for us.
12) the actual Spirit of God lives in those who follow Him.
13) one day all evil will have an end.
14) a lot of stuff we think that matters doesn’t really matter.
15) miracles can happen.
16) he died for you and for that neighbor you can’t stand.
17) pride, self-esteem, and earning approval doesn’t work.
18) you will be called accountable to God.
19) you can be co-heirs with Jesus Christ.
20) nothing can ever take away your joy.
–
J.S. Park: Hospital Chaplain, Skeptical Christian 