Lament-Driven preaching for a 戀 (Yeon) community

Abstract

ABSTRACT Covid-19 exacerbated the xenophobia and hate crime associated with racism in North America, which triggered a race-based trauma. However, studies are rare that focus specifically on the suffering that Asian Americans have endured. How might a faith community envision a wholesome community while holding and honoring the experience of Asian American pain? This study suggests a form of lament-driven preaching for a 戀 (Yeon) community that has interconnective suffering narratives, that pursues justice in a faith community and envisions what we can do about race-based trauma. The article focuses on a relational way to rebuild a community that has been wounded by xenophobia and hate crimes. Lament as remembering and reconnecting contributes to our consideration of how to respond to the suffering from the injustice of Asian hate crime beyond merely articulating and complaining about the experience. This study deals with the rhetoric of lament based on the Book of Lamentations and suggests how to use Psalm 137 in preaching as a way of lamenting the hate crime against Asian Americans in the Atlanta shooting tragedy.