2020 has been difficult for those who are creative as a hobby, including writers. The anxieties and new responsibilities of being in quarantine have made it more difficult to find time, energy, and inspiration to write — or for myself to edit!
And yet, I am proud to say that the SOLA Network published so many amazing essays and articles, both before and during this pandemic. In fact, we invite you to check out our 2020 SOLA Magazine as a flipbook or as a PDF, which has 9 of our best, most popular articles of the year.
But I also want us to see some of the quieter yet still impactful articles from our contributors who were able to help us process the pandemic and other current events, as well as help us to see beyond our lockdown circumstances. Here are SOLA’s hidden gems of 2020.
5 Ways To Show Compassion to Those who are Grieving by Sarah Kim
If you had asked me last year to share my experience of grief and compassion, I wouldn’t have had much to say. Grief was something foreign. I have certainly experienced trials and loss in the past but it never hit me in such an unnatural and personal way until this January of this year, when my husband and I had a stillbirth mid-pregnancy.
January was full: grief and pain came like a thief at night, but so did compassion. God was pouring grace into our family through His Word and the people in our lives. Compassion can’t exist without suffering, and suffering is all around us. Through this experience, I began to see that there were a lot of opportunities for me to show compassion.
Please note, I am by no standards an expert on this subject. But I want to share five very practical ways I received compassion during my time of grief. It was inspiring for me, and I am striving to grow in my own compassion for people.
Lead Like Mike? A Reflection After Watching “The Last Dance” by Tony Thomas
I have a confession: I have and still do idolize Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.
So you can imagine that watching “The Last Dance” on a weekly basis has been one of my greatest joys of this quarantine period. The show is a documentary miniseries about the career of Michael Jordan, with a particular focus on the 1997–98 Chicago Bulls season.
A large part of me would want to join the happy chorus on social media and write a word of praise and gratitude (and maybe someday I will).
Yet, I have also been watching the series with a particular lens and concern for myself and other Christian leaders who may consume this documentary with uncritical thinking. And here’s the important question that I think might get lost amidst our adulation of MJ.
Is the MJ I love, and even idolize, an example of leadership I should follow?
Translating for Justice: An Interview with a Letters for Black Lives Translator by Soojin Park and Joyce Kang
Soojin Park: Could you share with us what theLetters for Black Lives project is?
Joyce Kang: Letter for Black Lives is an open letter project. Its goal is to provide a multilingual and culturally-aware resource for people to have open and honest conversations with loved ones about the oppression and systemic racism the Black community faces. The purpose of the letters is not to focus on ourselves but to stand in solidarity with the Black community to address racial justice, police violence, and anti-Blackness.
The crowdsourced project started in 2016 to serve as a resource for Asian Americans to speak to older generations about “why Black lives matter to us.” In 2020, the project was revived due to the national conversation surrounding police brutality and a renewed interest in the letter. Those involved in 2016 realized that the letter was being recirculated throughout social media and decided to come back together to develop a new letter to fit the 2020 context and expand its reach. This time around, as of the last count, the 2020 letter has been translated into 56 languages by over 300 volunteers.
Redeeming Loneliness During Social Distancing by Michael Y. Lee
As seen on our Instagram feeds, many of us are surviving COVID-19 by picking up new hobbies — learning new recipes, taking more walks with loved ones, watching movies with someone on FaceTime, participating in TikTok challenges, and more.
But social distancing is taking its toll. Despite creative videos that make us laugh and Zoom calls with friends, many of us are suffering from loneliness.
Feeling isolated was a huge problem even before this pandemic because of our very individualistic culture, but now it has grown worse. Beyond what we see on Instagram and TikTok is the reality that there is great spiritual warfare waging in our hearts as we react to the pangs of our loneliness. Satan knows we’re lonely, and he’s on the move seeking to destroy our souls by making us feel even more alone. How do we combat this?
God Cares About Both and We Can Too by Faith Chang
Recently, with all these pressing needs around me, I had been finding it difficult to pray, to feel God was near, and to hear him in his Word. He had started some deep work a few weeks into quarantine as I processed a slow but long-coming burnout. But that was put on hold, and for a while, it seems I’d only been able to think and feel over issues of racial injustice.
Then one day, as I put my toddler down for a nap, I wondered how I could approach God about personal restoration while engaged with the pressing issues of injustice in our country.
I swayed with my daughter in the carrier, and the thought came gently.
“God, you care about both. Why can’t I?”
How Asian Americans Connect with the Parable of the Prodigal Son by Daniel K. Eng
Many churchgoers have heard the Parable of the Prodigal Son in sermons and have studied it in their Bibles. The third movement of a three-part parable that includes a lost sheep and a lost coin, the story in Luke 15:11-31 might be the most well-known of Jesus’ stories.
However, there are elements of the story that might be overlooked by those in majority American culture. These dynamics end up standing out when viewed by someone who identifies with the Asian American culture. By tapping into the Asian American experience, we can continue shaping our understanding of Jesus’ intended message. Here are four elements to consider when studying the story.
Deriving the Infinite Wonder of Christ Through Math by Charlene Hao
God is the author and creator of all things, including the concept of numbers and counting (Gen 1:5). When we study math, we are actually attempting to grasp the depth of God’s constant infinite being. When we come to this deep understanding that God is constant and infinite, what we come to realize is that we can find comfort. Why? Because what we realize is nothing surprises God. There is nothing He has not seen before or does not know. He created it, after all.
His infinity and immutability tell us that the God of the Bible who said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31), the God who promises to redeem his people in Isaiah 49, the God found in the person of Jesus, who promises to be with his disciples until the very end in Matthew 28, is the same God we worship today.
And it doesn’t just end today. It is everlasting. The more we understand this concept of God being constant and infinite, the more it ought to amaze us, thus deriving increasing satisfaction in our holy creator. And the more satisfied we are in Christ, the more glory Christ receives.
Relationship-Building Questions for Couples in Quarantine by Tim St. John
As we enter another month of “Shelter-in-Place,” we want more than survival stories for our marriages and relationships. We want stories of the love of Christ on display and how God used this season to help us grow more in displaying our Savior’s love to one another.
One vital way to build our understanding of how to love is to have conversations that provide opportunities to minister Christ’s love. To that end, here is a relationship-building activity for couples for the month of April. Take one question each day and discuss it with the aim of participating in what God is doing in your partner’s heart and life.
The Birth of a “Free” Nation: America’s Long, Troubled Journey Towards Racial Reconciliation, Part 1 by Bobby Scott
We are now 244 years into our democratic experiment of building this land of the free. The question we should all ask is: “How are we doing?” Trying to find the true answer to that question will take the questioner well beyond the recent events surrounding George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Jacob Blake. This debate regarding the answer to this question began before our nation did.
In this series of articles, I will analyze three key junctures in our nation’s history in an attempt to biblically answer the question, “How successful have we been at creating a nation where all people are free and all people are treated with the dignity of being image-bearers of God?
“The Women Jesus Loved” series
In honor of International Women’s Day, Women’s History Month in the United States, and the Lenten season, we published devotions written by women about the women who Jesus ministered to during his time on earth. This series was called, “The Women Jesus Loved.” We hope they reminded you of how Jesus loves all of us, including women.