Ophelia Hu Kinney (she/her) is a second-generation Chinese American living in Maine with her wife. She's the Director of Communications at Reconciling Ministries Network, and she's on staff at HopeGateWay, a vibrant and justice-seeking congregation in Portland. She writes to wrangle faith, identity, and the big little things.
Taking it All Off the AltarWhen we excuse and celebrate the violence of the cross, we risk excusing and celebrating the violence that happens to our kin and to ourselves. And when we decry the violence of the cross, we make room to decry the violence that happens to our kin and that happens to us.
Witnessing and SeeingMy mother and I never made things easy for one another. But she has come a long way in four years: from her silence and absence at my wedding, to gradual phone calls and a couple holidays. Last year, my wife and I spent Christmas at her home. Our first morning there, my wife and I were headed out for a walk. My mother said she’d drive us to a nearby park. “Don’t walk here,” she said, “Not in my neighborhood.”
