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During my time at NYCUP, I hope to discover what it looks like to live a life that reveals the love of Jesus to everyone I encounter. It is my desire to reflect His character through my actions, so that when people see me, they will know a little bit more about Him. I long to be filled with the joy and peace of the Lord, so that I can share it with the people in my life. I see NYCUP as an opportunity to answer Jesus' call to love God and to love my neighbor as myself - right alongside a dozen new partners who are on the same journey. I want to learn how to use everything I have to effectively contribute to the modern abolitionist movement, give a voice to the voiceless and fighting for the rights of the oppressed.
- Briana Wong
Through these next few weeks in NYCUP, I hope that I will be able to learn to live out the love that Jesus called us to. What I mean by living the love is that we should love one another based on who we are, and not by our social standings. Even though I may know this, it is easier said that done. In these next few weeks, I hope to grow more with understanding and experience of this love that Jesus spoke and acted out for us.
- Winston Tse
My initial motivation for joining NYCUP was just that Basileia week was awesome and I wanted to keep that awesomeness coming and also to apply what I learned there to real life. So that's one thing I hope to get out of NYCUP - to turn theories into practices. I want to know what it feels like to serve people with the love of God and make them know that Jesus loves them, too...no matter what situations they might be in. I also just want to gain the experience of working with people I have a passion for as well as living in a community of people who share the same passion.
- Craig
I was first impassioned by social justice issues in high school, when I developed a refusal to accept the world and its injustices as is. Now as a rising senior in college, tinges of jadedness and doubts about the potential of real change in our world are creeping in my mind. I question what my role in it all really is and can be.
My prayer for this summer with NYCUP is that God will fuel in me a 'holy discontent' - one which will continue to challenge the injustices of the world, but also see the beauty in the cracks of the broken.
Most of the injustice I have faced has been abroad in other countries, so I am looking forward to being face to face with issues that surround, but never seem to penetrate, Columbia's 116th street. I pray that God will speak to me through the people I meet, the scripture I read, and meet me within the heart and mind that I bring to this project.
Hei-Yue Pang
I'm really excited about NYCUP - the work, the people, the house. In the next 5 weeks, I hope to learn as much as possible about the other NYCUPers, the work they're doing, and the kinds of social injustice that is present in New York City. I've done a bit of work in line with social justice in various countries, but very little within the US. I feel that God has called me to serve the community in the Heights, and I'm just hoping that I fulfill His plans for me. I know I have a lot to learn - from the other NYCUPers, the NYCUP directors, from the local community and from the greater NYC area. I can't wait to see how the program unfolds; it's going to be a good time for sure.
I hope to have the ears to listen and the heart to respond with that hope, I believe that God is speaking to me even now. I just hope to become more sensitive to His voice and how He's really calling me to live my life. That encompasses getting outside of my comfort zone and genuinely being unabandoned in my pursuit of Christ. But also, allowing God to fill me with such passion and joy that's uncontainable and actually live out the things I believe.
And what do I believe? I believe in the love of God shown through Christ for His people and the hope He gives through His promises of restoration for this world.
But I don't want my faith to be dead. Instead, I hope that through NYCUP I can learn how to respond in compassion and love to anyone and everyone I encounter. Not just here during these next 5 weeks, but for the rest of my life. Mostly though, I hope to have sweet times with Jesus, be more like Mary rather than Martha, and really know (in my heart, not just my head) what it means to die to myself, take up the cross and follow Him.
Sharon Kim
When I read scripture about how Jesus, God himself, ministered to other men & women, I am inspired. Jesus broke multiple taboos and societal barriers, reaching the outcasts of society who needed to know Him most. I am inspired but seriously lack faith in modeling such compassion and love. When I pass by a homeless person, even though my compassion is stirred, I'm still held back by feelings of awkwardness and a belief that I am inadequate to help them. I am a clumsy lover, one inhibited by insecurity, apathy and sometimes cynicism. That is why I read scripture documenting Jesus' ministry and am inspired. In traditional, patriarchal Jewish society, Jesus never hesitated in ministering to children, tax collectors, women, the infirm, or the lepers because it would be awkward and uncomfortable.
This summer at NYCUP I want to learn how to love better; to take the boldness God has gifted me with to do hard things and to apply it in everyday acts of love and compassion. I want to become more like the person who best modeled love, and I believe that is Jesus.
Karen Chien
