In this issue, we celebrate women who are “extra” and generous with their abundance; women who are “ordinary” and committed to their everyday sacredness. All extraordinary.

Then, a plague on my body, of too much of something no one can name. Mysterious are God’s ways, to send a plague but harden the heart, that we might see some glory.

We share stories to stretch our collective imagination of what being a neighbor looks like in our cities, our nation, our world.

After graduating from college, I bought a one-way ticket to South Korea. A professor had invited me and two close friends to join a radical progressive group of activists in Incheon, where they were looking for English teachers.

Meesh tells me about a conversation they had with a friend, reveling about the solar eclipse. “It is such a beautiful natural event. With technology, we know when it’s happening, why it’s happening, and where it’s going to be. But we wondered, what if we looked at this thing 100 years ago, and didn’t know what it was? Would we still think it’s beautiful? Would we be scared of it? Would we think the world is ending?”

Eddy Zheng is often invited to community organizations or churches to share his redemptive story from prison to re-entry. It is incredible to hear how much Eddy has changed in his lifetime amidst daunting circumstances and the length of time he has had to fight for his freedom. But in certain church settings, after giving his talk, Eddy has been met with distrust, rather than open arms.

I had done my fair share of activism in college and post-graduation, but never quite long enough to see actual change on an institutional level. On paper, JoAnne Kagiwada had an impressive roster that placed her in the history books, and I was readying myself to meet a force of nature in this small-framed, Japanese American grandmother.

Arirang is traditional Korean folk music that has been passed down by memory for over 600 years. It wasn't until 1869 that Christian missionary Homer B. Holbert went to South Korea and scored it black and immutable onto paper for the first time.

Runa’s story begins with the number 7. She is the seventh daughter out of seven daughters in her family. A few years later, her younger brother is born, and then a stepbrother joins the fold.

TO THIS DAY, I can't quite say what it is that brought me out of depression a few years ago.

I GREW UP in a Korean household where the news was always on in the background. It would play in Korean, so I distinctly remember not understanding what was happening.

THERE MUST BE such a thing as a unicorn — that mythical creature God made for progressive Christians to date. Someone who is thoughtful, lives for social justice, and wants to creatively build God's kingdom.

JAZ AND MELODY are twins; they're fraternal and living out their separate stories.

I AM A 29-YEAR-OLD KOREAN FEMALE ALONG SEEKING A PASTORAL POSITION, PREFERABLY AT A SEMI-CHARISMATIC CHURCH WITH A FOCUS ON SOCIAL INJUSTICE AND DISCIPLESHIP. I should mention — I don't have an M.Div degree.

I KNOW OF ONE surefire way to feel better whenever I feel sad. In a divine and delightful fashion, my church teems with the most delicious babies on Sundays.

IN THE WAITING ROOM of Children's Hospital of Orange County, it's 5:41 a.m. and quiet. The hospital staff take deep breaths in this calm before the daily storm, treasuring the small sounds of shuffling feet and subdued conversation.

Our Father who stays in Heaven; Hallowed be thy forgotten name; Thy kingdom coming; Yet thy will distorted on earth as it reaches for Heaven.

Morning. 6:45 AM. The alarm goes off, and Pitbull is insisting this is the time of my life.