Covenant News

Memorial Service for Slain Korean Student

NORTHBROOK, IL (July, 1999) - Several hundred Asian-Americans gathered at the Korean Central Covenant Church July 15 to memorialize 26-year-old Won-Joon Yoon, victim of a July 11 shooting outside the Korean United Methodist Church in Bloomington.

Yoon was a graduate of Southern Illinois University who recently moved to Bloomington after being admitted into an Indiana doctoral program. A warrant was issued for the arrest of Benjamin Smith in connection with the shooting.

"The church was absolutely jammed – packed," said James Persson, executive director of Church Growth and Evangelism for the Evangelical Covenant Church. Persson was one of several special guests invited to share words of comfort during the one-hour service.

Although Yoon was not a member of Central Covenant, the church's pastor, Dr. Young Jae Lee, extended an invitation to the family to participate in a special remembrance service. "Yoon's father spoke powerfully of his faith," Persson said, with hymns and prayers completing the service.

Persson's message was taken from Paul's letter in Corinthians: "If one part suffers, every part suffers with it" (I Cor. 12:26). Persson placed the family's suffering into the context of the larger church body. "One member of the church of Jesus Christ cannot suffer without the whole body feeling pain," Persson said. "However, the suffering is greatest for the family. The fact that his death was a senseless act of racial hate only intensifies the pain you are experiencing.

"We suffer with you, but we cannot begin to comprehend what you feel," Persson continued. "Only our heavenly father knows what you are going through because He watched His son suffer and die on the cross. This, too, was a hate crime. The God of all comfort cares. He has been where you are and He promises His comfort. The suffering of your loss may never leave, but be assured that you will never be without His comfort."

Persson extended words of comfort on behalf of the Evangelical Covenant Church to the entire Korean community, noting that "you are suffering in ways that as hard as I try to understand, I cannot begin to grasp how you cope with a hate crime against your own race. As Christians, you believe in loving your enemies, while the depravity of your human nature cries out for revenge. There is the fear – will this happen again? Suddenly, there is no safety. We feel as though we are being hunted. We do not claim to understand the feelings that you have as Korean people," Persson continued. "We just want you to know that as best we can, the Evangelical Covenant Church suffers with you. You are our brothers and sisters. There is no distinction between us – God's Word teaches that we are One in Christ. We greatly value that oneness. When one part of the body suffers, we all suffer," Persson said.

"We suffer shame," Persson declared. "We are so ashamed that someone from the white race should inflict such deep suffering upon the Korean, the Jewish, and the African community."

Looking to the future, Persson encouraged his listeners to "refuse to let our suffering translate into hate. He encouraged them to "not allow our suffering to make matters worse by letting it harden into revenge," promising that "we will fight hate with love. We will pray 'O God, bring good into the world through our suffering.'"

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