Embracing Your Shadow: Liberating the Good Troublemaker Within (Matthew 5:3-10)- Aiden Yang

Guest preacher, Aiden Yang, offers us reflections on the Beatitudes and extends an invitation for us to embrace our shadow selves- the "good troublemaker"- within while sharing his own journey with us. How might we learn to set our shadow selves free, living in ways that both challenge the norms of a profoundly sick society and align with the countercultural, anti-empirical ways of Jesus? ---- Aiden Yang is the author of The Spineless Porcupine, an all-ages fable based on his journey of self-discovery as an Asian American trans man. He’s delivered engaging talks on creativity, diversity, and storytelling to global audiences at Grace Hopper Celebration, Cisco, Oracle, TransTech Summit, and Women Who Code. As someone who’s lived as both male and female presenting, Christian and queer, and Asian and American, he’s spent his entire life creating safe spaces and bridges of understanding between seemingly opposing groups. He lives in Oakland, California, and loves drumming, karaoke, and performing standup comedy.  For more on Aiden and his book, The Spineless Porcupine, please visit www.AidenSYang.com.