WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.800 --> 00:00:05.200 Brothers and Sisters in Christ grace to you and peace from God our 2 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:07.000 Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:12.000 Amen. The word of God that engages us this morning comes from Acts 4 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:15.300 chapter 6, and I'd like to just reread the first verse. 5 00:00:16.600 --> 00:00:20.100 Now when these days when the disciples were increasing the number of 6 00:00:20.100 --> 00:00:24.500 complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their 7 00:00:24.500 --> 00:00:27.400 widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 8 00:00:29.500 --> 00:00:34.500 Yesterday I informed everybody that my dad, who is sitting along the 9 00:00:34.500 --> 00:00:34.900 wall. 10 00:00:34.900 --> 00:00:37.000 I don't think I'm going to embarrass you today, 11 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:38.700 no promises. 12 00:00:38.700 --> 00:00:43.400 He's black if you look at it him, but you don't see color, 13 00:00:43.400 --> 00:00:44.400 Dr. 14 00:00:44.400 --> 00:00:44.600 Nunez. 15 00:00:44.600 --> 00:00:47.700 My mom is white from St. 16 00:00:47.700 --> 00:00:52.300 James, Missouri and today those two places although or just an hour 17 00:00:52.300 --> 00:00:58.400 and a half separated by Interstate 44 are radically different. And when 18 00:00:58.400 --> 00:01:01.800 my parents met in 1974, 19 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:08.100 3, it was even more radically it different. So my parents came from 20 00:01:08.100 --> 00:01:13.000 from different backgrounds spatially, but also just ethnically 21 00:01:14.900 --> 00:01:16.100 It is what it is. 22 00:01:16.100 --> 00:01:20.700 And so my dad joined the Marine Corps and then later in 1984 23 00:01:20.700 --> 00:01:25.600 I was born on the island of Oahu and Honolulu, Hawaii a big pink 24 00:01:25.600 --> 00:01:26.200 hospital. 25 00:01:26.200 --> 00:01:27.000 That is still pink. 26 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:30.500 I check the last time I was there called Tripler hospital and we lived 27 00:01:30.500 --> 00:01:31.100 in Kaneohe. 28 00:01:31.100 --> 00:01:35.000 So on September 16th 1984 29 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:40.100 I was baptized and Saint Mark's Lutheran Church Kaneohe, Hawaii and my 30 00:01:40.100 --> 00:01:44.700 name was cemented in the history books of the Lutheran 31 00:01:44.700 --> 00:01:45.900 Church-Missouri Synod. 32 00:01:45.900 --> 00:01:50.100 I have been a member of this church in my entire life. 33 00:01:50.100 --> 00:01:51.900 We moved to Beaufort South Carolina. 34 00:01:51.900 --> 00:01:56.300 We moved back to Hawaii and then when we moved to St Louis of all places 35 00:01:56.300 --> 00:01:57.100 from Hawaii. 36 00:01:58.100 --> 00:02:03.500 That is a heartbreaking experience to go from Hawaii to St. 37 00:02:03.500 --> 00:02:03.700 Louis. 38 00:02:03.700 --> 00:02:05.200 I love this town. 39 00:02:07.500 --> 00:02:13.000 That is a hard move. Then in May of 1998 40 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:17.100 I was confirmed at Chapel of the Cross Lutheran Church, member 41 00:02:17.100 --> 00:02:21.400 Congregation of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in 2002. 42 00:02:21.400 --> 00:02:25.100 I graduated from Lutheran High School North now, I'll admit that 43 00:02:25.100 --> 00:02:28.000 doesn't necessarily make you Lutheran but none the less. 44 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:31.500 I got all the discounts in scholarships of a member of the Lutheran 45 00:02:31.500 --> 00:02:32.400 Church-Missouri, Synod. 46 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:37.300 I'd like to say that I I went straight through college and then 47 00:02:37.300 --> 00:02:41.100 graduated from a Lutheran College, no I did, just not straight 48 00:02:41.100 --> 00:02:46.000 through I had to try to live a little bit before I got my head on 49 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:50.800 straight, but somehow the members of my church convinced me that 50 00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:53.000 Ministry was something that I should be doing. 51 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:58.400 And so I applied to the DCE program at Concordia Chicago now, that's 52 00:02:58.400 --> 00:03:01.100 not the program I graduated from I graduated with a degree in 53 00:03:01.100 --> 00:03:01.600 chemistry. 54 00:03:01.600 --> 00:03:06.000 I only say that it's so you think wow, he's really smart. 55 00:03:07.700 --> 00:03:12.500 I am. I always I also study for a year Westfield House, Cambridge. 56 00:03:12.500 --> 00:03:14.700 Wow, he's really smart. 57 00:03:14.700 --> 00:03:21.700 I am. And so but but I want to rewind a moment because something weird 58 00:03:21.700 --> 00:03:25.100 started happening to me when I got to Concordia Chicago. People 59 00:03:25.100 --> 00:03:28.900 started asking me if I was a lifelong Lutheran now, I've never been 60 00:03:28.900 --> 00:03:29.700 asked this question. 61 00:03:29.700 --> 00:03:32.300 It seemed a little weird. 62 00:03:32.300 --> 00:03:37.700 Maybe it was the tattoos there, but maybe it was the Irish last name. 63 00:03:37.700 --> 00:03:39.700 Jeff Gibbs knows what I'm talking about. 64 00:03:39.700 --> 00:03:44.600 But I began to think I was like wow, my mom is half-german. 65 00:03:44.600 --> 00:03:48.500 In fact, I'm pretty sure that my grandma is like a second or third 66 00:03:48.500 --> 00:03:55.100 generation German Lutheran immigrant. Her maiden name was Reeke and 67 00:03:55.100 --> 00:03:58.300 then closely Mosers and Granckeys. 68 00:03:58.300 --> 00:03:59.500 In fact, if you go out to St. 69 00:03:59.500 --> 00:04:04.100 James you can find about one-and-a-half cemeteries filled with German 70 00:04:04.100 --> 00:04:05.500 ancestors of mine. 71 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:12.400 So maybe it wasn't the Germaness in me that had not appeared to my 72 00:04:12.400 --> 00:04:17.100 last name and then I got to Concordia Seminary or in the application 73 00:04:17.100 --> 00:04:19.700 process and people started asking me that question again. 74 00:04:19.700 --> 00:04:22.800 Are you up lifelong Lutheran? 75 00:04:23.800 --> 00:04:25.400 And to double check 76 00:04:25.400 --> 00:04:28.000 I started asking some of my other brothers in Christ. 77 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:31.700 Have you ever been asked this question of whether or not you're a 78 00:04:31.700 --> 00:04:35.100 lifelong Lutheran? By a show of hands 79 00:04:35.100 --> 00:04:36.900 has anybody been asked this question? 80 00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:40.600 Oh, okay. 81 00:04:40.600 --> 00:04:42.000 Maybe I'm wrong. 82 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:47.700 So quickly began to think maybe it was the color of my skin whether 83 00:04:47.700 --> 00:04:50.700 people were asking me whether or not I'm a lifelong Lutheran. 84 00:04:50.700 --> 00:04:56.400 You have quickly dispelled that slightly disarming but not too much because 85 00:04:56.400 --> 00:05:01.000 the color of my skin ultimately is one of the reasons I personally was 86 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:06.900 asked that question along with my Irish last name. But but being 87 00:05:06.900 --> 00:05:12.000 German is is a deeply rooted part of of who I am. My mom 88 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:17.200 against my will made German potato salad. 89 00:05:17.200 --> 00:05:19.600 I don't understand why it's so sweet. 90 00:05:20.600 --> 00:05:21.800 Stop doing that. 91 00:05:21.800 --> 00:05:27.200 It's supposed to be a Savory dish and I had to go to potlucks with 92 00:05:27.200 --> 00:05:34.200 Jell-O salad why? Jell-O already has a weird texture adding bits of fruit 93 00:05:34.200 --> 00:05:38.300 doesn't improve the texture or the flavor of that dish. 94 00:05:38.300 --> 00:05:43.300 And then if you try to make it savory, it only makes it worse. If one 95 00:05:43.300 --> 00:05:48.300 outcome of these two days is that you all stop making jello salad my 96 00:05:48.300 --> 00:05:48.800 work is done. 97 00:05:50.900 --> 00:05:52.000 It's gross. 98 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:54.200 It is not a good Lutheran dish. 99 00:05:54.200 --> 00:05:57.800 It is punishment for young children who are forced to let you know 100 00:05:57.800 --> 00:06:03.700 embrace their heritage when they're acting improperly. But nonetheless 101 00:06:03.700 --> 00:06:08.900 again, I've been a lifelong member of this church and I love this 102 00:06:08.900 --> 00:06:09.200 church. 103 00:06:09.200 --> 00:06:14.200 I've had many opportunities in my life to leave the church. In fact 104 00:06:14.200 --> 00:06:18.600 in my young twenties when I was struggling for an identity as a not 105 00:06:18.600 --> 00:06:22.200 high school aged student but not a old Lutheran to find my place in the 106 00:06:22.200 --> 00:06:23.200 LCMS. Something 107 00:06:23.200 --> 00:06:26.800 I'm sure everybody has struggled with. I ventured off into some 108 00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:29.900 younger churches and they said and did things that were foreign and 109 00:06:29.900 --> 00:06:30.600 weird to me. 110 00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:35.200 They didn't baptize babies and in the list just went on and on the way 111 00:06:35.200 --> 00:06:38.400 that they celebrate celebrated the Lord's Supper didn't feel right. 112 00:06:40.300 --> 00:06:41.800 And slightly begrudgingly 113 00:06:41.800 --> 00:06:45.500 I found my way back to the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod because 114 00:06:45.500 --> 00:06:53.000 theology matters. The way that we proclaim the Gospel free of my sinful 115 00:06:53.000 --> 00:06:58.900 nature and my sinful habits matters. Not being enslaved to the things I 116 00:06:58.900 --> 00:07:02.800 do wrong in this world, but instead what Jesus has done for me 117 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:04.700 matters. 118 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:11.600 And I don't always do it but I try everyday with the work of the Holy 119 00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:17.500 Spirit in my life to live in as an example of the love of Jesus in my 120 00:07:17.500 --> 00:07:20.300 life and above all things 121 00:07:20.300 --> 00:07:22.000 I think that's what makes me Lutheran. 122 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:27.700 Is is this willingness to work alongside God to put the sinner behind 123 00:07:27.700 --> 00:07:32.400 me and let the saint shine brightly for my neighbor especially for my 124 00:07:32.400 --> 00:07:35.800 neighbor who doesn't belong to the body of Christ so that they to might 125 00:07:35.800 --> 00:07:36.500 know his love. 126 00:07:37.500 --> 00:07:42.200 You see that's what in my mind makes me Lutheran. 127 00:07:42.200 --> 00:07:46.900 That's what in my mind makes the body of Christ so different than the 128 00:07:46.900 --> 00:07:47.700 rest of the world. 129 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:51.800 That each and every day I make 130 00:07:53.200 --> 00:07:57.200 sometimes a better effort than other days depending on how good the 131 00:07:57.200 --> 00:08:01.700 coffee was in the morning to be an example of Jesus 132 00:08:02.900 --> 00:08:03.700 in the world. 133 00:08:05.200 --> 00:08:10.000 And so a couple years ago at the National Youth Gathering wasn't 134 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:13.500 really a couple years ago like a year-and-a-half ago when you get older 135 00:08:13.500 --> 00:08:18.900 time flies. I was asked to speak about racism now when they asked me 136 00:08:18.900 --> 00:08:19.400 to do this 137 00:08:19.400 --> 00:08:22.200 I've been talking about racism in the church for 3 years. 138 00:08:23.200 --> 00:08:25.000 Sometimes it was good. 139 00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:27.300 Sometimes it was not so good and frankly 140 00:08:27.300 --> 00:08:30.100 I was tired of it and and I told myself 141 00:08:30.100 --> 00:08:30.700 Okay, 142 00:08:30.700 --> 00:08:31.500 it's the National Youth Gathering 143 00:08:31.500 --> 00:08:37.100 these are children and I want to give them the best opportunity to 144 00:08:37.100 --> 00:08:40.400 have somebody who loves him and his kind to talk about this difficult 145 00:08:40.400 --> 00:08:42.000 topic and so I'll do it. 146 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:46.300 But this is going to be my Swan Song and here we are a year later 147 00:08:46.300 --> 00:08:47.700 talking about it. 148 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:54.200 That's just is evidence that what we do in Ministry is It ultimately 149 00:08:54.200 --> 00:08:54.800 up to us. 150 00:08:54.800 --> 00:08:56.400 It's what's best for the church. 151 00:08:56.400 --> 00:08:58.200 And so I'm racking my brain. 152 00:08:58.200 --> 00:09:02.000 How can I talk about racism that isn't just a law orientated? 153 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:07.500 Cuz what would that produce. And I didn't want to discourage them, but 154 00:09:07.500 --> 00:09:11.400 I wanted to help these young children and I was going through daily 155 00:09:11.400 --> 00:09:12.300 devotions. 156 00:09:12.300 --> 00:09:16.200 I use the same journaling Bible that you all have that Doctor Saleska 157 00:09:16.200 --> 00:09:20.400 had us buy for Psalms and readings back when I was a student. And 158 00:09:20.400 --> 00:09:25.000 I started reading my daily devotion and I came across this passage. And 159 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:28.900 maybe it was just because where my mind was wired at the time, but I 160 00:09:28.900 --> 00:09:34.000 read it and I reread it and I still have the same little note in the 161 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:38.300 margin and it says racism, question mark. 162 00:09:39.400 --> 00:09:42.900 Because I wasn't sure if I was just being primed for this because of 163 00:09:42.900 --> 00:09:47.400 where I was thinking or or was this actual racism in the book of Acts 164 00:09:47.400 --> 00:09:48.300 that I was reading. 165 00:09:48.300 --> 00:09:50.700 And so I started parsing out 166 00:09:50.700 --> 00:09:55.500 these were the Hellenists and I had to do some research because it 167 00:09:55.500 --> 00:09:58.900 doesn't really appear or maybe I'm wrong all that often in the New 168 00:09:58.900 --> 00:09:59.200 Testament. 169 00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:04.500 My mind went to Gentile but see if they could have just said Gentile. 170 00:10:04.500 --> 00:10:06.500 These Hellenist are different. 171 00:10:06.500 --> 00:10:08.900 These are Jewish people. 172 00:10:08.900 --> 00:10:11.600 They're just not from Palestine. 173 00:10:11.600 --> 00:10:14.600 They're out from the Greco-Roman world. 174 00:10:14.600 --> 00:10:20.300 We we know from Timothy maybe they're like me from two different 175 00:10:20.300 --> 00:10:22.500 ethnicities, biracial, 176 00:10:22.500 --> 00:10:28.200 it's just the the vernacular everybody's comfortable with. They didn't 177 00:10:28.200 --> 00:10:32.000 necessarily have all the visual marks of a Palestinian Jew. 178 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:36.600 Timothy wasn't circumcised as a child and later as an adult. 179 00:10:36.600 --> 00:10:38.900 They didn't necessarily 180 00:10:39.300 --> 00:10:41.100 speak the same colloquial language. 181 00:10:41.100 --> 00:10:42.700 They probably didn't dress the same. 182 00:10:42.700 --> 00:10:45.100 They didn't act the same again culturally 183 00:10:45.100 --> 00:10:49.800 they didn't behave the same as a Palestinian Jews and because of 184 00:10:49.800 --> 00:10:54.300 interracial marriage, they probably didn't exactly look like the 185 00:10:54.300 --> 00:10:59.700 Palestinian Jews either. And you see we've been primed in our day and age 186 00:10:59.700 --> 00:11:04.200 to think that racism is just between white and black people. And of 187 00:11:04.200 --> 00:11:09.500 course for us that is for the last four hundred years been a complete 188 00:11:09.500 --> 00:11:12.400 and utterly destructive institutional 189 00:11:13.400 --> 00:11:17.000 posture that we have in America, but but I know for my British wife 190 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:21.200 that black-and-white isn't the only kind of racism in the world. 191 00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:24.600 In fact, she was completely perplexed with the idea that people would 192 00:11:24.600 --> 00:11:27.900 hate black people just because the color of their skin. 193 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:35.700 British people have their their own kind of racism. Some towards people 194 00:11:35.700 --> 00:11:40.500 who kind of look like them. Ask a real hardstone British person about 195 00:11:40.500 --> 00:11:44.000 an Irish person and you'll hear some bigoted remarks. 196 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:51.700 And so here we have people who don't look like each other trying to 197 00:11:51.700 --> 00:11:56.400 do church together, trying to live according to the Holy Spirit 198 00:11:56.400 --> 00:12:01.600 together and they were having difficulty doing that surprise, surprise. 199 00:12:01.600 --> 00:12:03.500 In reality 200 00:12:03.500 --> 00:12:06.700 what they were doing is they were behaving like sinful people do. 201 00:12:06.700 --> 00:12:10.500 Looking out for themselves and in their own kind first. 202 00:12:11.300 --> 00:12:13.100 But see here's the challenge. 203 00:12:14.300 --> 00:12:15.800 They're not just in the world. 204 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:18.200 They're the church. 205 00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:23.400 And they have been called by the Holy Spirit through their baptism to 206 00:12:23.400 --> 00:12:27.800 represent the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth until Jesus returns. 207 00:12:27.800 --> 00:12:34.800 And so what does that look like? If we go back a couple of chapters in 208 00:12:34.800 --> 00:12:40.200 the book of Acts the church did a remarkable thing. Poor people, rich 209 00:12:40.200 --> 00:12:44.300 people and middle-class people sold everything that they had and they 210 00:12:44.300 --> 00:12:47.400 put it into a common collection so that everybody would have 211 00:12:47.400 --> 00:12:54.400 everything in common. Now to our capitalistic ears that sounds sketchy. 212 00:12:54.400 --> 00:12:59.300 A people taking care of each other with the same money and everybody 213 00:12:59.300 --> 00:13:01.200 having kind of the same thing socially. 214 00:13:02.500 --> 00:13:08.300 I'm not going to say what it sounds like to me, but we often just kind 215 00:13:08.300 --> 00:13:12.200 of skate past that passage because it would be really hard for us 216 00:13:12.200 --> 00:13:17.700 capitalist to rationalize socialism in the church. But none the less 217 00:13:17.700 --> 00:13:22.000 that's what they had and to some extent we still practice that a 218 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:25.100 little bit. We collect offering some of us stays in our church 219 00:13:25.100 --> 00:13:28.100 some of it goes to district, some of it goes to missionaries. 220 00:13:29.200 --> 00:13:33.500 And so we're not far apart from it just may be our our attitude 221 00:13:33.500 --> 00:13:37.700 towards it could improve marginally as we move forward. 222 00:13:37.700 --> 00:13:42.700 But here we have this common collection for the whole body of Christ 223 00:13:42.700 --> 00:13:44.300 being withheld 224 00:13:45.400 --> 00:13:46.300 from some. 225 00:13:47.300 --> 00:13:52.900 And the reason why the common collection was being withheld from some. 226 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:55.200 Was because they were different. 227 00:13:56.700 --> 00:14:01.700 So here we have a system put in place for the people where some are 228 00:14:01.700 --> 00:14:07.200 marginalized and and tortured to to some and traumatized to some 229 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:09.300 extent by the system. 230 00:14:10.900 --> 00:14:15.400 And of course, they don't have a word for it then in Acts chapter 6, 231 00:14:15.400 --> 00:14:17.500 but we call this is systemic racism. 232 00:14:17.500 --> 00:14:22.200 You see it doesn't have to be this grand and large-scale thing where 233 00:14:22.200 --> 00:14:25.900 where people put in prison system make racism can be this simple. 234 00:14:25.900 --> 00:14:31.600 It can be this plain and it can sit in front of us and it can even 235 00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:33.400 happen in the church. 236 00:14:34.700 --> 00:14:37.700 And so in 20/20 we have to begin to ask ourselves. 237 00:14:37.700 --> 00:14:43.400 Is there some systemic racism racism amongst us? Has it been 238 00:14:43.400 --> 00:14:48.500 institutionally practiced and it makes me uncomfortable to talk about 239 00:14:48.500 --> 00:14:48.800 it. 240 00:14:48.800 --> 00:14:52.100 But I I was curious about this question when I was a student here. 241 00:14:52.100 --> 00:14:57.900 So I began to do a history paper and I think it was history of the 242 00:14:57.900 --> 00:15:01.400 LCMS on race relationships in the church at and what I found was 243 00:15:01.400 --> 00:15:07.100 with sometimes it was good and other times it was bad. What the LCMS 244 00:15:07.100 --> 00:15:12.300 did with Rosie Young is beginning in Rosebud, Alabama starting 35 245 00:15:12.300 --> 00:15:14.800 churches and 30 schools or something like that. 246 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:18.500 Brothers and sisters in Christ, that is remarkable. 247 00:15:18.500 --> 00:15:20.000 That is good. 248 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:24.300 One of those schools went on to become a college. Establishing a 249 00:15:24.300 --> 00:15:27.900 seminary for black people to become pastors in the church. 250 00:15:27.900 --> 00:15:29.500 That is good. 251 00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:35.400 But you see it's how those things began to be used in the future. 252 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:38.800 That is sometimes bad. 253 00:15:38.800 --> 00:15:44.100 I know from a church historian by the name of Andrew Schulte of it 254 00:15:44.100 --> 00:15:45.900 when he was a pastor here in St. 255 00:15:45.900 --> 00:15:46.000 Louis. 256 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:50.600 He had a couple of young men that want to become pastors and he was a 257 00:15:50.600 --> 00:15:53.800 pastor of a black congregation and when they apply to Concordia 258 00:15:53.800 --> 00:15:55.500 Seminary here in St. 259 00:15:55.500 --> 00:15:57.800 Louis, this very place that we are in today. 260 00:15:57.800 --> 00:16:03.000 They were told that since there's a black Seminary those black 261 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:04.800 students have to go there. 262 00:16:04.800 --> 00:16:07.000 They can't come here. 263 00:16:08.300 --> 00:16:12.200 And I know from Andrew Schulte's book that those young men didn't go 264 00:16:12.200 --> 00:16:14.900 on to become passes because they didn't want to leave their home. 265 00:16:14.900 --> 00:16:19.000 They didn't want to go to North Carolina because they weren't from 266 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:23.000 there and it didn't make sense to them because there was a perfectly 267 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:25.000 good seminary in St. 268 00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:28.100 Louis where they could train and become pastors. 269 00:16:29.100 --> 00:16:34.200 And now of course, we we don't practice that same thing here today in 270 00:16:34.200 --> 00:16:34.500 St. 271 00:16:34.500 --> 00:16:36.300 Louis, gratefully. 272 00:16:36.300 --> 00:16:39.300 And so we're beginning to move in the right direction, but there are 273 00:16:39.300 --> 00:16:43.800 still some things that we can improve upon. And just something that 274 00:16:43.800 --> 00:16:47.600 probably stays past most ears, but it didn't skate past mine. When we 275 00:16:47.600 --> 00:16:50.100 were in our practical practical theology courses. 276 00:16:50.100 --> 00:16:53.500 I was always told that the most important person in the church was 277 00:16:53.500 --> 00:16:54.400 Grandma Schmidt. 278 00:16:55.300 --> 00:17:00.600 Here goes one of these German last names again not foreign to me but 279 00:17:00.600 --> 00:17:04.400 again with an Irish last name from a black man with a black granny. 280 00:17:05.400 --> 00:17:10.099 Who also was Lutheran that slightly offended me. Because what they 281 00:17:10.099 --> 00:17:13.200 were trying to say is the grandma, the women of the church, who do make 282 00:17:13.200 --> 00:17:16.200 the day-to-day things go. Brothers in Christ 283 00:17:16.200 --> 00:17:20.300 when you get into your church treat the grandma's well. Because they 284 00:17:20.300 --> 00:17:23.200 will do all of the luncheons they will do all the stuff that 285 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:27.200 nobody else really wants to do. They are they they they labor in love 286 00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:29.200 for the betterment of the body of Christ. 287 00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:31.900 Don't don't dishonor them. 288 00:17:31.900 --> 00:17:34.400 Hold them up high hold up. 289 00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:41.400 Hold up high granny Schmidt or grandma Schmidt, but also honor granny Halden. 290 00:17:42.600 --> 00:17:47.200 Because she doesn't to she just doesn't have a German last name. 291 00:17:47.200 --> 00:17:51.000 You see that it's these little things of when we say good Lutheran 292 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:53.100 things are simply German things. 293 00:17:53.100 --> 00:17:56.500 They just kind of rub me the wrong way because I am German 294 00:17:58.400 --> 00:18:00.000 But I'm also something else. 295 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:07.200 But in this biracial ethnic body, I'm Lutheran. 296 00:18:08.700 --> 00:18:12.100 A lifelong member of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. 297 00:18:12.100 --> 00:18:16.500 My name was recorded back in 1984. 298 00:18:18.100 --> 00:18:21.100 And so what do the disciples do when they're confronted with this 299 00:18:21.100 --> 00:18:25.800 because I think to this point within the congregation of with the 300 00:18:25.800 --> 00:18:30.500 exception of Ananias and Sapphira back in Acts chapter 4, we won't 301 00:18:30.500 --> 00:18:37.600 talk about that and what happened to them. Here's a dilemma. Here is something that can cause division in the church that 302 00:18:37.600 --> 00:18:42.300 could very well cause some of the new disciples to go a different way, 303 00:18:42.300 --> 00:18:44.500 and we don't want that. 304 00:18:44.500 --> 00:18:46.900 We want unity in the body of Christ. 305 00:18:46.900 --> 00:18:47.900 So this is what they do. 306 00:18:48.800 --> 00:18:56.700 They tell the Hellenists these Greek Germans to find seven men full 307 00:18:56.700 --> 00:18:57.200 of the spirit. 308 00:18:57.200 --> 00:18:59.400 They have to be reputable above reproach. 309 00:18:59.400 --> 00:19:03.700 All these qualification, markers, to become Elders to make sure that 310 00:19:03.700 --> 00:19:07.500 their widows are taken care of. Now as I see they could have done this 311 00:19:07.500 --> 00:19:08.500 a couple different ways. 312 00:19:08.500 --> 00:19:11.100 They could have said well, you know, you Hellenist are kind of 313 00:19:11.100 --> 00:19:14.600 tagging along and you should just be grateful to be a part of what we 314 00:19:14.600 --> 00:19:15.400 got going on here. 315 00:19:15.400 --> 00:19:20.500 So find your own collection kind of do your own thing and be over 316 00:19:20.500 --> 00:19:23.200 there will be over here will kind of be the body of Christ together, 317 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:25.000 but we're going to do it in our own separate ways. 318 00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:26.400 It could have been could have done that. 319 00:19:26.400 --> 00:19:31.100 They could have ignored it or they could have just gone on and said 320 00:19:31.100 --> 00:19:35.200 you guys are you know, get over it a stop talking about your widow's 321 00:19:35.200 --> 00:19:37.700 not getting the daily distribution and they're going to get it 322 00:19:37.700 --> 00:19:38.500 eventually. 323 00:19:38.500 --> 00:19:42.500 If you just play your role and know your place within this body of 324 00:19:42.500 --> 00:19:42.800 Christ. 325 00:19:42.800 --> 00:19:44.700 They could have done any number of things. 326 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:50.300 And those other things probably would have led to division and and 327 00:19:50.300 --> 00:19:54.300 more uprising in the church and things like that and maybe they would 328 00:19:54.300 --> 00:19:57.400 have had to have theological convocations on the issue years down the 329 00:19:57.400 --> 00:20:02.400 road, who knows. But you see these men these disciples they witnessed 330 00:20:02.400 --> 00:20:03.200 something powerful. 331 00:20:04.500 --> 00:20:07.300 They witnessed the Son of God dying for them. 332 00:20:08.300 --> 00:20:12.700 Then they witnessed rising from the grave and then they witnessed 333 00:20:12.700 --> 00:20:15.400 ascending into heaven with promises. 334 00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:19.600 Promises that he's going to return, promises that they will be saved 335 00:20:19.600 --> 00:20:21.000 forever and promise. 336 00:20:22.100 --> 00:20:23.800 That while they were still here 337 00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:31.200 they would be filled with the Holy Spirit. That third person of the 338 00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:36.300 Trinity that all too often we forget. Who is working in our lives 339 00:20:36.300 --> 00:20:42.200 constantly calling us to this place to be strengthened in God's word 340 00:20:42.200 --> 00:20:47.800 and Sacrament so that when we leave we represent the Kingdom of Heaven 341 00:20:47.800 --> 00:20:51.300 on this Earth to everybody. 342 00:20:52.500 --> 00:20:56.500 And the result of what they did I think is miraculous. 343 00:20:56.500 --> 00:21:00.900 It is truly represented that not only where the disciples filled with 344 00:21:00.900 --> 00:21:01.100 the spirit. 345 00:21:01.100 --> 00:21:04.100 But the rest of the body of Christ was filled with the Holy Spirit 346 00:21:04.100 --> 00:21:06.500 because they found these seven men. 347 00:21:06.500 --> 00:21:11.100 I know they're not Palestinian by their names. 348 00:21:11.100 --> 00:21:12.500 Timon. 349 00:21:12.500 --> 00:21:15.000 Well, that's all I would say Timon whatever you want to say. 350 00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:21.100 That's that's not really a Jewish name not in my mind. Well in 2020s kind of 351 00:21:21.100 --> 00:21:21.700 a hood name. 352 00:21:23.400 --> 00:21:28.200 I've never met a white Timon but I've met several black Timons. 353 00:21:28.200 --> 00:21:31.100 Two in the north, imagine that. 354 00:21:32.100 --> 00:21:35.700 But something else even happened there when these widows were 355 00:21:35.700 --> 00:21:39.800 fulfilled when they were taken care of when they stop being neglected 356 00:21:39.800 --> 00:21:46.600 the whole body together rejoiced that this. This new-found unity in the 357 00:21:46.600 --> 00:21:52.800 church from a from a part and in a small portion of dissension and and 358 00:21:52.800 --> 00:21:54.900 segregation and racism. 359 00:21:54.900 --> 00:21:56.400 Once that wound was healed, 360 00:21:58.100 --> 00:22:00.000 everybody celebrated. 361 00:22:00.900 --> 00:22:04.700 imagine that that the disciples they didn't have to take a lot of time 362 00:22:04.700 --> 00:22:07.500 that they said a very interesting phrase to me. 363 00:22:07.500 --> 00:22:11.400 I'm still working out exactly what it means but they said "We can't 364 00:22:11.400 --> 00:22:15.700 stop proclaiming the Gospel to wait tables". And I think what they're 365 00:22:15.700 --> 00:22:19.700 saying is preaching the gospel to the world is too important for us to 366 00:22:19.700 --> 00:22:24.800 be slowed down by something that is kind of mundane. 367 00:22:24.800 --> 00:22:28.700 It really shouldn't be taking place in the church in the beginning. 368 00:22:28.700 --> 00:22:34.700 We are going to recognize this and we are going to address this and we 369 00:22:34.700 --> 00:22:36.500 are going to heal this today. 370 00:22:37.400 --> 00:22:41.000 We don't need any time to think about it, but we don't have to try to 371 00:22:41.000 --> 00:22:42.900 rationalize our way away from it. 372 00:22:42.900 --> 00:22:45.900 We're not going to we're not going to pretend like it's not happening 373 00:22:45.900 --> 00:22:47.300 and then we're not guilty of this. 374 00:22:48.500 --> 00:22:49.400 We're going to do it now. 375 00:22:51.300 --> 00:22:52.500 And the results 376 00:22:53.400 --> 00:22:57.100 are miraculous. Because not only that they rejoice but because the 377 00:22:57.100 --> 00:23:00.800 church was in unity because they can go back about the business of 378 00:23:00.800 --> 00:23:04.900 preaching the gospel the numbers of disciples increased. 379 00:23:05.900 --> 00:23:07.800 The church grew. 380 00:23:11.300 --> 00:23:14.900 My brother's you are entering seminary in a challenging time. 381 00:23:14.900 --> 00:23:22.100 There is covid. The chapel is relatively empty everybody has on face mask and it makes it a 382 00:23:22.100 --> 00:23:23.300 little difficult for the preacher 383 00:23:23.300 --> 00:23:25.100 because who knows if you're enjoying this or not. 384 00:23:25.100 --> 00:23:30.700 I always assumed everybody likes my sermons. That will help you in the 385 00:23:30.700 --> 00:23:30.700 future. 386 00:23:30.700 --> 00:23:32.800 If you just assume that everybody likes your sermons 387 00:23:32.800 --> 00:23:34.000 it'll make the job so much easier. 388 00:23:36.300 --> 00:23:40.400 But we also have this issue of race in America. 389 00:23:42.100 --> 00:23:46.800 And by nature of doing this convocation you have the issue of race in 390 00:23:46.800 --> 00:23:47.300 the church. 391 00:23:48.700 --> 00:23:54.200 You are entering in a historical moment for this institution by 392 00:23:54.200 --> 00:23:57.200 nature this complication something that never took place when I was a 393 00:23:57.200 --> 00:24:00.100 student and then you're going to go out into the church. 394 00:24:00.100 --> 00:24:06.100 Hopefully armed with the information that that you're receiving in 395 00:24:06.100 --> 00:24:06.600 this convocation. 396 00:24:08.300 --> 00:24:10.300 And 50 years from now. 397 00:24:11.500 --> 00:24:14.200 Students at Concordia Seminary St. 398 00:24:14.200 --> 00:24:17.300 Louis they're going to be looking at your work in the church. 399 00:24:17.300 --> 00:24:22.400 They're going to be looking at what you have done in Ministry things 400 00:24:22.400 --> 00:24:28.100 to do things not to do in order to try to. In order to find their way into a broken 401 00:24:28.100 --> 00:24:33.000 and divisive World so that they don't have to wait tables with 402 00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:37.500 their lip service by trying to rationalize why the church is so 403 00:24:37.500 --> 00:24:38.900 completely 404 00:24:39.900 --> 00:24:40.700 ethnically 405 00:24:41.900 --> 00:24:42.900 homogeneous. 406 00:24:44.300 --> 00:24:48.000 Listen, if you don't think the LCMS being 407 00:24:48.900 --> 00:24:53.100 well Pew research says 95% white I beg to differ. 408 00:24:53.100 --> 00:24:57.000 I've been all over this country in a lot of Lutheran Churches people 409 00:24:57.000 --> 00:25:01.100 who are non-white won't listen to the Gospel. But we know from the 410 00:25:01.100 --> 00:25:04.100 book of Acts that that's not true first and foremost because the first 411 00:25:04.100 --> 00:25:09.200 years that gospel weren't white, right. Or we have to recognize that 412 00:25:09.200 --> 00:25:13.100 when it comes to people who look different from us and they don't have 413 00:25:13.100 --> 00:25:14.400 German last names. 414 00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:18.600 They don't quite have the pedigree that we hold high that we simply 415 00:25:18.600 --> 00:25:19.800 haven't gone to them. 416 00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:22.700 And treated them equitably. 417 00:25:23.900 --> 00:25:27.700 And invited them into the church not with conditions of assimilation. 418 00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:33.100 But simply valuing who they are or where they come from and wanting 419 00:25:33.100 --> 00:25:34.200 them next to us. 420 00:25:36.200 --> 00:25:40.100 You see that's our challenge today, and that will be your challenge a 421 00:25:40.100 --> 00:25:41.600 year or 4 years from now. 422 00:25:43.300 --> 00:25:49.000 In the midst of of preaching the gospel to whatever congregation you 423 00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:49.600 arrive in. 424 00:25:51.700 --> 00:25:55.700 Being the body of Christ representing the Kingdom of Heaven in such a 425 00:25:55.700 --> 00:25:55.900 way. 426 00:25:57.100 --> 00:25:58.300 That people who are different 427 00:25:59.700 --> 00:26:03.200 recognize the value of the death and resurrection of Jesus. 428 00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:08.400 And desire that for their eternal life. 429 00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:12.800 Now unlike brother Gray 430 00:26:12.800 --> 00:26:14.600 I don't have two or three endings 431 00:26:14.600 --> 00:26:15.800 I just have this one. 432 00:26:15.800 --> 00:26:17.400 I don't have any Bonhoeffer quotes. 433 00:26:17.400 --> 00:26:19.300 I feel like I'm coming up short without one. 434 00:26:19.300 --> 00:26:21.900 Everybody had one yesterday and I don't have one today. 435 00:26:21.900 --> 00:26:28.600 I like Bonhoeffer he is a great guy, but I do want to say this. 436 00:26:30.200 --> 00:26:31.900 Is Jesus hasn't returned yet 437 00:26:31.900 --> 00:26:36.700 so our time in this world isn't yet over there still a lot of work to 438 00:26:36.700 --> 00:26:36.900 be done. 439 00:26:38.300 --> 00:26:40.900 So let's stop waiting tables with lip service. 440 00:26:40.900 --> 00:26:45.100 Let's let's let's not wonder whether or not racism exist in the church 441 00:26:45.100 --> 00:26:45.600 or in the world 442 00:26:45.600 --> 00:26:49.300 of course it does. And on some scale it always will. 443 00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:53.600 But let's not let that be a barrier 444 00:26:54.900 --> 00:26:58.200 for people coming to know the love of Jesus. 445 00:27:00.200 --> 00:27:03.600 Because it's not just minority numbers that are shrinking among us. 446 00:27:04.800 --> 00:27:05.900 All the numbers 447 00:27:06.900 --> 00:27:08.400 amongst us are leaving the church. 448 00:27:08.400 --> 00:27:10.600 We are aging. 449 00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:14.000 And if we don't take this seriously. 450 00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:18.800 If we don't just go about preaching the gospel in its truth. 451 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:21.400 In its 452 00:27:22.500 --> 00:27:27.000 hospitalityness, thinking of trying to think of a good way to 453 00:27:27.000 --> 00:27:30.500 say that. Then again 454 00:27:30.500 --> 00:27:33.000 we're just waiting tables with lip service. 455 00:27:35.400 --> 00:27:36.900 I said let's be bold. 456 00:27:37.800 --> 00:27:39.000 Let's challenge ourselves. 457 00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:43.700 Let's bear the cross that Jesus has given to us in this place in this 458 00:27:43.700 --> 00:27:44.200 time today. 459 00:27:46.200 --> 00:27:51.200 Unless you know this let us tell this broken and sinful world the even 460 00:27:51.200 --> 00:27:52.000 in their sin. 461 00:27:53.700 --> 00:27:56.400 Even in their different ethnicity and culture. 462 00:27:58.000 --> 00:27:59.200 Even in their brokenness 463 00:28:00.500 --> 00:28:01.200 like us 464 00:28:02.600 --> 00:28:04.700 they are worthy of the love of God. 465 00:28:06.200 --> 00:28:09.300 Now may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep our 466 00:28:09.300 --> 00:28:11.900 hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.