4 June 2020
Dear family in Christ,
We’ve wondered what to say about the current events in Milwaukee and around our country. We’ve wondered whom we should address when we say what we say. We’ve questioned how much we should say. We just want to be a pastors. We don’t want to be politicians. We don’t want to be anything but pastors to you at this time. We just want to be a pastors.
We’re encouraged to speak by leaders throughout our history who have boldly face events in their state and in their world. We’re encouraged by leaders like Martin Luther who both wrote letters to the common people and to kings to teach them about what God says about their behavior when living through crises. We’re emboldened by Lutheran leaders of today who refuse to be silent, and, instead, bring courageous, bold, and clear words from the truth of God’s Word. We want to walk in their footsteps.
Before we say any more, I want to follow the example of Paul who began his letter to the Thessalonians not as their pastor, but as just Paul. I want to walk with you in this as your dear brother in the faith and your dear friend in life. I don’t intend to throw around the weight of my pulpit at you, but to bring God’s Word to your hearts and lives. It’s me, Nate. Writing to you, together with Paul.
We want you to know that grace and peace are yours. Through the redeeming work of Jesus, grace from God is yours; and it is yours in abundance. Peace is yours too! In all the unrest and uncertainty of these days, be still and know that your Father in heaven is yours and you are his. Grace and peace are yours in abundance.
As your friends and brothers in the faith, we don’t have to write to you that racism is wrong. We don’t have to tell you that to view any person from a prejudiced point of view is wrong and sinful. There is no room for this, none at all. Yet, at the same time, it needs to be said. One of the leaders in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LC-MS) has said this and we agree with him:
Discriminatory treatment of human beings on the basis of race is irrational evil and results in evil. It is folly, which can produce only anger and hatred. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” America’s original sin of legal racism, the denial of human rights based on race, has reaped the whirlwind.
God’s Word rejects racism. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). “No one is righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). All are equally created by God. All are equally accountable to God. The sins of all are equally atoned for by Christ. All are equally precious to God. Racial animosity is the result of sin and is sin in itself. Racism is not acceptable in the church. Jesus Himself bids us love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:31) and did so precisely while rejecting racial preference (cf. Good Samaritan, Luke 10:25–37).
Unity in the church according to the Augsburg Confession is defined by Article VII: “For it is sufficient for the true unity of the Christian church that the Gospel be preached … and that the sacraments be administered in accordance with the divine Word.” Christ and His gifts bring unity and equity in the church. Racial discrimination in or by the church is sin. Racial conflict in our nation calls every Christian to introspection. “It is time for judgment to begin at the household of God” (1 Peter 4:17). “Righteous indignation” without self-reflection and repentance is meaningless, or worse, hypocrisy.
The one who grievously and unjustly took the sacred gift of life from George Floyd — resulting in a charge of 3rd-degree murder — will, ironically, be given the very thing he denied his victim, due process of the law. Justice must be meted out according to the law. Others may be charged.
We weep for George Floyd, for his family and loved ones because he was robbed of life. We weep for our nation. We weep for those across our nation who believe their only recourse is destruction. We weep for police officers everywhere, who carry out their honorable vocations with courage and goodwill but find their task infinitely more challenging and dangerous in the wake of the sad events in Minneapolis. We pray for the safety of all and the welfare of those who have lost property and livelihood. We pray for the police who must stand against mayhem. We support the First Amendment rights of the peaceful protestors.
We deplore injustice. We deplore destruction, robbery and doing physical harm to others. That, too, is injustice. We plead to citizens and governments of this nation for communities beset by poverty, crime and injustice. We plead for rational and unifying policies that will end injustices and address social breakdown, lack of economic access, and other factors that fuel anger, hatred and dissension. (https://blogs.lcms.org/2020/statement-on-the-death-of-george-floyd-and-the-ensuing-riots)
For this reason, I urge us all to lament. It is a time to lament the racism that we see in the world. It is a time to lament and to rightly repent of the racism and prejudices that live in our own hearts. It is a time for us to lament the evil that we see so clearly in our world and in our city right now. It is also right for us to grieve with those who grieve and mourn with those who mourn.
To our white family members we want to say this to you: Now is a time for us to listen to the pain of our Black family members. Now is a time for us to be slow to speak and quick to listen. Now is a time for us to sit with them in the dust while they mourn and grieve and lament. In the protesting that you see, see a broken community who are rising up to mourn and to lament. It is good for us to join them in the dust and bring our laments to our God about the evil and injustice that we see.
To my Black family members, we grieve with you. We do not comprehend the pain that you feel, but we see your pain. We commit to understanding your pain better. We commit to walking with you in it and then walking with you out of it. We are mourning with you. We are grieving with you.
Yes, dear family of God, it is good for us to suffer together in this moment. Indeed, this is the example throughout the Scriptures: God’s people suffer together (cf. Romans 12:15, 2 Corinthians 1:7, etc). And it is good for us to do so now; there is great solidarity in suffering.
It is also good for us to listen and to learn from each other. God has placed Mount Lebanon into Milwaukee, one of the most racially divided cities in America. If we want to truly love the people in our great city, it starts with a healthy dose of listening and learning. It starts with all of us getting uncomfortable and working hard to put aside our own thoughts and listen and learn from the people we want to serve. We must intentionally learn from this moment, so that in the future our congregation can better hear and embrace the dear souls of our community.
While our congregation has tried to be proactive when it comes to loving the people of our community, I still hear people saying things that should not be said. I see people treated in a way in which they should not be treated. I have had conversations with some of our Black members in recent days who have expressed the hurt they feel by the things that even our own members have said. I do not believe that the intention was to bring pain to people, but sometimes we say hurtful things without thinking. I inwardly cringe and wonder, “How can we grow as a church to truly embrace this community?” If we are going to follow Paul’s example and “be all things to all people,” then we must truly work to understand the pain and the suffering of the dear souls in our community.
Now is not just a time to lament the sin and evil in this world and to turn from it in ourselves. Now is also a time for us to listen and to learn from those who are hurting so deeply. Now is also a time for us to rise up and love like never before. In this way we will let the light of Jesus’ love shine brightly during these dark days.
We are praying hard for Mount Lebanon and for the church of God in all the world. We are praying that your love for one another and for the people in our community would grow deeper and wider and longer. We are praying that we would embrace the reality that our Savior has redeemed men and women from every tribe and language and people. We are praying not only that we would sit in the dust and lament the evil of these days, but then, that God would raise us up from the dust as a radiant church, a unified church, a church on mission whose purpose is to gather together people from every tribe, nation, language and people at the foot of the cross. We are praying that God would grant us wisdom so that we might listen and learn and then take important steps forward as individuals and as a church in embracing people as they are and bringing the gospel to them.
We are praying for you – you in the singular, just you as you sit and read this letter – that God would keep you in his love. That the love of Jesus would overwhelm you. Because you truly are loved. You truly are covered by the blood of Jesus. He has written his name on you and you are his. You have been marked by his cross and no one can take you from him. We are praying that God would keep you in his love and that we, his church, would rise up in this moment to love other people more and better.
In closing, let us share these words from the LC-MS leader again:
We shall pray, but we shall do even more. We shall follow the ancient mandate of the prophet of Yahweh: “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8).
And we shall proclaim Christ, “in season and out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2). “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person — though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die — but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:7–8). (ibid.)
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it. Brothers and sisters, pray for us....The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-25, 28
In his grip!
Pastor Nate
Pastor Paul