EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2017 I began a new venture as a synodically authorized minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. The ride over the past 2.5 years has been an amazing journey of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on Nov. 18, 2018.
Last Tuesday was not a typical day for me. The Forum newsroom was a bit short-staffed as many of their folks were at a training, and so I got called into emergency duty to help the desk that covers the website for the day.
Now, since I transferred out of the newsroom 9 years ago, I don’t get called into reserve action very much. And frankly, I had forgotten just how emotionally difficult the job can be at times. For anyone that reads a newspaper, or its website, you’ve already figured out that bad news sells. … And worse yet, for newsrooms nowadays, there is a lot of bad news to peddle.
And so I found myself on Tuesday, sorting through the various stories that flowed in from all over the world, and posting them on The Forum’s website. But even though I’m accustomed to dealing with bad news at that job, the headlines that day heavily impacted me.
Maybe it was because of the fact that I’m not as exposed to the drumbeat of bad news as I once was. … Or maybe it was because I’ve just grown soft as I age. … Or maybe it’s because I see the news through a pastor’s lens nowadays, versus a journalist.
Whatever the reason web desk duty on Tuesday became a regrettable task. I perused through ugly story after ugly story, until two in particular seemed to crush my soul.
The first headline, from the Washington Post read: “Hate crimes rose 17 percent last year, according to new FBI data.” … A headline that seemed to confirm my suspicions that we continue to live in a less intolerable and compassionate world.
The story went on to say that law enforcement agencies reported that 7,175 hate crimes occurred in 2017, up from 6,121 in 2016, which was up from 2015. … Three straight years of increases.
And it further stated “more than half of hate crimes, about 3 out of every 5, targeted a person’s race or ethnicity, while about 1 out of 5 targeted their religion. Of the more than 7,000 incidents reported last year, 2,013 targeted black Americans, while 938 targeted Jewish Americans. Incidents targeting people for their sexual orientation accounted for 1,130 hate crimes.”
Now, think about that. ... People were the targets of hate crimes simply because they were a different race ... a different religion … or a different sexual orientation.
I think it’s easy for us here in this region to think that we are far removed from this kind of behavior. … Not us; that happens elsewhere. … But, sadly, it’s not true. It happens right here in our backyard as well.
I wonder how each of you feels about that? Is that enough to make your blood boil? …. To know that fellow brothers and sisters, some who are Christian … and some who are not, live threatened lives simply because they are different than someone else. … To me, it’s absolutely soul crushing.
But if that wasn’t enough to upset you, how about this next story that I posted to the newspaper’s website later that day.
The headline, another from the Washington Post, read: “Nova Scotia boy with cerebral palsy made to lie in muddy creek as human bridge for laughing schoolmates.” …
“What in heaven’s name?” I thought, as I pulled up this next wire service story? This can’t be possible. … But, yes sadly, it was. … And just so that you get hit with the full impact of it, let me read you the first few paragraphs:
“At first, 14-year-old Brett Corbett told his mom he was sent to the principal’s office sopping wet because the kids dared him to swim in the creek behind the school, in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia.
But then the videos emerged and with them, an appalling story of bullying.
In one video displayed with this article, Corbett, a high school freshman with cerebral palsy, is seen standing in the middle of shallow, murky water while more than a dozen kids stare down at him from the top of a small hill. He lies down on his stomach, keeping his palms flat in the mud to steady himself as the current rushes past him.
Then, a moment later, a girl leaps from the bank, steps on Corbett’s back as if it were a springboard, and launches herself to the other side — turning Corbett into a human bridge.
In another video, the teenagers are laughing hysterically. They yell at Corbett to get back in the water after he stands up. He doesn’t want to.
“Do it, you f------ b----!” one classmate screams, and Corbett did.
Corbett’s mother, Terri McEachern, said three students walked on her son.”
How about now? … How sickened are you now? … It’s one thing when the person being picked on, or threatened, or harassed is an adult, right? … It’s easy to explain away. … Well, racism just exists. It’s always going to be there. … And, you know, I don’t really know any Muslims or Jews, so it’s hard to get worked up about that.
But this … what does this story do to your blood pressure?
An innocent young teenager, defenseless, made to lie in a freezing cold mud puddle for other kids’ amusement. … And then forced to serve as a human bridge so that the other teens can humiliate him even more? … Now, if that doesn’t make you want to rise up out of your seat, I don’t know what will.
So, what do either of these news stories have to do with us, here, right now on this Sunday at Faith Lutheran? … That is a fair question. … So, let me finish the rest of my story.
After that awful day at work on Tuesday, my next item on the agenda was to come out here to Faith, where I gathered with about a half dozen members who are on the Worship and Music Committee.
And, as usual, the first third of the meeting was spent essentially doing a check in on everyone who was present, their loved ones, and others in our congregation who might need prayers. … A similar act that takes place at every meeting I attend here at Faith. … Yes, there’s business to be conducted, but first let’s check in on each other’s wellness.
And then the meeting took place, and we planned out the music and worship portions of the services for the next couple of months, and we had a lovely time doing it. … And then I climbed back into my car, on a cold night, with a warm feeling in my heart, after a day during which it had been stomped on.
And then during that car ride home, I remembered a moment from last Sunday’s church service when near the end of the service, I sneaked out of the Sanctuary and up into the balcony so that I could watch ring the big church bell 11 times in honor of Veterans Day. But I got up there before Ross, and I was able to enjoy about 10 minutes of the service from up there.
I wrote about this experience in a blog post, and if you are interested, I can help you find it, but a snippet of that post read: “As I lounged in the pew, I marveled at how close being up there brings you to the fantastic woodwork that was incorporated into the church when it was built. Stunningly beautiful exposed beams are visible, and there is a tenderly cared for carved wood design of a cross on the west wall.
And the sound. Oh, what acoustics in that space. I could clearly hear the voices of the women running our service, carried to me without amplification. Even better, being the only one sitting up there in the rafters, there was no other ambient noise caused by people to distract me.
Our balcony probably is about 15 feet above the Sanctuary floor, and provides a tremendous view of all that is happening up front on our altar. If you pretend just a little bit, it's kind of like watching a live diorama of a church service going on.”
And at that moment in the car on Tuesday, is when the ugliness of the day washed from me, and I knew that Jesus was riding shotgun with me home that night. He was there, and his love and his compassion and his empathy wiped the slate of the day clean for me and reinvigorated me for the battle we Christians face.
And that battle is: Just how do you rise up each day, knowing that the forces of evil -- racism, hate, humiliation, the broken who put down others to make themselves feel better, the utter callousness of so many -- are lying just outside your down to beat you down? Their only goal each morning is to make you forget that you are a Christian called to walk in Christ’s footsteps, and to accept the world’s standard of how to treat people.
So, just how do we rise up each and every day in the midst of this battle for our souls?
Well, simply put: We do it together. You and I. All of us, together. … And we do it here starting every Sunday. … And we do it in every Music and Worship Committee meeting we attend. … Or Women’s Group fitness night. … Or the new Men’s Group gatherings. … Or in Church Council Meetings. … Or in LYO meetings. … Or we do it on special days such as this when we celebrate new members entering our congregation.
Because, it is in the very soul-enriching, life-giving, Christ-celebrating acts that go on here at Faith Lutheran where we find the courage, the inspiration and the bread of life to go forth from here every Sunday and tell this world that we will not stand for the injustice. … We will not stand for the hate. … We will not stand around meekly and watch a 14-year-old boy with cerebral palsy be mocked and ridiculed. … Or our Muslim neighbors’ mosques bombed. … Or our brown and black sisters and brothers demeaned.
Today, we accept new members into our church because we defy the evil that takes place out there, with a joy that we are cultivating in here. … Listen to the words of our second reading in Hebrew today: “Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
And so, today, I speak directly to those who are joining as new members, and I welcome you to this special faith family.
As you engage in our faith community, I pray that you find this church as spiritually encouraging as I do.
And to the congregation in general, may all of us together continue to meet regularly and to provoke one another to love and good deeds. … Because Lord knows the world needs it.
And that is the Good News for this Sunday. … Amen.
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