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Being Home

By Vicar Lisa

The article below was written by Herbert Shao in recognition of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Pastor Herbert Shao is a director of evangelical mission in the Northwest Washington Synod. He is also a member of the Association of Asians and Pacific Islanders–ELCA, one of the six ethnic associations of the ELCA. This post was originally published in Living Lutheran on the ELCA Racial Justice blog on May 17, 2022. (Being home - Living Lutheran)

In recognition of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, I share the journey of my achievements and struggles as a person of Asian descent in our church and in our nation.

I immigrated to this country when I was seven years old, and the kids teased me by telling me to go home.

I learned to speak, dress, and publicly act like the dominant culture, and people still told me to go home.

I graduated from college and became a productive citizen in our society, and people still told me to go home.

I graduated from seminary and served in a predominantly white denomination and church, and people still asked me, “When do you plan on going home?”

I considered serving in an Asian church, but the immigrant Asian pastors and community elders felt I wasn’t Asian enough because my voice and language weren’t theirs. I felt they were telling me to find a new home.

I served this country as a military chaplain for 21 years and held the hands of brave warriors as they entered life triumphant, and people still tell me to go home.

I supported and defended the Constitution while rocket-propelled grenades exploded around me, and people in this country still tell me to go home.

I moved up in the ranks of the military chaplaincy, higher than any other Asian in its history but one. Yet when I see that, among the 37 senior-ranking chaplains, there are only three of color, I hear people saying to me, it’s time for you to go home.

When I disagree with siblings in our church who tell me that the historical Western theology, ecclesiology, vestment, and style of worshiping is normative, I feel like they are telling me to go home.

But America and this church are my home—the home I love, the home I’ve suffered in, and I am willing to die for, the only home I really know.

When can I be home without people telling me to go home?

My story is one of many in the landscape of AAPI experiences in the ELCA and in our nation.  The pandemic has simply confirmed how so many do not view us as fully American. In fact, the surge in anti-Asian harassment and assaults solidified how deeply this destructive view is still embedded in the American psyche. Yet, with deep roots in the history and culture of our nation, our voice and contributions are very much a part of the American experience.

Together we can build toward a world where people of every background can be safe and can thrive. May God’s people show what “church together” means, in our actions for justice and for peace.

Seventh Sunday of Easter, May 12, 2024

10 a.m. Worship with Communion

 

Announcements

  • Fellowship Time: Join us after worship for coffee and fellowship.
  • Church Council: After worship on Sunday, church council will meet downstairs in the Fellowship Hall. All are welcome.
  • Bible Study: Our weekday study is held every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. This Wednesday, Pastor Becky McNeil begins a Kerygma study on Spirituality and the Lord’s Prayer.
  • Flowers: There are plenty of days available to sponsor flowers. Select the date in the flower book at the back of the sanctuary, write your name and any commemoration you want included in the bulletin. A minimum donation of $35 is encouraged and donation envelopes are in the flower book, too.
  • Save the Dates: Bee Blessed as the Women of the ELCA will be hosting a retreat entitled Bee Blessed (a fresh look at the Beatitudes) at Grace Lutheran Church in Colorado Springs on June 22, 2024.

E-formation – The Seventh Sunday of Easter, May 12

In the gospel for this coming Sunday, we hear of Jesus praying that we be protected by God for our life in the world. We join with Matthias, the newly chosen disciple number twelve, to witness to Christ’s resurrection.

John 17:6-19

What has been called the High Priestly Prayer of John 17 is divided between the three years of the lectionary on the Sunday after the Ascension. The church honors Christ’s glory, which is manifest both in the crucifixion and in the present community (v. 10). Proclaiming John 17 after Easter rather than during Holy Week exemplifies not only the technique of the lectionary, which layers up biblical meanings for the church’s worship life, but also the facts of the composition of the gospels: not a verbatim from Jesus’ life, this chapter was crafted decades after the resurrection to hold before the believers the name of Christ and so to strengthen the community, who like Christ are both in the world and not of the world. By baptism, we have all been sanctified.

Acts 1:15-17, 21-26

The ascension is followed by the establishment of the church in Jerusalem, which requires leadership. Luke describes the casting of lots, but Peter’s prayer indicates the theological understanding that God is choosing the church’s leaders. Christian churches continue this hope in their language about the call to ministry and in the rite of ordination.

1 John 5:9-13

This Sunday concludes the semicontinuous reading of 1 John. If believers already have eternal life, it is other than life after death: it is the joyful communal sharing in Christ’s truth now.

Zion's Lutheran Church

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719-846-7785