Lent Devotions from the Racial Equity Team
The Baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch by the Deacon Philip by SUSTRIS, Lambert (b. ca. 1515, Amsterdam, d. after 1560, Venezia)
“Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah” ”
Baptism and Inclusion
Fifth Week of Lent
Who was the Ethiopian eunuch? He was a black person, African, from Ethiopia. Slavery was not limited to black people—white, brown, and black people were enslaved during wars. Some believe that the Queen of Sheba who visited Solomon (1Kings 10:1) was black, and Simeon, who was called Niger (black), was a prophet and teacher in the church at Antioch (Acts 13:1).
Eunuchs are individuals who have been castrated, which means that their testicles have been removed. They usually were servants or slaves who served as guards and officials for the royal court, royal women, and the harem. Eunuchs were excluded from entering the temple where the Israelites worshiped. They only worshipped in the Gentile Court because the law of Moses prohibits Eunuchs from worshipping with the Jews:
“No one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall come into the assembly of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 23:1 NRSVUE).
There was a visible and invisible barrier between the Jews and the Gentiles.
The Holy Spirit works to end discrimination between the Jews and Gentiles. Through Philip the Deacon, the Holy Spirit demolished the barrier and opened the door for the Gentiles and disabled people to be fully church members. Luke presents the Ethiopian eunuch as a model of a Christian man despite his unmanly identity markers and ethnicity.
“As they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?’” (v. 36 NRSVUE).
It is possible that the Ethiopian eunuch asked this question because he was unsure whether a castrated man could be baptized and become a full church member. Philip the Deacon baptized him, and the Ethiopian Eunuch “went on his way rejoicing” (v. 39).
Racial and disability inclusiveness is deeply embedded in the sacrament of baptism. Our baptism is a visible sign of God’s grace for all people regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, disability, and skin color. It signifies a new life in Christ and calls us to break barriers between people. The apostle Paul teaches about the impact of baptism on the Christians in his letter to the Galatians, where he writes:
“There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28 NRSVUE).
Historically, the church has designated the Easter vigil to baptize new believers. In the Lutheran Church baptism liturgy, we “renounce the devil and all the forces that defy God, the powers of this world that rebel against God, and the ways of sin that draw you from God.”
I invite you to consider whether our church and our life renounce the devil and all the forces promoting discrimination and injustice against our neighbor. Ask yourself whether your life renounces the powers of this world that rebel against God, who created all people according to God’s image.
Yours in Christ,
Rev. Dr. Niveen Ibrahim Sarras, Ph.D.
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church
140 S Green Bay Rd, Neenah, WI 54956
Can You Imagine?
Fourth Week of Lent
“I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to God who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to God be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
Ephesians 3:18-21
Siblings in Christ,
In the Trail of Tears devotion, I asked you to imagine the tears of Indigenous Americans, Japanese Americans and African Americans. A few days later, it struck me that as a White American all I could do was imagine. I have not, and will not, have those experiences. I may witness them and be moved to tears for my siblings. I can empathize and be deeply moved, but it is not the same. This is part of what it means to be enfleshed in white skin in the United States.
Last Tuesday I participated in a Zoom conversation with Reverend Kenneth W. Wheeler, the author of US The Resurrection of American Terror. During that time, Reverend Wheeler asked us to “imagine what America would be like without the demonic hold of white supremacy.”1 Imagine that.
Rev. Wheeler wrote, “A new heaven and a new earth are the vision and the fire that must hold our attention as we work to undo the power of white supremacy and racism.”2 Imagine that world.
Sit and imagine.
Now hear the Word of God.
“I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to God who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to God be glory in the church and[ in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“See, the home of God is among mortals.
God will dwell[with them;
they will be God’s peoples,
and God will be with them and be their God;
God will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for[the first things have passed away.”
And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.’”
Revelation 21:1-5
Imagine the power of God working in us to bring about a new heaven and a new earth.
Imagine God stirring in us so that our hearts, minds and lives are changed, and we are empowered to break the demonic hold of white supremacy in America.
Imagine what it would be like if we trust in God’s promise to accomplish abundantly more than we can ask or imagine.
Imagine a new heaven and a new earth unfolding right here, right now.
Imagine that.
Let us pray.
Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated to you; and then use us, we pray, as you will, but always to your glory and the welfare of your people, through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.3
The Rev. Barb Girod
on behalf of the Racial Equity Team
1US The Resurrection of American Terror, Rev. Kenneth W. Wheeler
2US The Resurrection of American Terror, Rev. Kenneth W. Wheeler
3Evangelical Lutheran Worship
“Woe to those who plan iniquity,
to those who plot evil on their beds!
At morning’s light they carry it out
because it is in their power to do it.
They covet fields and seize them,
and houses, and take them.
They defraud people of their homes,
they rob them of their inheritance.”
The Fast God Chooses
Third Week of Lent
On Saturday, March 11, 2023, I attended zoom a Land Acknowledgement Panel Discussion hosted by the racial equity team of our synod. The Native American panelists shared their history of displacement and explained how the doctrine of discovery (“The Doctrine of Discovery provided a framework for Christian explorers, in the name of their sovereign, to lay claim to territories uninhabited by Christians”) dehumanized their ancestors and stole their land. Unfortunately, the experience of Native Americans is not unique. The indigenous people of Canada, Latin America, and Australia experienced similar situations.
White supremacy was deeply rooted in the early Christian colonists who gave themselves the right to kill the indigenous people of America, destroy their culture and faith, and confiscate their land. The nation of the United States is built on the blood of the Native Americans and their stolen land.
Listening to the panelists reminded me of the struggle that my Palestinian people face daily. Zionist military forces came from Europe, attacked major Palestinian cities and destroyed them, massacred the indigenous people, and forced thousands to become refugees in neighboring countries. The Zionists took my people’s land and gave it to the Israelis. The state of Israel is built on the blood of the Palestinians and their stolen land. The Israeli discriminate against the Palestinians by controlling our economies, building the apartheid wall, and imposing restrictions on our movement within the West Bank. Discrimination on the part of Israelis exists in their institutional policies, personal attitudes, and the media.
Passing the national narratives of stealing the land of the Palestinians and Native Americans established as a traumatic event in the collective imagination of Palestinian and Native American generations, making them equally traumatized as their ancestors who experienced these events firsthand.
God disapproves of depriving people of their ancestral land. Even in the book of Joshua, God did not command the destruction of the indigenous people of the land of Canaan. Still, the Israelites, whom the gods of the surrounding nations influenced them, assumed that God was a militaristic deity. Despite the prophet Micah condemning the elite Israelites for coveting the land of the poor Israelites; the criticism applies to people from different ethnicities and faith backgrounds.
On our Lenten journey, I invite you to ponder the kind of fasting that our Lord desires, i.e., justice and mercy. The fasting involves advocacy for those whose lands and homes are taken from them. True fasting promotes reconciliation and just peace. I encourage you to take time to reflect on the fasting that the Lord speaks in Isaiah 58:6-7
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Rev. Dr. Niveen Ibrahim Sarras, Ph.D.
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church
“Surely he has borne our infirmities
and carried our diseases,
yet we accounted him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed.”
Devotion on the Trail of Tears
Second Week of Lent
HIS TRAIL OF TEARS
The Soldiers then put a heavy crossbeam
on the back of Creator Sets Free (Jesus).
But he stumbled under the weight. **
THE TRAIL WHERE HE CRIED
As he rode forward, he could see
the Sacred Village of Peace (Jerusalem),
and tears began to run down his face. *
As he came near and saw the city,
he wept over it.
— Luke 19:41
The two headings in bold, noted above, are from First Nations Version; An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament. They captured my attention and drew me to think about other trails of tears. First, The Trail of Tears of Indigenous people. From 1830-1850 approximately 60,000 people, members of the Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations were forcefully removed from their homes and land in the South and Southeast and moved to land west of the Mississippi. They would never return to their sacred land. At least 4,000 people died on that 5,043-mile trail. They died of illness, starvation, exposure to harsh weather and the brutal conditions of travelling that distance. Sit, imagine their tears.
Countless more tears were shed as Japanese Americans were forced to move to internment camps such as Manzanar, Minidoka, Santo Tomas and Tule Lake. Beginning in February of 1942 over 127,000 Japanese had to abandon homes, businesses and communities. Many, if not most, would never regain what was left behind. The conditions in these camps were far from humane. Many of the men were faced with the difficult decision of whether to join the war effort against their homeland. Sit, imagine their tears.
From 1910 to 1970 approximately six million African Americans moved from Southern United States to the North during the Great Migration. They moved from the harsh conditions of segregation, prejudice and poor economic conditions. Many of these conditions were supported by Jim Crow Laws. Tears were shed long before the migration began. Tears would continue as they journeyed north and lived with the reality that they would face many of the conditions they left behind. Again, sit. Imagine their tears.
Throughout the history of human beings, tears have been shed because of sin, sin wrapped up in fear, greed, anger, and frustration. Tears have been shed as people wage wars, large and small, physical and psychological, over ideologies, beliefs, theologies, land and resources. You are probably adding to the list as you read. You have seen pain inflicted on those around you, and you have experienced your own.
So long ago, Jesus shed tears. We know he cried at the tomb of his dear friend Lazarus. He cried as he looked over Jerusalem, grieving because the people did not know how to make way for peace. We can be certain that he also wept as made his way to the cross.
During this time of Lent let us take time to sit with the tears of those who suffer. Let us confess our complicity in the ways we have brought pain and tears to others, either by what we have done or left undone. Let us be mindful of Jesus’ passion and journey to the cross as he bore the weight of the sins of the world.
Let us pray: Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may move every human hart; that the barriers dividing us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; and that with our divisions healed, we might live in justice and peace; through you Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.***
Submitted by Rev. Barb Girod, Retired
Racial Equity Team
* First Nations Version An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament
**Notation between Matthew 27:31 and 32 First Nations Version An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament
***Evangelical Lutheran Worship
“Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every people anyone who fears him and practices righteousness is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. ”
Devotion on Acts 10&11, the conversion of Cornelius and the Apostle Peter
First week of Lent
The narrative about the conversion of Cornelius, a Gentile, by the Apostle Peter (Acts 10&11) is an example of anti-ethnocentrism. It demonstrates God's impartiality and inclusivity of all ethnicities. God poured out the Holy Spirit impartially to the Jews and the Gentiles. For hundreds of years, particularly in the first century C.E., the Jews demonstrated ethnic prejudice against the Gentiles; a devout Jew perceived the Gentiles as unclean. Jews' ethnic identity was grounded in the monotheism of a God who has called only the Jews to be holy, forsaking the Gentiles' idolatry. The Jews thought God favored them, creating a prejudicial disdain for the Gentiles. Ethnocentrism is evident in Cornelius, a middle-ranking officer who represented Rome’s military occupation of Palestine. The Romans perceived the Jews as uncivilized people, and the Jews perceived the Romans as occupiers and unclean.
This story is also about freeing Cornelius and the Apostle Peter from their prejudice. Cornelius welcomed hearing the word of God from an uneducated Jew. He did not ask for a member of the Sanhedrin, the supreme religious body in Israel. Comparatively, the Apostle Peter converted from ethnic prejudice and intolerance to inclusion and embracing the Gentiles. Peter shared the gospel with Cornelius, realizing that God loves every ethnicity and shows no partiality regarding who can be saved.
Additionally, this narrative demonstrates that Peter's message, the gospel of Christ, is the only message that will unite all ethnicities. This insinuates that Peter's vision of a sheet with unclean animals to eat in Acts 10: 9-17 was not just to stop being ethnically prejudiced but to embrace Cornelius, to go in and eat and worship with him.
In this Lenten season, how do you think God is calling you to react to people who are culturally and ethnically different than you? Are your actions in line with God's calling? What areas in your life do you think you need to improve?
Rev. Dr. Niveen Ibrahim Sarras, Ph.D.
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church
140 S Green Bay Rd, Neenah, WI 54956
