Natanael Lizarazo
Healing, in its many forms, is our ever-present need. God’s entire creation cries for healing, oppressed peoples cry for liberation, we long for lasting peace. Engulfed by political polarization, distrust of institutions, erosion of democratic values, cultural and genders wars, our country longs for unity and reconciled diversity. The faces and painful stories of migrant siblings I meet at the border between Texas and Mexico cry out for compassion and a place to call home. Our broken immigration system needs transformation; conspiracies are real.
As ELCA, we are not immune to these blowing winds which are reshaping the social and spiritual landscape of the land. Facing a shortage of pastors and lay leaders, struggling with alternative ways of being church, congregations are closing at a fast pace. We are going through labor pains in order to become a church which reflects the rich diversity which is present in the marketplace or the gas station, an inclusive and diverse church with a common praise like the church born on the day of Pentecost.
As a M. Div. and STM graduate of Wartburg Seminary, as a pastor of color whose ministry has been predominantly in cross-cultural settings, my hopes for becoming a multicultural church continue to be challenged. There is real pain in realizing how invisible we can be to our ELCA structures. Yet, real as pain is, hope persists as defining story and narrative for me as a pastor of color. In this light and hope, I celebrate what Wartburg Seminary is already doing to ‘diversify both ordained and lay leadership and grow multicultural congregations'.
“For a time, such as this”, the season of Lent gifts us with the transformative disciplines of confession, repentance turning and returning to God. As we follow Jesus on the way to the cross, as we realize anew the suffering, betrayal, denials, and abandonment Jesus willingly embraced for the sake of the world, confession, repentance, turning and returning to God are precious practices we are called to cultivate and embrace. Though we may resist it, honest confession and repentance brings healing, challenge our complacency, and prevent us from detaching our worship and spiritual life from the daily pains, hungers, and brokenness of the world; the world God loves so passionately, tenderly, and persistently.
Thus, it also follows; in the spirit of our prophetic tradition and of Jesus himself, by God’s transforming grace, we embrace daily confession and repentance as vital signs of spiritual health, healing action and missional faithfulness. Whether in the context of our national life or in the very fabric of our relationships as members of the body of Christ in our ELCA, confession and repentance are integral part of our Christian DNA and missional vocation.
