Finding Hope

The Way Forward is the new series that we start today. Hey everybody, my name is René, another one of the pastors here at Twin Lakes Church. Hope you're finding a way to keep cool on this sweltering August day today. Hey, we have a very special guest speaker to launch this brand new series, but first I wanna take a couple of minutes to describe to you what this series is all about and why it is so crucial.

In fact, I can't think of anything more crucial for you and me personally to learn right now or for us as a church to study right now. You know, I love our church. And as your pastor, I am also so concerned for our church right now, maybe more concerned than I have ever been. Why? Because we are living in a culture that is more polarized than I have ever known in my life. Whatever the issue is these days, whether it's coronavirus or racial division or the presidential election or face masks, schools reopening, whatever, choose your issue.

It instantly becomes a politicized, polarized argument that divides us, distracts us from the love of Jesus and ironically sabotages real lasting change. Are you tired of that? Are you tired of spinning your wheels? Are you tired of the nonproductive us versus them? Well, good news. Jesus offers the way, not backwards, not around, but the way forward through all of the divisive issues that we are facing today into real transformation.

I mean, think of it this way. Jesus Christ was inarguably the world's most successful revolutionary ever and yet here's how he did it. Here's the real cornerstone verse of this series. Jesus said, "Learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart." He changed the world and yet was gentle and humble. Do we need to relearn this today as a culture?

John Perkins, renowned pastor and civil rights leader recently said, "This generation is the first to turn hate into an asset." Author Jen Pollack-Michelle wrote, "Outrage has become our national sport." And it's not just about the bad world out there either. Pastor Ray Ortland said earlier this year, "Our American evangelicalism seems to be reflecting our culture, turning into a swagger driven domineering when at all costs sub-Christian Christianity." Wow.

So in this series, we are going to learn how to do this again from the master, from Jesus, how to live with gentleness and humility. We're gonna look at times in Jesus' life when he was put into very tense, very divisive situations, religiously and politically and personally and how we can respond like him. And we're gonna start by looking at the tense issue of racial reconciliation in our country.

Because here's kind of the funny thing. Most Americans agree racism is a problem. Most Christians agree racism is a problem. In fact, most Christians agree racism isn't just a problem, it's a sin. So why then is the conversation often still so difficult? Well, I asked my friend Herman Hamilton, pastor at New Beginnings Community Church over in Palo Alto to share on this today because Herman is probably the most gentle and humble human being that I know.

And so I asked him to talk about finding hope for racial reconciliation. Wouldn't you love to have hope when it comes to this topic? He's got a lot of great things to say. You can download his notes at tlc.org/notes. I am so eager to listen to Herman with an open heart right now. In fact, here's what I wanna challenge you to do. Throughout this four week series, I hope that we all determine to listen graciously and then reflect prayerfully and act thoughtfully where God shows you, where you might be able to make a difference, where you might be able to personally change.

You know, you never stop growing and learning until the day you die. At least I hope I don't. So learn and grow with me as Herman comes to us now from the campus of his church, New Beginnings Community Church. Let's listen.

I can't tell you how awesome it is to have an opportunity to share with you guys at Twin Lake Church. It's just phenomenal. You guys don't know it, but my wife and I around August last year were celebrating our 33rd anniversary, wedding anniversary in the Santa Cruz area. And we showed up and worshiped with you guys on a Sunday. And the experience was just fantastic, especially, especially the hospitality.

Your pastor was away on vacation, but before I left the campus, I gave him a call and said, hey man, we just had a transformative experience at your church. So it's a joy to be able to talk to you guys and share with you. Also, I just want to give a shout out to your pastor, René, hey man, it's just been awesome to be a colleague of yours here in the Bay Area. I've admired your work in ministry for many, many years. And it's a precious gift that in the last few years, we've become good friends.

So thank you for that gift and thank you for giving me the gift to share with your amazing congregation there at Twin Lakes. So what a blessing. Let's pray. God, I want to give you thanks and praise for this moment. And I'm asking you to pour out your spirit and make this a transformational moment, both for those who are listening and for myself. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

All right guys, listen, your pastor asked me to spend a few moments sharing with you guys something that I've been saying to and teaching my community here at New Beginnings Community Church since the brutal death of Mr. George Floyd as it relates to the role of Jesus followers in this work of racial justice and racial reconciliation. Here's a deal that I've been saying, that God does not expect Jesus followers to simply participate in this work, in this defining moment both in the world and in the nation.

God expects Jesus followers, listen now, to be at the forefront of this work. Here's why. 24 hours before Jesus was crucified, he said to his disciples who were standing in proxy for all of us who would be Jesus followers. He says, "Look, I want you to love one another in the same way that I have loved you." And then he goes and he sacrifices his life on the cross. Remarkable, isn't it?

And out of that sacrifice and his resurrection comes salvation and the gospel that is good news to all the people across all the differences that make us who we are. And it strikes me that as Jesus followers in the church, that he actually meant what he said, that he actually intends for us to love one another across race and ethnicity in the same way that he loves us.

Which means that from time to time, we may be called upon to literally sacrifice our lives for others across race and ethnicity in pursuit of God's righteousness and justice in the world. Now that's pretty deep. That's pretty deep. So guys, we're called to be on the forefront of this unique moment in the history of the church and the world.

And so with that, let's read the text that I've been doing a lot of work with over the past six weeks or so. The gospel of John 11, we'll start at verse 32. "When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and she said, 'Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.' When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. 'Where have you put him?' Jesus asked him. They told him, 'Lord, come and see.' Then Jesus wept. The people who were standing nearby said, 'See how much he loved him.' Jesus was still angry when he arrived at the tomb and a cave with a stone rolled across his entrance. 'Roll the stone aside,' Jesus told them."

And so they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and he said, "'Father, thank you for hearing me. You always hear me, but I said this out loud for the sake of these people standing here so that they will believe you sent me.' Then Jesus shouted, 'Lazarus! Come out.' The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in grave clothes, his face wrapped in a handcloth. And Jesus told them, 'Unwrap him and let him go.'" There's the reading.

Let me begin by offering to you at Twin Lakes a challenge that I offer to the people here at NBCC. We call it a Connect Four Challenge. And it is a set of principles that Jesus models as he interacts with Mary in this time of great pain. As we watch Mary fall at his feet, weeping, and the community around her wailing, Jesus models several principles.

First, we find him listening. He's listening. Second, we find him lamenting. The text says Jesus wept. Third, we find him teaching us how to lean in and learn from one another because the question is, where have you laid him? And the answer is, Lord, come and see. This notion of walking together with each other, a great metaphor for learning together.

And then when he gets to the tomb, he teaches us about praying together and acting together as he calls Lazarus out and he overturns what looks like permanent reality and makes it a better reality. These are four principles that we need to follow as we begin to engage with one another across race.

So here's the challenge. I want you to practice these four principles as you identify two or three people of a different race and ethnicity and engage them in conversation around the question, share with me your story of race in America. Now, of course, if you're not African-American, those folk ought to be African-Americans that you're talking to given this particular historical context. And obviously, if you're African-American, you're talking to people who are different than you.

And if you practice these four principles, I'm suggesting that they will help to give birth to a transformative relationship that ultimately can impact the world around us. Now, when you pursue these dialogues and the rest of this message is really about this, there are three hidden dangers that you just need to be aware of. They're gonna be right there in the room and you've got to navigate those dangers very well or they just blow up the whole conversation.

The first of these hidden dangers is what I want to call hidden trauma that's in the room. The second is the unspoken skepticism and the third is the displaced guilt. So let's take first and foremost, the hidden trauma. When I was a baby, I was severely scarred by chemical burns. So what that meant is that when I grew up, I grew up through my elementary, middle school, and high school years as a kid that was significantly disfigured in my head.

As a middle schooler, I remember always wearing a knit cap, particularly as I played outside. And even when I came back into the classroom, I'd have on that knit cap for as long as the teacher would allow me to have it on. But inevitably, she would see me with the cap and she said, "Herman, pull that cap off." So I began to slowly pull that cap off. And as I pull the cap off, I would immediately feel exposed and embarrassed and remarkably different than anyone else in the room.

And here's why. As I pull that cap off, I wasn't just exposing my scars, guys. I was exposing my trauma. So here's the first thing that you've got to keep in mind as you do the work of racial dialogue across ethnicity is that when you're dialoguing with someone who is an African American, you say, "Would you please share with me your story of race in America?" You're not just simply asking that person to pull off their cap and expose their scars. You're asking them to pull off your cap and expose your trauma.

That awareness that you're having a conversation shaped around trauma should create some real sensitivity in how you have that conversation. Now, we see this played out dramatically here in the text. First of all, let me give you some broader context. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, they're siblings. They live in Bethany. And whenever Jesus would go to Jerusalem, Bethany was a couple of miles outside of Jerusalem. He would go and he would stay with them. He loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, the text tells us earlier.

Lazarus takes sick. His sisters get word to Jesus. Lazarus is sick. Really, they're saying, "He's dying. We need your help." They don't hear from Jesus until after Lazarus dies and has been buried for four days, then Jesus comes to town. Mary is so upset, she doesn't even want to see Jesus when he comes to town. When she first hears that he's in town, she doesn't go anywhere. Finally, she decides to leave her house and come, and that is where this text picks up.

She throws herself at his feet, and that's why I say she's not just crying. She's really screaming at Jesus. "Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died." And in her own way, she is saying, to some degree, "Lord, this is your fault because you could have made a difference. You could have kept him alive. You could have healed him. We've seen you heal people before." Now, note how Jesus responds. He doesn't take it personally. He doesn't try to defend or deflect from what's going on.

He doesn't say, "Mary, I can't believe you're coming at me like that." Nothing, no. He recognizes that in that moment, when she falls at her feet and cries out to him, that what Mary is doing is pulling off her cap and exposing to him her trauma. And that notion of interacting with her trauma shapes how Jesus reacts to her. And the first thing he does is he listens. And the second thing he does is he laments.

Notice that verse 33 says that when Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger wells up within him and he was deeply troubled. Then two verses later, it says, "And Jesus wept." Mary was angry about the loss of her brother and Jesus alongside of Mary was angry about the loss of her brother. Mary was weeping over the loss of her brother and Jesus alongside Mary in the broader community was also weeping about the loss of her brother. Jesus was lamenting with her.

And what becomes obvious? Well, the verse says in verse 36, the people say, standing nearby, they say, "See how much he loved him Lazarus." In other words, because Jesus listened and lamented, ultimately his response to Mary's trauma was revealed love. You see, when you're having a conversation with an African American around their trauma as it relates to race, that is not a time to have a political discussion. It's not a time to talk about social policy. It is simply a time to love, to lament with them.

I can't tell you how many letters Rhonda and I have experienced, received over the last couple of months and how healing and helpful they've been to us. One came from a member of our church community who wrote me and said, "Pastor Herman, I'm just weeping with you for you and Sister Rhonda. And I'm not African American, so I don't know fully what it means to be who you are, but I know that what I see is wrong and it's breaking my heart." She says, "So I just want you guys to know that I'm praying for you every day." And then she goes on and says something else.

She says, "And you know what? As I've worked through the last several days in my prayer times, I've discovered that I've got some racial bias that's going on in my heart that I didn't even know was there." And she says, "So I just want you to know that I'm going to be praying through that and working that through. What a remarkable healing letter that truly blessed us. I mean, first of all, see how much she loved us, see how much she loves Jesus, even to the extent that she would allow the Holy Spirit to search her heart.

Is this not a time that we should allow the Holy Spirit to search all of our hearts and reveal stuff to all of us that we don't perhaps know that exists within? Wow, look at how she loved. So whenever there's a racial dialogue taking place, that's just no, there's hidden trauma in the room. And that's just got to shape how we perceive. Secondly, in the room is unspoken skepticism. Let's return to the text.

You know, in that statement, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." I think reveals some real issues of skepticism that Mary is articulating. Here's what I mean. What she's, if you pull the lens of the text back further, look at the context, here's what she's really saying. Hey, listen, Jesus, we've been there for you. For three years, you lived with us. We fed you, we supported you, we encouraged you, we believe what you've taught, we've advocated on your behalf. And the one time we needed you, absolutely the most you did not show up. I'm not sure I can fully trust you. I think it's the implication in Mary's words, a little skepticism.

For anybody who feels like Jesus hasn't shown up at the moment that you really needed him, you may have not said that out loud, but you know what it feels like. You say, "I'm not really sure I can trust you, Jesus." We've all had those moments. Well, that skepticism exists on both sides of the table when we're dealing with race and racial dialogue between people who don't know each other. Of course, that skepticism has a context. The first context for skepticism, when we're talking to each other across race and ethnicity, it's just simply the lack of relationships, right?

Let me tell you a quick story. Back in my days in Boston, when I was pastoring, my 28-year-old niece came to visit us one Christmas, so horrendously, it was one of those horrible Boston winters, right? Snow everywhere, the frigid cold cuts through everything you're wearing, cuts into your mind, it's horrible. We decided to, me and my niece would jump in the car and race over to the grocery store and pick up a few items. I told her to stay in the car, so I left in the car, the car was running, the lights was left on, so it would stay heated. I was a baby blue SUV.

I ran into the grocery store, got what I needed, came out. I must have came out the wrong door, because I was a little disoriented, because I couldn't find my car initially. I know I left the lights on, and I knew what it looked like. Couldn't find it. Snow everywhere. Then I saw it. There it is. There's a baby blue SUV, lights are on, cars running. I run as fast as I can, because that cold is just cutting guys, and I run to the car, slam open the door, I jump into the driver's seat only to discover that there's a young white man in the passenger seat who starts to scream, ah! He screams, I scream, ah! Then I realize, I'm in the wrong car.

So I apologize. Get out, go find my car. Maybe a couple of minutes later, we both are exiting the parking lot, and we see each other. I say, see, see, I have a car. Identical to yours. That's hilarious. Well, this is actually a question. Why were we screaming? Here's the insight. In the absence of real relationships, all we have are stereotypes. That young man sitting in the car, all he knew was there was a stereotype running and jumping, opening the door, and jumping into the driver's seat. He screamed, and I responded in kind, the absence of relationships.

You know, I guess the question I would ask here is, if you're not African-American, how many-- how many African-American friends do you actually have? If you are African-American, how many white or Asian or people of other ethnicity friends do you actually have? Where there are no relationships, when you get ready to talk about race, there's real skepticism that comes to that conversation from both sides, right?

Sumi Kim is one of our amazing team members here at NBCC. She leads our children's ministry. And she shared with me a fascinating part of her story. She said she grew up in Korea, and all that she knew about African-Americans through her Korean experience was what she saw on TV and through the media. And either African-Americans were slaves or criminals. And when her parents and other older people were talking about African-Americans, they would talk about African-Americans through that set of lens.

She said she remembers a teenager seeing the LA riots on TV. She didn't know a lot about Rodney King being beaten up by the police. And she certainly didn't know anything about the young African-American girl that was shot and killed by the Asian woman in front of the Asian woman store. All she saw was looting and vandalism. She saw African-Americans at the center of all of that. So she says when she came to this country as a nurse, she came with her own real sense of racial bias.

She says, however, she started to practice medicine with African-American nurses and doctors. And she began to get to know them and to get to hear their stories and develop a relationship. And suddenly, her mind totally transformed. In her words, she discovered that African-Americans are-- that we are beautiful people, or compassionate people, brilliant people, totally transformed. What was the source of that transformation? Relationships. Relationships.

The second area of skepticism, a context of skepticism, is the absence of the lived experience of systemic racism. Now let's go back to the text. Jesus asked only one question. He says only one thing in the first few portions of this passage. It's a question that he asked. Where have you put him? In other words, Jesus is saying, where have you put the body of Lazarus? Here's my expectation. I would have thought that the answer would have been, we buried him on the other side of town in the graveyard. What they actually say is this. Come and see.

In other words, Jesus, come walk with us. Come do this walk of solidarity in the midst of our grief as we head towards where we've buried him. And Jesus could not walk in their shoes, but he could walk alongside of them. Here is an invitation, I think, that is shaped by the text, that the Holy Spirit drives home, which says, hey, start with the dialogue, but never be satisfied with the dialogue. Listen, you and I, we have to walk together. We've got to do some life together so that you can learn what it's like for me to be an African-American in this country.

And I can learn what it's like-- I can see this country through the lenses, through your eyes, as well. Let's walk together. Powerful imagery, a metaphor for learning from one another. All right, here's why I make this point. Listen, talking about skepticism. I've often shared with people, oftentimes, maybe wider Asian, about a story of racial injustice that I've experienced. And the response usually is something like, well, often is, well, that's a horrible story, but I'm still not convinced that's racial bias or that's part of systemic racism.

By the way, racism is prejudice plus institutional power, the power to actually actualize that prejudice in policies and practices. And when I hear someone say that, it's hurtful, right? The first thing I think is you have the luxury of saying that because you've never lived one day as an African-American. And what I want to say to them is, come see. Come walk with me. Let's just take a few moments. Let me just take you on a little walk with me. I've got 55 years of being black in America. Let me let you see it through my lens, a portion of it, as it relates to racial justice.

In elementary school, my elementary class, 1970, was the first integrated class in Cushatoulou, Louisiana. And when we launched, a lot of the white parents pulled their kids out of the school with the support of the public school board and built a private school because they didn't want their students to be contaminated by those of us who were African-American kids. In college at Grambling State University in the town of Grambling, Northern Louisiana-- Grambling is a historic African-American college university-- I led an effort at Fulton 1, the capacity for the town of Grambling to build its own well-equipped clinic to serve as the citizen and students of their community.

Why? Because we just got tired of going five miles to Ruston, Louisiana, where day after day and week after week and year after year, we were horribly humiliated and mistreated in the health care centers in Ruston, just because of the color of our skin. When I went to seminary here in the Bay Area, I remember one Sunday afternoon pulling up in front of my stepfather's house, well-dressed. My wife was well-dressed, a baby in the back. I had just finished preaching at the local church. Suddenly, the police cars pulled in behind us, hemmed us in. Police came out, surrounded us, hands on their guns. Come to find out, mistaken identity. But a dangerous moment.

And then I remember in Arkansas, a young pastor, my first church, faith-fresturing church, leading an effort to push back against those banks that drew a red line around certain zip codes. We call that red lining. And if you lived in those zip codes, predominantly black people did, they wouldn't give you a mortgage. If they did, it was extremely high. I remember arriving as a young pastor in Boston three and a half years later. And I walked into a World War Store, pulled out a wallet that had several credit cards in it, used a credit card to pay for an item.

The woman who took the credit card said, wait, for no other reason than who I was with several credit cards. She took that credit card back, gave it to her manager. The manager called the credit card company. The credit card company called my wife and said, can you check in with your husband? We think his credit cards have been stolen. Here I was, humiliated like a criminal at a World War store. And I was simply a preacher trying to purchase a few items. You following me? Right. Just the other day, I go into a corner store, forget all the other folk in the store. The person behind the counter pays attention solely to me. Come walk with me.

So be careful. When you de-legitimate my experience of race in America, you de-legilimate me. So we've got to be aware of the hidden trauma in the room, and we have to be aware of the unspoken skepticism in the room. Now, let me hasten towards the conclusion. The third thing you want to be aware of is displaced guilt. Listen, verse 38 says, Jesus shows up at the tomb. He's full of anger, but he's not full of guilt. Why? Let me ask a different question. How is it that Jesus didn't take personally when Mary came at him in verse 32?

Why didn't he didn't feel the need to defend himself and deflect and all that? Because Jesus knew that it was not his fault that Lazarus died. It wasn't. But he also knew in that moment that that would be his moment for him to reveal to the world exactly who he was. Now, I want to call this out. This is extremely important. For African-Americans, I really want you to lean in and listen to here. Whenever we have dialogue with people who are white and Asian and others, specifically because of the historical context, the question that lingers in the air, for many white people in particular, is this.

Are you saying that all white people are responsible for systemic racism in America? Are you saying that all white people are responsible for what you experienced, Pastor Herman, what you just shared over the last 55 years? And listen, we're not a homogeneous community around the answer to this. There are a lot of African-Americans who will say, absolutely. You're either directly responsible or you're indirectly responsible because you benefit from racism in America. I just want you to know I push back hard against that, right? I say a resounding no. And to get there, I make it personal.

Look, I'd call in the room my good friend, John Kingston, who we go back 20-some years. He just recently ran for the Republican Senate seat in Massachusetts in Laos. And I try to be there for him in the way that we've been there for each other over 20-plus years. I'd call in the room my good friend, Pastor George Hittemann. We've, for the last 7 and 1/2 years, every week, we talk about messages and what it means to be fathers and husbands and preachers and men in America.

I'd call in the room Pastor Stan Johnson, who for 14 of my 17 and 1/2 years of passing in Boston, man, we met for breakfast every day and every week, exchanging the details of our lives, a deep and intimate relationship. I'd call in the room my dear friend and colleague, Pastor Dan Monroe, who helped me to give birth to NBCC. And for the last 5 and 1/2 years, we've worked so closely-- six years, we've worked so closely together. If I'd gathered them all around me, and if the question was asked, if they would say to me, Pastor Herman, are you saying it's our fault for systemic racism and all the stuff you talk about, my answer to them would be a resounding no.

I would say, no, it's not your fault, but it is your moment. It's not your fault, but it is your opportunity to step forth and reveal to the world who you are as Jesus follows, using your power and your influence in the various spheres of influence that you have to make a difference. So I would celebrate my friend, John Kingston, who just recently wrote an article to Christianity Today calling out racism in the evangelical church against people saying, don't do it, don't do it.

I'd celebrate Pastor Dan Monroe, who in a public meeting said recently, look, I don't know what it's like to be African-American, but with tears coming down his cheeks, he says, but I want to learn. I want to learn and inspire others who surrounded that experience to say, I want to follow your lead, using his power in his sphere of influence to make a difference. Look at how this works itself out in the text. Jesus is standing at the tomb. And the first thing he says is he says to some people, he says, look, roll the stone away.

Those people who roll the stone away, they couldn't call Lazarus out, but they could be stone rollers. Some of you are stone rollers, right? What's your sphere of influence? Some of you, your task is to remove the obstacles so that the gospel and the power of God can call justice out of injustice, right? Then Jesus calls for Lazarus. Lazarus, come out. And the text says the dead man comes out. And Jesus takes what is permanent reality. And based-- because of his authority, he overturns that permanent reality. And again, and life comes out of death. Only Jesus can do that.

But then there's some folks standing around. And as a friend of mine says, when Lazarus comes out, he was a live man still wearing a dead man's clothes. So Jesus says to some other folk, unwrap him, right? As the King James version says, loose him and let him go. So you may be among those who are doing the unwrapping, right? It may be your responsibility to help untangle 400 years of consequences of injustice that have come out of slavery and segregation that continues to plague this nation around racial reconciliation and racial justice, right?

Here's my point. Assess what's your sphere of influence, whether it's in the local corner grocery store or in the classroom or in the corner executive office, your sphere of influence? Is it at the ballot box or in the boardroom, your sphere of influence? Where is it? Is it creating forms for people to talk about these kind of issues? Or is it-- I mean, what's your-- is it having a conversation with your grandparents or your grandkids? God is saying, whatever your sphere of influence is, step forward. Expose yourself as a Jesus follower and allow him to use you as an instrument to push back against the sin of racism.

Now, here's where I want to end. This is my favorite piece here. Two quick things. One, before Jesus executes the miracle, he prays. It's as though he's saying, look, Father, I want you to reveal the totality of who you are through me in this moment. And I need all of the power of eternity to turn this thing around. It is a reminder to us that racism like any other sin is, in fact, just that, a sin. And at the end of the day, we're not wrestling against flesh and blood, as Paul says, against black and white people. We are wrestling as powers and principalities and forms of wickedness in high places.

And at the end of the day, it can only be accomplished. Yes, we need policy. And yes, protesting is appropriate. But ultimately, it is the spirit of God that transforms the heart and minds of people in the work and in the name of Jesus Christ. It is that Jesus who ultimately will die on the cross for all of our sins across every race and every ethnicity. It is that Jesus who will go into the grave. It is that Jesus who gets up with all authority of heaven and earth in his hand.

It is that Jesus who says to those of you who want to be a part of the healing of this nation, he says, put your faith in me. Claim me as Lord and as Savior. And follow my lead. Listen and lament and learn and lift up righteousness and justice as you pray together and as you act together. And it is that same Jesus that says to those who have been wounded and who have been hurt, come and join me in my body. Call the church and allow me to be a part of your healing.

And then he pours out his blood on those who have been wounded, on those who want to be healed. And he creates one community, the church, out of black and white and Asian and Latino, rich and poor. And he takes that one community that's been redeemed by his blood. And he transforms us into an unstoppable force of righteousness and justice in the world, all because he is our Lord, our Savior, our Redeemer, and the highest standard for how we live our lives.

It is that Jesus that invites us to follow him as Jesus followers move to the forefront of this work in a defining moment. God bless you. And it's been a joy to minister to you. Let me just encourage you to do two things quickly. The first thing I want to challenge you is with the invitation to simply do your part, whatever you're part in in your spirit. And if you're willing to do your part, all I want you to do, just say out loud, I'll do my part. And give me a thumbs up. If you're willing to come and sit with me, just say, I'll do my part.

Secondly, I want to encourage you to check out the reflection question here. What is one step you can take within your sphere of influence to make progress against the sin of make progress for racial justice? That's where it starts for you. God bless you. Thanks, man, for letting me share with your community. See you guys later.

Wow. I found Herman's message to be personally so uplifting and powerful. And of course, this conversation does not just end with a 35-minute message. I'd encourage you to go to our web page, TLC.org/reconcil. Here's what this is all about. I put a list of some of the books and websites and videos that I personally have found really helpful and thought-provoking, and useful in my own journey on this. And I continually update that page.

And in fact, right now at our online bookstore, we have two of the books that I recommend on that page available to you. One is this one, Miles McPherson's The Third Option and John Perkins's One Blood. These are two great books. And we offer free home delivery to anywhere in our county. You can go to TLC.org/bookstore to grab these books. And this fall, we're going to offer small groups studying biblical racial reconciliation through another book called Be the Bridge. And details on that are also at TLC.org/reconcil.

This is all part of the way forward. And now let's pray together. Would you bow your heads with me? Lord, I just want to pray the words of the Apostle Paul when he was writing to the Colossians, thank you that in Christ Jesus, we are all children of God through faith in you. And therefore, as God's unified people, may we clothe ourselves with compassion and kindness and humility and gentleness and patience. And over all those virtues, may we put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. And we pray these things in Jesus' holy name, amen.