“Do We Really Need to Talk about Racism?”
At the 2019 LCMS Youth Gathering, the Rev. Micah Glenn spoke with high-school youth and adults about his experiences of racism, both in society and in the church, in light of a study of Acts 6. Rev. Glenn recently joined the staff of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, as director of recruitment, with the goal of growing a student community with an eye toward contexts that are increasingly multiethnic. He is also a Concordia Seminary alumnus (M.Div. 2016). Previously, he served Lutheran Hour Ministries as a regional ministry facilitator and as the executive director of the Lutheran Hope Center in Ferguson, MO.
Special thanks to Rev. Mark Kiessling and LCMS Youth Ministry for granting permission to post the presentation here. The content is hosted by KFUO Radio.
Scott A Lemmermann June 9, 2020
My father, a “Schwartze Deutscher,” experienced racism throughout his young adult life, from being refused counter service while on his high school basketball team at away games and at other times as a student, both as pre-seminary and seminary, even being referred to with the “n” word on an LCMS campus. He drilled us five kids not to treat others with wrongful prejudice, but as our Heavenly Father sees us all, with eyes of love.
Rick Strickert June 15, 2020
The Left controls every major institution in America: mainstream media, academia, administrative (deep state) government, Hollywood, big tech companies, many mainstream church bodies. So if “institutional racism” really does exist, whose fault would that be?
Travis Scholl June 16, 2020
Be that as it may, it still would not explain Pastor Glenn’s accounts of racism within the church. As for me, accounts such as his compel me to nothing else but repentance.
Clinton Bienz August 14, 2023
I believe Institutional racism is connected to our sinful nature. Our sinful nature looks out for ourselves, and protects us from our fears of the unknown. Often we are inclined to connect with/work with people that we know and are similar to us. The problem with this, is that we exclude “all nations” when we lean into this way of living. Therefore, we should step outside of our comfort zone to consider the damage that our sinful nature has accumulated, and look for ways to include and connect with people we typically wouldn’t.