The boy was six years old when his father left home. He never came back. The father never came back. The mother had only gone through seventh grade in school, so she couldn’t get much of a job. So she got a job in a textile factory in Minneapolis called Munsingwear. And the boy and the daughter and the mom moved into a little shack on the back of the lot. And they were the poorest family in the neighborhood. In fact the neighbor kids couldn’t go over to their house and play because they were the poor family. The first Christmas they were in the little house, the church on the corner, a couple, brought over a Christmas basket. Now the mother was a little bit embarrassed to receive it, yet it had food in there and toys and some clothes. And she was grateful because their little family could have a Christmas.

The second Christmas they were in the little house, again somebody from the church on the corner brought over a Christmas basket. But this time the couple said “why don’t you come to church on Christmas Eve? You would be most welcome.” Well, when the couple left, the mother said to the boy and the girl: “we’re going to go to Christmas church at that place on the corner.” And the little boy said “nuts.” So the mother got the kids cleaned up and they went to the church on the corner for Christmas Eve, and people were holding candles, and they were standing up and sitting down and standing up and sitting down, with no sense to it. But the people were nice. Now that next week the pastor of that church came by that little house and said to the mother “thanks for coming to Christmas church. We’ve got Sunday school. The kids would be welcome and they would learn about Jesus.”

Well the pastor left and the mother said to the girl and the little boy “you’re going to go to Sunday school at that church on the corner.” And the little boy said “nuts.” So the mother cleaned them up and brought them to Sunday school, and the people were nice to them. They welcomed them unlike some of the people in the neighborhood. There was hospitality there, and they learned about Jesus. And about how to pray, and about the love of God. Received first communion there; were confirmed there. Then the mother said to the boy: “you know you’re not going to hang around with your bum friends in the neighborhood. You’re going to join that youth group.” And the boy did. Then when a neighborhood gang came over and asked the boy to join their gang, the boy said “no, I am too busy with the youth group.”

Well the boy graduated from high school, and the church on the corner gave him a scholarship to go to a Lutheran college, then to seminary. He was ordained as a pastor. That boy is me.

Now why did that happen? Because a church on the corner cared for the poor. Because a church on the corner made an invitation for the poor family to come to church. Because the church on the corner had a disciple making process involving confirmation, and Sunday School. Because the church on the corner had a youth group to keep the boy off the gang. And because the church on the corner sent the boy out with encouragement that you can do something with your life and a scholarship that got him into school. This is my vision for the church. A servant church. A servant church. A church that reaches out to the poor with mercy and justice and an invitation to come. A church that has a sense of hospitality for the visitor and the stranger. And a church that sends out all the baptized into the world to witness to God’s love in word and in action.

Now how can we do this? It is too hard. No, it’s not. Because Christ has first done this for us, and then sends his Holy Spirit to empower us.

Finally, this is what St. Paul writes: “If there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord with one another. Let each of you not only look to their own interest, but to the interest of others. Have this mind among yourself which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in a form of God, did not account equality with God a thing to be grasped. But emptied himself. Taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus is Christ to the glory of the Father.”

God has called us to participate by the power of the Holy Spirit in making that happen. Thanks be to God. Amen

Bishop Gary Wollersheim Northern Illinois Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America