Vaccination: A Biblical and Theological Reflection

The year 2020 was an unsettling one for many reasons, not the least of which has been the racial unrest sparked by the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. These deaths were the latest of far too many unjust deaths of black men and women that have occurred over the past several years, resulting in massive national and international protests.

The television replays of these events deeply impacted those who viewed them. For those who had personally experienced trauma at the hands of police or others in the past, the videos reignited the pain of these past memories often lodged just below the surface of consciousness. For many there was a vicarious or secondary trauma that they and the nation experienced. 

In response to the impact of these events on students, the Seminary Care Team, made up of Seminary counselors, chaplain and student leaders, planned a series of Town Hall Meetings on Race to give students, staff and faculty a safe place to talk about their feelings and experiences. The meetings were planned with input from leaders with a variety of racial backgrounds. Each meeting was bathed with prayer and structured with brief presentations by key persons who shared various perspectives and experiences on racial discrimination, followed by a time for those in attendance via Zoom to share their experiences, thoughts and feelings. The Dean’s office gave strong support for each meeting and shared messages of inspiration and encouragement. 

The Care Team recognized that this type of “debriefing” has value in that it can uncover feelings related to traumatic experiences which have brought undealt-with pain to the individual. As these experiences are processed in the company of others, a process of healing begins. Those who listen must do so nonjudgmentally and with compassion, understanding that the ones who speak are taking a risk of being further misunderstood and attacked. 

The Care Team was intentional in seeking a broad spectrum of students to attend the Forums so that understanding could grow in those students who may have never experienced personally the kind of oppression that their black counterparts have had to experience. While the early Forums were only partially successful in achieving this objective, with attendance being predominantly black, the sharing among those in attendance was deep, vulnerable and meaningfulFor the third Forum, the Care Team intentionally sought to increase the involvement of faculty and students of all racial and cultural backgrounds. Brief video invitations were sent out featuring faculty and students sharing personal experience and Scripture relating to these issues. This approach was somewhat successful in increasing faculty involvement and to a lesser degree student involvement.

In these Forums on Race students and faculty were able to share deeply, often with tears, their experiences of unjust, discriminatory treatment. Many articulated clearly the painful black experience in this country, in the church, at Andrews University and even in the seminary. One black professor shared how his white students openly told him that he should go back to his country and teach. Students not only shared their experiences but also shared what they thought solutions might be to this Christian dilemma. So much of racism is built into the fabric of families and society that it is both unconscious and institutional. How can we as Christians be silent when our brothers and sisters are being disadvantaged? How can we not stand with them and seek to understand their experience? How can we accept the truth that we have implicit racial bias and repent for that which we have seen and are only still coming to see more clearly?

In addition to learning to hear one another, we also are challenged as a seminary to take action to change the status quo. The Seminary’s Ethnicity, Race, and Social Justice Committee (ERSJ) was tasked with the responsibility to draft a Master Plan. This plan includes action steps in each of the following areas: Faculty Recruitment (Employment), Advancement, Finances, Curriculum, Pedagogy, Worship, and Fellowship. The elements of the Master Plan are to be implemented in a systematic way under the watchful eye of the Seminary deans and the ERSJ Committee. We look forward with great anticipation to the unfolding of this maturing in the seminary family as we move forward under the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Together, let us make this a matter of earnest prayer so that the healing that is needed is experienced and that the changes that need to be made are implemented.

Dr. David Sedlacek
Chair, Department of Discipleship and Religious Education

As a General Conference Institution of higher education representing students from at least 55 countries (47 countries are represented on the main campus plus many on our MA and DMin international sites), the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary joins the Andrew’s University Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the North American Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in condemning the recent act of racial violence that has taken place in Atlanta, GA, in which six persons of Asian descent were killed. We express our firm solidarity with and support for our Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) faith community and beyond. We understand the anger, fear, anxiety, and despair of the AAPI communities across America and at the Seminary in particular, which is home to many Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders.

There are 22.6 million people living in America who are part of the AAPI community, according to the 2018 census report. Many of them are immigrants who have come to this country in hopes of finding better equality, opportunities, and justice. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, they have become targets of ugly aggression and violence though it has been repeatedly stated that they bear no responsibility for starting or spreading the pandemic. There has been an alarming trend of under-reported but steadily rising anti-Asian aggression and violence in America, especially against Asian women. This disturbing trend, which actually has a long history behind it, has gotten the attention of the media and the U.S. lawmakers. But it is Asian Americans, many of whom, feeling the sting of the aggression toward them, no longer feel safe to go about their daily lives without feeling vulnerable and insecure. There are currently 80 AAPI students studying at our Seminary.

The Seminary is committed to providing a safe and caring space for every person connected to it regardless of color, ethnicity, gender, or nationality. We will remain vigilant to ensure that every person studying and working at the Seminary is treated with dignity, justice, collegiality, and compassion, so they can succeed in fulfilling their God-given mission for their lives unhindered. The Seminary will not tolerate any harassment or violence of any type toward any person for any reason. Please promptly report all incidents of harassment and violence to the Deans’ office.

Condemnation and vigilance alone will not root out racial and ethnic prejudices and hostilities, which are endemic to sinful human nature regardless of race. Only Christ can heal us from this terrible spiritual disease. We are a community that has been called to bring healing and redemption to this world plagued with racism, xenophobia, sexual and substance addictions, mental disorders, violence, anger, division, and despair. We urge every faculty, student, and staff to draw close to Christ in this intense time of suffering and crisis by giving themselves to the study and meditation of the Word and to special seasons of prayer for each other and for the communities they each represent. Please pray that Christ will send the Holy Spirit as He promised (John 14:26; 15:26) so the Spirit can pour out the love of God the Father and Jesus Christ in our hearts (Rom 5:5). We need a genuine healing and transformation of hearts. Let us pray that everyone will take this opportunity to recommit themselves to becoming God’s change agents who see in each person humanity created in the image of God, marred by sin, and in need of our compassion.

Praying for those families who were directly affected, but also for all our Seminarians, AU students, and faculty!

May our loving Lord of peace give you rest and new assurance of His Present during the sacred hours of the coming Sabbath!

Jiří Moskala
Dean, Seventh-day AdventistTheological Seminary

Quickly scanning my gallery view, I noticed that there were seminary professors and fellow seminarians in attendance.  It was in that moment I could not help but notice out of the 30 plus individuals in attendance there were only a handful of my white counterparts. Nevertheless, Dr. Teresa Reeve and Dr. Sedlacek provided context and went over the agenda for the forum. We were at a tipping point because the past few months had been filled with uncertainty and anxiety. Everyone was facing individual and collective battles in protecting themselves and their loved ones from the COVID-19 virus. However, there was one incident in the news stories about an injustice in our society that overshadowed it all, the murder of George Floyd. As the conversation began to take shape I slipped further away as I reflected on the murder of George Floyd and questions filled my mind. I started to feel the palpitations of my heart grow stronger and felt shortness of breath while sweat tried to ease its way down my clenched fist. I began to drift even further away as more questions invaded my mind: how does one accurately define suffering when language misses the mark?

I was quickly snapped back into reality as I heard a familiar voice share similar feelings. I resonated deeply with feeling trapped by all the social unrest in the news but also in my own life.  Although, words failed to express the extent of my pain, listening to fellow seminarians share somehow gave me the courage to speak. As I was given a chance to speak, I chose to avoid cheap cliches and eloquent speech and spoke from the heart. I shared with the group that I was still processing and have not been able to fully reflect. I listed the names of Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Oscar Grant, Eric Gardner, Kenneth Chamberlain, John Crawford, Philando Castile, Brianna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd. It was in that moment that I realized the question that was staring me in my face every morning: how do I protect my unborn child from the world he would soon enter?

The first forum ended with participants emotionally spent from sharing and listening to one another’s expression of grief, pain, and hope. Due to the obvious need, a second forum was held virtually on July 14, 2020 at 12pm. There is a particular segment from this second forum on race that is important to highlight. If people in our Andrews University Seminary community hear nothing else, this is what I want them to hear. To hear someone that expresses your worldview and looks like me but is a professor share the wrongs and ills that they experienced in the seminary just broke our hearts. I watched as another professor showed compassion in the most altruistic form and just begin to cry as his heart was breaking for his friend. It was then that I came to realize that tears do not discriminate based on color, ethnicity, gender, doctrine, creed, or belief but seeks, rather, to reach the heart. Just for a moment we held space where we were seen, heard, and valued. Although some had to relive traumatizing experiences to help some of our colleagues in understanding the pathos of the black experience, the cognitive shift was beginning which one could observe from the head nods followed by the phrase “Thank you for sharing!”.

It has been difficult, to be honest, but I have not lost--and will not lose--my hope. Yes, I am tired of having courageous conversations BUT what holds me up is this simple truth found Lamentations 3:24, “The Lord is my portion, says my soul." The issue is a strained one; nevertheless, we need to move forward. I believe there is going to be a continued resistance; however, I am more hopeful for future change in the world because it is happening in our Seminary.

For too long, church members have believed that the call to ministry is primarily for pastors and evangelists. However, the Great Commission—given by Jesus, who was in the business of carpentry, to His disciples, who were in the business of fishing—is not limited to those who minister in churches and from pulpits. It is for all who are part of the “priesthood of all believers.” Seminary-trained entrepreneur Jeff Tatarchuk, founder and owner of Life Rx Fitness, has discovered that for him, the marketplace is his ministry and his business is his pulpit.

Tatarchuk has been entrepreneurial since childhood.  “I always wanted to create things,” he said. “I would mix my mom’s spices into new blends and sell them, and in middle school, I started a t-shirt business.”

However, his potential was almost cut tragically short. Locked in a dark cloud of prescription drugs and depression, Tatarchuk attempted suicide in junior high after declaring himself an atheist.

It wasn’t until he was in a group home in Tennessee that he experienced the power of Jesus. When a friend challenged him to read the Bible, the stories he read came to life for the first time. The image of Jesus choosing nails for him was a self-described turning point, and he surrendered to Jesus.

“I experienced the relief of knowing that Jesus took all my junk on the cross,” he said.  “I knew there were a lot more people out there who needed to experience this, and I wanted to share that hope.”

After graduating from college with a theology degree, Tatarchuk became a full-time evangelist.  However, before moving to Michigan to study at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University, Tatarchuk connected with a church that was running a community thrift store.  He was fascinated by the opportunity that the store gave pastors and volunteers to converse with unbelievers about the gospel.

“They’d found something that elevated the community and transcended the four walls of the church,” he said. “That’s what I wanted.”

Ever the entrepreneurial evangelist, Tatarchuk opened a similar thrift store in Berrien Springs, Michigan, before the Seminary school year began.  The endeavor was profitable and allowed him to reach community members. However, one year after opening the store, his business partner had a brain aneurysm and the business seemed doomed.

“I felt like I had failed,” Tatarchuk said. “I had also gained a lot of weight and needed to do something to get healthy. That’s when a friend introduced me to the burpee.”

The burpee, a full-body aerobic move, launched Tatarchuk into what would become his most successful business venture to date.  Needing to finish out his lease, Tatarchuk turned the thrift store into a Crossfit gym, hoping to break even financially. He broke even on opening day. Since its start in 2013, the gym has expanded from a Crossfit facility to an all-inclusive fitness center, Life Rx Fitness.

“We’ve used the space to do community breakfasts, health expos and vespers,” he said. “The gym has created a neutral environment for people to be open and share at any time.”

Tatarchuk also uses the language of the gym to introduce faith to those who would never attend a traditional evangelistic meeting.

“We package our vespers in the gym’s language. In Crossfit, the goal is to progress and get to the level of the prescribed workout. When you successfully complete it, you get ‘Rx’ next to your name. So we started FaithRx, a vespers program, to teach people how to live life as it’s meant to be.”

In addition, the Seminary has partnered with Tatarchuk to host creative evangelistic meetings. Over fifty people attended the meetings in the gym and 16 were baptized, all of which are still active in church.

One of the most important pieces of advice Tatarchuk can give to business people who are passionate about God is to connect with other believing businesspeople.

“Be a part of a network,” he challenges other entrepreneurs. “Find somebody that you enjoy and hold each other accountable to do something for God through your business.”
Secondly, he implores business people to be grounded in scripture.

“Having a theological foundation is important,” he said.  “There are so many complex ideas out there that it’s hard to navigate a conversation with people who think differently than you. However you can get it, whether through Bible college, Seminary or another avenue, do it if you can.  Because nobody out there should hear the gospel twice until everyone has heard it once.”

The Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary’s new MA Religion Interdisciplinary Studies Online degree can help any layperson develop a stronger theological foundation through a cohort-based, online experience. Visit andrews.edu/sem/findyourcalling to start equipping yourself for a deeper ministry today.