Christianity under attack. . .

Lets be honest.  Fr. Hamel was not killed because he was French or a gross public sinner or practioner of morality offensive to Islam or because he was wealthy or bourgeois or because he was there at the moment and an accessible victim.  He was killed because he was a Christian and because he was a priest. To lay any other cause as the reason for his murder is to lie.  Christianity is under attack by ISIS and by the Islamic extremists who go by other names.

Lets be honest.  Gary Johnson, the Libertarian presidential candidate, views religion as a whole as a deep dark hole and lays serious question to the very idea of religious liberty.  I mean under the guise of religious freedom, anybody can do anything. Back to Mormonism. Why shouldn’t somebody be able to shoot somebody else because their freedom of religion says that God has spoken to them and that they can shoot somebody dead?  Libertarians not only argue with the cause of life and the family that is Christian morality but their standard bearer is not even sure that religious liberty should be granted at all.  Christianity is under attack.

Lets be honest.  Hillary Clinton has already said that religious views that contradict the sacred tenets of progressive social thought should not and cannot be allowed to exist without sanction. She declared that “religious beliefs” that condemn "reproductive rights," “have to be changed.”  In other words, there is no religious freedom which protects views or speech that conflicts with such things as abortion, birth control, homosexuality, etc...  Christianity is under attack.

Lets be honest.  Donald Trump is no white knight who will ride to the rescue of Christianity.  He may be a relative lesser of evils but he has amply demonstrated that he will not do for us what we must do for ourselves and for the cause of Christ.  A political savior is not in the cards for us.  The mantle has fallen on Christians, on their families, on the faithfulness in worship, prayer, witness, and service.  Trump is at best not an enemy but he is not necessarily a friend of our cause.  Christianity is under attack and a political solution is not the answer.

We all know this and yet we go to Church on Sunday, we pray, we read the Scriptures, we love our families, we serve our neighbor. . .  and that is exactly what we should be doing while Christianity is under attack.  We cannot afford to let fear constrain us nor can we afford to let our temptation to respond in kind be fulfilled.  The days before us are filled with challenge and they call for Christians to be bold and confident and continue to believe, worship, and practice our faith without fear and without being silenced by those fears.

Indeed, the best thing we can do is to do what we have always done.  Fill the churches on Sunday morning and give witness to your faith in unmistakable terms before the world.  Give the face of our faith a face of mercy and kindness that does not waver from the truth and does not fail to speak it in love.  Pray without ceasing for our enemies and the enemies of the Kingdom that they may repent and come to faith and become one with us in Christ.  Live as the merciful and loving people we are called to be in Christ -- refusing to become embittered or fearful but ever more boldly showing forth the good news of Him who has called us from darkness into His marvelous light.  Support the Church and the work of the Kingdom that teach our children, send missionaries forth, and convey what we believe, confess, and teach to the world around us.

Lets be honest.  We cannot wait for others to do for us what we are called to do ourselves.  The times require the best of us and the best from us.  We need to be the best Christians and the best Lutherans we can be and the times demand this.  We cannot afford to be timid in our confession or fearful in our love.  Equal boldness in our witness and service are the most important weapons we have to fight the enemies of Christ and His Church.