Dear reader, please consider a transfer of membership to my congregation in St. Louis, MO if you are a current resident of one of the following countries:

                                                          Iraq                                         Sudan
                                                          Afghanistan                           Saudi Arabia
                                                          Nigeria                                   Iran                 
                                                          Pakistan                                  

     Why relocate to St. Louis?  Cardinals baseball (2011 World Champions).  Four seasons.  Budweiser.  The Arch.  Comparatively safe to your country.  And our church needs members who have experienced outright persecution for their faith.  In fact, I believe your presence in our church would be exponential in its impact.  We need you to change us.  Your American brothers and sisters are getting lazy on the couch of comfort and contentment.    

     We in the American church frequently lament the fall of Christian influence in the United States.  But such whining seems to be a shrill cry when you consider the worldwide body of Christ. In a rather surprising front page cover, Newsweek’s February 13th, 2012 feature article is titled “The Rise of Christophobia.”  It chronicles the intense worldwide persecution of Christians, particularly in Muslim majority countries.  Noting the case of Nigeria, author Ayann Hirsi Ali writes, “In the month of January 2012 alone, Boko Haram (a national religious organization) was responsible for 54 deaths.  In 2011 its members killed at least 510 people and burned down or destroyed more than 350 churches.” 

     We annually gather a reluctant batch of adolescent students in a rite called confirmation.  In the Lutheran Service Book Agenda, a question is asked of all confirmands:

            “Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even                 death, rather than fall away from it?”  They are to respond: “I do, by the grace of God.” 

      We might get a different response if 14-year-old Billy was dropped in Pakistan where a “blasphemy law” can make a declaration of faith in the Triune God a criminal act.  Each of us would give critical consideration to our confirmation vows if we lived under such a threat. 

     I am humbled by the faith of minority Christians who stand as lone voices in their country and culture.  I am always a bit uncomfortable with the monolithic nature of my denomination’s demographic.  We are too safe and too comfortable.  The issues we fight about are too parochial.  "Worship wars" are inconsequential when you could lose your job or your life for speaking the Apostles Creed.  So with seriousness, I am requesting the transfer of any Christian who comes from a context of persecution.  We need you.  We need to you to:

• Teach us what it is to sacrifice.
• Remind us to pray for the worldwide church. 
• Show us how risk for the sake of the gospel. 
• Raise our missional horizon.
• Show us that we are blessed.

And whether you relocate or not, we pray for you. 

      “The more often you mow us down the more in number we grow; the blood of Christians is seed.”                              -   The ancient church father Tertullian

_ The following is a guest post from my dad, Paul Cloeter, a fifth generation Lutheran pastor currently serving in central Minnesota. 

A Point of Reference

      Memory loss, when it comes with age, doesn’t often affect the distant past.  That’s why I paid particular attention to a story told to me by my wise and now-sainted grandfather (that would be ‘thirdgen’) not long before he died at 95 years of age.  It was a simple story of an incident in his life – in the year 1907 to be exact – and it was etched in his memory.

      He had been sent out in a winter storm to get some grocery items at a store 2½ miles away.  In the prairie, there are straight roads that intersect at 1 mile intervals.  In the prairie, there are also blinding snowstorms.  Being a typical 13 year old, he tried to “cut the corner” on a mile section, but instead found himself lost in the middle of the field.  He kept walking what he thought was a straight line, but in fact, had walked in a complete circle and came out right back at the road where he started.

      It was then that he learned the lesson I learned for the first time listening to him:  that one leg is stronger than the other and will, without a point of reference, out-stride the weaker leg, sending the traveler in a circle.  He also learned that shortcuts don’t always produce the desired effect!

      A “point of reference” is what I was thinking about while reading a recent USA TODAY article about a large and growing secular subset in our culture whose response to religion – in fact, any spirituality – is described as “So What?”  Call them “apatheists”, folks who have come out of the closet to publicly confess “no spiritual curiosity . . . they simply shrug off God, religion, heaven or the ever-trendy search for meaning and purpose.” 

      I know:  it’s nothing new.  I remember a conversation I had in my first parish with a father who was trying to encourage his daughter and son-in-law in their spiritual walk.  With grave concern in his voice he asked me:  “What do you say to someone who says, ‘I don’t see the need’?”

      There are many ways one can get lost in this life.  Attempting self-serving short cuts to contentment and thinking only in terms of the here and now come to mind.  So can short-sightedness about ‘who I am’ and ‘why am I here’; ‘where am I going’ and ‘who am I going to meet there’.  Without answers to those questions, life becomes a vicious circle, and those who say ‘so what’ ultimately find themselves with no leg to stand on.

      A new year is a good time to sight in a point of reference, get our bearings, and proceed –one step at a time.  Past Christmas and Good Friday to Easter we go; “in green pastures” and “beside quiet waters”; into fiery trials and finally, through “the valley of the shadow of death.” 

      No shortcuts . . . just a Father’s love!  

 

 

                "Uncle Sam is a friendly old man, but he has a spine of steel." 
                                                          -  President Ronald Reagan describing the American character to the Soviets.

     The perception exists in our society that Christians are just (or should be) really nice people.  They are the Ned Flanders, the nice guys, the "friendly old man."  As much as there should be a friendliness to Christians, there is also a steel spine.  A "Jesus-turning-tables-in-the-temple" steel spine.  Or like Paul who braved shipwrecks, torture, and poverty in order to take the gospel worldwide.   Faith takes guts.  Responding to Jesus' words, "Follow me" is risky.  Our compassion is accompanied by courage, and our service by strength.

     From Christmas Day, 2010

     A lovely day.  Five inches of snow.  Kids wide-eyed with wonder.  Their chins on the window sill, smudging up the glass.  We light the candles on the wreath and sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus.  They rip into presents, hug us, and say "thank you."  I hold my baby and we observe all the activity with full moon eyes.  We do not start the car this day.  Time matters to no one because we have nowhere to be but here. 

     Wearied by joy, the kids fall asleep quickly tonight.  Dozing in warm corners, bunked tightly.  I go for a walk in the cold.  I can tell by the tracks that exactly 6 people have walked the sidewalk in the last two days.  I'm the street's lone wanderer.  I like these nights.  The snow affects everyone, driving them behind warm walls. 

     Christmas Day, more than any other day, affects every citizen in the most powerful country in the world.  Jew, Muslim, Christian, and atheist.  Even those who work on this holiday have their day altered.  No one is unaffected - from the president to the plumber. 

     Jesus' birthday has all our attention, but no one notices.  Everyone observes a holiday and most don't know why.  Many attend a service and never get beyond the fine music.  The rituals that once pointed to Christ are diluted to motions with mixed meaning. 

     The whole world stops, but few see.  The empire slows, but in vain sentiment.  And the Christ Child again slips beyond recognition.  A Caesar or a President.  Rome or Washington, D.C.  A census or a national holiday.  It matters not.  The child is hidden.  No one sees him.  They're all looking in the wrong place. 

     All in all, a lovely day . . .

John 1:10