GLEANINGS from the Daily Office – Expect Some Challenges

GLEANINGS (from the Daily Office) – Expect Some Challenges – Year One, Proper 23, Tuesday, October 13, 2015, Matthew 10:16-23

“Behold I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.”

There is debate among some about whether there is persecution of Christians in the United States. To be sure some of the rejection we experience is not persecution. There is a war on Christmas. What was commonplace just a few decades ago is under fire and either eliminated or augmented by every other religion tradition. To argue that some people do not want symbols of Christianity eliminated or neutralized is disingenuous at best. But that very real war is not persecution. Christians have no right to have our faith promoted over others. And nothing other than pride suffers by the creche being removed from the lawn of City Hall. Adding a tacky inflatable Santa is offensive to people of good taste but it is not persecution.

Exaggerated claims of persecution notwithstanding, there is persecution in the US. There are a number of shootings and beheadings that are motivated by a religious desire to eliminate the infidel. Other Christians are having, albeit subtly and quietly, their livelihoods destroyed for their beliefs. It may not be physical but it is persecution and achieves its purpose, discouraging others to “stand firm.”

A timely question for followers of Jesus is why Christians would be surprised by the rejection or persecution. As sheep in the midst of wolves we are sent. Disney World is where we vacation. It is not our home. We are too at home in Disney and not comfortable enough in the world in which we actually live where rejection and persecution are the norm.

–Frodo: “I wish none of this had happened.” Gandalf: “So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”–