Here is an excellent article that EVERY YOUTH AND PARENT should read written by Adriane Heins on her excellent blog stet. Follow this link to find more from Adriane.
The next issue of The Lutheran Witness is all about the persecution of Christians: in Africa, France, Russia, Germany.
But it’s also happening here, in America, to us.
Let me tell you about a young man I know, a member of a faithful LCMS congregation.
We’ll call him Sam because he’s a pious guy who would probably brush off his faithful confession like it was no big deal, except for the fact that it is.
Sam is in high school. He’s one of the good guys, a well-liked athlete who loves the outdoors, good books and being Lutheran.
He also leads the team of acolytes at his church, training the other young men and setting an example for what reverence and piety look like in the Divine Service.
He’s in church. He’s in Bible class. He is what it means to be Lutheran.
And because he is Lutheran, and because church matters to him, because he actually believes that Jesus is there for him in real time, flesh and blood on Sunday morning, he sets school and sports and friends aside to be there.
He knows everything else pales in comparison to what his Savior has to give him.
And because he is Lutheran, and because he longs to be where God has promised to be, he made a hard choice that turned out to be not so hard at all.
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He told his coach during Holy Week that he wouldn’t be able to attend all the scheduled baseball practices, that he would have to leave early to make it to all the services.
And his coach, who really ought to have patted Sam on the back and told him what a wise choice he had made, instead warned him, “Sam, we all have to make decisions in life. We have to decide what our priorities are.”
That is to say, “Sam, church doesn’t matter. Baseball does.”
And yet how did our young LCMS hero respond?
“I know our decisions matter . . . and that is why I’m going to church.”
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This was Sam’s moment.
This is what he promised in his confirmation vows, that he would suffer all, even the derision of his coach, for the faith.
It’s also when we hearten him, as brothers and sisters in Christ, in the comment section so that he will read this and know that he is not alone.
It’s when we are privileged to see a man with a true Lutheran backbone, with biblical resolve.
This is when we give thanks to God that He steeled Sam to respond exactly as Scripture has taught him and that our young adults really do listen when we actually teach the Small Catechism, Scripture, the liturgy and hymnody.
This is when we see that God’s Word doesn’t return void, that it has an effect, that our Lord uses it to work good for His baptized ones.
But the story doesn’t end there.
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For Sam’s faithful confession, he was benched for several games. His coach, presumably attempting to teach Sam a lesson, punished him for his faith.
Before Sam chose church over baseball, he played on the varsity team for every varsity game.
After he chose church, he didn’t.
And that’s not even mentioning the fact that for not going to the “not required but strongly encouraged” open gym on Sunday morning, Sam’s play time has been restricted.
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It should not surprise us that coaches who schedule practice times during church–and parents who let them get away with it–prove that they believe sports matter more than Jesus taking away the sins of the world.
It should not surprise us that people will try to coerce men like Sam into choosing baseball over holy things.
It should not surprise us when the Rev. Alexey Streltsov writes, “If you prefer school, sports, and other activities (which may be perfectly fine in and by themselves) over what is Christian—the Church service, Divine Liturgy, Lord’s Supper—then you have lost your battle already.”
But neither should it surprise us that God is faithful and good.
Or that our young Lutheran hero is proof that the battle is not over.
The next issue of The Lutheran Witness is all about the persecution of Christians: in Africa, France, Russia, Germany.
But it’s also happening here, in America, to us. And learning from Sam’s example, if we are to be ready at all, is a good place to start.
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