Lowly

Your strength does not depend on numbers, nor your might on the powerful. But you are the God of the lowly, helper of the oppressed, upholder of the weak, protector of the forsaken, savior of those without hope.

 - From Judith 9

My reference today is from an Apocryphal book, Judith. Although not part of the accepted, final Canon of Scripture, I find the Apocrypha, with its setting during the time of the captivity of Israel between the Testaments, as particularly relevant in 2022, a time of increasing trouble for Western culture, of threats to freedom of speech and conscience, and of aggressive attacks against the institution of the Church, from official channels. 

It has been said that Christian European culture has held sway for too long, that a legacy of brutal racism and colonialism is the true characterization of Christianity having too much influence.

But that's bunk. 

People can appropriate Christianity for all kinds of purposes, from the most benign to the depths of terror. But that doesn't make it Christian. 

Let's review a sampling of those to whom the Christian message is sent:

• The lowly
• The oppressed
• The weak
• The forsaken
• Those without hope

It's hard for any of the above, to colonize anything. 

But temporal governments, the rare ones that may actually care for the groups in the list, can actually help them most effectively, by protecting freedoms of speech and assembly, and requiring due process, blind justice; prohibiting violent aggression, and supporting the right of people to defend themselves and their property from others that mean them ill. 

Christ is for the most needy of all of us. We don't need a class of power-hungry politicians and bureaucrats defining the needs of the needy for us, or presuming to have the right solutions. 

If the Church implemented it's mission faithfully, consistently, we may find oppressive governments disappearing, for lack of anything to do. If oppressive governments backed off  . . . we may find the Church thriving in its prime directive: Caring for "the least of these."