Paris

 

Prior to arriving in Tofte in August, my family and I were living overseas for several years. The last two were spent in Skopje,

Macedonia. Living in southeastern Europe had many charms, but certainly one of them was the opportunity to travel to great European cities for very little money.

Last March my family and I visited Paris. We saw that greatest of Renaissance portraits, the “Mona Lisa,” in the Louvre. We visited

Notre Dame where Victor Hugo’s great gothic novel themed upon overcoming prejudice, fear and hate was set. We gazed across the Paris skyline from the Eiffel Tower, the soaring achievement of the industrial age and the brave new world it represented. And we stayed in an apartment not far from where one of last Friday’s terror attacks occurred.

I’ve spent the last few days trying to put this massacre into context.

Islamic extremism is very frightening – and it won’t just go away.

Despite protestations to the contrary, this is terrorism with unmistakable religious dimensions.

On the one hand I want to believe that these terror attacks do not represent true Islam. My good friend Amir, our school’s transportation director in Macedonia, is Muslim along with several other friends I met in southeastern Europe. Amir abhors violence and believes terrorists like those who attacked Paris on Friday are twisting the Koran to suit their own ambitions. President Bush several years ago said that Islamic terrorism had “hijacked” Islam. Millions of Muslims around the world are appalled by ISIS tactics and ideology. They claim Islam is a religion of peace.

On the other hand it is difficult to ignore the fact that the vast majority of the terror attacks conducted in the last 20 years have been by those claiming Islam as their religious belief system. In nearly every majority Muslim nation on the planet religious freedom is severely limited and Christians and other minority religious groups are frequently subjected to harsh persecution. ISIS claims Islam bases its ideology upon the Koran, and is drawing its recruits from devout Muslims around the world, including from here in Minnesota. For them Islam teaches hate, misogyny and jihad.

Aside from my prayers for the victims’ families and loved ones, and for God’s divine intervention in this blood bath, how should I, as a Christian and a minister of the gospel, respond to ISIS terrorism and Islamic extremism in general? In condemning them I cannot vilify all Muslims, for my friend Amir would be included. Nor can I, in a gesture of solidarity with peace-loving Muslims, imply that we worship the same God. We plainly don’t. I realize that I don’t have all the answers.

So where do I begin to find a response? My tradition tells me to look to Jesus Christ, God’s son. He said “God is light, there is no darkness in him at all” and “love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you.” The Apostle Paul, a man accustomed to persecution and religious hatred, said, “don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good,” and, “spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume.”

Jesus’ consistent and sweet message – love.

Even when it’s difficult. It’s a start.

Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This week our contributor is Daren Blanck, pastor of Zoar Church in Tofte, a former Wilderness Canoe Base guide/counselor, and a student of Beyond the River Academy, a ministry program of Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ.