Christ on Campus: The Strange Land

By Rev. David Kind

We live in a world that is increasingly and radically opposed to the will of God. Nowhere is this more apparent than on a college campus. Universities are usually on the cutting edge of societal movement, decision making, and change. Not only is this evident in the classroom—where scientific, historic, cultural, and ethical ideas are introduced and discussed—but also in the laboratories and hospitals, in the think-tanks, in the researcher’s studies, in the students’ social and political forums, and in the policy maker’s board rooms. What is taught, researched, and considered here eventually (and almost inevitably) creeps out into the larger world. So be prepared for the fact that when you get to college, you may possibly be bombarded with anti-Christian thought. Your biology professor will teach that you evolved from a tadpole. Your history teacher will use the Crusades to prove that Christians are insensitive, domineering, and bloodthirsty.Your philosophy teachers will try to convince you that there is no such thing as truth. And your ethics professors will claim that life is yours to keep or do away with. In short, everything you know to be true, they will probably claim is a lie.

As a student, these cutting-edge ideas promoted on the university campus and in our postmodern world will confront you every day. You will be embroiled in discussions and debate. You will be called upon to compromise your beliefs and morals. And if you refuse to do so, you will be the subject of ridicule as one who is hopelessly small-minded and judgmental. Your other option is to give in to the predominate idea of the moment and then find yourself living a life of worldly conformity, a life lived in opposition to God.

Sticking to your guns will be hard in college; and you will feel like a stranger in a strange land if you do so. And you will be.

For this reason I often compare the Church to a foreign embassy. It is the place where the citizens of Christ’s kingdom find refuge and help. It’s a little taste of the homeland (heaven) away from home; a place where you need not feel like a stranger.

The task of the Church is not so much to change the world but to rescue people out of this world with all of its destructive illusions and bring them into the biblical world, a realm where God’s Word and grace are formative and foundational. This is more than a philosophy or a worldview. It is a real world, one centered on Christ and His Gospel, lived in His grace, and ruled by His loving and gracious will. While it is true that it is a world that, for the most part, is beyond the comprehension of our senses, it is no less real because of it.

As the baptized, we already have citizenship in this other world, the Kingdom of heaven, and yet, we continue to live in this temporal world as well. It is a difficult state in which to exist. We live and work and study in a world that is in opposition to God. And yet, we live in this world in faith, a faith that must be confessed in both our speaking and our doing. All the while that same faith is under attack by the world, by the devil, and even by our own doubting and sinful flesh. So how do we manage to maintain our citizenship in the Kingdom of heaven when we are under such continual pressure and temptation to give in and conform to this world? How do you keep yourself grounded in the faith?

Our Lord Jesus is not unaware of our predicament. When praying for His disciples, He said to the Father, “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world” (John 17:14b–18). Our Lord prays that we would be kept safe in the faith, that we would be sanctified, and that we might be sent as witnesses to the truth.

And herein lies the key to maintaining your citizenship in the Kingdom of heaven and to giving a faithful witness in the world, whether at the university, the workplace, the home, or anywhere. The key is the Lord working through His Word to sanctify you. When you hear God’s Word proclaimed in preaching, when it is spoken over you individually in Holy Absolution, when you receive that same Word through Holy Communion, the Holy Spirit is at work building and strengthening your faith, making you holy and renewing your citizenship in heaven.

When you step into the Divine Service, you step onto holy ground, into heaven itself where Christ is present with His grace. It is literally an outpost of the Kingdom of heaven in our world. There you receive the Word. There the Spirit is active. There you have fellowship with God the Father through Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit. There you find the grace and strength necessary to live your life faithfully in this world. And this doesn’t just happen on Sunday morning. When you go to the church during the week for Bible Study, for discussion about God’s Word, for counsel, for Confession, and for prayer, you encounter that same life-giving and sanctifying Word that builds and strengthens your connection to Christ and gives you the knowledge and ability to make a faithful confession.

University life is cutting edge, posing real challenges for you every day, but it is not nearly so cutting edge as the truth. So while you are hard at work studying and working and trying to be faithful in the midst of hard opposition, take advantage of the opportunities our Lord puts before you to give you the strength, courage, and knowledge to do so.

Rev. David Kind is the campus pastor at University Lutheran Chapel in Minneapolis, Minnesota serving students of the University of Minnesota. He is a member of the Christ on Campus Team.