Claire Houser
The first few weeks of school have come and gone and the pre-semester excitement has gone with it. As I contemplate the papers and readings I’ve already started to dread, I find myself wondering why I was so excited to get back to school. I appreciate the routine schedule and the daily structure. I love to expand my intellect and study subjects I’m passionate. I believe, however, that what every student looks forward to is seeing friends again.
I had been excited to see my roommates, my friends, the professors, and all the familiar faces at my university. There was only one problem. After a summer packed with Lutheran theology, (e.g., touring Fort Wayne Seminary, attending the Concordia Deaconess Conference, being a CCV at Higher Things), I had to go back to a big city school where diversity and progressivism are regularly shoved in my face. Even my closest college friends and my roommates don’t always share my worldview. I am in an environment where I often feel pressured to be politically correct. Going back to school can be a struggle. I sometimes wonder how confessional Lutheran students are to survive in a world that hates Christ.
While our parents and grandparents are typically shamed for their beliefs on abortion and marriage, they are also dismissed as being “old fashioned” or “out of touch.” As teens and young adults, believing that a baby in the womb is a human who has the right to life is offensive and absurd to the world. If you believe that marriage is between a man and a woman, you clearly have been brainwashed by a judgmental religion. We are simply expected to know better.
So, how are we students to survive this ever-changing world that only continues to hate us? The most important thing is to go to church where you can continue to have your faith nurtured. Attend a confessional Lutheran church that preaches the Word of God in its truth and purity, and that rightly administers the Sacraments! Bible study is also a great tool. Be able to defend your faith, backing it up with what the Scripture says. Also, surround yourself with like-minded people, such as the other people your age at church. This can be difficult, but it can be done. Living in a sinful world can be a lot easier when you have a friend to remind you of the life and salvation you have in Christ’s death and resurrection.
And finally, continue to be a good student. That, after all, is a wonderful, God-given vocation. Don’t pick a fight with everyone who disagrees with God’s Word. If someone asks why you believe what you believe, explain everything in the kindest way. Being a student is a difficult job. While we do not know what future God has in store for us, we do know is that we are baptized children of God. He has called us and we know His voice because we are His. By faith we can show Christ’s love when we serve our neighbors, and by God’s grace He will give us the words to proclaim our faith.
Claire Houser is studying Political Science at Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota. She serves in the Army National Guard and hopes to begin the Deaconess Program when she graduates.
