The Soviets, like the Nazi Party, did not ban Christianity outright. They didn’t attempt to make enemies of the Christians in the countries they occupied. Instead, they both chose a slow and deliberate hijacking of the faith, to not only gain the favor of the people they had power over, but to make questioning this power akin to blasphemy. Christianity was never banned; it was rebranded. And as a result, the ways of Jesus were outlawed, and it happened slowly and subtly.

It is important to consider that borders do not come from God; they are man-made constructs. They are nothing less than the result of humanities struggle to get along. In short, borders are the direct result of our seemingly inability to love one another. If we acknowledge then that borders are the result of our own sinful nature then perhaps we might not cling to them so tightly.

There is a reason superhero and supervillain narratives do so well at the box office. It feeds a desire we all have as humans. But is this desire a part of how God wants us to live, or is it a part of the sinful nature of humanity? One of my favorite classes I have ever taken was an elective I took in my senior year of High School. In the first semester, we read the classic Greek and Roman Myths, and then in the second semester, we spent the year exploring the world of Comic

And here I am, watching the chaos I once warned about unfold, hearing the stories of oppression it’s causing, and struggling to find the words to describe what it all means and where we go from here. Then, a week ago, our pastor preached from Jeremiah 25, and that message helped bring clarity to my thoughts.

This Lenton season, as we watch the powers of the earth swirl out of control, let us make the same declaration Dismus does in Luke 23!