Lutherans rejoice in good government as a gracious First Article gift.  For those of you that don’t know what that means Government is included in the gifts that we receive from God “creating”. When we say that we believe in God the Father the creator of heaven and earth we also believe that earthly government as an “estate” in which God works.   In fact Luther actually talks about 3 ways that God “works” in the world.  They are the church, the government, and “the economy”, which includes family and marriage and work and all that stuff.  Needless to say we have pretty much destroyed all of them and yet according to Luther God still uses them.

The good gift of government should have been capable of creating a world where it would be safe to “live and move and have our being” It was really an emergency institution created after the Fall to protect human beings but ..

The good gift of government should make it a possibility for the church to be free and safe to do “mission, but….

The church should be missionary in out look and disposition in all things but……

The family should be the primary institution whereby we earn our daily bread etc and the government should really be viewed in terms of the family and economy but…..

Human beings can mess up everything.  New Sennacheribs’ arise that want to annihilate everything including religion.  We need to think deeply about these things but of course we don’t think too deeply about anything anymore.  We are going to have to examine what world events and the total incompetence of our own government have done to our ability and in some cases desire to “do” mission.

I write this as the embassy in Tripoli is evacuated, the French are fighting a nasty little war in Saharan Africa, Christians’ are leaving Iraq and Egypt in numbers not even comprehensible to us and not reported by our media.  Kenya is in crisis, Nigeria is a mess and the FAA is saying that we shouldn’t even fly over Ethiopia, Libya or Somalia.  Jets get shot down over the Ukraine and Israel is under the gun again.  In the midst of all this the “fund raiser” in Chief says the world is much safer today than it was when he took office.

Ilya Gridneff in Nairobi

 

Australian volunteers in Kenya are being sent home as western embassies cut staff numbers due to ongoing terror attacks by the militant Islamic group al-Shabaab.

At least 39 Australians working on aid projects in the east African country were told on 17 July they were to leave the capital, Nairobi, and the Kenyan coast by 17 August. Some staff may be deployed to safer regions in Kenya while others will return to Australia or be redeployed to neighbouring countries.

the US government will withdraw its 70 Peace Corps volunteers, a program that has been running in Kenya since 1964, while some non-essential US embassy staff are currently being relocated to neighbouring countries such as Uganda or Rwanda.

Due to “a high threat from terrorism, including kidnapping,” the British government advises against all but essential travel to parts of Nairobi, Lamu county and Mombasa on Kenya’s coast.

Kenya has faced increased security threats since October 2011 when it sent soldiers into southern Somalia to fight the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabaab militia that has terrorised the Horn of Africa region.

Al-Shabaab has ramped up its attacks of late. This month and in June it claimed responsibility for killing at least 94 people in remote towns near the country’s coast and Lamu. In September al-Shabaab militants attacked the upscale Westgate mall in Nairobi, killing 67 people shopping on a Saturday.

Kenyan police officials said on Thursday that a female German tourist had been shot dead in Mombasa, the second foreigner shot in same area this month.

Ahmed Salim, from the Dubai-based Teneo Intelligence consultancy, said insecurity and attacks were now the norm for Kenya’s coast.

“The challenge, so far, has been to differentiate these attacks between al-Shabaab and criminal gangs or groups that seem to be targeting a specific ethnic group related to other grievances such as land. This uncertainty has raised concerns for foreign governments like the Australian government in minimising its footprint in the country,” he said.