God controls all of human history. As such, He has seen fit to give Ramstein Air Base, Germany (shown here, courtesy https://www.ramstein.af.mil/ U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Kiaundra Miller)—a major US Air Force installation located only about ten miles west of Kaiserslautern where I currently serve the local LCMS church—a key role in the final chapter of America’s 20-year Afghanistan War. At least for the next week, perhaps for the next several—Ramstein AB will house at least ten thousand evacuees from that war-torn country. As you read this, our massive C-17 cargo planes are flying thousands and thousands of our Afghan friends and their families to freedom, most likely sparing them a gruesome fate at the hands of the Taliban.In true American spirit, the entire KMC (Kaiserslautern Military Community) is in overdrive, assembling over ten thousand cots, pitching five thousand tents, distributing clothing, diapers, baby bottles, wipes, food, water, etc., and welcoming with open arms these brave people who escaped Kabul Airport by the skin of their teeth.As much as I would love to serve alongside the KMC, at least at this time, only US servicemen and women in uniform are allowed access to the evacuees. But even if I don’t manage to get on base, I will hopefully meet some of the evacuees who choose to stay in Germany, as they join the half a million Persian speakers who already live here.So, how do we assess this drama unfolding before our very eyes? Our Lord tells us to “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, render to God the things that are God’s (Matthew 22:21, etc.). Christ’s “Doctrine of Vocation” enables us to resolve the tension of this moment in history, cleanly distinguishing between the “realm of the government” and the “realm of the Church”: As American citizens, we grieve the humiliating outcome of our twenty-year involvement in that country, for which over 2,500 Americans paid with their lives. At the same time, those of us who are Christians rejoice that perhaps hundreds of thousands of Afghans are currently being evacuated to the West—and will now have an opportunity to hear the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ—something they might never have been able to do if they had stayed in their homeland.
The Tiews in Germany 