DISQUS

Andy in Germany · 10 months ago

This is sometihing I constantly fail on spot on, and thanks for reminding me I've done it again...

Chad Vandervalk · 10 months ago

I agree with this on so many different levels. I have found that when the Kingdom is presented as something that we live "in the shadow of the empire" we end of giving too much credit to the "empire". There are things in this world that are broken and that need fixing. There are places where the power God has allowed us to have has gone to our head in destructive and horrible ways. There are so many people who would rather return to their own vomit than partake of the banquet laid before them in Jesus.

But in the face of all of this, God is still in control. God's kingdom is coming. Jesus will come again and make all things new.

"Why does the one radical focus on the Kingdom of God as a way of protest in the shadow of empire while the other as a powerfully positive vision of life in the light of shalom?"

Maybe it is easier to protest than to live?

(I include myself in this critique)

BDRhodes · 10 months ago

I think that's spot on -- that we too easily give faaaar too much credit to the empire. It's so easy for us to find our identity in what we're not (consumer, imperial, just-war, suburban, whatever), that we just wind up perpetuating the mythic might of the principalities n powers.

It's great to be against things, but how much better to be against them because we were FIRST FOR something. That helps me remain unimpressed with the lies and myths which propagate the defeated powers. 'Tis better to create than to crassly condemn.

Richard Dickson · 10 months ago

V interesting piece.

I was watching the film Shootings Dogs (Beyond the Gates) with a school class of 14 year olds last week and was reminded of what Father Christopher says to one of his former employees when he was stopped by him at a Hutu roadblock in Rwanda and called "an Inyenzi lover". Was he angry? Embittered? Violent? No. All he said was "when I look into your eyes, all I see is love".

Watch the film. A great example of Christian radicalism in practice.

Joel · 10 months ago

"How do we balance righteous anger and loving grace?" I am one of those you wrote of: I "embrace sort of overly-caustic asceticism that squeezes out joy and peace and grace–for themselves and others." Like today, and I have come to realize I am grieving, l grieve that the old world, indeed the old world that God saw as good and Christ dies for is tov, good, but broken and the kingdom is that same world seen from this side of the cross/resurrection. I grieve that old world and leaving, or trying to leave in love, those I love to continue to fight and suffer to live in that old broken, deadly world. And I become caustic, hurtful to those I love, like a hurt animal bites and growls-- I guess I become animal in the worst sense of the word. And yet, even this is redeemed. It is not mine to "balance." Am am called, "born again [though I dislike the term it is true] born again to love, not to give it, but share it, that love, that grace which I do, like it or not, because that grace, depends not on either what I do or feel or believe, but is there, here, because it is who God is in Christ, and I and his world live in that love from which we can not escape. If I am or you are, or he, she, it, is a jerk, God is Love, hesed, grace, never-failing love. "Even if I go down to hell, thou art there also..." Maybe prophets are jerks in the world eyes, in the eyes of the kingdom, they are servants of God, send for us. I do not think I would have liked Jeremiah, and certainly not Jonah. Bless you.

bexgee · 10 months ago

Thanks for sharing this. As a satirist, I struggle with that balance between satirizing a subject and slamming someone's soul. I know some folks I've satirized don't believe me but I do pray long and hard before picking up the pen. When I've failed at my task it's because I allowed my righteous anger towards their empire building moves albeit Religious Right (r), Progressive Power (c) or Emergent Church (tm) to get the better of me. I was right but not Christlike.

Then again, looking back at the prophets, they weren't exactly warm fuzzy types. <vbg>

andrew · 10 months ago

by this will all men know you are my disciples - that you are a bunch of jerks! yeah - right! good post.

lsomers · 10 months ago

Thank you for exploring this difficulty for people who try to be disciples and try to follow the Way as best they can in whatever circumstances they find themselves.

Anger seems to be just below the surface in my own conflict with the church's betrayal of the Gospel of Jesus of Nazareth - the Gospel of the Presence of the Kingdom of God - here and now - around us - among us - within us. Perhaps some of this anger that still remains is a sense of betrayal. I feel that I've been betrayed by the church because the church has betrayed the Gospel of Jesus in favor of the gospel of Imperial Christianity. Imperial Christianity was what was born from the marriage of the Roman Empire. It was celebrated by the Constantine and 300 bishops (church leaders) at Nicea and was solidified over the next Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Church when the message of love, justice and peace, the Kingdom Values of Jesus, were dumped in favor of creeds and an Imperial power structure that still exists for the vast majority of Christians in the world today.

Jesus has been lost in the dreary theology books - wonderful works of fantasy and imagination for sure - but, for the most part, having nothing to do with the outline of the Kingdom of God, which is the Good News for Jesus, that we can find in Matthew's gospel in Chapters 5, 6 & 7.

There is a wonderful song (hymn) by Marty Haugen called "Gather Us In". The last line is the one that we all need to understand as pertaining to the Good News of Jesus: "Not in the dark of buildings confining. Not in some heaven, light years away. But here in this place the new light is shining. Now is the Kingdom, now is the day. Gather us in and hold us forever, Gather us in and make us your own; Gather us in all peoples together, Fire of love in our flesh and our bone."

The Kingdom of God is to be a Kingdom here in this place: here on this Earth. The Kingdom of God is not a kingdom of disembodied spirits in some heaven light years away - but here on this Earth. The church has betrayed Jesus and with mighty few almost invisible exceptions continues to do so as it creates a religion that favors the values of the Empire by diverting our energies and power into "saving souls" for this fantasy kingdom. Jesus never said he came to save souls. He came to make people whole and to assist them to live and live richly and abundantly in this world. The Good News that Jesus preached and lived into was the Presence of the Kingdom of God.

Andrea · 10 months ago

Thanks for your thoughts. What you share reminds me a great deal of some of the things that I have been reading. You describe what I call a "pendulum" swing. It is those violent swings we can experience as we find out (and are convinced of) something "new." We leave our position on one side and swing all the way over to the other side. As we arrive at this new place, we tend to hang on to this new "truth" for our lives, often looking down at the people in the group we just left. We are so wierd that way, aren't we? At the end of the day, we end up still arguing from positions. They just happen to be new ones.

It seems that a fundamentalist way of thinking is so deeply ingrained in us. I am not speaking of the "what" about belief, but rather the "how" we believe. The process of thinking through and coming to a belief about something (no matter what that something is) - can look "fundamentalist" in it's process. It is the thinking that "I know truth, and if you believe like me, then you too will know truth." When we stand in that position of "knowing" and then judging those who do not "know" like we do, we can fall into that category of "jerks" that you are talking about. lol

What if we were more concerned about being in relationship with one another, rather than being so concerned that we are right, and trying to convert people to our way of thinking? When I look how Jesus did life, I see he was able to do this so well. Each time he was with someone, it was if that exchange was custom-made for that person. He understood what each one needed. Talk about love...wow...that he would be intentional to each and every person. That each would experience a restoration of dignity and love, even if they were in a different place (theologically) than he. What an attraction! I wonder if our attraction of grace and love and relationship might not trump so many of the divides we experience....

folknotions · 10 months ago

"When Christians, upon discovering the deficiencies of their traditions begin, in earnest, to tap back into the root of Jesus’ provocative Kingdom message, they are often likely to become judgmental and angry towards their brothers and sisters in Christ than they are to weep for those brothers and sisters. They become increasingly aware of the failures of the Church, of the compromises (large and small) of their friends, and more tenacious in exposing falsehood wherever they find it."

Hmm. I'm interested in a couple of things here Mark. Again, I love your writing, I think the self-criticism of the Christian radical is needed and your insights are profound.

1) I would say, though, that if the radical message of the Gospel is to identify with the poor and broken, then perhaps we ourselves need to try to embody that brokenness? In which case, this brings us back to the sin problem - i.e., that we are sinners, who - by the grace of God alone - are justified and made righteous through Christ alone. In which case, we would neither be jerks condemning our brothers and sisters in Christ, nor the hyper-pious alternative: pitying our brothers and sisters in Christ for not being as holy as we are.

2)If we would be sinners in need of righteousness, and we search for that righteousness in Christ - our Lord and Saviour - then he also becomes our teacher. And when he is our savior first and then teacher, we are radically transformed by his saving grace and then sanctified by his unfailing love and example as shown in the scriptures.

3) Not all of us have a prophetic call. There is a sense in which there can be so much advocacy of the "prophetic" toward the Church that we leave aside the need for ministry, for love, for healing, etc.

markvans · 10 months ago

Thanks for the reflection, folknotions. I agree with the need for us to be broken...to "go as poor among the poor" rather than to assume any sort of self-described radicalism is any source for pride.

ryan · 10 months ago

I do agree and think you very well addressed it. It seems from my experience of this with my friends, the mind set turns into defining oneself as a radical, so as to distinguish ourselves from others. That turns into bitterness very easily. It's hard to look at someone and say, "We're both trying to follow Jesus, but we fail sometimes," because we don't want to be associated with the bad things about them. As with different denominations of Christianity, it can turn into something that is seems to be viewed as a "seperate religion" instead of people trying to love and follow Jesus, but just in a different way. When any "new" movements start, they first try to say, "No, we are different, we're nothing like you," but that just isn't fully true. It's a pretty thin line between saying, "we're trying to stand apart so that we may be true to ourselves and God," and, "we're attempting to follow Jesus, just like so many other churches, groups, etc. out there." I don't know, that's just where I've seen my struggles that have come up in my attempt to believe in Jesus.

Maria Kirby · 10 months ago

I am very encouraged by this article. I was getting really tired of all the criticism posted on JM. While it might be accurate, I want to be encouraged by a new vision rather than berated for my old one. Prophetic voices have both the carrot and stick aspect to them.

I know I don't have as clear an understanding of what the Kingdom of God on earth looks like as I would like. Many times I hear people give just a sort of vague out line like peace and righteousness, but when it comes down to the nitty gritty like how to love my family when their behaving like devils, that's another story. I would love more input in defining the details of living radically. I understand that the manifestation of Christian living is varied depending on the ministry God's called us to, but I believe that a lighted path makes for easier walking.

markvans · 10 months ago

Hey Maria, I had originally written a response to your comment, but it turned into a full article. I'd really appreciate if you'd take a look at it and weigh in when it is published tomorrow.

BDRhodes · 10 months ago

"the details of living radically" -- I'm with you on that one. I'd love to see practitioners who have some experience in all this begin talking more about lessons learned.

kevin · 10 months ago

just live, just live, just live
the fear is to just be and follow through
the empire taught conflict and pain, a constant analyzing
even charimania did the same, always looking for a place to "minister" or what is God doing now?
I had to stop all of this
just go, start living out of my heart
i was afraid of it so long
now i see what i used to never see
and i know that I am indeed not in control
life is happening now
i have lived on the offense and I have lived on the defense
i like the sidelines
that is where they keep the kool-aid