Jesus as President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals, Part Four
Conversation: A Peculiar Party, Nov. 3, 2012
1. Jesus is forming a
new kind of people, a different kind of party (than what we think of as
political parties). The church is not simply suggesting political alternatives.
The church is embodying one. (can’t legislate love; can keep people breathing
longer, but that doesn’t mean they are truly alive; can have all the affordable
housing in the world, which is good, but still might not have homes).
2. We live not according
to what works but according to the way God is. Not expected to have everything
turn out right, but as G.K. Chesterton said, called to be “completely fearless,
absurdly happy, and in constant trouble.” We are to be the spittin’ image of
Jesus. As Emperor Julian said, “Those godless Christians feed our poor in
addition to their own.”
3. Church the place
where we can grapple with the difficult questions and issue with grace and
humility. To disagree well. To get political not on the Empire’s terms, as division,
but in Christ’s terms to focus on relationships. Not if church is political but
how it is political: example not whether or not pro-life, but how you honor
life?
4. Are we in exile
again, a part of an Empire either occupied our culture or carried us away from
it to its own center? Look to how Israel was to act: even though aliens and
strangers to still make a home in the midst of the new land, to care for one
another, to pray not only to the Lord but also for the place they found
themselves. Be peaceful presences wherever they were. Be relevant
noncomformists, not fitting in to the triumphalist militant Christianity.
5. Be Peculiar: robbers
entered a cathedral and demanded a bishop give them the riches of the church,
so he went to the shelter and gathered up the poor and said here these are the
riches of the church; the robbers went away empty-handed. Luke 14: when you
throw a feast don’t invite your friends, invite the poor. Being peculiar means
they may not last long in some jobs: activist-theologian Brian Walsh said “A
Christian can hold any job. But if they act as Christians, they will simply
need to be ready to be fired within a few weeks. Robotics engineer who designs
machines to dismantle landmines not make them; massage therapist who could make
more money giving comfort to the wealthy but lives near the poor and gives
comfort to their feet. Another couple started a tap water bottle mand the
proceeds go to getting access to clean water in the world without it. These are
everyday miracles, examples of politics by ordinary radicals. You can’t
overestimate the radical character of these decisions being the change we seek
to see in the world. (what change do you seek?)
6. Growing food,
supporting farmers, teaching kids to eat healthy. Visiting prisoners, combatting
the prison industry; make streets safer with presence, beautifying; helping the
elders; making your own stuff, and clothes; different approach to security (if
we do not store up treasures we do not fear theft); respond to thieves by
keeping them in relationship, paying back with kindness; create shared
ownership and lending instead of individual ownership; being nonviolent;
practice forgiveness and reconciliation (which includes accountability) in face
of evil. Worried about the hell people are in on earth now in their lives, and
like Jesus don’t focus on hell but on God’s love; few places Jesus talks about
hell is for those who don’t care for the least of these….Should we be more
afraid of the inner city or the suburbs, of what happens to bodies or what
happens to our soul? In gated communities we create our own locked-in
hell…being willing to bend or break laws that keep us from being with the poor
and homeless, feeding them in parks as communion….in Atlanta where there were
no public restrooms and homeless were being arrested for peeing in public
spaces, Christians organized Pee For Free With Dignity and marched to city hall
to get public restrooms. They did it nonviolently. Being creative in response:
Voices in Wilderness was fined $20,000 for taking medications into Iraq ahead
of and during the war; they paid the fine with Iraq money that equaled that
amount of US dollars in 1991 but was only worth $8 by 2005….Because the simple
way had so many unrelated people living under its roof it was said to be
breaking the law and was labeled a “brothel.”
7. Alternative
economics, the theology of enough. The relational tithe movement. Volunteering
for the community earns tokens that can be traded in for things grown or
provided by the community (a way of doing events); An event for practical
living: workshops on cooking, gardening, sewing, fishing, building, etc….We
need new celebrations too; anti-Black Friday, different kind of Christmas, etc.
Different kinds of ritual: jointly held
communion services during Los Posadas on both sides of the US Mexico border
where they can hear each other…The Litany of Resistance and Confession; see www.missionalmonastics.blogspot.com
8. Vote everyday with
your feet, with your lives. Story of those who asked those who couldn’t vote,
immigrants, some felons, who they wanted them to vote for, held forums with
them on candidates and issues, and then voted for them, were their voice.
9. There are endless
ways to engage politically. We just need imagination and courage.
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