Ron Cole : unplugged, unorthodox, sacrilegious

AIDS...and confronting the terminal illness of judgement

 

Last night, working in the emergency department we had a woman maybe in her seventy's come in with her forty year old son. To look at him you would never guess he was forty. He looked older than his mother, he was thin, gaunt and literally wasting away. He didn't have to say a word, you could see pain, suffering, shame and guilt written all over him. He was in the end stages of AIDS. Ravaged by the disease, he was severly dehydrated and dying of malnutrition...and his mom wasn't coping with it all.

Around her neck, I could see she was wearing a cross, so I asked her if she was a part of a church and if she was getting help and being supported there. At this point it was as if I had touched an open wound. Tears started to stream down her face. Handing her some Kleenex she told me, no, that she couldn't tell anyone about her son.

Even if it is not blatantly obvious, it is overt...maybe in her church, tucked in the corner you can see it ...judgement. This lady knew it. Homosexuality she has been told is a sin, and it will be judged, and AIDS is the consequence, the earthly judgement. If that's not bad enough her son still has the eternal torment of hell to face yet. And, of course this judgement I'm sure in her mind is partly about her. I mean, homosexuality is a choice...perhaps if she was a better parent her sons outcome would have been much better.

Who is " this Jesus " that many churches worship...I do not see him anywhere in the gospels ?

And, all the time tumbling around in my mind is this image of Jesus...hanging out with the most marginalized in the world. Somehow, he always seemed to be in the midst of sick, the blind, and crippled beggars...those possessed by demons. He touched the lepers, he kissed and healed them. He touched prostitutes, he came to their rescue...they washed his feet with tears and perfume.

And here is this woman whose gay son is dying of AIDS and there is no one in her church that she can tell. I think, I know Jesus would embrace and love this man without any judgement...and then I see a church, the body of Christ unwilling to move it's legs, to wrap its arms around this young man...or to move its lips and kiss him.

I know some one is going to say the trite, " love the sinner, hate the sin." Sorry, I'm gonna have to cry bull shit on that one. You can't love and judge at the same time...that is a very tainted kind of love. Jesus says we are to simply love...the way he did. The gospels are permeated with this kind of radical scandalous redemptive love. Can we please just learn to LOVE, LOVE, LOVE and LOVE till it kills us...a love that you sacrifice everything for.

the Kingdom...in God's mind

The Kingdom is to ...

begin to bring in the shalom prophesied by Isaiah and embodied in Jesus. We'll keep on until we are interconnected and intertwined with the whole world. There is a new world coming. It must come because it is in God's mind and God has willed it.

What we do with intensity and focus in our own neighborhood, the one in which God has set our community--your community--will enable us to reach out in affection to the whole globe. To the whole human family. To the whole created order.

The time has come when all limited patriotic boundaries must be transcended. Everything is interconnected. We are related in affection to everything. ( Gordon Cosby )

The Kingdom, in God's mind...this was the vine that Jesus was attached, that he calls us to graft into...this is where the radical scandalous redemptive imagination of re-creation flows from.

May your Kingdom come, on Earth as in Heaven.

Tune in, Turn on, let it Flow...a new Genesis, a new Creation...The Kingdom of God.

 

Jesus didn't die for sin...

 

" The End...or a New Beginning "

I am a " heretic "...for forty some years of reading the gospels ...Jesus consumes me. It's all I really think about. I continue to pick it apart like a mad man, a man possessed looking for a treasure. I know it is like the ocean, depths, fathoms of endless mystery. I dive off the edge of everything I know, holding my breath kicking pulling myself into it as far as I can go. I come up gasping for air drained by the experience...but excited to see something I hadn't seen before. 

Jesus did not die for sin and forgiveness. There you go, I said it...my bad. God, the infinitely divine creator knows the condition of the human heart. You would think this cosmic creator, author and director of the human play could have fixed that little glitch before he pushed the start button. He didn't, and we can assume " all knowing " he knew what the outcome was going to be. Or, was it more magic rather than being wonderfully made and now he's thrown his arms in the air consigned to say " shit happens." A thought that keeps coming into my my mind like someone waving their hand in my face is, Jesus had the same heart. We're told he was fully God, and fully human. Think about that...it was not Jesus with maybe a God brain, and a God heart...and maybe God feet because he walked on water. It wasn't Jesus with some human bits, and a whole lot of God bits. Ok, go look in the mirror. There, that's what Jesus looked like...the ethnicity, gender might be different, but Jesus was no less human than you.

So there you have it, shit happens...God knows my heart. I'm going to screw up, I'm going to sin sometime today, tomorrow, the next day. So " no " I'm not saved from sin. And for all you religious folk, this might be my biggest sin..." I don't think Jesus cares." 

Jesus was consumed with earth and all humanity...his did not come to turn us into some " pious and holier than thou gods ", and once we'd reached a certain level of sprituality we be ready to enter heaven's gates...which I believe is somewhere just left of " cloud nine."

In our world of sound bites, headlines, facebook status and tweets...today Jesus would likely post exactly what he did in the opening of Mark's Gospel ; "Time's up! God's kingdom is here. Change your life and believe the Message."

This post, proclamation did not come from the temple, the synogogue, the pulpit of a church, from the recliners of the philospohers den...it came into the midst of humanity. Jesus words engulfed all humanity, all religion and all philosphy. If Jesus the Word in Genesis spoke the embryonic beginnings of creation into existence, this was the Word with flesh and bones speaking a new creation into existence. It was all creation being re-iamgined in the profound mystery of " The Kingdom."

To change one's life is not to focus on sin. Remember, God knows the condition of the human heart, and shit does happen. But, when we constantly focus on sin, it is like being trapped in a spinning washer. It is a life constantly revolving around fear. It's feeling like dirt, guilty...to forgiveness, being momentarily clean...until the cycle repeats itself again, again and again. As much as you think it won't, it will, because that's life.

But something even more incideous is, you begin to think you got your shit together. Forget the log in your own eye, you begin to see with crystal clear clarity, the speck of saw dust in your brother's eye. Or in the context of religion, you really begin to think you've got this " God Thing " figured out. You own the story, the story is only about you and your people...truth has been formulated, you own it...and you have all the answers. And the greatest tragedy is, you really begin to believe God likes you more than everyone else...suddenly it is a world of us and them. It is the world of the sacred / secular divide, the world of boundaries, barriers...of black and white.

Jesus did not die for sin and forgiveness. What he died for( THE KINGDOM OF GOD ) was mind boggling, it was something so redemptively imaginative that rather than embracing the thought of re-creating humanity...we'll settle for the perpetual cycle of sin and forgiveness.

Jesus died because we caught him red handed, we caught him proclaiming the Kingdom with these crazy wild scandalous parables that began re-capture the mind, heart and soul of all humanity. We saw and caught him in the act of living out the Kingdom...eating with drunkards, prostitutes, loan sharks. We saw him heal the sick, we saw the lame walk...we saw an incredible multitude fed with five loaves of bread and two fish.

When you start to give humanity an alternative story to live by, the story of the Kingdom, of profound redemptive imagination, rather than the story of the prevailing world power that as enslaved humanity, that accepts the status quo...as " Life " as a whole lot less...the story of the Kingdom must be erased.

They say never mix religion and politics. The Kingdom confronts both. Jesus and his Kingdom pissed off the religious and political establishment of the day. That's who killed him...and that is why he died. The real sin for christians is...we're afraid to say that. The reality we've bought more into the story line, the philosophy, the ideologies of world power...than we have, the profound redemptive imagination of the Kingdom.

We might believe in Jesus dying for sin...but dying for the Kingdom...that's just crazy. Like I said earlier, I'm a heretic. You better grab a stake, rope, firewood and matches, because I'm not going to stop talking like this.

My imagination has always been captured by the scene in the upper room. This rag bag tag of raggamuffins has been hanging out with Jesus for three years wandering the countryside and sea shore. They've heard the insanely beautiful redemptive stories of the Kingdom in Jesus parables...of a world re-created. They have seen Jesus act out the Kingdom in his miracles. And yet, this night in the upper room just before Jesus death...I really don't think they get it.

Jesus and his friends gather around the Passover meal. This story would have been etched in their minds, as if carved in stone. I find it fascinating again, even here...we've turned it into a story about sin, rather than the redemptive beauty of the Kingdom.

The Passover was not about sin, It was not a lamb, slain for sin. It was a lamb slain for a journey in to the profound mystery of a promised land.

Jesus spoke of a new covenant for " all " humanity. He took bread, something that was very much a substance of everyday life. He took it, showing all life was in his hands...and broke it, revealing the brokenness of " all " humanity. His body broken, for the brokenness of " all " humanity. ( Jesus did not die just for Christians ) And he took wine, his blood poured into the midst of the brokeness, to bring healing and wholeness for " all " creation, and " all " humanity.

That night the Passover became a Kingdom story. Jesus would be the lamb slain for the journey. The cross would become the lintel, the door post on which is blood would be spread. This would be the threshold into which humanity would cross on a new journey. This would be the beginning of the new creation, the Kingdom that filled Jesus' divine redemptive imagination.

The world powers of the day thought they had erased the Kingdom. The worldly empire said a resounding death blowing, No! Three days later God said, yes to the Kingdom. That day the Spirit blew, and continues to blow across all creation, in the midst of all humanity...as in Genesis, the Spirit broods over all creation, ready to bring the Kingdom into being.

When we consume Jesus, the lamb of the Passover meal...we are consumed with a journey of bringing the fullness of the Kingdom to the world now.

Jesus did not die for sin and forgiveness. What he died for was mind boggling, it was something so redemptively imaginative that rather than embracing the thought of re-creating humanity...we'll settle for the perpetual cycle of sin and forgiveness.

faith-filled conversation...flying into the 21st century

(Artistry/Image above by Rob Woodrum with Bill Dahl: All Rights Reserved)

To say these are turbulent times would seem an under estimate...politics is becoming much more polarized than ever as left and right get deeper entrenched in their fundamentalist ideologies. The noise of religious fundamentalism has become a constant static drowning out those who would seek a place of open conversation. To put it mildly...creation and humanity are coming apart at the seams.

My dear friend Bill Dahl, prolific reader, commentator on culture, faith and economics is an imaginator. Bill constantly pushes the envelope of thought, and does it with a crystal clear voice of compassion and encouragement. In Bill's most recent article " Air God Flight # 21: or where is the plane of faith taking us in the 21st century ", he cut's through what's clouding our thinking, cuts through the noise of the sqeaky wheels revealing away of faithful conversation into the future.

I encourage you to read Bill Dahl's most recent article...read it again. Think about it, and pray about it. Re-post it, send the link to friends, tweet it, Facebook it. Bill Dahl has turned off all the warning lights in the cabin, he's asked us to unbuckle, get out of our seats, move around and get to know our fellow passengers.

If you read anything today...

read Bill Dahl.

more options please...to hell with heaven

 

Reggie McNeal clearly articulated the state of American Christianity. “The current church culture in North America is on life support. It is living off the work, money, and energy of previous generations from a previous world order.” Church decline is certainly not limited to recent history. American church attendance has lingered around forty percent since the late 1970’s. Even that number could be lower because it is believed that many Americans lie about their church participation. The fact that most towns do not have enough churches to accommodate forty percent of the population cannot be ignored. McNeal recalled a friend who contacted every church in his town following Easter Sunday 2001, and reported a mere twenty five percent attendance. The most disturbing information in McNeal’s work is the fact that five percent or 112 million Christians worldwide have left the institutional church to preserve their faith. These believers no longer consider the church relevant to their spiritual development.  Erwin McManus warned that just speaking of the decline or death of the church does not fully frame the grave nature of the problem. “This may seem strange, but the real tragedy is not that churches are dying but that churches have lost their reason to live!” ( Download Decline of North American Christianity )

So...what's the problem? Are believers opting for hell, instead of heaven? 

 

September 11th...don't burn, buy a copy

At first, I was filled with anger in response to the Florida Pastor who plans on having a Koran Bonfire to commemorate the terrorist attack of 9/11 on the World Trade center. Despite what this pastor believes it will do nothing more than fuel the flames hatred, misunderstanding, fear, oppression...and isolating, separating humanity into us and them...those we like, those we dislike. This act greatly diminishes the sacredness of "all" humanity. I have shared my story here before, of my Islamic friend Najeeb whose community I lived in for a year.

It is one thing to speak out against terrorism...but burn, destroy the sacred story of faith community in the context of the global village is itself an act of terrorism.

It uses fear and threatens to intimidate or coerce for political/religious purposes. To blame what happened on 9/11 on the Koran would be incredibly simplistic. It was done by a small radical fundamentalist element of the Islamic faith. That have twisted, distorted and manipulated sacred texts for the own purpose out of context. It is no difference than the long list of atrocities committed by Christians using the Bible for centuries.

Maybe the Florida pastor should read the list and meditate on its content for a while. There is bad element with in the Islamic faith...but our hands are not clean either. But the good news is, it is not the dominant element with in either faith. The majority that seek to find common ground, to share stories of compassion, hospitality, grace, mercy and God's abundant love need to be more vocal. I love this story of St Francis during the crusades. We need to get to know one another, interfaith co-op's and partnerships with our communities. We need to have meals with one another...enjoy the flavours and sounds of each other's cultures.

I can not find anywhere in the gospels where Jesus engaged in another faith in this manner. The story of the Samaritan woman at the well certainly blows our minds as the what the redemptive imagination of what interfaith conversation might look like.

Anyways, enough said. I suggest rather than burn a copy of the Koran, buy one and read it. Or if your going to burn one...burn a copy of the Bible at the same time. We've certainly done enough evil with it in the name of God.

There is a nice interview with Carol Off of CBC's " As It Happens " talking to another Gainesville Florida pastor, Larry Reimer, about Pastor Terry Jones plan to burn the Koran. It's nice to hear progressive voices of faith and compassion in the midst of the craziness. (Listen to Part Two)

exploring faith...conversations in a dirty space

It's interesting over the past year or so, I've been meeting and talking to different people in cafe's, especially those who have either left the church, or find themselves on the margins. Most seemed to have found themselves at a crossroad, one person described it as a crisis of faith. It wasn't he was losing his faith, but, more that it had evolved into something more. Years of having faith figured out had completely changed. You might compare it to the physical phenomena of changing states of matter. His early faith was was like a frozen block everything well formulated, contained in a confined space. Later, it became fluid-like, able to flow and move around to a certain extent, but still confined by a boundary. Now, the boundary was gone, his faith was dispersed like a gas...like fog, drifting and floating everywhere. He felt his faith was stronger than ever, yet he was filled with questions and hardly any certitude. He was content with questions. He could find truth in mystery. It's like being content with faith being an unfinished symphony, or like improvisational jazz filled with unresolved chords and notes.

Quite a while back I had read James Fowler's " stages of faith ", where he posits faith , or belief “is the most fundamental category in the human quest for relation to transcendence.” And the stages of faith development, regardless of where one finds them, or in what religious context, are amazingly uniform. I encourage you to read Fowler's research on faith development, it just may help map out where you are on your journey.

I think most of the people I've had conversations with in coffee shops would find themselves in Fowler's stage five or six.

Stage five is characterized by its room for mystery and the unconscious, and is fascinated by it while at the same time apprehensive of its power. It sees the power behind the metaphors while simultaneously acknowledging their relativity. In stage five, the world, demythologized in stage four, is re-sacrilized, literally brimming with vision. It is also imbued with a new sense of justice that goes beyond justice defined by one’s own culture and people. Because one has begun to see “the bigger picture” the walls culture and tradition have built between ourselves and others begins to erode. It is not easy to live on the cusp of paradox, and due to its radical drive towards inclusivity.

And, stage six characterized by exhibiting qualities that shake our usual criteria of normalcy. Their heedlessness to self-preservation and the vividness of their taste and feel for transcendent moral and religious actuality give their actions and words an extraordinary and often unpredictable quality. In their devotion to universalizing compassion they may offend our parochial perceptions of justice. In their penetration through the obsession with survival, security, and significance they threaten our measured standards of righteousness and goodness and prudence. Their enlarged visions of universal community disclose the partialness of our tribes and pseudo-species.

This beckons the huge question, " Is there room for these people in your church? " I suspect not. Most people at these stages have worked there way towards the back door and are on the margins, or have exited altogether.  

   

Many of the people I had conversation all expressed a sadness and longing. Sad, that there was no safe space with in many faith communities where questions, mystery could be explored in deeper conversations, and longing for such a space. The church will continue to hemorrhage people like a severed artery until it awakens to this reality. People are not walking away from faith...most are leaving to find a safe space where they can explore their questions in the context of everyday life filled with its complexity and diversity.

We confuse unity in the church with conformity. As strange as it might seem you could have a collage of people in a community spread all over the map in different stages...and still be unified in Jesus. The churches problem is, we want everyone in one stage, preferably stage three...

is  characterized by conformity, where one finds one’s identity by aligning oneself with a certain perspective, and lives directly through this perception with little opportunity to reflect on it critically. One has an ideology at this point, but may not be aware that one has it. Those who differ in opinion are seen as “the Other,” as different “kinds” of people. Authority derives from the top down, and is invested with power by majority opinion. Dangers in this stage include the internalization of symbolic systems (power, “goodness” “badness”) to such a degree that objective evaluation is impossible.

Sadly, this stage has become the " Status Quo " of the church. This may be all that is left holding the fragile pieces of what is left of the existing church.  Is it too late to change?,time will tell. But for the church to survive in a post-Christendom world it needs to wake up to the reality that these stages exist. We need to help people negotiate between them. We need to allow people to live within the stages rather than try and force everyone to live in one stage. We need to waken to the reality as faith being a journey, and not a destination to one place of certitude and belief. Churches need to be a space of generous, humble, hospitable exploration of faith. To on lookers, they may look more like sand boxes, dirty spaces, messy... as we play and wrestle with the complexities of faith...rather than the sterile environment of an isolation unit in an aging hospital.

Putting Away Childish Things :: Marcus Borg

I received a copy of Marcus Borg's latest book " Putting Away Childish Things " last Thursday from Harper One to read and review. I finished it last evening. This is Marcus Borg's first novel, a work of fiction, but, something he calls  " didactic " novel. I love the subtitle, " A TALE OF MODERN FAITH ", because I think it captures the essence of the book. The story, it's characters are fictional, yet Borg weaves reference material through out its pages.

My sincere hope is that many people will not dismiss this book because of Marcus Borgs controversial background. We was a fellow of the mid-eighties " Jesus Seminar ", and still one of the most influential voices in " Progressive Christianity ", which characterized by willingness to question tradition, acceptance of human diversity with a strong emphasis on social justice or care for the poor and the oppressed and environmental stewardship of the Earth. Progressive Christians have a deep belief in the centrality of the instruction to " love one another" (John 15:17) within the teaching of Jesus . This leads to a focus on compassion, promoting justice and mercy, tolerance, and working towards solving the societal problems of poverty, discrimination, and environmental issues.

So it is important to understand that this novel flows out of Marcus Borg's life engaged in that contest of living out his faith. This book is extremely important because Christianity is becoming more polarized between the voices of conservatism, liberalism and left and right. As numbers, and churches decline in North America a survival mode mentality becomes the driving force where fundamentalism focuses in on belief more than faithful living.

It will take a special voice, and a different way of writing to engage a polarized faith, to provide a space where we can talk. It will take a story teller. This is a story in which I believe we can all see ourselves, and also the sacred cows that we are unwilling to let roam free.

The story's main character Kate Riley is a popular religious studies professor in a small mid-western liberal arts college. Through the story, and its characters Marcus Borg weaves in the important issues that are dividing and polarizing the Christian faith today. The reader becomes engaged in the deep questions of what does the Bible really teach? Who is Jesus, the historical pre-easter version, and the post-easter Christ version? And, what is the nature of faith today?

One of the dominant strands that weaves its way through the story is " truth ", the postmodern view as truth being relative, shifting sand rubbing against the conservative literal view etched in granite. It is the polarization of truth...factuality is the evidence, verifying something as " true." Or, if evidence can not be excavated like an archaeologist, then truth becomes belief...something different than faith.

In a radio interview Kate is questioned around the gospel stories of Jesus birth, where she claims truth and factuality are not the same thing.

The host spoke again. " So, with these differences --- and some sounding like contradictions---are you saying that these stories aren't historically factual? I think most Christians believe they are---that these things did happen. But if they didn't happen this way, why should people take them seriously?"

" Well," Kate answered, " that depends upon how we see these stories. If we see their purpose as historical reporting, to tell us what happened, then the matter of factuality matters a great deal. People often get fixated on factuality: either things happened this way, or these stories aren't true. ( page 25 )

Through Kate, Borg introduces many of the gospel stories are overtures or parables. Like an overture to a symphony typically introduces the central themes of the symphony as a whole, the birth stories in the gospels are an overture to the grand themes of the good news and Kingdom that follow.

" Parables are about meaning, not factuality. And the truth of a parable is its meaning. Parables can be truthful, truth-filled, even while not being historically factual. And I apply this to the birth stories: we best understand them when we see them as parables and overtures, and when we don't argue about whether they're factual." ( page 26 )

Borg through the voice of Kate offers us a middle way, between the the fortified walls of liberalism and conservatism...where profound divine truth might be found between the arguing, and fighting voices for literalism, and that of a pious fable. Where truth is found in meaning, that place where the Psalmist says deep calls to deep...or to Jesus saying the Kingdom can be found in faith as small as a mustard seed.

In Marcus Borg's book he engages us in the current conversation of religion and politics. Kate believes the separation of religion and politics is un biblical. Reading the gospel stories one can not miss the clash of Roman Empire theology, and that of Jesus Kingdom. This is the reality that made the Jesus so subversive. The Kingdom was a threat to the empire. Jesus death was political as much as it was spiritual. The book draws into the conversation where we must honestly face politics and faith together not as separate entities. The faith of Jesus confronted the politics of the day..." Putting Away Childish things " reminds us, we need do the same.

As I found myself coming to the closing pages of the book, something profound percolated to surface of my mind...what makes a Christian. In our current landscape, it is all over the map...everyone fighting for territory. Stake our claim, and then fight to try and dominate and expand our borders.

In the closing chapters is a seminary in a quandary, about to receive a generous endowment for a chair in evangelical thought. The faculty meets but before they can pursue potential applicants there is great discussion on how the label is applied.

“It seems to me that there isn’t a general sense of agreement about what makes an evangelical… Would it be enough if those under consideration identify themselves as evangelicals? Or does it mean that they have to meet certain standards, such as professing a belief in the inerrancy of Scripture, confessing Jesus Christ as the only way to salvation, having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, or counting the Bible as the ultimate basis for their beliefs rather than experience or tradition?” (149)

Some may be mystified by Marcus Borg's change of direction to a fictional novel. But, sometimes you need a story teller to help you see a new way. I highly recommend this book. It is my hope it will draw us all to a place of humble hospitality where grace abounds. To a place where there is always an open table an empty chair to accommodate everyone. We need more than ever to rediscover the faith that Jesus lived and spoke, Putting Away Childish Things brings us to place to talk about what that is.

Nick and Josh round table conversation...a faithful response to the oil spill & creation care

In my most recent post, " the empires new clothes...the naked truth " I skimmed the slippery surface our relationship with the empire. Our insatiable appetite for oil at any cost to the exploitation and destruction of creation, and a global economy in which money is thrown into it like a slot machine and financial experts pull the lever of luck. Where is the prophetic voice of radical subversive faith that critiques, corrects, that reveals an alternative view to that of the empire?

Larry Schweiger, president of the National Wildlife Federation (and a person of faith), raised a prophetic word when he spoke of our “addiction” to oil. Addictions, as many people have discovered, eventually make your life not work anymore. And that is what has happened to the U.S. and the world -- our oil addiction is making things not work. The list of consequences is long -- from critical climate changes, to the loss of jobs, to supplying money for terrorists, to sacrificing the lives of our young people in wars over oil, to watching an oil spill that nobody seems to know how to stop pour hundreds of thousands of gallons each day into the Gulf of Mexico. ( Sojourners GOD'S politics; Jim Wallis )

On Monday Nick and Josh brought together 3 prophetic voices, in this podcast Josh grabs another round table podcast with the likes of Julie Clawson, Ben Lowe, and Tom Sine. The four of them discuss the (lack of a) Christian response to the oil spill in the gulf of Mexico as well as other issues facing the American Christianity’s move towards more active caring for creation.

For more on the three guests click below: Julie Clawson, Everyday Justice
Ben Lowe, Green Revolution Tom Sine, The New Conspirators and Mustard Seed Associates (also, see Christine Sine’s blog)

This is likely one of, if not the best conversations I've heard on faith and it's relationship with creation care. Tom Sine, Julie Clawson, and Ben Lowe speak with great wisdom and passion. They critique. They encourage, and they offer hope with practical solutions.

Do yourself a favor, listen alone or get together with a few friends and listen...but do listen!!!

[Direct link to ep 151 - Oil Spill Roundtable with Ben Lowe, Tom Sine, and Julie Clawson]

You can also sign a petition ( HERE ) against offshore drilling at AVAAZ.org the world in action.

The empires new clothes...the naked truth

From a recent interview on Democracy Now with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales talking about how the US government exempted British Petroleum from environmental review...

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s announcement comes on the heel of a Washington Post exposé revealing that the Minerals Management Service had approved BP’s drilling plan in the Gulf of Mexico without any environmental review. The article notes that the agency under Secretary Salazar had quote “categorically excluded” BP’s drilling as well as hundreds of other offshore drilling permits from environmental review. The agency was able to do this using a loophole in the National Environmental Policy Act created for minimally intrusive actions like building outhouses and hiking trails. ( Read more/ here )

And then earlier last week, on Thursday this story on the mysterious Wall Street melt down in the Huffington post...

At this point no one knows why. Some say it was sudden burst of worries about Greece's debt and the increasing possibility of a default that might cause a run by global investors. Others point to a "trading error." Giant high-speed computers generate millions of trades based on instructions embedded in computer programs designed to move fast enough to beat everyone else. So when there's a glitch in one of them it can immediately spread to all the other programs designed to move just as fast. Some say it was an erroneous trade entered by someone at a big Wall Street bank who mistyped an order to sell a large block of stock, and that the big drop in that stock's price (Procter & Gamble?) triggered "sell" orders across the market.

Regardless of why it happened, it's further evidence that the nation's and the world's capital markets have become a vast out-of-control casino in which fortunes can be made or lost in an instant -- which would be fine except for the fact that most of us have put our life savings there. Pension funds, mutual funds, school endowments -- the value of all of this depends on a mechanism that can lose a trillion dollars in minutes without anyone having a clear idea why. So much of the market now depends on computer programs and mathematical models that no one fully understands, so much trading is in the hands of a few people whose fat thumbs or momentary carelessness might sink the economy, so much of global wealth now depends on who can move their money quickest at the slightest provocation -- that we are toying with financial disaster every day. The luck or foolishness of a few traders, and inside knowledge and information that some possess and others don't, combined with ultra high-speed computers, put us all at the whim of a system whose risk is way out of proportion to any public benefits. ( Read more/ here )

You're probably wondering what do these events have in common? The demonstrate the reality of the empire, its exploitation of creation; it's obsession to serve the god of money and greed. The government and corporate industrial giants use " Green " the same way criminals launder dirty money. There communications specialists stick the label and lingo into everything. BP trying convince onlookers that it is investing big in " Green " all the while the Gulf continues to fill at a rate of over 200,000 gallons of crude oil per day. The plan that should such a disaster should occur has come down to nothing more than trying to put a band aid on a severed artery under water. A three week moratorium on drilling is nothing more than time for the spin doctors to weave their magic and tell us, the emperor has his finger in the dike and the empire is great.

Since the financial melt down of 2+ years ago, we've learned nothing. We have an idea what caused it, but really have no idea or understanding how it works. It is a casino where people drunk with greed continue to pull the leaver hoping for the big pay out. Sitting at the table with pockets turned inside out, penniless, while governments continue to throw money to these pigs at the trough like BP pumps oil into the Gulf. The empire is recklessly out of control and crumbling.

(image courtesy of Deviant Art )

But the spin doctors like in the story of the " Emperor's New Clothes ", the emperors seamstress continue to weave there magic...

Your Highness, you'll have to take off your clothes to try on your new ones." The two scoundrels draped the new clothes on him and then held up a mirror. The Emperor was embarrassed but since none of his bystanders were, he felt relieved.

      "Yes, this is a beautiful suit and it looks very good on me," the Emperor said trying to look comfortable. "You've done a fine job."

      "Your Majesty," the prime minister said, "we have a request for you. The people have found out about this extraordinary fabric and they are anxious to see you in your new suit." The Emperor was doubtful showing himself naked to the people, but then he abandoned his fears. After all, no one would know about it except the ignorant and the incompetent.

      "All right," he said. "I will grant the people this privilege." He summoned his carriage and the ceremonial parade was formed. A group of dignitaries walked at the very front of the procession and anxiously scrutinized the faces of the people in the street. All the people had gathered in the main square, pushing and shoving to get a better look. An applause welcomed the regal procession. Everyone wanted to know how stupid or incompetent his or her neighbor was but, as the Emperor passed, a strange murmur rose from the crowd.

      Everyone said, loud enough for the others to hear: "Look at the Emperor's new clothes. They're beautiful!"

      "What a marvelous train!"

      "And the colors! The colors of that beautiful fabric! I have never seen anything like it in my life!" They all tried to conceal their disappointment at not being able to see the clothes, and since nobody was willing to admit his own stupidity and incompetence, they all behaved as the two scoundrels had predicted.

      A child, however, who had no important job and could only see things as his eyes showed them to him, went up to the carriage. "The Emperor is naked," he said.

Probably what saddens me the most is that supposedly radical subversive communities that are called to live in, and imagine another alternative have remained for the most part silent. They are called to be prophetic voice critiquing the empire, a voice of correction. A child can see the emperor and empire are naked, and we at best turn the other way, and at worst nod our heads. Faith communities committed to the reality of Jesus and his Kingdom, of revealing, redeeming, restoring and building the world upside down would expose and reveal the alternative of the Kingdom. We would connect the dots that lead to the redemptive imagination of Jesus. We would rally humanity to awaken that we are all children of God called build the stunning redemptive beauty of the Kingdom, the home of all humanity. Is this even on the radar of your faith communities conversations?

I close with these powerful words of subversive preaching in a postmodern world, a targum based on Colossians 1:15-20 by Brian Walsh.

Whether it be the institutionalized power structures
of the state, the academy or the market
all things have been created in him and through him
he is their source, their purpose, their goal
even in their rebellion
even in their idolatry
he is the sovereign one
their power and authority is derived at best
parasitic at worse
In the face of the empire
in the face of presumptuous claims to sovereignty
in the face of the imperial and idolatrous forces in our lives
Christ is before all things
he is sovereign in life
not the pimped dreams of the global market
not the idolatrous forces of nationalism

the church is
the flesh and blood
here and now
in time and history
with joys and sorrows
embodiment of this Christ
as a body politic
around a common meal
in alternative economic practices
in radical service to the most vulnerable
in refusal to the empire
in love of this creation
the church reimagines the world
in the image of the invisible God
In the face of a disappointed world of betrayal
a world in which all fixed points have proven illusory
a world in which we are anchorless and adrift
Christ is the foundation
the origin
the way
the truth
and the life
In the face of a culture of death
a world of killing fields
a world of the walking dead
Christ is at the head of the resurrection parade
transforming our tears of betrayal into tears of joy
giving us dancing shoes for the resurrection party
And this glittering joker
who has danced in the dragon's jaws of death
now dances with a dance that is full
of nothing less than the fullness of God
this is the dance of the new creation
this is the dance of life out of death
and in this dance all that was broken
all that was estranged
all that was alienated
all that was dislocated and disconnected
is reconciled
comes home
is healed
and is made whole
everything
all things
whatever you can imagine
visible and invisible
mountains and atoms
outer space, urban space, and cyberspace
every inch of creation
every dimension of our lives
all things are reconciled in him
And it all happens on a cross
it all happens at a state execution
where the governor did not commute the sentence
it all happens at the hands of the empire
that has captivated our imaginations
it all happens through blood
not through a power grab by the sovereign one
it all happens in embraced pain
for the sake of others
it all happens on a cross
arms outstretched in embrace
and this is the image of the invisible God
this is the body of Christ

Surely we we can imagine and see something radically more alternative and subversive to the empire that surrounds us, and speak and build it into existence. The Kingdom is about ...NOW!!!