Faithful Resistance: Gospel Visions for the Church in a Time of Empire by Rick Ufford-Chase...a review.....

6/30

Faithful Resistance: Gospel Visions for the Church in a Time of Empire by Rick Ufford-Chase

A review…..

With his new book, Faithful Resistance…our friend Rick Ufford-Chase had made an important and significant contribution to the growing body of literature on the future of the church. (And how to get there..) It is significant that Rick’s primary focus is not how do we save the church but how do we live as faithful followers of Jesus in this empire dominated day and what role does the church have and what kind of  church is needed in the struggle. The church is thus a means to faithfulness, not an end of and to itself.

The book is also an example of liberation theology praxis. It is intended not only as reflection and analysis but as a workbook to help the faithful be about this work themselves.  It is especially intended to be used in groups, groups that help sustain each other in mutual support and solidarity in difficult days ahead.  In that, Rick follows in the footsteps of the  Latin American liberation theologians who brought a Freiran approach to the doing of theology in their Christian Base Communities.

It is very helpful that Rick comes to this book not as an academic or even professional clergy but as a lay person who understands the value of each of our God-given unique ministries and our need for one another. He draws on his experiences as a seminary drop out, going adult volunteer, border justice worker, moderator of a historic denominational church with international partners, peace activism and co-chairing an ever evolving study center with interfaith intentional communities. In broad strokes, Rick responds to the already inevitable end of the large national (and local!) denominational church infrastructures  as we have known them. (For example, in New York City Presbytery, there are approximately 14,000 members in 99 churches. Half belong to 5 churches, the other half to 95 churches over 50 of whom have no pastor at all…) Related to our ecclesiastical structures are our literal structures from our  national office in Louisville with its echoing emptiness to our hulking aging stone buildings with mausoleum like silence. How do/can they function in our mission?

This is for Rick, not an occasion for mourning but more an exciting opportunity for recreating at the grassrootsiest of levels a church that is flexible, mobile and resilient. Being independent of reliance on larger structures, the church can be radically free to be a faithful witness, not unlike the primitive church.

Towards that end, Rick does several important things:

* Names and discusses the power of white privilege (and other cognate privileges of class, gender, orientation, etc…)

* Produces one of the first real discussions I’ve seen for the implications of this new reality for theological education. (Happy to see two institutions I’m involved with, New York Theological Seminary and Newark School of Theology on his list of emerging models of providing quality education for those who cannot afford.. moneywise or timewise…traditional theological education.)

Others chapters tackle such issues as confronting empire at the border, the importance of ecojustice, nonviolence as a principle and practice, worship, the meaning of solidarity, being a church that is “small but fierce.” Oh, and the intriguing exploration of the idea of  responsible living in a “watershed.”

Though somewhat presbycentric, Rick's primary context, it nonetheless has much to say to all of us struggling to find faithfullness.

Rick’s bottom line is one that appeals to me at the deepest level:

“ I am interested in creating a community where those who have been rejected in every other space can come and feel safe..”  Amen. Word.

Pull together a circle of friends. Get a few copies of this book. Let the connversation begin….

Living in the Spirit: Prepared for struggle

First day back from vacation.  Our main scripture  for reflection today is EPHESIANS 6:10-20

¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. ¹¹Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. ¹²For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ¹³Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. ¹⁴Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. ¹⁵As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. ¹⁶With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

¹⁸Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. ¹⁹Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.

I want to begin with a reading from  Ti-Neshi Coates “Letter to my son” from  Between the world and me.

And yet I am still afraid. I feel the fear most acutely whenever you leave me. But I was afraid long before you, and in this I was unoriginal. When I was your age the only people I knew were black, and all of them were powerfully, adamantly, dangerously afraid. It was always right in front of me. The fear was there in the extravagant boys of my West Baltimore neighborhood, in their large rings and medallions, their big puffy coats and full-length furcollared leathers, which was their armor against their world. They would stand on the corner of Gwynn Oak and Liberty, or Cold Spring and Park Heights, or outside Mondawmin Mall, with their hands dipped in Russell sweats. I think back on those boys now and all I see is fear, and all I see is them girding themselves against the ghosts of the bad old days when the Mississippi mob gathered ’round their grandfathers so that the branches of the black body might be torched, then cut away. The fear lived on in their practiced bop, their slouching denim, their big T- shirts, the calculated angle of their baseball caps, a catalog of behaviors and garments enlisted to inspire the belief that these boys were in firm possession of everything they desired. I felt the fear in the visits to my Nana’s home in Philadelphia. You never knew her. I barely knew her, but what I remember is her hard manner, her rough voice. And I knew that my father’s father was dead and that my Uncle Oscar was dead and that my Uncle David was dead and that each of these instances was unnatural. And I saw it in my own father, who loves you, who counsels you, who slipped me money to care for you. My father was so very afraid. I felt it in the sting of his black leather belt, which he applied with more anxiety than anger, my father who beat me as if someone might steal me away, because that is exactly what was happening all around us. Everyone had lost a child, somehow, to the streets, to jail, to drugs, to guns. It was said that these lost girls were sweet as honey and would not hurt a fly. It was said that these lost boys had just received a GED and had begun to turn their lives around. And now they were gone, and their legacy was a great fear.

Sometimes, I start out with a clear idea of where I want to go in my reflection and then  something  takes me in a slightly different direction. I started out thinking about evil. And what it was Paul having us prepare ourselves for. But I couldn’t get Ti-Neshi Coates out of my head. Thinking about fear. What it would be like to live with fear all the time. What that would do to you. And for African-Americans, what it’s like on a daily basis. Especially in this year. Most of us don’t live with that kind of fear. We begin with a basic sense of safety and security in the world. We worry about money. Or relationships. Coates makes us wrestle with how the experience in this culture, this socio-political system, has beren a direct assault on the bodies of black people and continues to be so. How does our seeking to live out an incarnational faith commitment relate to this reality? How do we respond to one who has rejected our faith tradition as one which seems to accept the disrespect for and abuse of black bodies?

Then there are these words:

¹²For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 

The most dramatic  time I heard these words was in Guatemala. In the 1980’s. I remember speaking  with our missionary friend there, in a hotel room, the radio turned up to block the bugs. Many of our Presbyterian friends were indigenous people of various tribes. Whole villages were disappearing. Tribes that had existed 1000’s of years wiped out. Under the presidency of Efrain Rios Montt, el Viejo, the old man.  The darling of other missionaries and  North American Christians because he was a born again Christian from an American based group, el verbo, the word. (And the Reagan administration, obviously.)

So we went to El Verbo headquarters. Chain linked fence with razor wire on top. Barking German shepherds. Their spokesperson, Kurt Meyer, in his black leather jacket. After listening for awhile, I interrupted his lecture on saving power of Jesus to ask about genocide. And this passage was his response. The indigenous, and other enemies weren’t people, they were earthly minions of the forces of cosmic evil. Therefore, their deaths were justified. I knew then there would be little dialogue between us.

So back to my original thoughts. Yes, there is evil in the world. But mostly it is done by people. People just like us. And if we separate ourselves from that, or if we see those we disagree with as not being people, all is lost. And violence, sometimes unspeakable,  is done to others.

While I was gone, there was the 70^th anniversary of  the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We hosted here at West-Park a photography exhibit of survivors and the screening of an important film. We know now that it was not as my father believed, that this bombing had saved him form being sent to Japan. It’s clear now that Japan was ready to surrender. And that the offering up of over a quarter of a million Japanese (mainly) civilians, and the sewing of their land with atomic salt like Sodom and Gomorrah was more to send a message to the Soviets.

What does Paul see? The location for Paul of evil was  The Roman empire and its corrupting influence on its collaborators. The armor we need for protection in the struggle against empire is:

TRUTH….there IS truth…we must move beyond the relativism of our liberal elite power structure and must be willing to speak it. There is truth. As when Jesus says, I am the way, the TRUTH and the life…

RIGHTEOUSNESS….which is all about right relationships. How we treat each other. How we begin to create a new reality even within the shell of the old, as Dorothy Day expressed it.

All towards Proclamation, speaking this new reality more than in our words but in our actions.

To understand that to  say Jesus is lord is a powerful political statement for there can be no other. 

FAITH…..to stake our lives on this truth and in this HOPE.

                                   

This seems to me to be the ultimate  word of God… the sword of the Spirit, that WORD of creation that expresses the SPIRIT that has been there from the start, the SPIRIT that sustains us still.

Let’s listen again:

                 

¹³Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. ¹⁴Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. ¹⁵As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. ¹⁶With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

It is not TRUMP. It is not even Bernie. What we’re called for is not reform of a system that can never fulfill the full will of God’s intention but the creation of a whole new way of  living. Liberated zones.  Safe spaces….where our SPIRITS and our bodies can be safe and free.

Let those with ears to hear, hear.

And so we share our prayers, we sing our hymns, share our peace and go put into the summer day. It is good to be back.

Third Sunday in Easter: It's in the living, in the loving

4/22

Chris is there to greet me as I arrive. After  full house last night, there’s not a sign that anyone was there. Thankyou OWS West Park coop! It’s always frustrating when  visitors are arriving and our people aren’t there yet. One threesome got anxious and left. So at 11, I start regardless. 

I asked who knew what day it was, and of course someone responded Earth Day. Not a bad day for the Easter season with its emphasis on new life, beginning again, the renewal of the earth. But I find it pretty hard to connect any of today’s scriptures with Earth Day. 

I ask if anyone knows where these scriptures come from and Hope knows about the lectionary, but that’s about it. I explain that it is a common lectionary, used by Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, UCC...just about all the historic churches except for those from the free church tradition. And that a committee chooses them, sometimes with a clear theme, sometimes not, some times with a consecutive run through a scripture and sometimes not. And that’s why it’s so good to get together with my colleagues every Wednesday and hear the Catholic, Lutheran and personal  understandings of the texts.  You can go anywhere around the world today and hear these same texts read. 

But sometimes, like today, the passages leave my colleagues and me  scratching our collective heads. Like take the Acts passage...here’s Peter addressing you Israelites...and what exactly was he? Then essentially accusing the Jews of murdering Christ (you killed the Author of Life..) while whitewashing Pilate. In fact, that Author of Life title has this Johannine cosmic Christ thing happening. Like they killed GOD. And letting a murderer go free. This from someone who betrayed Jesus three times after his accent gave him away. All this towards the end of some kind of violent sacrificial compensatory scheme that had to be carried out. So if it’s all a predetermined plan, what’s with the anger? The guilt?

Fact is, passages like this can be, were, used to create a theology of contempt. A theology that wound up taking countless innocent lives. What do we do with that?

First, every part of the Bible comes from a particular socio-cultural-political context. This passage clearly comes from after the Roman defeat of the Jewish revolt. After the Empire had triumphed. It shows signs of trying to placate the empire. ( A practice the church continues to this day...) The books chosen to be in the Bible got in through, like the lectionary, a committee process, voted in or out. With a clear ideo/theological agenda in mind. 

So is the Bible as we have it the word of God? I can go there. As James Cone says, it is not infallible, but it is reliable. This is the book God wants us to have. But the other ones, the ones that didn’t get in, they keep popping up out of the desert too. And I believe that God wants us to see them in dialectical conversation with the canon.

So what’s the point of a passage like Acts 3: 12-19? Maybe to show  what can happen when you sell out to the Empire. Look, the Bible is filled with contradictions. Like the two differing genealogies in Matthew and Luke. So what do we do? We seek to read the scripture through the eyes of Jesus,and that is our truth. And that alone should lead us away from lethal contempt. 

But how do we know Jesus? Well today’s Gospel takes us back to the wounds again. I’m not going there again. But there is this additional piece. A hungry Jesus who eats a piece of broiled fish, see, this resurrected me is just like you. And all that prophetic Nostradamus/Criswell predicts! or Jean Dixon prophecies for a people who didn’t see the world that way. Creating an ex post facto Biblical future  telling scheme. No that’s not how we know Jesus. 

There’s only one way we know him...we know him by knowing him...we see him..the two way mirror...we see him in the faces of others...we should be called children of God(I John 3:1)....and we seek to show the face of Christ to those we encounter. Doing that together makes it real. We need each other to do that....and that can keep us on the life giving, new life giving side of scripture...it’s in the living, in the loving....

We gather in our circle. Greet and introduce our visitors. Say our Alleluia! Amen! and sing Amen. Easter continues. 

The session meets. Reviews yesterday’s meeting. The OWS situation. The insurance situation. The legal situation. All the situations. We’ve only made it here so far by the grace of God. Not the best business plan. But for now, it will have to do. 


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Read the New York Times review of the Unsound Festival.