Livable Tension in a Troubled Empire (Part 1)…

• March
• 25
• 2009

5:17 pm by: Jason Posted in: Church Outdoors, Ethos, Subversive Thought

…or why I don’t like “church” at times.

I went to Quest’s Depth Class on “Why the Homeless” last Monday night.  Tim Harris, the founder of Real Change News, was on the panel with 5 others, including our own Dustin Cross.  He said something that kind of surprised me…well that he said it that is.  He spoke very briefly about the church and its relationship to the “Empire”…i.e. the systems of America.

In listening to him, I couldn’t help but remember a section in the book Missional Church by…a lot of people…that I read in Seminary.  It was one of the few books that I thought was actually worth reading from my experience there (and it was on a long list of optional books).  In it one of the authors writes about the history of what he calls “Functional Christendom” here in America.  Christendom is usually defined as…(from Wikipedia)

The term "Christendom" has been used to refer to the medieval and renaissance notion of the Christian world as a sort of social and political polity. In essence, the vision of Christendom is a vision of a Christian theocracy, a government founded upon and upholding Christian values, whose institutions are suffused with Christian doctrine. In this vision, members of the Christian clergy wield political authority. The specific relationship between the political leaders and the clergy can vary but, in theory, national or political divisions are subsumed under the leadership of a church institution.

In America, though there is  Functional version of this.  Obviously our laws and constitution prevent a direct Christendom (thankfully), but we have what the author refers to as a “privileged place” in the Empire of America for Christianity.  That is, a place of subtle…and at times not so subtle…influence in the political and ruling powers.  The book goes on to say that with changes on the horizon in culture and society, that this “arrangement” is fading away…which is pretty much what Tim Harris was talking about.  Now this has happened in the past…Rome collapsing, The Secularizing of Governments in Europe, the Muslim world coming to power in the East, ext…and the expressions of the Church has had to adjust…sometimes barely surviving when her “bedfellow” completely losses power. 

In many ways, she has had to completely reinvent, and reform herself or face destruction by proxy…going down with the ship sort of thing.  Some have perished with her ideological lover and their voices are lost.

That begs the question of course: What will the American expression of the Church do if the US systems crash and burn…more then they are now…and fall into collapse?  Functional Christendom has been eroded in the past 100 Years or so, but it is still there (remember the controversy over the thought that Barrack Obama could be Muslim?).  Can she survive the transition out of power her current lover?

I’ve come to realize the longer I do the whole Jesus thing, that so much of our American Theological Systems are based and modeled after the Empire’s.  I am a firm believer that an expression of the Church should…needs…to contextualize theology, mission, interpretation, and orthopraxis to the area they exist in.  Each expression of the Church needs to be unique and reflect those who make up the living, breathing community.  The caveat of course is that this contextualization cannot run counter to what Jesus lived, said, and taught.  Our orthodoxy must be in line with Jesus, while informing and being informed by our orthopraxy…to paraphrase Brian McLaren. 

The uber-culture of America values success, prosperity, stability, and most of all…power.  Capitalism…competing for limited privately owned resources in a free market system…is a cornerstone of the economy, and embodies these values more then anything.  In essence, the American dream is one of crushing the competition to achieve wealth, fame, power, and respectability…if I can severely generalize.

Unfortunately, I’m completely convinced that this has become a huge part of our American orthodoxy and influenced our orthopraxy.   To generalize in the extreme…the American church has adopted these values as legitimate expressions of Jesus’ teaching, and not just the Lunatic Fringe at the borders of what we consider orthodoxy.  No, I am not referring to Prosperity Theology, I mean the dominate Theological Church Paradigm here in America across the Conservative, Liberal and “other” spectrum. 

Ok, disclaimer time…I am not talking about every individual community of faith, or even every aspect of those communities.  No, these are generalities that apply to many of them if not most…including the ones that I have lead or been involved with.  I am pointing at myself as much as others….but I digress back to the point…

I’ve been saying for years now…under my breath to a select few subversives I know…that Capitalism and Christ are not synonymous…and I would dare to say…even compatible.  How is that we move from  the life of Jesus and the early church…communally living where no one is in need or excess…to investment advice from our theological leaders (I’m looking at you Larry Burkett and Albert Mohler)?!?  How is that we exchange the generosity of Jesus (insane sacrificial giving) for our current understanding of stewardship (preservation of our resources while giving from our excess)?  How can we follow someone who once told a man to sell everything he had, give the money to the poor and follow him, when our “church budgets” usually allocate 80-90% to buildings and staff?

Since when does crushing the competition for our own personal gain at all mesh with “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13)…in business or  “church”?

Our orthodoxy has been manipulated and twisted to match the ideals of the Empire. 

Most communities of faith value their prosperity, stability, comfort, convenience and property.  They seek to become viable, self sustaining, and reproducing by growing bigger congregations.  How is this usually accomplished?  We shift people form one community to another because we have something better to offer.  We tend to turn Jesus into a product to be marketed, not a complete life altering relationship.  Having been through the “church planting” process recently, I can attest to how much of modern corporate culture, ideas, and techniques have been embraced, taught and utilized in the pursuit of a new work as well as in “church growth” strategies.

We’ve turned the musical worship of Jesus into a multi-million dollar recording industry (about 45 million last year alone).  Inspirational Books sales (most of which are Christian) are the 2nd highest in the US…only Romance sells more.  Not mention the millions that pass through Christian Conferences, Seminaries, Colleges, Retreat Centers and other support systems of the American expression of the Church every year.  All of which are striving to attract new customers…and by default squeeze out those who can’t compete.

Beyond those obvious examples, it gets a bit more pervasive if we peal the layers back.  The ideas of security, safety, competition and self reliance hit us hard when we look at our fellow man.  We tend to push the homeless, drug addicted, mentally ill, homosexual, or just plain undesirables out of our communities.  Most of them have gotten where they are because of their own sin or personalities right?  They are getting justice, what they deserve…what they’ve earned.  After all, this is America where everyone has the exact same opportunities regardless of race, gender or socio-economic status!!!!

…Riiiiiiight…

Even when we “step out” to lend a hand, it is out of our “benevolence fund” or through a special offering for an “out reach” to those “less fortunate”.  It’s a hand reaching down for a short time, then returning to our place in the societal order.  It becomes an act of service to the lower levels…not a lifestyle of serving with each other. 

It’s kind of like CitiFinancial painting a low income neighborhood school, while targeting the residents for loans with outrageous interest rates helping them to stay in their current situation. 

We serve the less fortunate from a place of power, privilege and safety…like my friend Jeff Greer said recently…on our terms.  We avoid getting to know who we serve because it’s easier to return to our lives without them.  They become in many ways the “customers” of our product while trying to be pulled into being a salesperson themselves.

I see all of this and more, as stemming from our orthodoxy being influenced by the Empire we live under.  I see us adopting the values of the American systems and reforming our ideas of Jesus to fit with them. 

One of my favorite examples is “Christian Sports Person”.  I’ve quietly watched good active church members ranting and decrying the evils of sex, drugs, rock and roll, or whatever the latest hot button issue is.  Then you put them on the church softball team, and it becomes all about crushing the other team…winning at all costs.  My God, I’ve heard stories of fists fights at these games!!?!?!?!  How can we support crap like that?  Can someone embrace their competitiveness without remorse and truly understand what Jesus meant we said "You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” (Matt 5:43-45a)?

You can if Jesus is an American Capitalist.

If you’re paying attention in the least to news, the American Empire isn’t in great shape.  As the light cast in the dark recesses of the financial world reveals the fragile depravity of our monetary system…can a theology so closely tied in ideology survive?  Perhaps a positive that can come out of the current struggles is illuminating the sin of a consumer driven life. 

When our positions, safety, security, prosperity and power  become so important to us that we neglect our fellow man can we fully embrace the teachings of Jesus?  Or, do we go down with the ship, both of us shot in bed by the jealous lover of our souls…

We’ve been talking in length about the tension of living life along side the homeless lately (our small band of subversive friends), but I’m not sure we’ve come up with an answer.  That’s actually the point of this post really…I just went and got all ranty with the introduction…but it’s long enough so I’ll pick that up in next one.