From “The Cross in our Context” by Douglas John Hall
God, power, religion, politics and love
When religion is brought into the center of political power and caused to serve as the spiritual guarantor and cultic legitimator of the powers-that-are, the natural or psychic propensity to link God with power is given a new and subtle twist. God, then, is no longer merely the transcendent force behind the ever-changing scene of existence but an eternal sovereignty reflected in and radiating from the throne of earthly might and authority. Christian monarchies as well as ecclesiastical hierarchies have had vested interests in sustaining an image of God informed by power and a concomitant hesitancy about Theologies that draw upon love, justice, compassion, and other attributes that necessarily qualify the power motif. To say as the liberationists do that “God has a preferential option for the poor” is to suggest a Theology that is bound to be threatening to the rich and powerful.
My first read through of this was quite matter-of-fact. On my second reading, I was greatly saddened. We – the people who call ourselves followers of Jesus – are very quickly drawn up into the establishment of the “powers-that-are” every time we do not stand on the ground of the God who is love for all. It happens so quickly and so naturally that most often, I don’t think we can even see the seam that sews religious images and power to the ways of empires and politics. But as Hall suggests, when/if we speak of the God of our history whose love never ceases to stand with those who are so easily forgotten in our world of power, the words of our mouth and the meditations of our hearts will not be welcome. We must remember that as followers of Jesus, we are aliens in every land and we must maintain that tension so as to never lose sight of the vision of the God whose love will even sacrifice God’s Beloved.
Connection: It takes finely tuned ears to hear the way religion and the “powers-that-are” avoid the God who calls all creation Beloved. It takes sharp eyes to spot the allegiances that keep the world broken and divided. But everyday we must help one another stay finely tuned and sharp for the welfare of all.
Lord, walk with us and let your hand touch us and guide our path as we take part in the events of this day. Amen.
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