Thursday, April 8, 2010

Redeemer Devotions - 8 April, 2010

Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions 

 Continuing from yesterday the second literary voice that speaks to Israel when they are being dominated by Assyria is from Micah - again from Walter Brueggemann.
 
 The devastating warning that such coveting will bring disaster is matched in the Micah tradition by two assurances.  In 5:2-6, it is anticipated that a new governing authority will reestablish Judah and give peace and security (5:4) and , if necessary, will defeat Assyria and occupy the land.  In the end, however, what is envisioned is not simply the defeat of the empire, but a great scenario of reconciliation, in which "peoples and nations" will submit to Yahweh's Torah in Zion and will decide for disarmament and peace (4:1-4; compare Isaiah 2:1-5).  What is so remarkable is that the commitment to Torah and peace is a peculiar vision of Judah against the military inclination of the empire.  In the imaginings of the poet, however, the peaceable Torah vision of Israel prevails, so that the "contrast community" of Yahweh offers the model and option of eventually embraced by all nations.  The Micah vision bespeaks the deep resolve and resilience of this alternative.  Holding to the vision itself is a discipline and a mark of this community, a long-term refusal to give in to a more accommodating but hopeless social practice.
 
 As noted yesterday, we never are able to see this "contrast community" and how it is able to defeat the Assyrians.  The vision never comes to be - real life.  And yet, we are always being offered the vision.  Even into this day, the vision of a community of reconciliation is a powerful word to hear.  Things can be transformed through ways not consumed by violence and the ways of empire.  This is to be our way - even as Christians.  The power of the resurrection is a power that does not go along with the patterns of the world that can so easily move us and sway us.  We are being pulled into more of a life that is willing to call into question what is and then to act contrary to what is when it is not a world of reconciliation and sharing and forgiving.  In all of our faithful storytelling, it is our God who enables us to walk in that way.  After the resurrection, we are encouraged to walk in the way of Jesus - God made visible among us.
 
 Connection: Have you ever thought that there are times within the day when you are a part of this "contrast community'?  If so, do you find it to be a good place - is it a place of peace?
 
 
When your peace reigns, O God, we are invited into a life in which we find ways to turn toward one another and not try to flee from the presence of the other.  Continue to pull us into this Reign of peace.  Amen.

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