Linking Babylon to the U.S. will continue for the next few devotions.
Nonetheless, the study of such a linkage (U.S. - Babylon) is an enterprise worth pursuing, because our own situation of empire in the United States matters enormously to all those with alternative loyalties especially people with "local traditions of faith." Christians in the United States are accustomed to read the Bible in a democratic context where we have political-religious freedom guaranteed by the Constitution or, even more, to read the Bible the United States cast in the role of god's chosen people and the carrier of God's will for freedom in the world, an exceptionalism that pervades our public discourse. Such a reading becomes a very difficult matter, however, when the facts on the ground exhibit the United States as empire, as the place for faithful reading and faithful living according to an alternative loyalty that is in deep tension with the totalizing claims of empire.
It can become and it does become a mixed bag when we - people of the empire - also insist on being the ones who bear the truth for God vision of the world. It is a mixed bag because the bag is full of empire trappings that are not necessarily the word of God's Reign. Instead, what happens so easily is that we blend the two together and the values of the empire take on the language of the faithful and, I think, the empire grows stronger in regard to its influence. Some of you may have run into church leaders who speak for their church but also - in the same breath - claim to speak for the nation as though it is a special task force of God's choosing - a task force that will help save the world. Unfortunately, the work here is work to change the world so that it will conform to the values of the country and not that of the Reign of God we claim in Christ, Jesus. So, it seems that we must be constantly watchful of our language and the way our life will constantly try to reconcile empire and faithfulness even when it is not what we need.
Connection: Faithfulness is a journey on which we must stay aware of who we are as children of God and also let ourselves be citizens. This must always be a relationship that is in tension - no matter what the empire of the day may be.
O God, as we move within your Reign, keep our eyes on the vision that is beyond any of the surrounding powers that continue to woo us and long for our allegiance. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment