Today I think Brueggemann steps into a role quite close to prophet. These words may not be easy to hear for us.
Use the Israel-Babylon connection to understand the connection between the U.S. church and the U.S. empire, and that connection will once again be essentially negative and adversarial. When it is faithful to Jesus, the church will see the hegemonic economic-political-military-ideological force of the U.S. empire as destructive and eventually lethal. The first empire like this that the church encountered was Rome; small wonder that the book of Revelation employs the term Babylon to refer to Rome, or that the arrogance of Rome rivals that of ancient Babylon or the contemporary empire of the United States (Revelation 18:2, 21).
So he leads us to this connection. He wants us to begin to look again at who we are and what it is that has claimed us and what it is that we have let lead us and guide us. And yet, unlike the hymn "lead me, guide me" - where we are calling on Jesus to lead and guide - we allow the empire to take us for a ride. The ride often means that we begin to work on the side of the empire even when it does not carry or put forth the vision of the Reign of God we claim is our life and way. I find these images to be disturbing to me personally because it makes me look at the many ways I am tied to the empire and also maintain those ties. On the other hand, I am also dismayed more and more when people call the U.S. a 'Christian Nation.' First of all, the two words - the two realities - are not at all the same. If they were, we would not be an empire. No empire can rule with the law of love as its banner that leads us into the future. Empires have too many "interests" that never let the law of love rule. Empires, even our own, work hard at talking about empire building and empire action with the words of love - but that is always a secondary statement - a cover-up to make things sound good.
Connection:So how much of our life is spent straddling two worlds - two realities? Is there someway to help us keep in mind the passion of our Lord in the middle of our lives?
Even when we cannot see past this day, O God, your word is meant to be the guide of our days that moves us into new life. Forgive us, as you always promise, when we slip and slide into the convenience of the ways of empire. Amen.
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