Staying with the song from last week can really become disjointed so I will continue on with more about "doin' time" - in Babylon.
What might we do while "doing time"?
We might spend time in prayer for the city: "Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare." (Jeremiah 29:7).
We might confront and instruct the empire about the truth of governance: "May my counsel be acceptable to you: atone for your sins with righteousness, and your iniquities with mercy to the oppressed, so that your prosperity ay be prolonged" (Daniel 4:27).
We might spend time remembering our true place:
If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither!
Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not embrace you,
if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy. (Psalm 137:5-6)
The reason for the urgency of remembering is because the empire specializes in forgetting. The empire intends to erase all local tradition and all local belonging and all local gospel. The most passionate of those doin' time in Babylon will refuse the amnesia that comes with wealth, power, and control.
In the middle of empire, we do what we need to do to stay tuned into the life that is set before God's people - no matter where we might be. That always has taken on different forms that have served God's people well through the days of empire. And yet, it is a variety of ways to remember that God's people are able to see the empire and its ways of pulling our lives into the very routine of imperial rule. Our task is one in which we keep turning to the story of those who have gone before us - those who endured and those who stumbled. It is within that storytelling that we find that we are not cut off and isolated. Rather, we have a history that is more rich than than of the greatest empires - a history that lasts through them all. We need faithful responses to empire to be varied. That is quite important because when I attempt to remember the stories of new life, the way I do that may not work. It is then that I need you who has been walking a different path - to be a shining light of truth when I am all but spent.
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