| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | Today we continue in Brueggemann's chapter "The Scandal and Liberty of Particularity." ...these concentrations of power (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia) tolerated little deviation in matters of importance to them. To ensure compliance, moreover, the political-economic-military power of hegemony is matched, characteristically, with imperial myths and rituals, liturgic activities that legitimated power realities. It is not too much to conclude that the interface of political and liturgical efforts intended to generate a totalizing environment outside of which there were permitted no political forays, and where effective, no deviant imagination. The rule under such power is handed down to the children of the powerful. To be outside of that position of power pretty much means you must be watchful - or you will be branded an enemy of the "empire" - "country." Being watchful means that we are to obey what the storytelling of the empire hands out as the truth. I suppose this can even pertain to religious groups. That is, go along with the storytelling as it is known in the dominant story line or face consequences. I have started to look at some ideas around what is called the "American Civil Religion." As I read Brueggemann's comments, he is not speaking of ancient days. We have myths and rituals that go along with who we try to say we are in our own country. To attempt to live outside of those myths or to question them can bring down the wrath of neighbors and friends and the "empire." Imagine a president saying "no" to putting his or her hand on a bible when the oath of office is taken on Inauguration Day. The ritual is a must. Even to draw it into question brings criticism and charges of being "un-American." So in this kind of a civil arena, the followers of Jesus are invited to be contrary to any rule that would have us pay homage to any other god. Connection: I was given a list of examples of day-to-day aspects of our American Civil Religion. I think it would be a good exercise to try and list how many aspects of our day are shaped by the myths and rituals of our American culture. Lord, God, you are the one who promises to give us life in and through all times. When we are being wooed by the powers of the day, keep us faithful to you alone. Then, along the way grant us the vision to see how your Reign is to come alive among us. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | This week I will be pulling from another piece written by Walter Brueggemann - "The Scandal and Liberty of Particularity." It is only the dominant community, or those allied with and amenable to the dominant community, that does not need to work intensely or intentionally to socialize its young into its vision of reality.... "The ruling class" - those who govern the imagination, control the flow of images, and adjudicate what is worthy - so much control and legitimate the environment that their young inhale those assumptions and visions without effort. The dominant community nurtures its young into the habits of privilege, certitude, and domination, and the young, wisely and without reflection, receive their inheritance of privilege, certitude, and domination. This introduction is difficult to walk through. I know that Brueggemann will write about the empires that controlled the world of Israel and Judah and yet, he wants us to see into the present - that which is all around us and begin to see things with realistic eyes. Think about this one line: "The ruling class - those who govern the imagination, control the flow of images, and adjudicate what is worthy." Quite a good description of any dominant culture. I always go back to the infiltration of McDonalds as we - the empire of the late 20th century - into the world psyche. With our entrance into foreign countries, we have been able to mess with the communities and their identities. Just as our young "inhale" the assumptions of our dominant culture, those same notions are being inhaled by others. So often, it makes it next to impossible to live in a way that is contrary to the dominant power. So how do we help even our own children with in the American empire - not "inhale" too many of the habits of the "dominant community." On Sunday a young child was baptized into the life of the congregation. There were circles of people who promised to raise her up in the way of Jesus. Then again, even the church has a history of "inhaling" the life and patterns of the dominant culture. My concern for the this child is that she will go ahead and be Jesus in the midst of us even if we are not showing her the way. From her, we may learn. We must be willing to stand up and offer another way to live together than the rule of those who are in positions of power and domination. Connection: I like the simple words of the Lord's Prayer. It becomes a simple base line for a community of hopefulness that can give us all a spark of direction. God of All Hopefulness, let the image of you Reign be the power that gives us life when we are being so easily swayed to be nothing more than a reflection of the powers around us. We cannot resist alone - you are our rock and foundation for new life. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | | As Brueggemann will say, Israel is being made ready to be an odd community. Israel is free for life under the aegis of Yahweh, who wills well-beiing, justice, and homecoming. This poet is a voice of hope to a community near despair, ready to give up on Yahweh. Indeed, great oppressive regimes aim at despair, for the killing of a hope-filled future renders displaced people powerless and easy to administer. Thus the poetic, lyrical, liturgical practice of hope is foundational for the sustenance of an odd community. Such practices of course can easily become sloganeering self-deception, unless the community is able to point to signs in the actual course of affairs. Poetic imagination in Isaiah was able to transpose observed public events into gifts Yahweh had performed for Israel. The emancipation of hopefulness engendered liturgical freedom that in turn produced ethical, and eventually, geographical freedom. I must remember to hold onto this idea of "the emancipation of hopefulness." Wow. Hopefulness is so often held prisoner - put away so that it cannot have a voice and is not able to walk in the middle of God's people. But when hopefulness is set free - wow! Life begins to spring forth - the hills are made low - the valleys are raised up - the crooked ways are made straight. The wonder-filled words of the prophets are meant to move us to live within that hopefulness and not simply find the language to be poetic and filled with nice images. In the speaking of those words comes the life that those words call up among us. This is not an easy path - but it is oh so necessary. Connection: I find that words come easy. I find that actions that rise up to the words are not so easy. I also find that as I hear the words that draw us up into a living vision of hopefulness, life - real life - becomes stirred up. That is vital. Stir us up, O God, as you have done to your people throughout time. We are faithful only as you Spirit pulls us into your vision of life that is placed before us. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | Today we will continue with Walter Brueggemann look at the words of hope and encouragement for the exiles under the domination of Babylon. ....this sacramental practice of distinctiveness in the Priestly tradition has as its counterpoint a much more dynamic, promissory tradition in the poetry of Isaiah 40 - 55. Whereas the Priestly material makes the case for distinctiveness in a rather static way, the Isaiah poetry calls Israel to enact a transformed life in the world. Thus the gospel announcement of Yahweh's new governance surges in upon Israel, creating a new social possibility for homecoming and a new ground for communal joy: "O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, 'Here is your God." (Isaiah 40:9) "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns.'" (Isaiah 52:7) In these twin assertions , the power of Babylon is said to be broken. Babylonian gods are defeated. Babylonian power is overcome. Babylonian futures are nullified. Babylonian definitions of reality are overthrown. Here we enter into a new ball game. God's people are not just to be distinctive. We are to be the beginning of a life that is not at all under the realm of the powers - in Isaiah's case, Babylon. What is most interesting is that if you would look at a mapping of world history, Israel was still under the domination of the powers. And yet, the encouragement is to live in an alternate reality in which God's people will live in a way that brings a new life right in the middle of all the rest of life around them. Like these people of Israel, we are told another story - another picture is drawn of the way things are going in the world - another path is put to light and we are invited to go there, be there, live there - Now! Salvation is the life that comes alive in these kind of contexts. We are redeemed and liberated even when the world thinks it has us by the throat. Connection: This is not an easy way to go. It is even more difficult when we try to do it alone. It really does take being a part of a people in order to live within a vision. Pull us into your Reign, O God. It is so easy to think we are only to live as the world around us dictates. Let your Spirit of life grab us and lead us. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | | Today continues off of yesterday's post that dealt with a self-conscious ethic passed on through the storytelling of the liturgy of Judah. Moreover, "I have separated you from the peoples. You shall therefore make a distinction between the clean animals and the unclean...." (Leviticus 20:24-25). The practice of distinctiveness must pervade every aspect and dimension of Israel's life, down to the last small detail. This practice of clean and unclean seems odd. We often wonder how it was decided that these distinctions would be made. What if it is simply to help the people "practice distinctiveness"? Then there is no need to understand why this food and not that...why these people and not those. Rather, it is all for the sake of keeping in mind who one is within the world - people of promise and covenant with God. Yesterday in bible study we talked about the use of the Lord's Prayer. It is a simple prayer and one that really would be good to pray daily - as a reminder of whose we are and the life into which we are invited to live even as that life (God's Reign) is not always appreciated in the world. To have daily disciplines that touch even the most basic and essential parts of life can help a person stay on point. Then again, these disciplines cannot be mandated as though they are how one becomes or even is seen as God's holy people. It is for the benefit of the beloved people. The disciplines have more to do with shaping the character of individuals and the holy community than making an impact on the people around us. The life to which the disciplines point or remind us is what must show to the world. Not eating a certain food is not the witness to God's Reign, but not eating a certain food may remind me throughout the day of the life of God's Reign that is to shine around me. Connection: What do you do to remind you of whose you are and the life that is handed to you from our God as you move forward in this day? Lord of Life, encourage us to seek your ways and to follow you. Even as we are pulled to go here and there, remind us to come home to you and live within the spirit of your Reign. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | | Again we hear that the liturgy of Judah (and our own) shapes us in many ways that are necessary when we live in a culture dominated by other powers. In addition to order and presence, this tradition also insists on a self-conscious ethic commensurate with God's own holiness: "You shall be holy, for I the Lord you God am holy" (Leviticus 19:2). The commands of Leviticus, which often strike us as excessively punctilious, are an effort to assure the community of a distinctiveness that devotes its entire existence to the will and purpose of Yahweh. This tradition quite clearly accepts a vocation of oddity: "You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you have lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you" (Lev. 18:3). The text does not mention Babylon, for such a mention here would be anachronistic. If, however the text is dated to the sixth century, then we may understand "Egypt" and "Canaan" as capable of extrapolation to Babylon. When the community gathers for worship and we hear the stories of old, we are putting ourselves into the midst of those stories. So, as we see here, we are invited into a way of life - an ethic. Though empire of days gone by are used to draw the pictures of the life we are to lead, the empire of the day is the one that is attempting to rule us. Therefore the community at worship is being called to look around and find the way they are to be alive within that empire that attempts to take away our identity and the very center of our lives. Within the faithful storytelling of God's people, we must be gracious about how the stories came to be what they are. We have a gift given to us when the stories remind us of the God who will be our God in and through all times. Now, if that story is told in one age - in order to create a faithful response/ethic among the people - and yet the references are to an age long ago, does that ruin the story or make it less "true?" Of course it doesn't. Rather, it show that the faithful community of the day (let's say the Priestly editors) is so concerned about the integrity and vitality and faithfulness of the community in trauma that it uses the flexibility of poetic imagination to make a point so that the people will "listen, O Israel." Connection: We have so many gifts handed to us through the stories within our Scriptures that are meant to empower us, encourage us, bring us into a life of hopefulness and creativity. Sometimes it would do us well to listen to the story again and again - letting it speak to us as faithful people about to face the reality of the day. O God of Eternal Life, you are the ruler of all times and all places. Continue to bless us with faithful storytellers who are always a witness to your blessed Reign. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | | Walter Brueggemann continues to write about the importance of the liturgy in the life of the people of Judah who had to face life in exile under Babylonia. We may imagine that this liturgy provided focus, coherence, and assurance that made the exiles less vulnerable to the threats and to the seductions of Babylon. This tradition, however, championed not only order, but also presence. Thus the Priestly materials also provide the exactitude of authorizing (Exodus 25 -31) and construction (Exodus 35-40) of a tabernacle as a place suitable for God's dwelling in the midst of Israel. With great care and attentiveness, according to this imaginative tradition, Israel is able to host the holiness of God, thereby acknowledging that even severe cultural dislocation cannot impede Israel's ready access to the God it love and serves. If you remember the stories of the book of Exodus, this God was forever with them. They could see - by the fire at night and the smoke by day - that God was on this adventure leading the people. God was to be ever available and with the people no matter where they might "bed down." To the community that eventually is in Exile in Babylon - homeless in other words - the storytelling of God's presence among the people was a vital stream of thought that was needed to give the exiles that push to remember and to stay faithful and be courageous. There in the midst of God's people is the God who sustains and nurtures and bring life. Again, the liturgy and the presence of this "place for God" becomes the another way that the community marks itself with life even as the world around it works to dismantle it. Connection: For us, the liturgy and the gathering of people who are baptized in Christ, Jesus, are a part of what is meant to give us a look at life that is promised. God is always present with us - and yet, we need to see signs of that presence in the life that is around us. Gather us into your love, O God, and remind us of the shape of our day that begins and is fed by your presence as we come to listen to your Word and join in the fellowship of all your saints. Amen. . |
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