Shoes

I made a thing. Enjoy!

https://vimeo.com/71208145

Go in peace. Live peace. Be peace.

My Soul Cries

 But you, O Lord, reign forever;
    your throne endures to all generations.
 Why have you forgotten us completely?
    Why have you forsaken us these many days?
 Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored;
    renew our days as of old—
unless you have utterly rejected us,
    and are angry with us beyond measure.

[Lamentations 5:19-22 NRSV]

My soul cries

            Where is light?

My soul begins to believe the lies.

            God is not here- the fortress has lost its might.

My eyes wander the pages

            the promises of the Lord.

My eyes search for the peace

            that is rumored to be found in the Word.

My spirit fights

            to believe what is true

My spirit does not delight.

            Where is the grace anew?

My heart cries out

            for the love of the world.

My heart shouts

            God has abandoned the world.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being In him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. [John 1:1-5 NRSV]

My soul cries

            for it has found the light!

My soul stops believing the lies.

            God is here-the fortress is might!

My eyes wander the pages

            the promise of the Lord.

My eyes find in the pages

            the peace that is found in the Word.

My spirit no longer fights

            to believe what is true.

My sprit delights.

            There is grace anew!

My heart cries out

            for the love of the world

My heart shouts

            God has not abandoned the world!

You are a hiding place for me;
    you preserve me from trouble;
    you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. [Psalm 32:7 NRSV]

God is our refuge and strength,
    a very present  help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
    though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
though its waters roar and foam,
    though the mountains tremble with its tumult. [Psalm 46:1-3 NRSV]

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.
O give thanks to the God of gods,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.
O give thanks to the Lord of lords,
    for his steadfast love endures forever; [Psalm 136:13 NRSV]

"Think outside the tomb."

            In his essay, Resurrection and Empire, David Ray Griffin, discussed the hope of resurrection in the face of oppressive empire. The essay looked at how and why empires maintained credibility in both the ancient and modern world, “An empire can maintain its honor and credibility, its leaders invariably hold, only if everyone knows that it will allow no challenge to its hegemony to go unpunished.”

            His essay forced me to think about how resurrection and empire were used in a not so hopeful way in the church I grew up in. Each year on the 4^th of July, unless the 4^th was on a Sunday, there would be a church picnic. Just thinking about having to attend one of these picnics makes me want to return a penguin to its natural habitat, just to get away from it all. Each year before we could eat, the pastor would give a sermon. But before he could begin his sermon we would have to do our duty to “God and country” and say the Pledge of Allegiance and sing the National Anthem. So back to the sermon, it was not that much different from Sunday morning sermons. There was the typical hellfire and brimstone, God smiting the gays and churches that used inclusive language (because God is obviously a white male with a penis and the very thought of God with a vagina was just blasphemy). Besides what sermon would be complete without corrupting the Good News to scare people? After the smiting came the resurrection theology; which was shockingly void of hope and grace. Twenty minutes of Jesus as the Crucified Savior and Risen Lord led to more hellfire and brimstone. This time the smiting was directed at social justice activists- social advocates were Satan’s disciples and the United Nations was just yet another sign of the impending rapture. The sermon ended with a reminder that the only way to make sure that we were not left behind was to convert as many people as possible. The sermon ended with a reminder that Jesus supported empires that used force to spread the message of the crucified and risen Christ. Because somehow and I will never understand this theology a Jewish rabbi from Nazareth who was executed by an oppressive empire commanded his followers to support systems if oppression.

            Jesus lived in an occupied country. A country that was occupied by a blood-thirsty, controlling, oppressive empire. In his essay Griffin argued that the Roman Empire was not sadistic, but used terror because it was a tried and true method of control. While I may not agree with his belief about the Roman Empire 100%, he was correct in saying that “ terrorism was deemed effective.” I don’t completely agree with him because the Roman Empire believed in “peace through victory” and it did not care about the number of lives that were lost in the process of achieving peace.  Jesus was crucified by the super power of his day; “Crucifixion was Rome’s way of saying: if you dare to challenge our authority, this is where you will end up. Jesus would have been aware of this likelihood. Some two thousand rebels had been crucified near the time of his birth.[i]”

            Resurrection cannot and should not be used to defend the action of oppressive empire. Resurrection should be used to rebel against oppressive empire.  The first century church used resurrection to challenge the theology that was at the heart of the Roman Empire.  

                        Before Jesus was born-or even before he had ever existed-another                                      human being was already proclaimed Son of God and indeed, God Incarnate with in the same first common-era century and within the same Mediterranean world. In fact, almost all of the sacred terms and  solemn titles that we might think of as Christian creations or even  Pauline inventions were already associated with Caesar  Augustus, the first undisputed ruler of the Roman Empire, from                            31BCE to 14 CE. Augustus was Divine, Son of God, God, God  created from God. He was Lord, Liberator, Redeemer, and Savior of the World- not just of Italy or the Mediterranean, mind you, but of the entire inhabited earth. Words like “justice” and “peace,”  “epiphany” and “gospel,” “grace” and “salvation” were already associated with him. Even “sin” and “atonement were connected with him as well[ii].

According to Griffin the belief of resurrection “was surely crucial for the early survival and growth of the church in the face of hostility from the empire. This hostility was inevitable because Rome had elevated its emperor to the statues of deity….[iii]”

            In just the same way that the first century church used resurrection to challenge Roman Empire, resurrection needs to be used to challenge empire in our modern world. The United States is one of the most oppressive empires in the history of the world. Too often resurrection hope and the Good News are used to support a system of oppression.

            The Word did not become incarnate to support oppressive empires. The Word was not resurrected to support oppressive empires. The other day Unvirtuous

Abbey’s FB status was, “Think outside the tomb.” Resurrection hope calls us to a life of thinking outside of the tomb. The darkness inside the tomb symbolized the force of oppression. Resurrection brought light to the darkness. The light was a resounding “no” to oppressive Roman Empire. The light is still a resounding “no” to oppression.

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[i] Griffin, David Ray. Resurrection and Empire in The American Empire and the Commonwealth of God: A Political, Economic and Religious Statement. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006. Pg 151

[ii] The First Paul. Borg, Marcus J. and John Dominic Crossan. New York: Harper One, 2009. Pp 93

[iii] Griffin, David Ray. Resurrection and Empire in The American Empire and the Commonwealth of God: A Political, Economic and Religious Statement. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006. Pg 153