A Mutiny of Mercy

In Luke's gospel two things never happen. First, Jesus never asks someone to be born again. At least he does not do it in the formulaic fashion that we have grown accustomed to in the last 50 years. The second directive is never to try to decide what he really said or did not say. At least he does not do it in the sense that we have grown accustomed to in the last 50 years. Both are fruitless and to enter into an adventure of missing the point, according to Tony Campolo. In the Gospel of Luke we are asked, taught about, invited to participate in a invading mutiny of mercy and grace. This new invasion is not political it is spiritual and known as the Kingdom of God. This phrase is used by Jesus 38 times in the stories of Luke. It is high time we start to use it in our own stories. It is our framing story. We are called to participate in the antithesis of the imperial narratives of the day and so we are encouraged to enter into the same mutiny of grace today. A great mutiny that is an upside down peaceable kingdom--it is never what is the most plausible or instinctual action. Rather, it is usually quite the paradoxical opposite.

We are called to get de-framed from the imperial political, sociological, economic and ecological predominant paradigms of the day to be reframed into a new politic, community, economy of generosity and ecology of the brotherhood and sisterhood of humankind that is known as the Kingdom of God. In our day we are called to do to our enemies before they do it to us-this tends to be the primary politic. We are called to isolate as narcissistic individuals and be suspicious, judgmental and fearful of those not like us. We are called to accumulate pleasure, be financially secure, and develop our portfolios at the expense of those who have nothing. Afterall, they just need to get a job to provide or themselves, so the story and predominant belief system indoctrinates us. More than anything else, because of the industrial and new technological revolution, we rule over our environment, not participate in and with the environment. The progressive agenda roams the world seeking to accumulate, devour and consume. The First President of Kenya, President Kenyatta and Bishop Desmond Tutu said, "When the missionaries came to our country we had the land and the missionaries had the Bible. They asked us to pray. We closed our eyes and prayed. When we opened our eyes, we had the Bible and they had the land." This is an oversimplification but one that I and others could develop and articulate quite easily.

However, the mutiny in mercy calls us to stand apart of and from this heavy indoctrination to become unfettered by the secular framing story to get reframed into the Kingdom of God story. A story that asks us to get transformed and reformed, to get de-framed and reframed into a mutiny of mercy--in Jesus and his Kingdom. It is a framing story that...
*Says enough to greed and yes to generosity
*Says enough to nationaistic militarism and yes to a peaceable kingdom
*Says enough to plundering and pillaging the environment and make us co inhabitants in a global
kingdom to see our environment as the theater where God's wonder, awe and grandeur are on
continual display
*Says that the growing and ever widening gap between the rich and poor is immoral, unjust and
unacceptable in 2008

What about you will you join this kingdom of God, mutiny of mercy? Time to stand up for something so that we aviod falling for anything....Hey church no excuse is good enough! I want to hear more from you about what this Kingdom of God is in 2008. Please write and give me your statements that describe this mutiny of mercy, this irresistible revolution....jump in and join the conversation...

Comments

[Neil]

Yes, my friend, we do indeed need to be "de-framed" but the challenge is the re-framing. Ultimately we can only be re-framed within a particular culture, living at a certain time and place within a kingdom of this world. To be re-framed as citizens of God's kingdom will of necessity bring is into conflict with whatever worldly kingdom (republic) in which we live. Are we ready for that?

[Lisa]

Hey!
I'm on my way to hang out with the street kids (New Horizons) and after Drop-In, staff is meeting to discuss Thurman's Jesus and the Disinherited (1949) -- the first chapter. Have you read it? It's about the Kingdom of God.
I'm thinking we have to become the disinherited (as Jesus did -- even to the point of being forsaken by God!) if we want the message of Jesus to be for us. Yes???
Hallelujah.

[bret whiteside]

Seems to me that Jesus taught that we should use our "talents" and invest in things that return something. I believe that our God-given brains are what He has endowed us with, to use modern advances in science to make the world more inhabitable, hospitable, and less dangerous - in other words being good stewards (for even Jesus gave tacit approval to be "wise as serpents" while being "innocent as doves").

Missionaries are humans, and just like you and me, can make mistakes and be selfish. But branding all of their work as hate crimes against humanity is not legitimate truth. Civilization can bring greed, corruption, and violence, but so too the natives running through the bush fighting and killing each other is no holier or nobler an occupation than being a doctor, engineer, or lawyer. What is important is reaching out to persons of all walks of life with the Gospel of God's kingdom. The evil empire is not "corporate America" or "Wall Street" but rather the heart of all men which are desperately wicked. We as Christians should stop labelling the U.S. as the "great Satan" and start reaching out to everyone whether rich or poor, smart or uneducated, friendly or not, for God speaks to all men and nations not just the third world.

Even Jesus was willing to accept the good deeds of the woman who bathed his feet with an expensive bottle of perfume which could have been sold and the money given to the poor. He acknowledged that some things like worshipping Him is more important than feeding the poor. We are supposed to remember the poor but not treat the poor as another form of God, what we do to the least of these "my brethren" refers to helping fellow believers who are in need first, then we can go beyond that to those outside God's kingdom. Our good deeds are meant for building each other up in Christ, not just to have a warm and fuzzy experience about how good we are, that would be self-serving and an attempt to earn our salvation.

We should try to live a balanced life, not pushing an agenda of one type or another. Living at peace with "all men" including those of the opposite Christian stripe. Some of us have experienced how these so called re-framed and non-establishment churches strive to control their membership's lives and thoughts. They sound the bell of peace and justice but in the end simply pick and choose whom they show justice to and whom they will not. Those that don't accept their "gospel" are called cold and heartless but where is the love for one's enemies? No, this message is too self-centered and self-righteous, it lacks the integrity of careful study of God's Word, using proper exegetical process, it arrives as an entire homily before even quoting any Scripture. Instead it broad-brushes entire passages and books of the Bible.

The bottom line is that our entire generation of kids growing up in the church know nothing about the Bible or the God of the Bible but instead are being told to just "follow their passion" and "do what's right" as if our consciences are all we need to direct our paths. The Bible is being systematically removed from our church services as a real means of knowing who God is and what He is doing throughout history. It's not about Him jumping on our bandwagons and getting Him to bless our plans, but about us getting on His bus and giving Him the wheel of our lives. Whether our lives revolve around some kind of missional cause or not, He wants to meet us in the quietness and solitude of our hearts. Making us more like Him is gradual and often unique from the way others go about knowing Him. We are various parts of the same body but still remain unique and special and even those who seem the most bizarre and insignificant are the ones most honored and privileged to be a part of God's kingdom!

In Christ,
Bret