Here is a portion of a document that I drafted a couple of years ago while I was a board member of Toledo Area Ministries (TAM). It was never adopted in any form, but I put a lot of work into, so I wanted to make this work available to others. If you are interested in a Christian perspective on justice, try this one on for size:
Speaking Truth to Power
Power, Truth, Accountability, and Politics
What is Power?
All power and glory is God’s. Power originates in God’s sovereignty. From God’s sovereignty, comes TAM’s core value of the Church as “the most powerful certainty on the planet.” God will work God’s will in God’s own way:
“My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord.
‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)
We are called to exercise power responsibly, and not lord over one another:
“You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life ransom for many.” (Mark 10:42-45)
“But Gideon told them, ‘I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you.’” (Judges 8:23)
Whatever power we possess is a gift from God. However, with power comes the temptation to use it for our own purposes instead of God’s purposes.
Responsibility and accountability are proportional to the amount of power possessed:
“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6:38)
“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” (Luke 12:48b)
Power and power differentials are an inescapable fact of human life. Power and power differentials exist within families. Power and power differentials exist within community and governmental organizations. Power and power differentials exist within faith communities. Power and power differentials exist between nations. Power and power differentials exist between all of these. In fact, power and power differentials exist within any form of community.
The engagement of political powers transcends individual people:
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12, King James 21st Century Version)
God in Christ, shares power and authority with us through authentic community:
“Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:19-20)
Truth and Accountability
Injustice is rooted in evading accountability to God and one another. “What is truth?” (John 18:38) This rhetorical question as posed by Pilate to Jesus is the classical evasion of accountability made by the “powers that be.” Of course, this evasiveness is not restricted to powerful political leaders. Cain, while his brother’s blood cries to God from the ground, attempts to evade God’s accountability by saying, “I don’t know…Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9-10). Nor is evasiveness of accountability restricted to murderers. An expert in religious law, in testing Jesus, himself confirmed that loving your neighbor as one’s self is necessary to inherit eternal life: “But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’ ” (Luke 10:29). Of course, this leads to the parable of the good Samaritan, where the hated enemy is judged righteous because he took effort and risk to help one in need.
“Distracting and conquering” is the conventional first line of defense in evading accountability. What these three Biblical accounts have in common, besides a big dose of simple denial, are questions implying doubt that the truth can ascertained. In attempts to deflect accountability, we have all encountered many versions of, “I don’t know. Who can really say? It’s all so complicated.” or “This is so important that we should study it (to no end).” The key problem this raises when dealing with power differentials, is that this takes the “powers that be” off the hook, so they can maintain their power without being called into accountability, and injustice can reign.
“Distracting and conquering” results from being trapped within a misunderstanding of Truth. As already noted, the evasive “What is truth?” question by Pilate was used to evade accountability to the Truth incarnate right in front of him. The assumption implied in this question is rooted in the belief that ultimate truth cannot be determined by objectively studying all the facts in the world — which is a fact, though not the truth. Believing this state of affairs to be the ultimate truth is relativism. Unfortunately, relativism is only half of the dualistic confusion called materialism, brought about by worshipping creation rather than the Creator. In fact, many secularists believe that you can determine ultimate truth from the many facts of the scientific world. This form of idolatry employs the vain hope that if we only look at all the facts, Truth will be determined. This is the conundrum of modern science without God. In fact, secularists inevitably must vacillate between these two facets of materialism simply because each is inadequate to answer life’s deepest and most important questions. Not surprisingly, when this confused world view can’t bring peace, violence is employed. Ironically, this conundrum leads to both Pilate’s “tolerance” of Jesus and the brutal Pax Romana he ruled within.
The living God offers a way out of the dualistic confusion of materialism:
“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)
and Jesus’ words eliciting Pilate’s evasion: “In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” (John 18:37)
“Make sure no one captures you. They will try to capture you by using false reasoning that has no meaning. Their ideas depend on human teachings. They also depend on the basic things the people of this world believe. They don’t depend on Christ.” (Colossians 2:8, NIV Reader’s Version)
“Objectively” studying all the facts from all of the different views of the world cannot reveal the One Subject, the great “I am.” There is more than Nature, the created world. There is a Creator. God reveals truth to us through the Holy Spirit, the person of Jesus Christ, Scripture, the traditions of the Church, and peoples’ experiences. Reason confirms these means of grace, but cannot access life’s deepest truths alone. Conventional wisdom is not enough:
“For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” (1 Corinthians 1:21-25)
The living God offers a way to out of life taking a beating with a “dead” philosophy where “the powers that be” can “manage” avoiding accountability to their unjust benefit. The living God offers a way beyond the false neutrality of the secular world which declares God’s Lordship over all as off-limits, or irrelevant at best.
Of course, being made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27), humans have an innate conscience, inescapable sense of morality, and desire to have a relationship with God. So, distracting and conquering will eventually reach its limits.
“Dividing and conquering” is the next line of defense in politics in evading accountability.
When the “powers that be” cannot quell or manage the moral demands made upon them, they turn to what they know best: self-interests. Welcome to the world of “divide and conquer.” When you can’t “distract and conquer,” pit the self-interests of individuals and groups against one another. Again, this serves the purpose of reinforcing and maintaining the status quo and the power differentials enjoyed by the “powers that be.”
Pilate’s moral reasoning was reduced to managing self-interests [“…he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?” (John 18:38-39)]. Pacifying constituent interests to meet one’s own interests falls far short of accountability to God and one another. Beyond Pilate’s ill-equipped moral reasoning, Cain and the expert in religious law sought to evade accountability to “my brother” or “my neighbor” by questioning the great commandments to love God and the second, like unto the first, love your neighbor as yourself, from which all the Law and the Prophets hang (Matthew 22:37-40). Beyond obvious self-interest which short-circuits right relationships, in the end, we can no more focus on just our neighbor — to the exclusion of God — than we can focus only on God –to the exclusion of our neighbor. Neighbor without God results in secular interest-based politics, an endless clashing of unfulfilled interests. God without neighbor results in a vain search for piety unsullied by engagement of worldly politics and transforming “the powers that be.”
Injustice ultimately rests on violence, the end result of worldly politics, relying on simply conquering when other more “civilized” means fail.
Eventually, God’s justice must be confronted, and violence remains the only option left to maintain or force injustice upon others. This can take brazen forms such as the Roman Empire crucifying Jesus or waging war. Though simply conquering often takes less brutish forms such as power grabs and punishing of political enemies.
What is Politics?
Speaking truth to power deals with politics.
The Mirriam-Webster dictionary defines “politics” as:
1) the art or science concerned with guiding or influencing governmental policy;
2) competition between competing interest groups or individuals for power and leadership; and
3) the total complex of relations between people living in society.
The first definition is “Politics with a capital P.” The second and third definitions are “politics with a small p.”
God, as the Lord of all, is also the Lord of politics, of all varieties. This includes legislative and policy issues. This includes advocacy with community groups, including churches. Ultimately, this is about how we work out our common life together as God’s children.
Our primary concern is where power differentials exist and the potential for “Lording over” one another is greatest.
Worldly Politics versus Jesus’ Politics
The “Powers that be” and Domination
The “powers that be” has been the subject of study of Walter Wink, Professor of Biblical Interpretation at Auburn Theological Seminary, and author of a seminal trilogy of books addressing the issues of power. Dr. Wink defines the “powers” as “the impersonal spiritual realities at the center of institutional life” (Wink, p. 28), “… the ‘corporate personality’ or ethos of an institution or epoch…” (Wink, p. 27), and “… the soul of systems…” (Wink, p. 29). As such, the powers are not necessarily evil. This “ethos” or “soul” of an institution, system, nation or epoch can move us positively or negatively. It can motivate us to extraordinary unselfishness and service for good or it can be manipulated in the service of evil. The powers are at the same time good, fallen, and redeemable. In viewing an institution only as good blinds us to injustice and we reinforce an unjust status quo. In viewing an institution only as fallen sinks us into despair or rage where we see no hope for change. In viewing only an institution’s redeemability we end up just tinkering around the edges. In any institution, we need awareness of its goodness, fallenness and redeemability to discern effective steps towards change.
In working for justice, we often confront the powers as one of the many “-isms,” such as racism, sexism, materialism, consumerism, militarism, nationalism, or patriotism. As Dr. Wink puts it, “This overarching network of Powers is what we are calling the Domination System. It is characterized by unjust economic relations, oppressive political relations, biased race relations, patriarchal gender relations, hierarchical power relations, and the use of violence to maintain them all…from the ancient Near Eastern states to the Pax Romana to feudal Europe to communist state capitalism to modern market capitalism” (Wink, p. 39).
from When the Powers Fall: Reconciliation in the Healing of Nations by Walter Wink (Fortress Press, 1998):
Wink points out that a world-wide system of domination is the problem, not just occasional expressions of it, like Rome in Jesus’ time:
“Jesus’ message has traditionally been treated as timeless, eternal, contextless teaching proclaimed in a sociopolitical vacuum, but his teaching and deeds are directed at a specific context: the Domination System. Jesus’ message is a context-specific remedy for the evils of domination. God is not simply attempting to rescue individuals from their sufferings at the hands of an unjust system, but to transform the system so as to make and keep human life more human.”
Wink contrasts Godly versus worldly values:
“Jesus does not condemn ambition or aspiration; he merely changes the values to which they are attached: ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’ He does not reject power, but only its use to dominate others. He does not reject greatness, but finds it in identification and solidarity with the needy at the bottom of society (Matt. 5:3-12/Luke 6:20-23). He does not renounce heroism, but expresses it by repudiating the powers of death and confronting the entrenched might of the authorities, unarmed.” Jesus’ words and deeds “repudiate the very premises on which domination is based: the right of some to lord it over others by means of power, wealth, shaming, or titles.”
Wink notes Jesus’ pivotal call to end economic exploitation and nonviolently overthrow evil:
“Economic inequalities are the basis of domination. Domination hierarchies, ranking, and classism are all built on power provided by accumulated wealth. Thus Jesus’ gospel is founded on economic justice. Breaking with domination means ending the economic exploitation of the many by the few. His followers were to begin living now ‘as if’ the new order had already come, seeking first God’s reign and God’s justice. It is not described as coming from on high down to earth; it rises quietly and imperceptibly out of the land. It is established, not by aristocrats and military might, but by ineluctable process of growth from below, among the common people…An egalitarian society presupposes nonviolence, for violence is the way some are able to deprive others of what is justly theirs. Inequality can only be maintained by violence. The root of violence, moreover, is domination. Turning the other cheek to a ‘superior’ who has backhanded an ‘inferior’ is an act of defiance, not submission; stripping naked when a creditor demands one’s outer garment brings down shame on the head of the creditor causing the poor debtor’s nakedness; carrying a soldier’s pack a second mile would put him in violation of military law (Matt. 5:39-41). These acts do not at all mean acquiescing passively to evil, but are studied and deliberate ways of seizing the initiative and overthrowing evil by the force of its own momentum.”
DOMINATION AND THE CHURCH. “The failure of churches to continue Jesus’ struggle to overcome domination is one of the most damning apostasies in its history. With some thrilling exceptions, the churches of the world have never yet decided that domination is wrong. Even in countries where the churches have been deeply identified with revolution, there has been a tendency to focus on only one aspect of domination, such as political freedom, and to ignore economic injustices, authoritarianism, the immorality of war, domestic violence, gender inequality, hierarchicalism, patriarchy, and the physical and sexual abuse of children. We have tried to take on evil piecemeal.”
SEEING A SINGLE FRONT. “While it is true that we cannot take on everything, we have not always located our struggles within Jesus’ total project: the overcoming of the Domination System itself. Jesus’ vision of a domination-free order enables us to see every struggle against injustice, illness, and greed as part of a single front, and gives us a perspective that links us to everyone engaged in similar struggles.”
A. “Follow the money” versus Biblical economics
Follow God or Money
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matthew 6:24)
“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them.” (Acts 4:32-34a)
“Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, as it is written: ‘The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.’ ” (2 Corinthians 8:13-15)
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Luke 18-32-34)
Surely, budgets are moral documents revealing where our treasure, and our hearts, are found.
God decreed the year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25) to prevent large concentrations of wealth and persons from being permanently dispossessed from their land and/or forced into servitude.
B. Servant Leadership versus Status
Not Lord over others
Hierarchy reinforced by “shaming” – false moralism, enslaving us to legalistic categories, using unjust social norms to reinforce an unjust status quo
“Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” (Colossians 3:11)
C. Authority versus Control
Jesus ran no formal organization, had little money, and no great worldly titles
In the world closely related to status (which is closely related to money),
“Who is this man who speaks with such authority? Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (Matthew 28:18)
“The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.” (Mark 1:22)
Prophets commonly criticized kings:
In 1 and 2 Kings alone, prophets proclaimed that no less than two dozen kings “did evil in the eyes of the Lord.” (1 Kings 11:6, Solomon; 15:26, Nadab; 15:34, Baasha and Jeroboam; 16:25, Omri; 22:52, Ahaziah; 2 Kings 8:18, Jehoram; 3:2, Joram; 8:27, Ahaziah and Ahaz; 13:2, Jehoahaz; 13:11, Jehoash; 14:24, Amaziah; 15:9, Zechariah; 15:18, Menahem; 15:24, Pekahiah; 15:28, Pekah; 17:2, Hoshea; 21:2, Manasseh; 21:20, Amon; 23:32, Jehoahaz; 23:37, Jehoiakim; 24:9, Jehoichin; 24:19, Zedekiah). Also, the Bible records judgment on the entire nations of Israel and Judah (e.g., Judges 2:11, 3:7, 3:12, 4:1, 6:1, 10:6, 13:1, 2 Chronicles 29:6, Isaiah 65:12, 66:4 and 1 Kings 14:22).
D. Obeying God’s Laws versus Human Laws
“Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, ‘Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.’ ” (Acts 4:18-20). And later in Acts, Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! (Acts 5:29) The daughter of the Egyptian Pharaoh and the Hebrew midwives Shiphrah and Puah pointedly violated the Pharaoh’s edict to kill all male Hebrew children (Exodus 1:17). Even after he was ordered to be silent, Jeremiah continued to preach that Jerusalem was doomed unless its leaders repented and submitted to the Babylonians. Jesus broke Sabbath laws (John 5:16-18) and carried out a public witness by cleansing the Jerusalem temple (Mark 11:15–19, Matthew 21:12, Luke 19:45-46, John 2:13–16) for which the authorities crucified him.
“So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” (Matthew 22:21)
God commanded Israel not to treat widows, orphans, and foreigners the way the Egyptians had treated them (Ex. 22:21–24).
E. Expecting persecution
Persecution is a natural consequence of challenging the “powers that be” — in fact, it is a sign of success, a blessing!
“Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult youand reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.” (Luke 6:22-26)
“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:21-22)
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.” (John 15:18-20)
“Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him.” (Acts 7:52)
Prophets are invariably infuriating to their own people, and God often turns to outsiders to do God’s work:
“ ‘Truly I tell you,’ he continued, ‘no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.’ All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this.” (Luke 4:24-28)
Jesus was a prophet, killed because he challenged powerful religious and political elites. The seductive logic of the world is to save our church, our people, our nation — which means giving up Christ:
” ‘If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.’ Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, ‘You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.’ ” (John 11:48-50)
Our church, our people, our nation already have a Savior who has shown us the way:
“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” (Matthew 16:25-26)
In prophetic witness, we are in good company, a “great cloud of witnesses”:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Hebrews 12:1-3)
Is it any wonder that complicity with the “powers that be,” which offers rewards of money and control, greater status, and ‘security,’ is such a tempting alternative to guaranteed persecution?
The Vision/God’s Dream
The God of all, including the future, holds for us blessings greater than we dare imagine. Nonetheless, the prophet Isaiah boldly declares this vision:
“ ‘Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child; the one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed. They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands. They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them. Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,’ says the LORD.” (Isaiah 65:20-25)
God’s vision for his children is real and powerful, calling out to be manifest in the world, to transform the world.
TAM’s Mission
To help the Church meet God’s vision, TAM’s mission encompasses three broad areas: meeting human need, creating community and working for justice.
Meeting Human Need
Primary TAM Core Value: Value the Vulnerable
The greatest commandments are hinged by connecting love of neighbor as self with loving God:
” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40)
“Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar.” (1 John 4:20)
Meeting basic human needs is part of loving God and neighbor:
“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” (James 2:14-17)
” ‘The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.’ ‘What should we do then?’ the crowd asked. John answered, ‘Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.’ ” (Luke 3:9-11)
” ‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me…Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ (Matthew 25:35-36, 40)
God’s mercy to us is the model for our behavior toward others. Relying upon ‘deserving’ is ultimately a denial of God’s basic character, unconditional love. “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:45b) “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), yet God is merciful. We are on the short end of this fundamental power differential and God shows us mercy:
“I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’ I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’” (Hosea 2:23)
God reminds us often of where we have been and what God has already done for us, that which we could not do ourselves:
“I am the LORD, who brought you up out of Egypt” (Leviticus 11:45, 19:36, 22:33, 23:43, 25:38, 25:42, 25:55, 26;13, 26:45; Numbers 15:41; Deuteronomy 4:37, 5:6, 5:15, 6:12, 6:21, 7:8, 8:14, 13:10, 20:1: Judges 2:1, 2:12, 6:9; 1 Samuel 10:18, 12:16; 1 Kings 9:9; 2 Kings 17:36; 2 Chronicles 7:22; Nehemiah 9:18; Psalm 81:10; Jeremiah 16:14; Daniel 9:15)
Humility is the opposite of self-sufficiency. Expecting God to provide for us and forgive us undeservedly while insisting that only ‘deserving’ neighbors have their human needs met is unjust and denies our complete dependency on God for forgiveness and ‘our daily bread’:
“Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Colossians 3:13b)
“If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:46-48)
Creating Community
Primary TAM Core Value: Value Reconciliation
Our reconciliation with God makes us new creations, ambassadors of reconciliation to our neighbors:
“So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” (2 Corinthians 5:16-20a)
Love leads us to live as a community of equals:
“Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” (Colossians 3:11-14)
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:35)
We can engage in respectful conversation with those with whom we differ. We can humbly explore the sources of our differences. We can honor the sacred worth of all persons. In prayerfully seeking the mind of Christ, we can work out our life together in love.
The way of Jesus is one of radical hospitality. Radical hospitality is a sacred process of transforming a stranger into a guest, or even family. It witnesses to the reality that God entered the “world” to reconcile us to God and neighbor. Jesus was the incarnation of radical hospitality: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” (Matthew 23:37 and Luke 13:34)
Where radical hospitality is practiced God’s realm flourishes. Examples of these include: Abraham receiving the three strangers — angels (Genesis 18), the Midian priest taking in Moses (Exodus 2), Rahab allowing Joshua’s spies to stay with her (Joshua 2), the widow at Zarephath offering Elijah her last bit of food (1 Kings 17:8-24), and the Samaritan woman inviting Jesus the stranger to stay with her community, which he does (John 4).
Where radical hospitality is not practiced, God’s judgment waits:
“If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.” (Matthew 10:14-15)
Beyond Civility
The golden rule provides guidance in how to live in community with one another: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” (Luke 6:31) Nonetheless, God requires even more than human love that returns its own:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:43-44)
“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:14-21)
Jesus did not avoid harsh words for those in positions of authority. In fact, Jesus saved his harshest words for religious elites who avoided accountability to those they were to serve. After calling the teachers of the law and Pharisees “hypocrites” (Matthew 23:23, 25, 27, 29) and “whitewashed tombs” (v. 27), Jesus says, “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?” (v. 33) (see also Luke 11:37-54) Jesus boldly overturned tables in the temple, declaring “but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’ ” (Matthew 21:13b) in response to an affront of the religious establishment to the Lord’s declaration that “my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” (Isaiah 56:7b)
True worship in authentic community produces justice. God despises religious practices that do not produce justice:
“I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! (Amos 5:21-24)
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter – when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. (Isaiah 58:6-9)
Calling one another into account with God and one another, i.e., working for justice, is an essential part of creating authentic community.
Working for Justice
Primary TAM Core Values: Value leadership and creativity.
Love leading us to live as a community of equals starkly highlights the many injustices in the world.
Doing Justice
“And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8
“Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you.” (Deuteronomy 16:20)
“The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.” (Proverbs 29:7)
“Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.” (Isaiah 1:17)
“Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his own people work for nothing, not paying them for their labor. He says, ‘I will build myself a great palace with spacious upper rooms.’ So he makes large windows in it, panels it with cedar and decorates it in red. Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me? declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 22:13-16
“Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.” (Isaiah 10:1-2)
Advocacy, prophetic witness, social witness are all related expressions dealing with working for justice
Persistence and boldness are characteristics of leadership.
Persistence:
“Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’ And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?’” (Luke 18:1-7)
“Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.” (Luke 11:5-8)
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)
Boldness:
[In response to rulers conspiring against Jesus…] “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.” (Acts 4: 29)
“Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.” (2 Corinthians 3:12)
“So, because you are lukewarm — neither hot nor cold — I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” (Revelations 3:16-17)
“One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent” (Acts 18:9)
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)
“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” ( 2 Tim 1:7)
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.” (Matthew 5:14-15)
Leadership requires a balanced view of the “powers that be” as being at the same time good, fallen, and redeemable. In viewing an institution only as good blinds us to injustice and we reinforce an unjust status quo. In viewing an institution only as fallen sinks us into despair or rage where we see no hope for change. In viewing only an institution’s redeemability we end up just tinkering around the edges.
ESTABLISHING POLICY
What are the issues?
Our Biblical values manifest themselves in the world in many ways; many of these issues are encompassed by these categories:
1. Being stewards of the natural world that sustains life on earth.
2. Building up families and our nurturing communities, which underlie the
potential for each to live into the fullness of their humanity.
3. Support our social communities and human rights that affirm our equal value in God’s eyes.
4. Upholding an economic community that benefits all people and provides our “daily bread.”
5. Engaging the political community and government to assure a just ordering of the larger society.
6. Recognizing the oneness of God’s world and world community and seeking our particular role in it.
Reflections on Power, Leadership, and Decision-making
The status quo is. The Kingdom of God is at hand.
“But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.” (Luke 12:31)
Where you stand depends on where you sit.
Money. Status. Control. These are the ways of the world. Falling back into these ways offers many temptations, for the world rewards these ways, and punishes those who challenge these ways.
God judges us as nations according to how we treat “the least of these.”
Areas of privilege:
God has given us all variety of gifts.
In what areas do I have advantage over others?
Servant leadership
Areas of vulnerability:
Intimacy
In what areas do I depend upon the mercy of God and others?
What am I afraid of losing?
compassion
From a spiritual perspective, we are all indigent. We cannot be made whole by ourselves. We depend upon God and others for our very life.
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
Offering all to God:
God makes us whole. God works through our areas of giftedness and advantage and our areas of vulnerability
Taking a stand.
Prophetic voice in tension with consensus and majority rule
Cost of Discipleship
One of the costs of discipleship is enduring this persecution.
cost high but the reward much greater than the cost
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)
Recommended reading:
The Powers That Be: Theology for a New Millennium, by Walter Wink, Doubleday, 4/98, ISBN: 0-385-48740-1
POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
Decision-making Around Issues
What factors should be considered in addressing an issue?
How important is the issue?
How significant is the impact on human need, justice, and authentic community? (importance test)
Does the issue impact meeting human need?
Will people be deprived of meeting a human need that will directly and significantly harm individuals or families (human suffering test)
Does the issue impact creating community?
Is a partner organization or local faith community involved and/or affected? (good neighbor test).
Does an issue affect our local community (the local test)
Do many Christian faith traditions have statements supporting such advocacy and/or very few, if any, faith traditions have statements that may contradict such advocacy? (tradition test).
Does dealing positively with a controversial issue offers an opportunity to model a Biblical alternative of authentic community to worldly politics (Biblical alternative test).
Are families and/or our nurturing communities undercut in a way that threatens community members in living into the fullness of their humanity (nurturing communities test).
Is “civility’ violated and/or opponents are demonized and offering a faith-based perspective could be of substantial benefit (civility test)
Is the common good threatened or diminished, where short term gain creates long term loss (seven generations test)
Does the issue impact working for justice?
Does an issue threaten the poor and vulnerable (“least of these” test)
Does an issue weaken an economic community that benefits all people and provides our “daily bread” (shared benefits test)
Does an issue threaten human rights/civil rights that affirm our equal value in God’s eyes (children of God test)
Does an issue threaten the ability of people to engage the political community and government to assure a just ordering of the larger society (fair representation test).
Does an issue threaten public safety, peace and non-violence (non-violence test)
Are power differentials so large that it precludes a fair hearing of the issues (fair hearing test)
Does an issue threaten stewardship of God’s creation (creation stewardship test)
Does an issue deny the oneness of God’s world and world community (one world test).
Is there no other local faith body addressing an issue of Biblical justice (voice in the wilderness test)
