First the firsts: Deep Funk has joined us, the 11/11 Polar Kraken of DDR and the best roomie ever had, Monsieur Andrew Sitte. scattered applause. Second: I posted some book reviews on the right - bonus points for reading the third one. And I added some pretty rings which are resurrected out of my web page from 6th grade. Onward!

Chapter Four - Can I get s'more? Unbelievable. What a book. The greatest point of the chapter, though its like picking among my future adopted children, is Israel created as a nationstate whose very governmental structure and practices will example rightness and holiness to the world's empires. It's very identity is a nationstate of the oppressed, and its Levitical egalitarian legislation uphold any future oppressed within the populace. I think of the US constitution holding freedom as its core value as a reaction from its oppressive taxation-focused source. Quote:

"If the empire is a place of slavery and death, then Israel is called to be a people of jubilee, where slaves are released and life renewed." pg 66. "The care of the marginalized - those who no standing ground in the community - is antithetical to the constant striving for power, dominance, and hierarchy that characterizes the empire. Israel is called to be an alternative socioeconomic witness to the empire." pg 67

Can I get an Amen? This idea is fully fleshed out on page 72,

"Israel painfully discovered that the preferred economics of empire is to enslave the producers of food and resources."

"Communist!" I hear people shouting. "How dare you embrace legislated economic redistribution in favor of lessening the unavoidable societal oppression and poverty that comes with beautiful capitalism! Jesus said the poor will always be among you!" Yet, here it is, a whole shlab of footnotes on page 66 that choose lower profit margins in the face of human dignity, the laws of Israel almost singing in its search to be a nation of righted imperial refugees. Here is a nation which, at its inception, had no poor.

We have to maintain globally wretched wages and working conditions, because the prosperity and comfort of the West demands an enslaved producer of GAP khakis and Brazilian oranges. Keep Wal-Mart's cost of employing a seamstress in Swaziland low, keep the workers in the stores from receiving living wages and healthcare, lower the cost of producing the shirt, lower the price tag in Cleveland, outbid and shutdown all competing local stores, increase the sale volume, support my standard of living through allowing me to buy DVDs for $5 and my shampoo for $2 a tubb.

Wal-Mart becomes the highest grossing store in world history and Swaziland remains the nation with the lowest life-expectancy on the planet: 32 years.

Mary and Joseph, I was surprised to find, were going to "register" for taxation by the Roman Empire when Jesus was born. Luke, a Jew, is poignant to mention Israel's current imperial oppression along with the birth of God incarnate. And here I thought it was some happy national census. And Jesus was brought before Pilate and charged with "subverting the nation" (Luke23:NIV), accused of refusing to pay his taxes.

By far, the most important thing for me to read was the command in Jeremiah 29 to bless and correct the empire that Israel is oppressed by, to maintain their identity as light in darkness, to bring the world before Yahweh. Just because Israel was burned to the floor doesn't mean the heart of God has changed, his hope the world would be restored to healthy right and just society and government. Couple this with the authors' identity of the Christian living within the empire, an identity of rabid generosity, doing good to without thought of benefit, unadulterated altruism (holla!), g g ggrace!

"This is the ethic in which the generosity of God overcomes the violence and economic exploitation of the empire." pg 74

This is the good news. That the selflessness and love of each other spills into our society and our government, that loving our neighbor is as much our legislation against exploitation of the global impoverished masses as it is an invitation to barbeque given as two neighbors happen to meet at the mailbox. The selflessness and desire for a world of harmony is a Spirit that inexorably consumes a person's entire sphere of existence. Like GKChesterson said of following God, 'He beckons us. He says, "come and die".'

simon and i were talking about this chapter yesterday, and i told him that this chapter was harder for me to read than the other two. now that i have re-visited my pencil marks in the margin, i think it wasn't that hard. it think i had a hard week and i did not want to think while i read. it can't be avoided with this book.

i too enjoyed the story of nympha and seeing how the roman empire shaped so many things for people-their very salvation even. and the comparison to the western world was hauntingly true. there are so many images to worship, so many paths to salvation. in a lot of ways america is a more advanced society, but that's not taking everything into consideration. in kenya there seems to be a huge conflict between the rural and the urban. increasing industrialization in this country is not necessarily going to improve things. and it's true that advertising masks the reality of sweat shops and violence and all the different voices that exist in this world.

but i am excited to see how this community of believers reacts toward all of this. there is hope in the story of Jesus, and i look forward to seeing how these followers live in this empire.

Chapter 3
I am beginning to see the shape the the book, and its very exciting. It seems this chapter is the beginning of the context of the book of Colossians. Their story of Nympha was great. I absolutely love their understanding of Pax Romana and Pax Americana. Their parallel between the two in their emergence out of a barbarian countryside, their observance of other countries as less progressed, their entire system of government focused on the aquisition and maintanance of power structures. Why do we subsidize cotton in the US? Because without these subsidies the agricultural communities of Kenya might have the ability to actually make a profit inthe international markets, but instead the price of cotton is so low each season from US subsidies that every year Kenyan cotton industries lose money. I could care less of profit margins and industrialization, but the families and the better life that is possible in Kenya necessitates foreign powers to reduce their self-benefit, something unthinkable.
The logo and the image of Caesar was a nice touch.
Mostly though, I am wanting to read ahead to see their solutions. How does a community of Jesus live in such a country? Can it?
I could write pages on my understanding of the Christian faith as an altruistic eqalitarian path of living the fullest of life, but when I attempt to connect it to actual living, I am bogged. IE: I used to be a pacifist till I realized how much I love the product of the policeman and the necessity of retribution for a static society.
Really, I'm not asking these questions right now, since I think there will be tons of time to ask them in future chapters (I hope!). But right now, it is interesting to draw parallels between Rome and the West, between two massive socioeconomic world powers who saw/see themselves as the light of the world.

I’m almost caught up with chapter 3, but I wanted to share from the first two chapters before the chance got away from me. I echo the comment about the good reminder to read the New Testament with Old Testament ears. And I wonder if these ears need to also be a part of my living as well. I am a 6th grade teacher, and this week a lot of different issues have been coming to the surface in my classroom. I always want to jump ahead and solve problems as fast as I can to prevent any further conflict, but when I listen with Old Testament ears and see with Old Testament eyes, I see a God who had to put up with a lot of crap. His people screwed up, He was faithful, and then they screwed up again. But through it all, there are still echoes of His sovereignty, His wrath, His mercy. So if I remember in my mind and believe in my heart that this sovereign God of the Old Testament is also the sovereign God of my 6th grade classroom, I know that my work is not in vain. In fact, it is not my work at all; it is the work of the sovereign Lord.

It’s interesting to read a book that compares postmodernism and this cybernetic global optimism. Postmodernism is a familiar topic of discussion and reading for me, but this whole cybernetic global thing is perhaps something I have avoided. I’m really glad the authors chose to include it because it does play such an important part in our culture. I am often disgusted by it, but I think the influences are more far-reaching than I like to admit. Someone mentioned something about being overwhelmed by the cereal aisle at the grocery store. (sorry I don’t remember who said it. I don’t have access to the internet now, so I’m going off of memory). My grandma has dementia and lived with us for a few years while I was in college. She basically has no short-term memory, and every time she sees me comments on how much I’ve grown. One day I asked her what she would like to eat for lunch. She said she would like peanut butter, so I got out two jars, one crunchy and one smooth. When asked which one she would like to eat, she stared in awe at the two different kinds of peanut butter and said, “Well. When did that happen?” If choosing between two kinds of peanut butter is a problem for her, I probably shouldn’t take her down the cereal aisle.

More often than not I read the New Testament with a glazed expression. The words are familiar, and I know they are rooted with rich goodness meant to satisfy an insatiable desire for truth, but I still read it with low expectations. I really enjoyed reading the targum that the authors wrote for Colossians 1:1-14, not because I thought it was the most brilliant paraphrase, but because it brought a few things to life for me. The phrase “grace and peace” is used by Paul at the beginning of his letters, by friends at the end of their e-mails, and I think it has become a lifeless phrase for me. But when the phrase is read with the Old Testament ears and you consider Ezekiel and his “covenant of peace”, it changes things. I really liked this quote on page 42. “We see for Ezekiel peace is rooted in grace. There can be such wholeness, such creationwide shalom, only if God enters into our conflict-ridden, distorted, oppressive, and broken reality with initiatives of grace.” I feel that already the Lord is pumping oxygen into His words, and I am once again seeing the life and truth that has been there all along.

hello on this perpetual winter day...

simon, i'm so glad that you quoted shane claiborne in your comments. in this discussion about truth and engaging with it i was reflecting on another book group i am in with my residents. we're reading "irresistible revolution". anyway, one of my students talked about the significance of "nearness" and how placing ourselves in a space where we will encounter others, those who are beautifully "other" than us (yet so often the same as us), it will become more challenging to ignore other sides of truth.

i know this has been true for me as i've wrestled with different "moral" issues...poverty, homosexuality, abortion, all the BIG hitters. it's not so easy to have an absolute moral stance when you are in relationship with people who these issues are reality for them. when i provide council for a young girl who has felt more pain from the church's judgement than making the choice to abort her baby...when a friend says that they feel more life, more joy because they have claimed their sexual identity...there are layers to these moral absolutes that are messy to delve into.

but i'd rather sit in the tension of not fully knowing if it means that i offer love, dignity, faithfulness, grace...

Hello.

Thanks for letting me join, though I don't know if you had much of a choice. Since I was handed the book on Friday, I am still catching up on my reading. I will post again a little later when I have a copy of the book in front of me and can write something a little more substantial. I'm really looking forward to this!

I would like to introduce to ya'll Daylan who is going to be joining us. She goes to my church here in the 'Robe, and will join us as we explore this book.

I want to echo Jeanette's thing about truth. I struggle with this a bit, but I more wrestle with having understood things and not knowing what to do about it. For instance, my church has such a developed understanding of the power and sovereignty of God, but it struggles in how to live this out.

I don't think the world needs some new shining idea of truth to get things straight. It seems that we have known all along that loving those around us and loving God is the way it works. There is some confusion as to this warranting overseas initiatives, establishing our environments in suffering urban areas, etc. But really it comes down to loving the people we are around. I think we know this, but the depth of our knowledge is lacking. For instance, I've always had a heart to assist poverty in Africa, but that same heart grew in three times its size when I began to visit there often and develop relationships with people there.

Could we already know 99% of truth as it comes to how to live and have faith? Could we simply need to deepen this understanding more than we thought possible? Is truth overrated and living overlooked?

always read the NT with OT ears. (this was a good reminder.)

something that struck me as i read this chapter was the authors' brief description of william's struggle with absolutes and objectivity. (p.44) the authors said that william's epistemology is one that is "imposed on the text by those who have embraced Enlightenment definitions of truth."
i don't know if i've "embraced" the definitions of truth that are abstract and distant, but i don't know if i've embraced truth that is concrete and connecting either. since i am so unsure as to how i embrace truth it is something to think about.

of course i want to know a relational truth.

but, in my selfishness, constant activity, and lack of knowledge, often truth goes one way in my life. and i do not allow truth to pursue me, grasp me, know me, master me. i think that if i allowed truth to consume me, i would be less concerned with my own issues and i would have fewer private tantrums. i would be more concerned about God and his will for my life as it relates to my neighbors.