Off to Basileia!

Empire Talk (pt 3 of 3)

Hopefully, SNL made us laugh tonight. It’s easy for any talk on justice to be depressing. We live in a reality where over thirty million people are considered property. We live in a reality of child abuse, sex abuse, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and self abuse. A world with AIDS, cancer, and malaria. A world where people die from eating too much while others die from eating too little. And we’re supposed to do something? What’s the alternative? Well, once again, Daniel tells us.

there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven…. all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion … and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

That alternative is Jesus. Jesus challenged empire. He challenged the Roman empire by rejecting the idea of Caesar as divine, and declaring God to be the true source of peace and prosperity. He challenged the Pharisees religious empire by introducing the idea of grace by faith, and not by works. Statements like the meek shall inherit the earth, the first shall be last, and how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven fly in the face of a consumeristic, me first, power hungry world.

Jesus helps us answer the questions we’ve been asking tonight. What do we feed ourselves? The bread of life, the living water. Jesus gives us the freedom to live out alternative stories in alternative communities with alternative goals. So maybe we begin voting with our dollar for positive companies like TOMS, Better World Books, or Ben and Jerry’s. To grow our own vegetables or raise our own chickens.

Our communities begin to be marked by honesty, intimacy, and humility. They become places where we encourage through frustrations, love through mistakes, and express appreciation and enjoyment of each other continuously. We have the opportunity to cherish people as children of God. We say no to the fear of commitment, and no to the fear of rejection. We become frugal with ourselves and generous with others instead.

We stop buying into the myth of progress. Maybe we limit computer use, give away our tvs, or don’t buy the next iwhatever. We can say no to the individualism we see on Starbucks’ website “Your size, your style, your own personal everything.” We can rethink traditions like birthday presents like Will, or Janell, who raised money for the water crisis. We begin to invest in fair trade, free range, and alternative energy.

Jesus is the truth that fights the empty dreams empire has us chasing, and the lies it uses to build fear. Jesus gives us the opportunity, the energy, and the command to reject the system, renew our minds, respond to evil, rethink normal, redefine better, recognize lies, reveal sin, and work for the ultimate restoration and redemption of this earth.

If justice is simply something we do, a box we check off, an event we participate in, then it is entirely possible for us to feel good about what we’re doing and still live under the siege of empire. Justice needs to be more than a duty it needs to be a lifestyle, a movement. We need to reject apathy, embrace alternatives, and glorify the God who is making all things new. Like Daniel we are in exile. Like Daniel, we are held captive by an empire that tries to strip us of our identities. Like Daniel, we serve a God that is bigger than any systemic injustice, bigger than any evil, bigger than our sin.

A God so big and so loving, that he sent his son to suffer at the hands of the empire he challenged. Fearing a Jewish uprising, the Romans and the Pharisees crucified Jesus. And with this act, Jesus challenged and ultimately conquered Satan’s empire of death, not with violence or power, not with dominance or fear, but by humbly submitting himself and dying on the cross because Jesus’ empire is one of servanthood. Julie Clawson writes, justice is not just a duty we have or a passion we develop; it is a destiny we were born to fulfill. When we experience the freedom we have in Christ, when we embrace that destiny, we can pray powerfully, fearfully, and honestly, Thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Thank you.

Empire Talk (pt 2 of 3)

And the dude says, "You come here all the time! Here's one for free." Please! You can't buy me hot dog, man!

Again, we find the same thing in Daniel.

¹⁶ If you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around your neck, and you will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.” ¹⁷ Then Daniel answered the king, “You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means.

Last summer my Verizon contract was up for renewal, and with it, I had the option of getting a new phone. I knew that cell phone batteries use the element tungsten. Tungsten mines are notorious for slave labor, armed conflict, rape, and illegal taxing. And parts from my old phone would end up in a landfill, contributing to soil pollution, leaking into our water supply, and potentially ending up in one of the ocean garbage patches. But it was free! And I got it.

Again, my goal is not to induce guilt. But I think what we can learn is that we need to seriously consider the way we interact with the economy. Tim Keller says that where we spend money the most easily will show us our idols. What does that say about a country that spends eight times as much money on defense as on education? So where do we most easily spend our money? What companies, practices, and ethics are we supporting? To what are we pledging our allegiance? Whom are we voting for and what policies are they writing? When we see something so cheap that the people making it have to be being paid unfairly low wages do we think “Great Deal”?

Second, what would life look like without a __? Without a cellphone? Without a car? Currently, my bicycle is my transportation. I’ve also been subsisting on a diet of rice, beans, and cheap vegetables. Two things amaze me. One, my appreciation of what I previously took for granted, like oranges, has sky rocketed. Second, things I thought I needed I’ve completely forgotten. I only needed them because I had them. This is not to say it is wrong to want things, but we should establish what we actually need to live and consider our luxuries. Why do I want it, what ultimate purpose will it have in my life? And I would suggest that by simplifying our lives, we actually increase our quality of life, and the quality of life of those we can donate our items to.

This next one was the hardest one for me to find parallels in Daniel to, but I think they exist.

Man, this ain't my dad! This is a cell phone!
I threw it on the ground! My dad's not a phone! DUH!

Andy Samberg is getting at how we view relationships and technology. And Daniel hints at this.

¹⁹ Belteshazzar answered, “My lord, if only the dream applied to your enemies and its meaning to your adversaries!

Daniel seems to have a genuinely good relationship with the king, concerned for his welfare, even while living under different politics, in a different country, that worships different gods. Similarly, we are called to care for our political leaders as well as seek after real relationships.

There are inherent dangers to a lifestyle dependent on technology. First, what replaces our relationships? What gets in the way, what distracts us, what prevents us from being real with one another? Sometimes it’s technology, sometimes it’s ourselves. If technology numbs our minds, distracts us from what is important, and wastes our time and money we need to scrap it. If we can’t imagine not going on the internet for a day, or not checking our phones for an hour, then technology has a grip on us. Technology can bring people together like asking your neighbors to play video games but it is still a tool, and should never be embraced at the expense of people. And we should consistently take breaks to ensure our priorities are in order.

Some poser hands me cake at a birthday party Whatcha want me to do with this? Eat it?

And in Daniel.

14 and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up? 15 … But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace.

We are being asked to rethink normal. We have to ask ourselves what traditions we have and why we have them. Now, some traditions are awesome. The night before the first day of school, my family makes banana splits and goes to Barnes and Noble. I’m not speaking about those. I’m talking about traditions we do just because. We don’t need to throw away tradition simply because it’s old but we do want to clarify its roots and ask if it still serves its original purpose.

The second question I hinted at earlier. What cultural myths do we believe? We need to redefine better. Is it really better to run faster jump higher at any cost? Do we think being in a relationship will cure our loneliness? Do we believe what society tells us? We grew enough food last year to feed eleven billion people – there is not a food shortage. Illegal immigrants pay more money into welfare benefits than they receive – they are not a drain on our system.

Then the two phonies got up Turned out they had a taser The moral of the story is You can't trust the system

And then we have this incident. What happens? We don’t see a parallel in Daniel, because Andy Samberg does something Daniel doesn’t. He gets so angry, he begins rebelling against things that aren’t even harmful. So two things. First, discernment is important. When I was a sophomore, I was angry at the church, at my family, with this fellowship, and angry at myself. I was not in a place to lead or serve anyone, because I was rebelling without wisdom.

The second point is one we’ve already explored. We’re going to get hurt. When we fight for justice, we’re opposing those that make a living oppressing people. Andy gets tased, Daniel gets thrown into a lion’s den, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego get thrown into a furnace. People being upset with us can be the surest sign we’re doing something right. These choices will almost always be difficult, since empire likes to placate us with promises of convenience.

Empire Talk (pt 1 of 3)

Tonight we’re going to be talking about empire. Since you’re going through Daniel in your small groups, and Daniel is quite anti-imperialist, we’ll be looking at how Daniel interacts with empire, and see how that applies to our lives. But other anti-imperialist sources exist; like SNL.

[video] (Warning - the end of this video (2:15 on) is a bit inappropriate)

For those of you who don’t think this video is biblical, I encourage you to look at Exodus 4:3.

So: The first scene is of a man being offered an energy drink that will make him “better”.

"Run faster, jump higher" Man, I'm not gonna let you poison me I ain't gonna be part of your system

What’s funny is that we see the same thing in Daniel.

8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. 10 but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king… Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.”

Around 600 BC, the Babylonians conquered Judah and brought a number of the Jewish people back to Babylon including Daniel and three friends, Ananias, Azariah, and Mishael, their Babylonian names being, Shadrach, Abednego, and Meshach. King Nebuchadnezzar has them educated in Chaldean thought but Daniel never fully converts to neo-Babylonianism. After being educated in a new world view and being given a new name, Daniel makes a decision to not be a part of the king’s system.

This passage gives us excellent insight into empire. Empire is any entity that uses systemic centralizations of power to captivate imaginations by propagating powerful myths. What does that mean? First, empire is any entity that uses systemic centralizations of power. Think about the Capitol from the Hunger Games, controlling Panem with taxes from one geographic location.

Second, empire uses this power to captivate imaginations and destroy alternatives. Daniel’s guard was afraid of doing something different. When we feel like we are left without a choice, when we use the phrases “I need that”, “I have to” or “I can’t”, empire is in control.

Thirdly, empire propagates powerful myths to shape our reality. Myths like money buys happiness, or sex is just physical, or Disneyland will solve our family’s problems. And these messages are insidious – the amount of beliefs we entertain is absolutely astronomical. We hear them in advertising, college classes, tv shows, and books, without even realizing it.

I would posit to you that the U.S. is an empire. Colossians Remixed says this: “Does the child who sits in front of a television set for four hours a day… listens to her president encouraging everyone to go out shopping in order to defeat terrorism, wears clothes from the Gap, and plays with the toys created out of the imagination of Disney and Hollywood, ever actually choose the American way of life?…Was there a moment of conversion? No. She imbibed this monoculture consumerist dream in the fast food she ate, the polluted air she breathed and the visual culture she inhabited. And so she was converted, made into a cult member, before she ever knew what was happening… “dreams, by definition, are supposed to be unique and imaginative. Yet the bulk of the population is dreaming the same dream. It’s a dream of wealth, power, fame, plenty of sex and exciting recreational opportunities.” When a whole population dreams the same dream, empire is triumphant.

So how do we as Christians respond to empire? Daniel gives us the answer.

11 Daniel then said to the guard 12 “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.”

The key to fighting empire is in finding alternatives. Daniel becomes a vegan. And with all the environmental implications of our meat heavy diet, maybe more of us should. Let me be clear: Tonight is not about giving you a list of rules on how to live. It is about asking questions to help us ponder why we live the way we do.

So the first question is, “What are we feeding ourselves?” Yes, I am including fast food, genetically engineered fruit, antibiotics, and inhumanely treated animals. But I’m also asking about what thoughts, images, and ideas we are putting into our heads. How will seeing Megan Fox’s body in Transformers affect your relationships with women? How about Shia Labeouf? Just kidding. But what about Channing Tatum? What does his character say about love, or sex, or a husband’s roles and responsibilities? What false expectations may it be creating for you in your relationships? It’s easy to say, I know real men aren’t like that, but you wouldn’t accept your boyfriend saying that about porn. These things affect us more than we realize.

Second, are we dreaming of wealth, power, fame, plenty of sex, and exciting recreational opportunities, or are we dreaming unique dreams? Dreams that Isaiah dreams; that weapons will become farm tools, that the oppressed shall be freed? Do we find alternatives to sweatshop labour? Do we live out a commitment to environmental stewardship? Do we treat others as if life is sacred? Or do we just kind of live like everyone else with a little Jesus mixed in?