Governments should be afraid of their People

I know not how my words are of any use anymore. I know not how I can be of service or even of use to anyone. I know not how this world can change and how it can truly be better for everyone. But maybe that’s ok.

I've come to a place where I must wonder why I continue. If not I would not be human. I have become desperate. I have seen all this pain and yet if it were not for the very privilege I now find that I despise, how would I know of it? I have come to wonder what it is we strive for. But perhaps there is not a goal to struggle to achieve, except to embrace the goal of struggle itself.

I find myself surrounded by those that also have become weary. But in their weakened state they have found this "righteous anger" which burns for change. This burden for mankind has become entangled in their rage against those that oppress. They talk of policy and of a utopian society where all struggle is eliminated. Where all people can have... Have what? What are we seeking?

I would love for this country to embrace "Christian" values. I would love for us to vote in a good "real" Christian president. I would love for all our laws to be just. But is that the point? All good and well but is it intended to be first on our agenda? We speak of Jesus and his goals as political campaigns. Jesus the politician... Bullshit. Jesus never came to change the law of the Romans. Jesus never came to free the Jews from roman rule. Jesus said give to Caesar what is Caesars. Yes Jesus shook up his nation and people. Yes Jesus did have a "social justice" agenda. But not in the way we argue in our activist mindsets.

Jesus did everything in Love. Jesus changed things not by attacking people and saying your wrong but doing things so right, so perfect that people could no longer do things the way they previously did.

There was a story brought up in my class about how there were some migrants coming over the border and out of need for water they would go into backyards and drink from hoses in Texas communities. And so homeowners began to build fences to keep out the unwanted guests. So often church and state become so mixed and law seems so good to us Christians that we are able to justify the response as protecting ourselves, "we don't know them, they could be dangerous", and saying "well they are breaking the law" "they deserve it". What if instead of all this the church in that community had preached a message of loving our neighbors? What if pastors had the boldness to preach "the sheep and the goats story" "where God was thirsty and we gave him nothing to drink" despite their congregants unwillingness to hear it? Or maybe the members didn’t even know and needed that little push from the pulpit to get out there and do it. What would it look like if the church superseded law?

If we look at the African American struggle for justice we see a huge involvement from, not the whole church but, the African American church and some other churches that were willing to "stand up and be counted". Many times pastors such as Martin Luther King Jr. broke the law. Unjust laws.

This is because we are not first citizens of the US, we are citizens of "God's kingdom here on earth" first and secondly citizens of this nation. While we still have a duty as a citizen of this nation to vote accordingly for justice issues and work to bring them to the public spotlight, our primary goal is to emulate the love Jesus demonstrated here on earth.

I love the quote from the movie V for Vendetta that says, "People should not be afraid of their Governments, Governments should be afraid of their People." Jesus may never have had the direct intention of changing roman law, but through loving others and setting an example people couldn’t help but to copy, He started a revolution in which He and those that followed Him no longer feared their Government, But instead His government feared Him and His following, so much indeed that they would crucify, the highest punishment, a "peasant", a "homeless man", a technically powerless and wealth less man.

Again as citizens of this nation we are responsible to help guide it through policy and such, but what would it look like if instead of that our actions would speak so loud that our government would have no choice but to go along with us. (I'm sorry that the topic of immigration is my main example but it has become close to my heart) What if, for example, instead of building walls to exclude those who were breaking the law, and protect our selves we went down and handed out water to those who are thirsty, or fed those that are hungry?

Isn’t this against the law? Wouldn’t we be aiding and abetting a criminal? Heck nowadays this is a matter of "national security" we may be labeled a terrorist. But what if instead of fearing a government, or not even fearing but just standing silent in order to maintain status quo and protect "our" freedom, we obeyed God's commandments first? What would the government do if the entire church went down to help those in need, or began caring for those that are here, or Christians began giving jobs to those that need work to feed their families? What if at least 3/4s of our nation, us "Christians" cared for the alien among us.(Deuteronomy 10:17-19, 14:19)? The tide would shift to where instead of culture infecting church, God's church would become so anti culture that culture itself would change. Wouldn’t our Government, not necessarily fear us, but at least have to rethink its policy? I am convinced that it would. I am convinced that we as the church are not to be impacted by culture but that we are to impact culture.

This "ideology", as it has become labeled, is obviously not as "task oriented" or progressive as activism. Arguing with people until you get your way and are able to pass laws that force others to "be nice" is obviously a faster route. But does this solve anything? "The early church was called The Way. It was not called The Answer or The Destination. Those who follow Jesus are searchers on a Way that never arrives in this life." - Dennis A. Jacobsen. Spiritually there is a question that we ultimately must answer. Because if we do good, and follow the example of Jesus just to get something in return(heaven) then we miss the point. We must ask ourselves, If there was no heaven, If there was nothing after this life, If all it is is you die and there is nothing more, Would you still follow Jesus? As if that’s not difficult enough I'd like to pose the same question in a different way. If there will never be a utopia, If there will always be poor among us, If we cannot "fix" human suffering, Will you still Love? If our nation and this world cannot come to agreement, If they cannot establish laws that protect the oppressed and make this world more just for all, Will you instead give up the privilege that same society gave to you and be in solidarity with the poor? Will you stop arguing and pick up your cross, deny yourself, and follow him? Many times we think of carrying our cross to follow Jesus to heaven. But though I have faith that is one day where it will lead, I think Jesus' cross lead him to love the unlovable, and befriend the friendless, and ultimatly to death. So many times we follow Jesus, with our cross, but see the death as just a means for our salvation, which it is, but it is also the cost. There is a cost and though only Jesus can pay it for our sins, it is also our cost. (if we are followers of Jesus we don't only get to follow the good stuff we get to follow the hard parts too)

What would it look like if we all died to our selves, not to our personal sins to become "good people"(which is just selfish and arrogant), but died to everything that is us just to give something, some unworthy gift, to someone who has nothing. And "In the courtyard of such death, ...(we) proclaimed the resurrection of Christ, the unbending hope in the power of life, the unyielding belief that God, not death, has the last word." - Jacobsen.

This blog sometimes goes astray, but it is my intention, as I have labeled it, for it to reflect the deep burning of my heart. And as laying these burdens often leads me to growth through correction, also my convictions are strengthened and I beg you that (to steal another line from V) "if you see what I see and you feel as I feel" you too will no longer keep silent. For I find truth in the words of Jeremiah which were also quoted by Jacobsen in my reading tonight, "O Lord, you have enticed me and I was enticed; you have overpowered me, and you have prevailed... For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long. If I say, "I will not mention him, or speak anymore of his name," then within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot" (Jeremiah 20:7-9)