Keeping our aim straight...

A note on debt relief by N.T. Wright

This note on global debt was posted just the other day:
http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Debt.htm

Wright mentions his recent book Surprised by Hope, here are a few excerpts on the subject:

"But every time we put it off one more day, several hundred children die...We must learn, therefore, to recognize the complex arguments against debt remission as what they are. People tell you it's a tricky and many-sided subject. Yes, it is; so was slavery. So are all major moral problems. The fact remains that what is now going on amounts to theft by the strong from the weak, by the rich from the poor....

"Thus when people object...commenting that wealth is not finite, that statist and globalist solutions and handouts will merely strip the poor of their human dignity and vocation to work, and that all this will encourage the poor toward a sinful envy of the rich...I want to take such commentators to refugee camps, to villages where children die every day, to towns where most adults have already died of AIDS, and show them people who haven't got the energy to be envious, who aren't slothful because they are using all the energy they've got to wait in line for water...

"The irony is that those American churches that protest most vocally against the teaching of Darwinism in their schools are often, in their public policies, supporting a kind of economic Darwinism, the survival of the fittest in world markets and military power."

Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church (2008), by N.T. Wright, pp.217-220.

Sacred Rule according to Ratzinger

"First, to the word hierarchy. The correct translation of this term is probably not "sacred rule" but "sacred origin." The word archē can mean both things, origin and rule...the likelier meaning is "sacred origin." In other words, it communicates itself in virtue of an origin, and the power of this origin, which is sacred, is, as it were, the ever-new beginning of every generation in the church. It doesn't live by the mere continuum of generations but by the presence of the ever-new source itself, which communicates itself unceasingly through the sacraments...the priesthood has to be a conduit and a making present of a beginning and has to make itself available for this task. When priesthood, episcopacy, and papacy are understood essentially in terms of rule, then things are truly wrong and distorted."

The Essential Pope Benedict XVI: His Central Writings and Speeches (2007) by John F. Thornton and Susan B. Varenne (p.117) . Excerpt from The Canon of Criticism, Peter Seewald Interviews Joseph Ratzinger (1996).

I thought about the church...

Our community needs to be on the lookout to establish some new and refreshing relationship with the world around us. Wouldn't the church be more at home in the plans of God if it were a recognized champion of justice and peace among the nations?
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How? Maybe if we were to relieve ourselves of this continual pressure to disown each other and distance ourselves from the world. Notice, as time ticks, faith, holiness, peace, and all things 'religious' are being relegated to the "individual". That is to say that more and more everything is about a personal relationship with God. The most important thing is some kind of close friendship with Christ---making Jesus your personal lord and savior.
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For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2)
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There isn't much about Jesus' Lordship that is personal---i.e. subjective or individualistic. But too many sermons, too many enlightenement and, yes, even post-enlightenment philosophies and agendas have gone under the wire for Paul's powerful declaration to be as powerful and true as it once was. So, today the church offers a personal lord & king, when entire nations are oppressed by wicked dictators and proud rulers. If I can't have a good ruler over my country, at least I have one in my heart. That sounds nice, but it's short-sighted. The church offers spiritual experience, spiritual healing, when many endure physical anguish, daily. The church offers a peace for the heart to people who can't walk down the street without fear. What's more! Even when there is victory on behalf of peace, justice, and human rights, no one is thanking the church. Victories are credited to the determination of presidents, the best foreign policies, or some great and wonderful political union. The church is not there, present, at the scene of these times. Neither does the church receive credit for taking on the big problems, like global hunger and disease and mismanagement of natural resources. It takes some shallow, half hearted political union to address these thing too. Or else it takes money-dependent progress in science before such things can be dealt with.
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Christians need to be on the lookout to establish some new and refreshing relationship with the world around us. It can't be simply about the individual, the inner, or a personal relationship with God. It has to be more than feeding the flocks spiritually (in the typical sense of this word), or offering someone inner peace. If our arms are so short that we can't reach out far enough to wipe someone's tears, to pur food on a family's table, to give someone a safe street to walk, to put money in empty pockets, to give shelter in disaster---if our arms are so short that we can't reach out far enough to lend the world a hand, then our arms are too short to reach into anyone's heart with any so-called good news---any so-called gospel.
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The gospel has been, and is increasingly being exchange for some vague, inward, spiritual "religion". Enlightenment distinctions like political/religious, inner/outter, spiritual/physical etc., though not useless, haven't helped things much these days, especially since we miss the way in which God so often integrates these binary opposites. The push continues to keep religion unpolitical, to focus the gospel soley in terms of each individual 'getting right with God.' Yet, a surface reading of Scripture will tell us that there is much more.
Luke 4:14-22
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14And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. 15And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. 16And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. 17And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, 18"THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, 19TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD."
20And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." 22And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips.
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And from here, Luke unfolds the good news which Jesus was now empowered to fulfill. Jesus departs into Capernaum where he drives a demon from a certain person in a synagogue. He then departs to Simon's ill mother-in-law's side, bring physical healing to her. And at the close of one day we see multitudes flocking to Jesus:
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40While the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and laying His hands on each one of them, He was healing them. 41Demons also were coming out of many, shouting, "You are the Son of God!" But rebuking them, He would not allow them to speak, because they knew Him to be the Christ.
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And suddenly we find Jesus overwhelmed by the need: 42When day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them. 43But He said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose."
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Jesus needed help with this kingdom work.
In Luke 5-6 we find Jesus recruiting disciples to help, still continuing his own work in the meantime. A few ordinary men turns into twelve men and, apparently, a new, reformed, and reordered Israel. Then Jesus speaks:
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17Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place; and there was a large crowd of His disciples, and a great throng of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon, 18who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured. 19And all the people were trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all. 20And turning His gaze toward His disciples, He began to say, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21"Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh."
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We really have to strain our eyes to find Jesus differentiating between the salvation of the Gospel and healing the lame, curing the sick, befriending the dejected, feeding the hungry---between the salvation of the Gospel and something as simple as putting a smile on someone's face.
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Here, Christians must be reminded and refreshed with the understanding that the good news, the gospel, which we carry into the world has the power to feed mouths and feed minds, to address debts of society and debts of sin, to give peace amidst war and peace within, to provide joy in actions and joy in thoughts, to mend bleeding wounds as well as bleeding hearts. The gospel of our community can bring peace, healing, joy, and fulfillment in any context--inward or outward--to individuals and to the world. Jesus is, afterall, LORD OF ALL, and there is nothing personal about that. It is high time to stop disowning each other and begin working as disciples, as a community that has been vested with a mission to baptize and teach the nations (Mt. 28), has stepped into a new age and out of the present evil age (Gal. 1), has taken knee before the LORD of heaven and earth (Philip. 2), has been entrusted with good news that is to be vocalized and demonstrated as Jesus did in Luke--the good news that is God's power of salvation (Rom 1)--has already tasted God's new creation (2 Cor 5)--the new creation in which God takes up residence with his people, where death is no more, where tears are wiped, and mourning, crying, screaming and pain are relieved once and for all (Rev. 21). Fear integration with the world, not integration into the world. Integrate into the world with the Loud proclamation of Jesus as Lord of all.
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We seem, at present, to have a preoccupation with gathering ourselves for battle. We want to be on the same doctrinal page so that we can attack decisively, as one unified whole. We seem to think that we must first amass ourselves, through shear numbers before we can take on the evils of the world. It is as if we started reading the book of Acts 1/4 way through expecting that abundant growth is the only way to make anything happen--and we forget that it was only a handful of men and women who caused an empirical stir. If we want to amass ourselves before we ever begin this discipling, we will always be one large step behind. I like Pope Benedict's (who is, of course representative of the largest mass of Christians) words here:

"But mass movements are not the ones that bear promise of the future within them. The future is made wherever people find their way to one another in life-shaping convictions. And a good future grows wherever
these convictions come from the truth and lead to it."

It was anticipation and expectation that God was going to work through his Holy Spirit that brought the disciples together before the day of Pentecost, so that they were all with one mind...continually devoting themselves to prayer (Acts 1:14).
In sum, we have, at present two 'values' that seem to be conflicting. We want to come together in great masses to take on the evils of the world, but we continue to relegate religion to the individual---not a novel insight but something to be conscious of. I could espouse some well thought out axiom bringing these issues into harmony, I guess. But I would probably only bring further limitation to the issue at hand. I am only trying to provide a point of departure.
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This all said, I do want to take a moment to thank God for my home congregation and for the special things they did for my family, during a recently difficult moment in our lives. Christians may not always know the reasons behind the things they do---they may not know that they are bringing Jesus' life and words into present reality. Recognizing pain and mourning and wanting to bring healing often proves to be enough.