Christian role in a great empire

I listened to the State of the Union address by President Barak Obama. I listened carefully. I wanted to hear what he said. I understood who was speaking — the president of the United States, the most powerful nation in the world. I was not entirely certain of who I was as I listened.

I am an American Christian; or possibly I should say that I am a Christian living in America. I consider myself a loyal American, but I trust the truth and wisdom that Jesus spoke and lived. I trust Jesus himself. My first loyalty is not to America. My first loyalty is to Jesus, the rabbi from Nazareth. What, then, is my role in an America that I appreciate, but to which I can never give my first loyalty?

Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggeman has just published a very insightful book about the dilemma of believers and empires. His message is instructive to America. He uses the experience of a small band of Israelites during their 70-year forced exile in Babylon as the framework of the discussion. Thus the title of the book, “Out of Babylon.” The captive Israelites were small in number and lived in the capital city of a very powerful empire. What are the lessons to be learned from the Israelites in their life in Babylon?

Empires are of a particular genre. Brueggeman, rightly I believe, describes the nature of empire. Empires do not acknowledge torn bodies or notice human suffering. They turn a blind eye away from abused villages. Empires do not know how to grieve. They deal with quotas, statistics and summaries. They hardly take note of everyday life on the ground.

As I listened to our president, I heard his plans to insure and expand the American empire. While there were references to life on the ground, the answer to the well-being of our communities is to be found in protecting and expanding the power of the American empire. Our American history shows us to be an empire that seeks to impose its will around the world. We demand reform of everyone but ourselves. We monopolize resources for our own comfort. Exporting more of America is the great answer. Military might is our trust.

The State of the Union Address for 2011 was about the maintenance of empire and very little about life on the ground.

Christians are called to be about life on the ground, not about empire.

Ultimately, the story of the Israelites in their Babylonian exile is about a people who refused to be assimilated into the general population of Babylonia. Brueggeman makes the case that some of the Israelites did assimilate into the dominant empire. They disappeared from history. It was a relative few who resisted and maintained their faith with integrity. The small band of those who resisted assimilation wrote a large part of the Old Testament as we have it today. When the Persians overcame the Babylonians and became the new dominant empire, the small remnant of Israelites was allowed to return to Jerusalem, and they began rebuilding the faith community.

The great threat to Christians in America is assimilation. We are too quick to bless America and its quest for power. The theme of God and country has taken away the ability of Christians to speak to our nation about life on the ground. It is not easy to speak truth to power, and when those called to speak the truth have partnered with those who worship at the feet of the power of empire, the task is impossible.

In the Bible there is an ongoing struggle for God’s faith community to understand themselves and their life mission. In the Bible story, there is no shortage of those who believe they were destined to become and remain the world’s great empire. Brueggeman points out that there was a continuing line of prophets who faithfully spoke truth to the powerful. Almost always they were poets. They all understood life on the ground. Their words are still with us and continue to witness to the primacy of justice, peace, truth and love.

I not only listened to our president’s State of the Union speech, I also listened to the Republican and the Tea Party responses. Their only claim was that they could do a better job of maintaining and expanding the American empire than our current president.

Jesus spoke often about the reign of God on earth. It was distinctly different from the empires of history. It is to the kingdom of justice, peace and love to which followers of Jesus are called. The easiest route is the route of assimilation. We can disappear into an empire that, like all empires, is destined to fade from history.

Christians can choose a different destiny than assimilation. We can be faithful witnesses to a God of love who calls for justice. This is our ground zero.

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister who lives in Palmer. His e-mail address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.

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