The Way of the Lamb: Faithfulness in Empire

Every generation lives under some form of empire. The question is not whether you live under empire. The question is whether empire lives in you. Is fear forming you? Is outrage forming you? Is cynicism forming you? Is power tempting you? Or are you becoming more like the lamb? The question is not simply what you will do next week in your job, in your role, or in your city. The question is what kind of person are you becoming? [01:00:25] (35 seconds)  #BecomeTheLamb

The deeper question is, what is actually being demanded of me? What is being asked of me? And does that cross a line where it only should belong to God? Because systems sometimes do ask too much. Sometimes they ask people to lie, to make to dehumanize others, to manipulate reality to benefit certain people, to protect power at the expense of truth. And Jesus' followers cannot simply baptize those demands with Romans 13. Remember Romans 13. Submit to the authorities. [00:46:46] (39 seconds)  #DiscernDemands

The church does not overcome dehumanization with more dehumanization. We don't answer domination with a more righteous version of domination. We answer it with the way of the lamb and the way the lamb answered it, by telling the truth, by staying close to suffering, and refusing to sort human beings into those worth loving and those who deserve what they get. [00:58:46] (27 seconds)  #LoveNotDomination

See, the answer refuses to fit the binary presented to him. Caesar's claim is neither illegitimate or ultimate. Figure out what belongs to Caesar and then give it to Caesar. Figure out what belongs to God and don't give that to Caesar. See, the hard work is in the discernment. Jesus doesn't do it for them and answer the questions for them. He hands it back and says, figure it out. [00:38:49] (29 seconds)  #DiscernAndDecide

In our if our outrage is making us harder, more contemptuous, more self righteous, less able to see the humanity of people that we disagree with, then empire is already beginning to win in your hearts even as we rail against it. This isn't this isn't a criticism to any one person in this room because I recognize this temptation in myself. It's so easy to talk about whoever and to shake your heads at the news or at this post or whatever who said something. [00:50:20] (37 seconds)  #OutrageCanCorrupt

And one of the ways that empire forms us is by convincing us that these are questions that we have to carry all by ourselves. But the kingdom of God assumes something very different. It assumes that discernment happens within community, that followers of Jesus need other people who know them well enough to ask them hard questions, to notice blind spots, to notice where we are drifting from faithfulness to Jesus, and to remind us of who we are becoming. Are we becoming more like the beast or more like the lamb? [00:55:34] (36 seconds)  #CommunityDiscernment

So let me say two things just very clearly. First, if you are remaining inside a difficult role and you're trying to do that with integrity to tell the truth, to refuse to dehumanize others or yourself, resisting what is corrosive and oppressive in the system around you, that is not selling out or being a coward a coward. Maybe that could be one of the most difficult forms of remaining faithful that's available to you. And for some followers of Jesus, remaining is a form of witness. Remaining is a way of restraining harm that could happen if someone else stepped into it. [00:57:12] (46 seconds)  #RemainingFaithfully

Because revelation says the greatest danger of empire is not merely what it does around us to the people around us. The danger of revelation is what forms within us. See, the beast doesn't just operate through violence and coercion. The beast operates by forming people slowly through fear and outrage, through domination and cynicism and this worship of power and influence. And the most dangerous part is that we all can be absorbed into that way of thinking, into that formation while believing we're resisting it. [00:47:55] (41 seconds)  #InternalEmpire