Followers of Jesus here in America are in exile! Though exile is usually thought of in terms of geography, it is primarily a liturgical, cultural, spiritual condition. It is the realization that we are in a hostile and alien environment where constant temptation is to conform to the dominant values of a culture that is incongruent with the faith and practice of the kingdom of God.

The predominant temptation of assimilation into the culture has as its alternative despair, seeing our situation as helpless and hopeless. Most Christians have not yet come to grips with the fact that our place and way of life that were accepted in the age of Christendom have vanished. We have been relegated to the margins where we are greeted with hostility, or at best, indifference.

Rather than yielding to the demoralizing effect of exilic assimilation or despair, there is a third option available to us. Walter Brueggemann phrases it this way: "to respond with fresh, imaginative theological work, recovering the old theological traditions and recasting them in terms appropriate to the new situation of faith in an alien culture." It's in exile that God's gift of newness breaks forth through anointed imagination, where "linkages between past and present never before seen, and that risks utterances never before heard ... shatters the old certitudes, but also renders obsolete most of the old ideologies and all of our old, precious quarrels."

There must, however, be an awakening in the community of God's people to their state of exile. Too many, including the leaders, haven't the faintest idea of their present exilic condition. To continue with the same mindset that has existed throughout Christendom will be disastrous. The status quo will only lead to oblivion. Only those who are fully aware of their exilic situation will do the renewing and reconstructive work that will lead to the dawning of a new day.

This intentional work leading to a new beginning will require, according to Brueggemann, disciplines of readiness, which he lists as:

     1. dangerous memories
     2. dangerous criticism
     3. dangerous promises
     4. dangerous songs
     5. dangerous bread
     6. dangerous departure

So what will it be: assimilation, despair, or a new beginning?

Quotes are from Walter Brueggemann's book, Cadences of Home: Preaching among Exiles.

"Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."

This declaration from 2 Corinthians 3:17 is a proclamation that the kingdom of God is one of freedom, not oppression. Romans 14:17 states that "the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." This statement describes the kingdom of God being in the Holy Spirit as seen in the righteousness, peace and joy of God's kingdom.

To those seeking power and control, people living in and moving by the Holy Spirit are a real threat, for the Spirit is like the wind, unpredictable. Man's oppressive governmental and religious systems ultimately break down when confronted by the freedom of the kingdom of God in the Holy Spirit. Thus the fierce opposition that people of the Spirit encounter from these systems is rooted in the initial rebellion of man's choice to function independently from God.

The Lord cannot be boxed in to a closed system. This is why Jesus gave the religious leaders fits. Moving in the Spirit, he wreaked havoc on their closed system, which was designed to label and categorize, maintaining control and position by and for those in power. But he shattered the boundaries that divided the "haves" from the "have nots", the "ins" from the "outs" by living from a kingdom that is not of this world, but when implemented in this world shatters the bondages of the systems of this world with the freedom only known through the Spirit.

Jesus is doing the same today as he did in the first century through people who are willing to step out of the confining chains of state and religious systems and embrace his invitation to follow him and live "freely, dangerously, and tenaciously" as the incarnation of him who will once again set captives free from oppression.

Though living in exile, we are to be a subversive people, undermining the politics of power and control by faith working through love. Jesus and his followers did it in the first century. Will we do it in the 21st century?

In his comment on the last post, Davey really nailed it when he described his experience as a young believer in the hierarchical structure of the traditional church. He refers to the diminishing of life as one continues in the institutional religious system. Too many believers are unaware of what happens in this religious system.

The system is a parasite that sucks the life out of its host, in this case, the people of God called "the church". This religious system relies on the God-breathed life within the believers to perpetuate itself. The result is a strengthening of the system and a weakening of God's people. Their energy is spent serving the system, not in serving God. Yet many are deluded into thinking they're serving God because they are involved with serving the church's programs in some capacity. Certainly God can lead people to serve him in the institutional church, but too often people are only filling a need that the system has in order for it to function effectively.

More and more people are waking up to the fact that the system is demanding, having no regard for the welfare of the people. Sacrifice is demanded for the system under the guise of giving oneself in service to God. Many who have dropped out of the system are discovering the freedom and vitality of life in the kingdom of God, which the system prevented them from more fully knowing. They are realizing there is life outside of the religious system that is far more exhilarating than anything the system has to offer. In fact, as any parasite, the system doesn't give life, it only takes life, harming those it lives off of.

Jesus said, "I am come that they might have life, and have it abundantly." This life is marked by authentic relationships with God and one's fellowmen, something the religious system can't provide in its impersonal organizational structure. But the life of the kingdom originates in relationship and is manifested through relationship. Davey alludes to this as he shares his experience about sharing at the nursing home. What he is experiencing there is genuine and life giving as he gives of himself, free of the baggage of obligation that the religious system saddles its participants with.

"...Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."

There are an increasing number of Christians who have a nagging sense that they are not at home in the world nor in the church as they know it. Not fitting in either one, they are exiles, people without a home. It has been suggested that believers need to imagine themselves as an exiled community where the values of the kingdom of God can be nurtured.

With the passing of Christendom, the religious culture that has dominated since the 4th century, the people of God find themselves in a foreign land, not unlike the Jews who were exiled in Babylon. Likewise, there is a striking parallel to the first century Jews who felt exiled in their own land under the Roman Empire and their own religious system. Christians who have come to the realization that the American empire and the present religious system are alien to their kingdom values also have a sense of being in exile in their own land.

It's in exile that the Jews were formed into a people with articulate theology and brilliant literature. Exile works into a people a substance and depth of character that a position of dominance never produces. Jesus, along with his followers lived in exile in their own land under Roman rule and the Jewish religious system. If we are going to be disciples of Jesus, we will also live in exile, going out to him "outside the camp", as the writer of Hebrews expresses it.

Here's the question: Is God taking his people into exile here in America where he will form and fashion them into his people in a way that wasn't possible in Christendom?

Is this God's agenda for his "church" in America?

Following up the last post, I want to throw out an idea to be considered and get some feedback. Many look at western Christianity and bewail its marked decline, therefore assuming that God is not doing anything in the West. The end of Christendom in America has witnessed the plummeting of church attendance on any given weekend to a meager 17.5 percent as of 2005 (The American Church Research Project). It's such statistics as this that cause alarm amongst church leaders and prompts skeptics to write "Ichabod" over the church in America.

If we are not seeing the same phenomenal results we hear coming out of Asia, Africa, and South America, we mistakenly believe that God is not doing anything here in America. This is a common error made by those who judge God's activity, or the perceived lack thereof, by comparative experiences.

While people are still coming to faith in Christ here in America, though not in the astounding numbers as in the aforementioned continents, it appears that God has a different agenda at this time for America. I believe God is in the process of correcting those things that are not in line with his ways.

The pronounced individualism in the people of God is evidence of the influence of the secular culture on the western church. The consumption of goods and services by professing Christians gives ample testimony that God's people are afflicted with the same disease of consumerism as the rest of society. The blending of Christians into the culture of America with its bent toward material gain and the "good life" has so corrupted the faith that it is difficult to distinguish Christianity from the American dream.

God is intent on having a people that will reflect and bear witness to the kingdom of God by the life they live. This will be a community that will be in stark contrast to the self-absorbed culture of society at large, though not as a quaint curiosity piece as some sects, but as an attractive lifestyle that many are longing for, but haven't yet seen a demonstration of that will draw them in.

So I wonder if God isn't exposing the foolishness of the lavish American lifestyle that so many of his people have bought into, and thereby giving the gift of repentance to those who receive his revelation. This repentance is seen in the radical change marked by a departure from individualism to community, from consumerism to generosity, from complexity to simplicity, from passivity to activity, from the institutional church to the organic church, from the kingdom of America to the kingdom of God.

Could it be that God is going to get his house in order before bringing in a harvest so that those who come in will not be polluted by the corruption that presently exists in the Americanized religious system so common to western Christianity?

I want to share some thoughts sparked by some of the reading I've been doing. These thoughts don't exist in a vacuum, but in the context of the national and global events that are shaping and reconfiguring our culture and society. I believe we're living in the most revolutionary era the world has seen in the last 500 - 1000 years, and possibly longer.

The outlook is rather grim when taking into consideration the crumbling institutions that were once perceived as unshakable. The troubled economy and the financial crisis worldwide gives evidence to the house of cards that we have built. Then there is the ever-present threat of terrorism. Add into the mix the social agendas that have stirred the deepest of passions in the populace, along with the paradigmatic shift in the function and form of government and we have the makings of a perfect storm.

It all sounds like Isaiah 60:2: "For behold, darkness will cover the earth, and deep darkness the peoples."

But that isn't the end of that verse. The rest of it reads, "But the Lord will rise upon you, and his glory will appear upon you."

Our perspective depends where we place our focus, on the negative implications of the first part of the verse, or on the activity of the Lord in the second part of the verse.

As citizens of the kingdom and disciples of Jesus Christ, we can't afford to have our perspective shaped by the obvious darkness that is constantly reported over the internet and the 6:00 news if we are to be effective in the mission of God. Anyone can see the darkness, but only those who are seeking first the kingdom will be able to see the kingdom activity of God. And seek it we must, for Jesus said the kingdom of God comes without observation.

I'm becoming aware of just how much God is moving here in America, but it's mostly beneath the surface, hidden from view. Much of it is still in mustard seed form, which explains why it's difficult to see. We have to dig and search to find it, but it's there.

We have to change our way of thinking from big to small if we are to see the kingdom unfolding in our midst. Remember, Jesus compared the kingdom to a mustard seed. Ultimately, the kingdom in its fullness and maturity will engulf all of God's creation. But presently it's hidden, like leaven in a lump of dough. So, quoting from Shane Claiborne, "Get ready, friends...God is preparing us for something really, really - small."

I ran across the following paragraph of Tom Sine from The New Conspirators.

"When Jesus began teaching he made it clear that his new empire would be unlike any empire the world had ever seen. It came on a donkey's back. Its imperial council was comprised of a handful of unemployed fishermen, a couple of IRS agents, a prostitute and some hangers on. Jesus demonstrated how to wield his imperial power by washing feet, telling stories and playing with kids. Jesus' empire is based on the absurd values that the last should be first, losers are winners, and the most influential in the empire should clean the toilets. Members of the empire are are instructed to love their enemies, forgive their friends, always give twice as much as people ask of them and never pursue power or position. Jesus insisted that those who are part of his empire shouldn't worry about finances, but simply trust God. The resources to run the empire were basins, towels, and leftover lunches. This empire also developed a reputation for constant partying - almost always with the wrong kind of people."

Sine's ability to turn a phrase eloquently portrays the values of the kingdom of God, which turns current church and governmental systems on their heads. This kingdom that Jesus ushered in is the new creation while the present systems that are so commonly employed are still part of the old creation.

The old creation, contrary to how it may appear, is wearing out due to the corruption of sin, which it has been subjected to. We are witnessing it with our very eyes as the world's governmental systems are breaking down, financial security is fast becoming a thing of the past for most people, and the world is convulsing under the overwhelming weight of unsolvable problems that threaten the existence of society as we have known it.

The new creation that Jesus announced is one of absurdity and utopian fantasy to the old creation mentality. Therefore leaders continue to employ their doomed theories and postulates to fix the unfixable. The unregenerate mind can't comprehend the ways of the new creation. That's to be expected. But when those who have entered the new creation revert to living by the doomed ways of the old creation, they have fallen from grace.

It's time to take the radical step of totally embracing the new while rejecting and letting go of the old. However, sad to say, too many "Christians" don't have a clue as to what the new is, that is, the kingdom of God. I have a sense that it will take drastic measures to rectify this.

The early Christian mission was political, in fact, revolutionary. The German jurist Ehrhardt, an authority on Roman and Greek jurisprudence and politics, has demonstrated the subversive nature of the early Christian faith and documents, identifying many of the Christian attitudes and sayings as outright seditious. In the religious-political environment of the times, Christians rejected all gods and confessed Jesus as Lord of all lords. Private "religion" was unthinkable, divorcing the spiritual from the physical in light of the all-embracing reign of God ushered in by Jesus.

As it was then, so it must be now. Christians can no longer live in the philosophical dichotomy of the Enlightenment that makes "religion" a private matter, prohibited from the arena of everyday public life. Never before have we faced a secular culture that is now systematically removing God and his ways from the mindset of the populace.

"America, the land of the free", is fast becoming obsolete as a valid description of this nation, especially for devoted Christians. As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, our first love is not America. Our devotion is not to the President or the laws of the land, which are increasingly opposed to the kingdom of God.

The law that we follow is the kingdom law of love: to love God with all that is in us and to love our neighbors and one another as Jesus loves us. We reject the convoluted laws of man legislated to support political agendas and enforced by the courts to do the same when these laws violate the royal law of love that God has ordained long before any congress, legislature or court ever sat.

In this pluralistic society, we reject, as did those first century Christians, all gods except the one true God who incarnated himself fully in the Lord Jesus Christ. We adhere to his teachings as recorded in holy writ, rejecting any mandate running counter to his authority. It is to the government of God that we bow the knee, not to the anti-Christ administrations of power-seeking politicians.

If this is sedition, so be it!

Jesus tells a parable in Luke 16 of an unjust steward who squandered his master's resources. Knowing that he faced an uncertain future after being told that he would no longer be employed, the steward took action to help insure that he would be provided for. He was commended for the wisdom he employed to prepare for the uncertainty he would face in the future.

This parable is pertinent to us at this time. We are facing uncertainty in the days ahead like at no other time since the Great Depression. Economists tell us that the national debt is now impossible to pay off. There are those who are forecasting triple digit inflation and unemployment at 20% or more. Add to this the projected collapse of the banking system that is already teetering on the edge, and you have the perfect storm.

Like the steward of Jesus' parable, we must ask ourselves, "What shall I do?" To continue with 'business as usual' will only insure that we will be totally unprepared when the storm hits. So what can be done to prepare? The obvious answer that comes from all quarters is to get out of debt. This is a must, but there is a second course of action that 99% of the population is oblivious to: joining together in a sharing community.

To break out of the mold of our individualism and come together in community will enable people to not only withstand the ravages of the storm, but will enable them to have provision in the midst of hardship and famine. God has instilled within his creation principles of growth and provision of exponential proportion in the context of community. It's none other than the kingdom of God. And it's this kingdom that weathers the storms of the corruption of man's systems.

The 2009 movie, Defiance, a true story about three Jewish brothers in World War II eastern Europe who provided a community in the Belarussian forests for threatened Jews under Nazism is a vivid illustration of the protective and redemptive power of community. These Jews, who would never have survived on their own, lived through the war to see their children and grandchildren in the years following accrue in number into the thousands. These thousands of lives would have never existed were it not for community.

No one is in a better position to meet, endure, and overcome the gathering storm than those who are followers of Jesus Christ. But we need to take action now in order to be prepared.

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Not since the Civil War has the United States been at a crossroad such as it is today. There are ominous clouds gathering with increasing intensity, and as it is with the weather, so it is with these clouds: the best of human strategies and schemes are totally useless in the face of the gathering storm.

This nation is drowning in debt incurred by loose fiscal policy that caters to a culture of consumerism and greed expressing itself through a warped sense of entitlement. An ever-widening gulf is developing in the political arena with such hostility and invective that hope of opposing political forces cooperating for the good of the country has all but disappeared. We are truly a house divided.

Advocates of competing ideologies are becoming more and more radical to the extent that violent revolution no longer seems far-fetched. The days of innocence are but a fond memory.

Added to all of this is the dark portent of a looming economic global collapse that will plunge the world into an abyss never before experienced. Being bombarded with the news of these impending crises has caused fear, frustration, anger and despair to sweep over the people. But as followers of Jesus Christ, ours should be a different response.

Jesus describes similar conditions in Luke 24, but gives a word of encouragement saying, "But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we should respond differently than those whose hope rests on the government of this world. The coming of his kingdom to earth should be greeted with expectation and joy even though the clash of these kingdoms, God's and the world's, results in chaos, turmoil and upheaval.

If I'm being torn by fear and frustration, tormented by worry and depression because of national and world events, it's likely that I'm not seeing from the Lord's perspective, bu my own fleshly perspective. It is the ensuing end of the old in the face of the arrival and penetration of the new. The old creation is giving way to the new creation. What has been prayed countless times over the centuries since Jesus first uttered these words is now coming to pass: "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

We should immerse ourselves in Psalm 46. It is a psalm for just such a time as this.