All posts tagged God's Politics
I'm not always wearing my full habit...
Poverty isn’t caused by accident. There are unjust systems and structures that create and perpetuate poverty and human suffering. And service alone is never enough; working to change both the attitudes and institutional arrangements that cause poverty is required.
To change injustice, you must confront politics.
Jim Wallis, in What is ‘Biblical Politics’? at Sojourners (emphasis mine)
He continues (again, emphasis mine):
This is what the Bible teaches us. The scriptures reveal a God of justice, not merely a God of charity. Words such as oppression and justice fill the Bible. The most common objects of the prophets’ judgments are kings, rulers, judges, employers — the rich and the powerful in charge of the world’s governments, courts, economies, systems, and structures. When those who are in charge mistreat the poor and vulnerable, say the scriptures, it is not just unkind but also wrong and unjust, and it makes God angry.
The subjects of the scriptures’ concern are always the widow and the orphan, the poor and oppressed, the victims of courts or unscrupulous employers, debtors whose debts need to be forgiven, strangers in the land who need to be welcomed. And the topics of the prophets’ messages to the powerful are things like land, labor, capital, judicial decisions, employer practices, rulers’ dictates, and the decisions of the powerful — all the stuff of politics.
How are your Representatives and Senators doing, when it comes to biblical politics? Do they take care of the widows, the orphans, the poor, the marginalized, and the oppressed in their district or state? Or do they stay where they are comfortable, among the rich and powerful and privileged?
Have you tried washing their feet?
This little story by Betsy Shirley on the God’s Politics blog asks us an important question.
A few weeks ago, I got a free sermon on the metro.
During rush hour in Washington, D.C., I boarded a nearly-empty metro car, grateful to find a seat in the 5 o’clock frenzy. However, as the automated doors slid shut, it became clear why this particular car wasn’t so crowded: A man was standing in the middle of the car, waving a Bible and ranting against gay people.
As a Christian, said the man, he felt called to point out sin when he saw it. He waved his Bible around and screamed words like “abomination,” “hell,” and “judgment.”
A few people told him to be quiet while the rest of the rush-hour crowd fidgeted with their smart phones and tried to ignore him. … “Yeah, but have you tried washing their feet?” asked another passenger from somewhere on the train.
It’s only six words, Have you tried washing their feet?, but it’s a huge question. The sermon that this one little question delivers does not refer only to LGBTQ persons, but really to all of our neighbors.
- Have you tried washing the feet of Governor Walker? Of those protesting in Wisconsin on the part of teachers?
- Have you tried washing the feet of pro-choice activisits? How about anti-abortion activists?
- Have you tried washing the feet of that one annoying guy at work? Or maybe your boss?
In John’s gospel, during the account of the Last Supper, Jesus gives us a very clear commandment to wash one another’s feet — a commandment as clear as Love your neighbor or Do this in remembrance of me. We literally obey this commandment on Maundy Thursday, with a liturgical foot-washing, but rarely do we think about it during the rest of the church year.
The act of washing feet is filled with symbolism. To do this, you must kneel in front of another person. You must hold their filthy, dirty, nasty feet in your hands — a surprisingly intimate gesture — and tend to them. Our feet take so much abuse in the course of a day (and how much more so, in first-century Jerusalem!), and this action treats our tired, sore, dirty feet with gentleness and tenderness. To have our feet washed by another puts us in a vulnerable position, unable to escape or to protect ourselves. It is a position of great trust for another. So indeed, an equally worthy question is this one: Have you let them wash your feet?
Undercover Nun invites you to hold these questions in your heart. The next time you are frustrated by another person, the next time you are outraged by political shenanigans, the next time someone hurts you — before you respond unkindly, pull out these questions. Have I tried washing her feet? Have I let him wash my feet?
The first and greatest commandment, Jesus says, is this: Love God. The second commandment is just like it: Love everybody else. The entire story of God and God’s people is based on these fundamentals.
(Source: zazzle.com)
