So Chris has been away from an Internet connection for a while, so I took some notes last night from our discussion about the Jesus for President book tour.

I’d like to start with a quick quote from Bonhoeffer’s Life Together.

“It is not simply to be taken for granted that the Christian has the privilege of living among other Christians.  Jesus Christ lived in the midst of his enemies.  At the end all his disciples deserted him.  On the Cross he was utterly alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers.  For this cause he had come, to bring peace to the enemies of God.  So the Christian, too, belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes.  There is [the Christian's] commision, his work.”

 Bonhoeffer goes on to quote Martin Luther:

“‘The Kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies.  And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people.  O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ!  If Christ had done what you are doing who would ever have been spared?’”

Ouch.  If you have never read Life Together and you are seeking out community, then you are sorely missing.

Ok, so with that said, here are some rough notes I took:

In regards to the Hebrew people wanting a king like the world had, God warns this king will take and take.  10% of their cattle and produce, etc.  I find this to be true of people in church today.  They are willing to have a hierarchy in return for 10%.  They now have to do nothing and let this leader lead.

Human history is played out in the timeline of kings and presidents.  God’s history is through the prophets.

In talking about how Jesus said to walk an extra mile with a Roman solider:  It was actually a military infraction to do so on the part of the soldier, (trying to win over the hearts and minds, you know).  I initially, thought about us walking a mile in the shoes of an al-Qaeda soldier, but…

What happens when we are the occupying force and not the occupied?

Chris (of this site) said the church today has an unwritten doctrine to be complacent with living in the occupier’s land.  It is easier to be the occupier than the occupied.

You know, when you look at the Confessing Church and compare it to the churches in Germany who raised the swastika above their buildings, how is that any different than placing the American flag in churches and those of us who question the unholy marriage of church and state?  Oh, I know… the Nazis made it law and the churches complied, whereas the church in America does it willingly.  So as Chris (of this site) says, when we are outside of the church, then we are the occupied.  And as I have been reluctant to say, but it needs saying, the majority of ‘churches’ in America aren’t the real church.  It isn’t until we start threshing the wheat from the chaff will we see any type of revolution in this country.

One of the examples Chris Haw and Shane Claiborne use is of the Hebrews laying down, exposing their necks, preferring to be killed than to have Caesar’s image be brought into use in their land.

Without being too harsh, I want to go back to the Bonhoeffer quotes above.  I referenced them in regards to the crowd in attendance at The Union Project.  It is easy to show up in what white bread America would consider a ‘bad part’ of town, surrounded by others in ‘alternative dress’, and be ‘emergent’.  But let’s be honest, how many of us would lay down in front of the president’s motorcade with necks exposed in protest of (fill in the blank)?

Shane also talked about the prophets being a thorn in the side of the king and the end result for the prophet isn’t usually a cushy mansion overlooking the Sea of Galilee.  If we were thorns in the side of our president, how quickly would we be surgically removed by SWAT or secret service?  So much for the king’s of this world listening to the voice of God, huh?

I commented on Josh Brown’s blog about the emergent church succumbing to marketing pressure.  And I can understand Josh’s frustration and disappointment at hoping to be on the edge of something new and seeing it get sucked into the mainstream.  I feel the same way about Shane and intentional community after seeing it start to pander a bit to what looks like Zondervan’s marketing demands.  I may be wrong on that point, and if I am would someone correct me?  But my observation comes from seeing a merchandise table with posters and t-shirts and all that stuff.

I get concerned when truth such as what Shane is saying/doing starts to turn into a movement.  As soon as that happens, the marketing whores start to circle like vultures looking for their next meal ticket.  What happens when intentional community becomes cool?  Like Emergent, people will talk about it and not really do anything, substituting talk and image with actual actions.

I had hoped to find people we could discuss the challenges of starting intentional community in a place like rural WV.  Instead, we saw what looked like a typical Sunday morning, people huddling aroung in their own groups of friends and guys trying to bag-tag each other during intermission.  Maybe I had hoped too much about the event or the people who would be there.  I dunno, I guess Jesus could have pulled the whole, “What’s the capital of Thailand?” with Judas before speaking to the masses.  Maybe that’s why he betrayed him?

Seriously, though, if we do not start to call attention to the acceptability of merely looking the part, then we are doing one another a disservice as fellow travelers in the way of Christ.  I don’t doubt for a moment that if we held each other to higher standards, then we truly would become a revolution.  When Jesus berates Peter for sinking into the water it is not for doubting in Jesus’ power, but for not believing he could do as Jesus did.

We speak out because the way of Jesus is obtainable.  We speak out because the church has dumbed us down to be satisfied with merely seeing Jesus as a substitution for our sins.  We speak out because Jesus also came to teach us how to live and pass on grace and love as we now know it.  We speak out so that others may learn to speak out.  We speak out for revolution.