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So, I’m getting back to writing about the four marks of empire. This time I want to ask questions about how so called “developing nations” fit into the overall global economic system. Is it possible that the “poor” countries of the world function in a similar way as the conquered provinces of Rome? Is development aid and the social and economic terms that come with it just another way of ensuring that the wealth of these countries continues to flow primarily toward the wealthy nations of the world?

Let’s look at how it worked in the Roman Empire. In a book called ‘Pax Romana and the Peace of Jesus Christ‘, Klaus Wengst writes:

So what Rome needed in order to exploit a province economically was above all the provision of an infrastructure, though this was tailored to its own needs. If the term “development aid” had already been in existence it would have been just as much a euphemism for exploitation as it is today(Wengst, page 28)

You see, Rome came and built roads and irrigation systems and other infrastructure to help the provinces “develop”, but in the end it was to make them more profitable for the empire. The infrastructure was built to ease the flow of resources back to Rome.

I suggest that the policies and goals of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund help the world’s “developing” countries develop in a way that makes them more profitable investments for the large corporations of the worlds wealthy nations. I suggest that the flow of wealth continues to flow unabated from the poor and powerless to the rich and powerful. Over consumption in one area of the globe means resources are over consumed in other areas. Despite what the high priests of capitalism say, this world is finite and cannot support a “developed standard of living” for all of the human beings on this planet. We cannot have it both ways. If we want to consume more than our share of the worlds resources, others will have to make due with less than their share. This is called an ‘economics of oppression’. It is only arrogance on our part to trust in our own ingenuity to solve the finitude of resources through technology and good will.

While the policies of global economic empire by and large ensure the flow of wealth from poor to rich, on occasion military control must be used to enforce the system. No regime is safe from the US and it allies if it attempts to buck the system. Play by the rules or you may find your country run by a new government that does. Can we really burry our heads to this “open secret”?

So, if the empire elevates economic greed and avarice into ‘civic virtues’, then what is the shape of a community that serves a ruler who brings reconciliation and peace by sacrificial death rather than military might?(Walsh and Keesmaat page 61) How do we live as followers of Jesus in an empire of all-consuming consumerism?

In last weeks message, I mentioned that certain authors become trusted friends over time. And I mentioned that Wendell Berry was one of those authors for me. I thought perhaps you’d like to read for yourself.

If you go here and read this, I think you’ll start to hear his voice and how it has influenced my own.

While I am particularly fond of his poetry, it is the essays like this one that truly make him a trusted friend. Why, oh why, do the voices of the apologists of violence make more sense to us than the words of Jesus (see the last paragraph of the essay)????

subvert the empire, read subversive poetry! or better yet, write some yourself!

Empires always guarantee the status quo of privilege and oppression through a centralization of power. During the time that Paul was writing to the Colossian church, the Roman empire used many systems to centralize power. One is referred to as paterfamilias, which was a patriarchal structure of marital, familial and economic relationships. This patriarchal structure relegated wives, children and slaves to little more than property of male Roman citizens. This system centralized power among males and was passed down from father to father with the emperor being the “father supreme”.
Another system in those days was the patron-client relationship. This was in some ways similar to the lord-peasent relationships of the feudal societies during the middle ages. The wealthy and powerful patrons would bestow certain benefits to their ‘clients’ in exchange for their allegiance and praise. The patrons leveraged their power over clients by withholding or threatening to withhold basic resources. class was obviously important to this system, with many layers of patron-client relationships existing among the various socioeconomic classes. There were, of course, other ways that power was concentrated in the Roman world but I’m afraid I may have lost some of you already with the history lesson so let’s move on…

So let’s start talking about today. I think we should look to global structures because folks who pull the strings on the world scene have long since been beyond the scope of any single government. In this day and age I think that the patron-client system of the Roman world sounds a lot like the policies of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund that keep countries in the global South dependent by means of structural adjustments and perpetual debt. Regardless, it is hard to deny the systemic centralization of power that they represent in the global economy.

And despite all protestations to the contrary, the corporate landscape is overwhelmingly the domain of the white male. Most major corporations use the equivalent of slave labor to produce clothing, toys, tools and some foods. And would I be wrong to suggest that these products are produced in factories that are filled with a majority of women and children? What is clear is that power in the global economic system is primarily centralized with the male gender. A quick glance at the boardrooms of the largest multinationals would prove this point i think.

To my eyes imperialistic centralizations of power abound in our global systems. But hey, I may be way off base here. What do your eyes see?

Well friends, we’re about to enter a conversation about empire. But why? Why would we here in the midwest of the United States spend five weeks talking about “subverting the empire”? Of course, the new testament church grew in the midst of the hostile Roman Empire. And, before that the people of Israel were rescued from hostile territory in Egypt only to eventually find themselves in occupied territory once again at the hands of Babylon, Assira, and the Romans. But those days are over right? We don’t live in the shadow of any empire do we?

Perhaps a few words about what empires look like and how they wield power would be helpful for us to answer this question…

According to Walsh and Keesmaat (the authors of the book from which I took the title of this series) empires are:

1. 1. built on systemic centralizations of power,
2. 2. secured by structures of socioeconomic and military control,
3. 3. religiously legitimated by powerful myths and
4. 4. sustained by a proliferation of imperial images that captivate the imaginations of the population.

In the next few days I’ll explore each of these signs of empire as it may or may not relate to our context. In the mean time, I wonder what the rest of you might think. Do any of these spark a connection for you?

I want to call your attention to one of the blogs in my blogroll to the left. Marlin and Sally Vis are in Palestinian Jerusalem and are doing some incredible blogging at marlinsallyvis.typepad.com. When I was growing up with my Mom in Portage, Marlin was the pastor of our church. Sally worked at the seminary up until this past December so both Chris and I know them well. Now they are serving as missionaries working with the Christian community in Palestine.

If you have some time I highly recommend reading their blog at least back to the beginning of February…

This morning Dr. Marsh from the University of Virginia and Author of one of our texts for the class, The Beloved Community, talked about the vision articulated by MLK in the civil rights era. He helped flesh out the story and where we are today. It was helpful. We have to know our story and this is one that gets glossed over in most history classes. It get’s reduced to a petty sound bite.

Anywho… if you’d like to take a listen, click here to download [warning - this is a little over 20MB]

And then there was Sekou… After lunch, Rev. Sekou gave a message about recovering the pophetic voice in the face of oppresive empire.

I’m going to post this audio but be warned, this is like lighting a stick of dynamite. This is like chucking a live grenade in the middle of a crowded room (which is why I like it). download at your own risk!

Our class this afternoon was to get on a bus and go deliver a list of signatures to the Hotel Lobbyist people. We then marched six blocks to walk the picket line with unfairly treated hotel workers (on strike for 2.5) in front of the Congress Hotel on North Michigan Ave. You see, Illinois passed a law last year requiring Hotel workers to be given two 15 minute breaks and a half hour unpaid break on a 7+ hour day. Oh, and they need to be provided safe drinking water and a place to sit on break. The Hotel lobbyist think this is unreasonable so they have filed a lawsuit and have received an injunction against the law.

Talk about a teaching moment…

It was so enlightening to be marching in that picket line and watching the security/police officers get really nervous and start blocking the door way. And to see the renewed hope on the faces of the strikers at being noticed by the management for the first time in a long time. I’m still processing this experience… stay tuned…

This afternoon we heard from Jim Wallis.  Jim is the author of God’s Politics and close friend of Bill Wylie-Kellerman (who taught the other SCUPE class that I have taken).  You can listen to Jim’s talk by clicking here.

Is it possible that we, as the rich of the world,  can only enter the kingdom of God alongside the least of the world?  Leslie Newbigin poses this question in his book Open Secrets and it has haunted me ever since.  Most days, life simply pushes this question aside but this week the haunting has resumed…

As I’ve been preparing the message for this Sunday, I’ve been looking back over the year. One thing is clear, all is not as it is should be around this rock we call home. Was it a happy year? To tell the truth, it would be easy for me to just look to my own family. Then I could say that yes, thank you very much, it was a pretty good year. But I can’t escape the feeling that I’m connected at a deeper level to the rest of creation. And so, I’m forced to consider the hurricane, the wars, the hunger, the diseases and a myriad of other factors that made this year less than happy. What do we say to all this? How should we think in light of all that we see around us?

I’ve chosen to recite Habakkuk this week. If you get a chance, read it, I think Habakkuk has something to say to us. There is hope friends. Despite all appearances to the contrary this past year and for the year that approaches, I still believe there is hope. The Rhythm of God is not always audible. Yet, like Habakkuk, I will wait quietly for the day…

Technorati Tags: the Branch, church planting, Habakkuk, New Year

Yesterday morning it happened. By the grace of God, our dreams are taking shape together. Yesterday we picked up our instruments and listened close for the deep pounding rhythm of God. In a moment of beauty that are all too rare, we as a community began our journey of participation in the mission of God. Our call is clear. Love God with abandon, love others with passion and play the wildest game of follow-the-leader after our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanks to Brian for the comment on my previous post. If you worshiped with us yesterday, I’d love to hear what you thought. Have a blessed week and remember that a tiny babe changed everything… and so we celebrate.