Emerging Wednesday- Christ's strategy

A portion of a great series from Signs of Emergence about Christ's "strategy" in regards to how he carried out his mission and vision. I thought this would be something a little Easter-y but something different.

clipped from kester.typepad.com what Christ is doing when he stays silent at his trial is refusing to even enter the game that the strategists plotting against him have set up. It is as if he deliberately loses, because by losing he is totally subverting the very idea of the game. And this is where Paul and Judas go terribly wrong. Presented with amazing opportunities to 'do something for Jesus', they fall into strategy, they throw their chips in and enter the game. Why didn't Paul imitate Christ and keep his mouth shut? Because his strategy was always to get taken to Rome, and to take part in a 'power play' with Caesar. On the cross the religious leaders taunted Jesus - if he's so powerful, why doesn't he save himself? This was the final temptation Jesus faced, the same one the devil ended with in the desert: take part in the power play. Jesus emptied himself of all that power, emptied himself of strategies, because he had to be emptied of the Self - the Self that pretends that it is powerful and influential.

How often do we go with Jesus' strategy, and how often do we follow Paul and Judas? I shudder at the thought of what we would find if we polled it.....

Purple Politics

Check out this great article about God and politics in the US of A:
Vanguard Church: America: Gods Providential Blessing or a Humanist Political Experiment?

I have never been really into politics; but I was raised staunchly Republican and for many years never questioned it. Come to think, I don't know if I ever knew otherwise or ever actually had a converstaion with . I recall hearing the Dukakis "potatoe" joke over and over, and was interested in Rush Limbaugh for a time (Rush is very good at what he does, but I don't consider him to be operating in the best interests of the citizenry). I remember voting for Bob Dole, even though the only reason I chose him is because he had not committed adultery, and I had never considered if he was Presidential material. (Sidenote:I have voted in every Presidential election, and have in the last 8 years voted in the midterms as well.)

But in all my church-attending years, it was drummed in that America was THE nation of God for the end-times. A local Pentecostal minister actually goes into great detail, comparing the line of Hebrew kings to our line of Presidents! I blindly followed these teachings, and as I reflect I think it was more because of the way it was sold (charisma, delivery, and quotes by Famous Dead Americans, or the F.D.A) than it's legitimacy as Biblical fact.

I'm going to stop short of getting into the theology of this, specifically Kingdom Now and Dominion Theology. I will say that I am starting to understand that the disillusionment that I have felt toward the political arena is not because the wrong people are in office, but because our government is not a representative of the Kingdom of God. Evangelicals like to think it is, but I am not fooled. I do believe God has blessed this country and I believe God has used this nation mightily, but do we have special status over all other nations? I think not.

Back to work....