Perspectives… that is normally all we have, or as Paul said ‘we see through a glass darkly’. I have been provoked by a number of zooms I have been involved in these past weeks to consider again some aspects of a prophetic word I received in 1999. The actual word is kinda incidental, but it has pushed me to think about Joseph, Egypt and the famine in Canaan. The story you will know well.
The pandemic has been a provocation for many people and deeply challenging. Adjustments will have to be made in many places, but recently I heard a report from a conference that the worry / complaints from the leaders present were that their numbers had gone down, they had ‘lost’ people. That made me think.
The ‘bread’ that has been (mainly) offered and consumed has been on growing the church, evangelism etc. As I wrote concerning the Acts 15 council I consider that there was a shift from a Jewish world view after the New Testament era, to adopting a Hellenistic (neo-Platonic in the main) world-view. Salvation became that of the ‘soul’ being saved so that we are able to go to heaven when we die, with the dear old world being left behind as it was destined to be burned up. I do not think that accords with a Jewish world-view. Meanwhile over centuries the Jewish calling became lost with a shift in meaning as to what the purpose of election was. Thank God for voices such as Jeremiah calling for them to embed in Babylon!
The bread on offer is running out. In Europe it is already diminishing in availability… in Brazil (where I do numerous Zooms) there is still a 15 year – or so – availability, the shelves are and will remain full.
There has to be, though, a realisation that the bread is running out, otherwise there will be severe rationing; the bread will be shared among fewer people.
Now the little twist that has been provoking me.
The bread for the future is in Egypt.
There is some kind of tie here to the post I wrote about Jesus being with the wild animals. The bread is located in the Imperial setting. (For those with discernment, Someone is doing a number on me!)
However, Joseph is problematic. We should not be too harsh on him, and if I read stuff aright here we are with his example and some 3,500+ years later we still seem to peddling the same old model. That model being – the bread will be in Egypt, we have the recipe how to make it and of course it will mean the enslavement of everyone, except for those at the top, for after all we need to be practical. Or in current language, we have to get into the world and get control so that we can change the world, and those of us who follow Jesus can be really happy that our people are at the top and all those ‘Egyptians’ deserve to be enslaved anyway cos they have some really nasty gods. Let’s capture the top 3% now!
After Joseph the Imperial power is stronger than before! All the land belongs to Pharaoh. Bread is provided but… at what cost?
In conclusion then.
Bread is running out. The bread that has been on offer. The new bread is different, it is made from a different recipe. It is – hey, my perspectives – not about individual salvation but about transformation of our world; it is the valuing of one and all; it is the end of hierarchy (one day I need to write about this and the gift of leadership); creation stewarding; signposts to the age to come expressed through the images that art, architecture can show us; the distribution of the ‘soul’ of the world into the world etc…
That bread is running out in Western Europe – hence the complaints about the pandemic from that angle, and the call to get back to ‘normal’. That bread is still in evidence in many parts of the world. (Not just now a perspective, but a total unashamed bias – it is for this reason I believe Europe is pointing the way forward… the way forward is not about church growth, but about being located inside Imperial domination.)
The new bread will only be found in Egypt.
We cannot do a Joseph, but have to be located where Joseph was located. To get there we should keep the complaints about being sold, of false accusation and imprisonment, to a minimum. That is the most likely pathway, as journeying to Egypt for many followers of Jesus will never happen without the help of a little betrayal, and some false accusations…
We cannot do a Joseph and strengthen the Imperial power. The land does not belong to Pharaoh. But to the meek.
I’ve been thinking about leadership and the future. This connects to your post. . . I promise. The convoy crisis in Canada over the past few weeks, even beyond the Covid crisis, has demonstrated what kind of leadership is effective during times of instability. Covid created much instability and we have watched world leaders grapple with it within their preferred leadership styles. Due to what I teach I am well aware that climate change will create social/political/economic instability for the foreseeable future. In the rest of my life span nothing will truly be stable again. And I suspect that is true for the 20-somethings I teach. What kind of leadership is effective in that context?
My bias perhaps is to see leaders who exhibit empathy and are inclusive as doing the best in any crisis. However, those qualities are often labelled as weak and ‘womanly’ by those who would like to lead. Those who see themselves as the leaders in a destabilized context often adopt the method of the strong man, the bragger, and the authoritarian.
Many world leaders, no matter who they are, are very challenged right now. Our most recent leadership styles and approaches have developed during a period of stability for most rich and western countries. Certainly not all countries have been stable or successful but for those who have been, leadership has developed the skills of mostly maintaining the status quo. And these people fail, for lack of imagination often, when the situation destabilizes. We have seen this in how provincial leaders here in Canada approached the pandemic.
One of the things that has become clear in the current crisis here in Canada is that there are people who want to accelerate destabilization. They want to provoke it. They see that as an opening for them to gain power and to determine what comes after. And what is meant to come after is an authoritarian state based on white supremacy. They are not shy about this and in effect this trucker convey (few truckers involved it turns out) has been both a propaganda tool and a recruitment drive for them.
The idea to accelerate destabilization and break down of society actually is something taught in many churches. That is the bread they have been handing out. That if only things get terrible enough Jesus will return, rescue them out of the mess, and leave everyone else to suffer. Nice vision. Many of the supporters of the protests here are led by their faith and churches. The bread handed out by many churches is actually toxic. It is a poison not only to the congregants but to the rest of us. It has birthed elements that seek to destroy life.
I am not a keen promoter of capitalism or of our current presumed democratic set up. However, I am well aware that political destabilization followed by authoritarian rule as a way of stabilizing the situation almost always leads to persecution of minorities and demotion for women in status and participation. The Taliban in Afghanistan are a great model of this. There are, of course, many other men (and always a few women too) affecting the same model of leadership.
Will this hold up during a time of climate chaos? I’m not sure. Authoritarians invite resistance and are quite rigid in their approaches. Throw enough extreme weather events at a locale and authoritarian rule might well break down. And climate change will throw extreme weather events, one after another, at all of us. To continue to do little or nothing about the climate is forecast to result in a GDP drop of 30% by the end of the century. The Great Depression is understood to have been about 15%. 30% will mean substantial destabilization due to famine, water shortages, weather crises, economic collapses, social/political disintegration. Who will lead in these times? With what skills? How do those leaders get into place? How are they sustained? What qualities will be rewarded? What kind of bread do they and we share with others? All questions to be answered as we move forward.
Your promise that ‘leadership and the future’ will connect with my post certainly does. Maybe it is also a ‘what kind of bread’ and ‘how is it made accessible to one and all’?
yes we might have expected an authoritarian response to Covid out of China and Russia, but Canada and New Zealand? That has been quite a surprise.
Thankfully there appears to be some resistance to the strong arm of the state from our own UK government if only partially.
The spirit of the age does seem to be pushing for more conformity to state designed norms right now.
I’m with the truckers 😉
Thanks Ann. Great analysis and searching questions.
I’m sorry if I’m being really stupid here but when you talk about ‘bread’ what do you mean specifically. Would it be influence, anointing, effectiveness or something else or all those things? It is such an interesting post I would just like to be able to understand it better. Thank you Martin.
Joanna… if you are being really stupid, then that makes two of us! Not wholly sure myself and I wrote it… but I guess all you suggest and maybe with a focus on what is being fed, the overall message, the words but more than the words the ‘world-view’ too, the culture, the ‘feel’, the spirit, the prevailing attitude.
Thank you Martin for explaining it more to me. That really helps me understand better.
This has really provoked me. And I don’t know why. It could be about ‘leadership’ ( a passion of mine). But I think it is about the bread. Not so much the world view/culture that is being fed (another passion of mine) but the actual bread (which I was urged to start making at the start of ‘lock down’ – not so much a passion but a fascination of creating something from nothing).
Let’s remember that bread has been the start of several revolutions and many riots: France 1789; USA 1863 and would you believe Egypt in 1977 and 2017.
My work across this world has shown me the importance of bread – not a luxury, but a basic need. I have witnessed long queues in Zimbabwe and Romania – for a single loaf.
The importance of bread has entered the language. English has phrases like ‘the breadwinner’ and ‘making dough’. And I love that the word companion comes from Latin meaning ‘with bread’ – what a choice of food to celebrate and share a life journey.
Very different from ‘panis et circenses’ (bread and circuses), a mocking term used by authorities to appease the masses!!
So thanks Martin. I am not sure what this is all about. But it’s good.