Gayle has been writing this morning and I asked if I could post it here.
Invitation? Requirement?
In the most guttural sense and particularly in the current global state of war war war, run by mad men, we are crying out for POWER OUT and for a power out-age. (A continuation from the time in Spain when all power went out for days after rolling up the Europe map..)
There is an awareness that the earth here (everywhere) is asking us to empty out power (by which I mean power over other) and that we have a window of time for this.
As we have been tracking with the feminine story here (Sicily) we felt the Eden soil – under all the spirits of victim, wrong protector, and rage oppressor/manipulator, (as well as probably other things🤷♀️) – wanting to stand open and vulnerable. Historically each time that has manifested she has been raped, martyred, deified etc etc. Yet still it is the heart cry. For a different outcome and to do this really, the true masculine also needs to show up. Vulnerable also. This will change systems.
Power power power is on full display right now.
The emptying out of power (kenosis – see Roger’s work on this) is our only chance. The dream where I plead with Mr Banks to take off the suit and go play with the children. Empty out power. We are in intercession to see this part of the dream come through. This is at a systems level.
Like we all know systems can’t change unless we change at a personal level. But the invitation? requirement? is where there is power and who has it to empty it out.
The thing with power is we don’t always know we have it. We’re often blind.
Jesus came as a man, why? To empty out power. He lifts women up. Created space for them in a society that didn’t. If he had come as a woman he couldn’t have done that.
Comes as a Jew. Why? To empty out Jewishness. To include Gentiles. He had to come as a Jew to do that. A gentile could not have emptied out that power.
Power out.
So I have agency. I do. For what is in my power. My attitude, my stance, my behavior etc etc. But to change the overall in-the-world-power-imbalance , I don’t think I’m wrong in saying that it needs those with power to empty out power. And that includes me, privileged as I am. And that when this is done collaboratively it undoes the wrong. And that will change systems.
The problem is when we don’t see the power. How can it be emptied out when it is not acknowledged or seen? The rich and the poor. The poor have agency but they can’t change the system without the rich emptying out power.
Black people in the civil rights era had agency but it needed white people to stand with them and empty out power to get the laws changed etc. This injustice is far from over still. Men and women…The US female hockey team have agency, they used it to not go to the White House and to speak out. But how much quicker would change come if the male hockey team had done that as well? Spoken up and emptied out their power to stand with the women? Can it actually change for women without that kind of response from men?
What about the trans community and all those expressing different sexuality or none?
And of course there’s animals and creation. How we use power over them.
This observation is not too profound but it does appear everywhere we look the abuse of power is being hit head on. From the (former) grand old duke of York (the Epstein files will simply not go away) to great swathes of the prophetic movement / streams. More has to come and we still have some serious dictators who have to come in line or be removed.
I have – along with many others – watched the YouTube exposees of some of the prophetic abuses and downright fabrications with horror. Back in 2021 I warned that this was coming and about 18 months ago said to Gayle that once that has been ruthlessly purged that there will come a wave that will confront the healing movement (not saying my terms are correct with the use of ‘movement’).
What is being exposed at the core is that of the abuse of power positions. Years after the ‘interaction’ between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky was she able to say that it was abuse – abuse primarily because of the imbalance of power position. The addiction to power and the belief that things change by the exercise of power has to be broken. The prophetic abuses have to be sorted and I recall a dream I had of a European gathering that was discussing ‘prophetic protocols’ for the next phase, into which a recognised USA prophet materialised (he has passed away a few years back) as a 40 year old; he was present representing a former move but also realising that what was laid down (allowed?) as protocols in that time had led them to where it had become corrupted. I think the bottom line issue is that of power position. Why quickly restore those who have been abusive – their gift is needed seems to be the motivation. We cannot afford to go that way.
The three temptations of Jesus still stand: economy (turn the stones into bread), be hailed and honoured as from God (throw yourself down from the Temple) and use a system to change the entire world (I will give you the kingdoms = Christendom). The show of ‘the prophetic’ with names and addresses shows so clearly that such people are of God, the system as embodied in the ‘Seven mountains of influence’ and with more than sufficient dosh to get it all out is being challenged. It has to be.
Deeper than laying a new foundation (‘prophetic protocols’) is the walking away and renouncing of power and power positions. ‘Being in the form of God (not in spite of being in the form of God) Jesus laid aside his power position…’ And ‘let this mind be in you’ was the exhortation.
A year ago we rolled up the ‘queen of Europe’ from the head to the feet. Within hours came the power outage in Spain, Portugal and spilling over into France and Morroco. Power outages occur. Also signs occur as signs point us to what is taking place and they draw to themselves what they are indicating. Power outage is here.
The ‘power’ issue faces us all. It is irrelevant whether we are at the so-called ‘top’ or not. Power will not change the world – hence the forever debates that eventually are not resolved of ‘a God of love with unlimited power’ and suffering. Start with that understanding and the only way to resolve it is ‘mystery’. For some time I have been saying it is ‘presence’ that we have to manifest. Not power over, but presence with. And you shall call his name ‘Emmanuel’, meaning ‘God with us’ (beginning of Matthew’s Gospel) with the final promise in Matthew’s Gospel that Jesus will be with us to the end of the age.
Presence with.
Buckle yourself in – particularly us charismatics – the ride is getting bumpy. Don’t give up on what you know… don’t get obsessed with what is out there; pay attention to what is within.
Finally on the current abuse of power in the big world… I am praying that the feeding from the next generation will not be possible. That is manifest in such issues as the economic structures of the world and the lack of care for environmental issues with the attitude it will be OK for us in our generation. A long post might be needed but I simply sow it here – the current dictators (as always) are feeding off the next generation – we need to see that supply broken – and this perpetuates their existence. Just a thought… and yes I will get to posting on Sicily ere long!
Often in the Charismatic world there has been an emphasis on demonstrating power to convince… I see a necessary shift from power to presence. Knowing who God is… carrying that presence, so that God is again mobile – not having to put up with the frustration of being confined to a ‘temple’. The curtain is torn.
I am writing this post a few days after the total power outage in Spain, Portugal and Andorra. There was some impact on other nations but the power outage was total here. We still do not have our internet back, hence replying to emails and putting a post here has been delayed. At a practical level a wonderful reminder to how so many people in our world live. We were in total darkness so had the wonder of seeing the stars in a way we have never seen them in Spain before; we had no water and had the privilege of being by the sea to use sea water to ‘flush’ the toilets… all that lasted around 12 hours, minus the internet (now 72+ hours). Many in the world have no access to clean water… we remain so privileged.
Our context
Gayle had a birthday with a number of guests who were here for 3-7 days and in the middle of that time we had a session to consider where we were at vis-a-vis Europe. The global scene is in major flux with global shifts taking place. The USA, China are currently the ‘big’ powers and other players will have to find fresh alignments. Some while back as I was praying I had an image of a world map and ‘Latin’ America shifted and positioned itself under Europe; the African continent simultaneously moved under China, while India remained in position. There is an obvious interpretation and I am sure it will not be as neat as that but there was a direction of movement of the south dislocating from the north and moving eastward.
Europe will have to make some choices in the coming years as to her alignment and into that the UK will need to make choices.
Prior to Brexit, some months prior, a person we highly respect and love, LA, had a vision and in it a hand took the UK out of Europe, the result being that the colour drained out of Europe down into the earth somewhere located in the Pyrenees. Later a hand put the UK back in. Against all expectations the UK left the EU; our response was to travel with a number of others (our ‘tribe’?) to the Pyrenees to pray. Now the UK – partly catalysed by the issue of the Ukraine – is having to determine her relationship to Europe. Coming back in (not necessarily to the EU) on a military and trade basis would be totally insufficient, but we watch and wait. We call for something more.
Biblical signs
They serve two purposes. They point to what they are signing and they draw to themselves the reality of what they signify.
Spain seems to carry a ‘gifting’ of being the canary in the mine (a recently published history book used this analogy to interpret Spain in the context of Europe). Something happens to the canary and it provides a warning of what is to come. I have been convinced for some time that with we saw in the Pandemic is one of a number of chaos-producing events to come. (I have no idea on timing but I have seen that we will face something catastrophic where the global population will be reduced significantly…)
Europe
Europe has to find a new unity and learn how to travel in the flawed Chinese / far east vehicle. We were privileged to have 3 Chinese people with us when we came to the session on Europe and their presence kept us reminded of the direction for our future. (I say the ‘flawed’ Chinese vehicle – the European and Western vehicle has some terminal issues that we have learnt how to patch over – time to abandon it!).
LA some years back sent us an old map of Europe showing Europe as a queen (Europa Regina) with the head being Spain, the neck being the Pyrenees. The map comes from an era to illustrate a unity and a euro-centric view of the world. (The Queen is standing up – the head is ‘hispania’ and our maps of course would have the head to the west. The heart is Bohemia.)
Europe as we have it today:
was laid by the Greeks
strengthened by the Romans
stabilised by Christianity
reformed and modernised by the Renaissance and the Reformation (15th abd 16th centuries)
globalised by successive European empires (16th and subsequent centuries).
We prayed… or rather focused on the map at two levels – this was a past scenario, though currently pulling on this past power flow, and this was a projection, so simply rolled it up from the feet to the head, rolling it up in Spain.
The power outage – and it will be months before anything definitive is released as to the cause – almost certainly took place at the ‘neck’ of the ‘queen’, at the Pyrenees, the connecting point of the Iberian peninsula to Europe. (And connecting with the Brexit vision.)
Other aspects
In this recent period of time a major earthquake in Turkey with tectonic plates shifting. Turkey is the meeting point of East and West (and the context for much of the book of Revelation in terms of the seven churches).
Pope Francis has passed away. With regard to his appointment and the previous one I was very agitated and pulled heavily for an African pope and was disappointed that a conservative one was appointed – Pope Benedict. Pope Francis has come in and has to a significant level emptied the seat of power (marked by many staunch Catholic politicians refusing to give him the title of ‘pope’!). I have no agitation over this appointment at all – whoever comes in is coming to a seat where the power has gone.
These events mark a significant break from the past and we have entered a time of ‘silence’ waiting for what is to come. The power outage marks this period. We wait (not a passive word… in many languages wait and expect/actively hope are the same word).
Back to Europe
A new unity
A new alignment where the far east has to figure
A new generation in the foundation (not standing on the foundation) as a new foundation is being laid
This latter point is important – the language of ‘again’; books on my shelf eulogising over Europe’s ‘Christian’ past as being the guide to the future are (my opinion) seriously misguided.
The path to the future is a new one… there is a movement from ‘church’ through ‘church in the city / region’ to a grain of wheat falling in the ground and transformation rising… rising as something comes down from above and something from below comes down.
Jerusalem, Rome and Far East
There is a NT movement that seems very clear. Jesus dies in Jerusalem and declares that no prophet can die outside Jerusalem. That death in Jerusalem has been understood (righty) for our sins – though not in a penal substitutionary transactional way; but that death carries so much more into the grave – kingship, hierarchy, all human / societal categorisational divides etc… That death was essential to take place in Jerusalem (the ‘religious’ centre) where religious power pulled on political imperial power in order to kill the incarnation of the divine. This releases Paul to go to the ends of the earth – to the oikoumene of the Imperial (and one-world government) of the then world. Constantine and Christendom is then where political power pulled on religious power to – as noted above – to stabilise (turn the world upside down… NOT) imperial rule. This is why the emphasis on ‘rolling up the Roman road’ from the early 2000s was so important.
Jerusalem to Rome – for me so clear in the NT. Founded on the Abrahamic vision of his seed being promised the world (hence I do not see a ‘promised land’ in Scripture, although it is present in some texts)… now we enter a new stage. Where is China / Far East within this? There equally was an Imperial (different order) in China in the time of the NT even though Jesus came at the ‘fullness of time’. Now we are arriving there. Uncharted territory. The Gospel cannot be altered but the application and expression of it will be.
Babylon’s peace
There is a major piece of instruction from Jeremiah to pray for the peace of Babylon (using the Hebrew word shalom). There is an old order being disrupted. Jerusalem is destined to have peace and reconciliation, but not through domination. In Jerusalem all that went into the grave… The new Jerusalem that is coming down that John saw was nothing other than the transformation of the whole world order. He did not see a temple with a city (the Temple occupied around 20% of the entire city of Jerusalem) but he saw a city without a temple. Babylon is in view, not Christendom. A challenge to all that has been the focus.
Big days are here!!!
Power gives way to presence
For some months I have been focused on a shift I see. The charismatic / pentecostal paradigm has been power with the ‘we will demonstrate the power of God to convince’. Of course that is present in Scripture, but I have been seeing a deeper call to live the presence of God. I am not reducing this to a style of worship where we ‘feel’ the presence, but something far beyond that. It is moving from activity ‘to’ someone / a situation and beyond something ‘for’ someone / a situation to being ‘with’ and ‘in’ the situation / circumstances. Then miracles happen for that is the incarnational presence. As I wrote above religious and political power combined to kill the incarnational presence of the divine.
There are new foci for us all. Realignements on the global scale are imminent, and deeply pressing at the personal level.
As one world order dies so another comes to life… I wholeheartedly believe we have a ‘vote’ on what comes. ‘Embracing tomorrow’ has always been the response of the prophetic and since Pentecost it is not simply the priesthood of all believers but the prophethood of all believers.
I had a birthday yesterday, one of quite a few I have had so not a big deal. Getting older (wiser? or simply eccentricities coming to ‘maturity’?) and carrying faith is so interesting. I guess one can double down on faith and keep it ever so simple or learn to live with some loose ends and face some doubts head on. Doubling down on faith can ignore the ‘that does not really connect but my faith is certain’ and ignore the discrepancies such as God is love, God can save whoever, God will punish a great number without an end in hell-fire. That takes strong faith, but dare I say it, for me it simply does not hang together.
Many Christian beliefs are founded, not simply, on Scripture but on how Scripture has been interpreted, or maybe even more strongly put, I have my beliefs and use Scripture to back up my beliefs. I have long since been unable to substantiate from Scripture the idea of burning for all eternity in hell; likewise that God punished Jesus in our place on the cross. ‘Christian beliefs’ cover a very wide spectrum; ‘Scriptural beliefs’ probably also cover a bit of a spectrum and that spectrum is narrowed down through the narrative that finds its centre in Jesus. [Maybe I hear a little concern there with the implications of such statements on Scripture… but our faith is in Jesus to whom Scripture bears witness.]
Doubts? They come. Is there a God? Now that is a big question! Living at this time by the Mediterranean and having had a number of guests who have used the pleasant water to swim in, how could there not be a God… but that same Mediterranean has seen around 3000 die in it per annum who were escaping horrendous situations. That raises a big question. If there is a God who is defined by love and could save those people but does not do so, does God exist? I am pushed to conclude that ‘god’ does not exist.
My faith that there is a ‘God’ is rooted in the trustworthy historical record we find within Scripture, and is centred on the resurrection of Jesus. Paul of Tarsus coming to faith in Jesus is remarkable. A Hebrew of Hebrews, zealous for the God of Israel to the extent that he persecuted the (Jewish) church – those renegade Jews who dared to believe a crucified Person was the Messiah was a mockery of the God he knew and tantamount to blasphemy. The only other option of such a proclamation was that the God he knew was going to be, in measure, ‘redefined’.
With Paul, and the many other Jewish converts, I find that the only credible belief is that they 100% believed they had encountered the risen Jesus. Crucified in weakness, but risen. The resurrection – the body could not be produced for the claim was not that Jesus was alive – that could have been made though would have had little traction among Jews. I find the only option is that they believed Jesus was raised from the dead by the God their ancestors had worshipped, and were willing to face death as a result of their beliefs.
I am sure there could be explanations for miracles, for dramatic personal experiences that do not resort to a God explanation. They are not proof that God exists, but important testimonies (‘God added his testimony by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit’). My faith is not founded on those aspects, but founded on good first-hand historical testimony. I find no other reasonable explanation for the spread of faith in Jesus over those first centuries, the spread of a message that God in Jesus is revealed as one who is humble and a servant to one and all. Not a message likely to succeed in a religious world where the gods are above and beyond us, untouched by our pain.
I think we have to drop the idea that God could save one and all. The cross is like a rope thrown into the sea to rescue whoever grabs it. No-one who is rescued is going to say ‘look I responded so that means I saved myself’. Salvation is from God and invites our response to be effective, otherwise the grace of God will be in vain.
Power. Some have placed this attribute at the centre of who God is. Power can be limited (yes I will suggest God’s power is limited) by one of two ways. An inability. I am unable to do certain things as I do not have the power / strength to do so. Or I am unable to do certain things as my character limits me. And I say that cautiously as I am imperfect. Let’s make the human perfect and unchangeable in character, with endless patience. Such a perfect human as a parent could not beat their child continuously. To argue they have the power to do that is to miss the point – their power is limited by their character.
God’s power is limited by God’s character. God’s power is also limited in that he has allowed human autonomy. The Mediterranean crises is not a ‘if there is a God’ but ‘if there is a humanity’. Now there is a humanity, but is there a humanity in the image of God? A humanity that can say ‘if you have seen me you have seen the Father’?
That seems to me to be the God dream, the apostolic vision, the potential that we work toward. Painful along the way as there is a falling short.
If you have been following this blog in recent months you might have noticed a small sub-current of thought surfacing now and then – it is that of ‘presence’ not of ‘power’. I am far from a developed position, but here goes for a little re-surfacing.
I have been very impacted and continue to be by the inbreaking of God with power, so the ‘healing revival’ of 1948-58 (with all its flaws) has been of interest, the prophetic movement(s) of more recent decades and the like have also been a shaping influence on me. I am very grateful for the many testimonies of healing I carry… power. And power is part of the Gospel story. I am reading in Hebrews at the moment:
[W]hile God added his testimony by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will.
Signs, wonders and miracles… ‘The works I do you will do…’ in John’s Gospel where ‘works’ seems to be used consistently of the miraculous. Globally there remains a gap and also therefore a wonderful expectation, and into the gap appears some amazing testimonies.
A recent connection of mine wrote me:
The charismatic movement has framed gifts/charisms/mighty works as primarily about displays of superior power which invite/demand allegiance.
Can we move beyond that… without the loss of the miraculous? This is part of the season we are in. I am also aware that the wheels are coming off some flag-ship movements, thus indicating that the foundations were inadequate, but as always we will have baby and bath water scenarios. What a time to be living in and I am asking a BIG question as to what foundations are required now for the next season.
Dreams have shaped my thinking and also a recent experience while taking a Zoom class into a prophetic school in Brazil. I was asked to speak about ‘false prophecy / false prophets’, and over years I have had so many experiences there of confronting that manifestation – and where able to break it there have been literally a thousand or more testimonies of physical healing. At the end of the Zoom session I was asked as to how we should respond to a situation that they had recently experienced of a ‘prophet’ coming through who would give Social Security numbers to the person they were prophesying over as a means of affirming that they were indeed speaking God’s word. The ‘messages’ given after the affirming knowledge were totally controlling and manipulative. I said I don’t care about the preceding release of knowledge (the Social Security numbers) the words have to be rejected.
Can God give Social Security numbers / phone numbers / names and addresses – for sure. Does he do that – I would say ‘yes’. But… yes there is a ‘but’. Carl Wills (I was on Zoom to him this morning) says and they wanted to blindfold Jesus and ask him to prophesy as to who hit him. That is an impressive show.
I like Mr. Elisha (first name or surname?). He had intimate knowledge of what was taking place, much to the annoyance of the king of Aram, who wanted to know who was betraying their secrets. He was told
No one, my lord king. It is Elisha, the prophet in Israel, who tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedchamber (2 Kings 6:12).
The same Elisha was also honest enough to say he was clueless about the distress a Shunammite woman was under:
Let her alone, for she is in bitter distress; the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me (2 Kings 4:27)
The gift of intelligent guessing would have looked more impressive than that! But the gift of the true prophetic is not about looking impressive. Social Security numbers sound way impressive.
Focus on (superior) power… be careful it can be very seductive. And in a seductive atmosphere seductions take place. Hence I am thinking presence as being the environment. On prophecy Paul says that the testimony should be, ‘God is really among you’. Present. God (in the body of Jesus) became present – ‘among / with us’. At the finale ‘God will dwell with them’ – presence. When present even shadows can have an effect as was discovered in Jerusalem as Peter walked past.
The platform has become the place where the presence is mediated – the worship leader ‘brings’ the presence of God, the prophet, the preacher… and so it goes on.
But the wind? Well…
The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
You don’t know… hiddenness and visibility together. And ‘the wind’ is not an analogy for the Holy Spirit but for those ‘born again’. Platform giving way to the wind. [Perhaps that would straighten out the activity and hopes for evangelical movements who want to control politics.]
So a little resurfacing. There are ‘power’ words in Scripture… but I suspect that true non-manipulative power is to come through being truly, fully present. And to be fully present? That is the journey.
I have been provoked by the quoting of Scripture in the mouth of ‘the adversary’ when confronting Jesus in the temptations. Three intertwined temptations related to mammon, religion and power. Interrelated because they impinge on one another, and are seldom ever totally separate. The Scriptures are a dangerous set of writings as can seemingly bend them for my own purposes. The three take place in three separate locations: the wilderness (the journey through with enough but not an over-abundance) hence a good place to throw the temptation of abundant provision; the high mountain to see whatever oikoumene (imperial domain) might be appealing to us to be the king of the castle over; and then the Temple (religious context) – the context in which the Scripture was quoted by the adversary.
In Revelation (the book that corrects our sight) the wilderness was the place where Babylon was manifest (Rev. 17:3) to John; unless we learn how to navigate the wilderness it is unlikely we will see Babylon manifest. Likewise it was at the top of the mountain that John saw the New Jerusalem come down (21:10) and we are going to be tormented by the seemingly eternal existence of Babylon unless we can refuse status, domination and hierarchy.
So to the temptation where Scripture is quoted:
Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’ ”
This is the temptation in the temple. God is with you in a unique way. Always this is what seems to be the signs that surround those who can tell us the way to go. God is with them, thus proving they are beyond me. Or… God anoints the person who is embodying the great rejection of heaven (the king); the disciples (not the 11 but the 12) come back with ‘even the demons are subject in your name’. Says a lot about God; does not speak about the approval of deviant behaviour or position.
There are those who carry the presence of the Lord in unique ways – that is the nature of the anointing… but super-stardom is not the way of the kingdom.
One of the big concerns I have is when the three temptations come together in a way that ‘a three-fold cord is hard to break’… Economic promise, political power and religious uniqueness, then add to that the quoting of Scripture. Warning bells sound!
Simon Swift wrote me a few days ago with what follows that I have published as a post with his permission. We might react when we read ‘the weakness of God’, but we struggle (or should) when we read about ‘the power / all-powerfulness of God’. Simon wrote:
Over the last few weeks I have been drawn to the idea of the weakness of God as an alternative to the power of God. This is the idea that Jesus went to the cross in powerlessness.
In church we often sing of the power of God and there are lots of images of a small child with a large lion behind them in a kind of, ‘My Dad is bigger than yours’, way. I wonder if we miss something important when we fall into this type of thinking.
Recently I watched a news article in which a middle aged Palestinian woman on the west bank while attending a protest march was asked if they should continue an armed struggle. In her answer she stated that, ‘The rest of the world only knows power.’ This is the power of empire is about domination and control with the ultimate sanction of death for those that oppose it.
The best definition of love I have ever heard is: Making room in your own life for someone else to be themselves. This does carry a risk and makes you vulnerable; a weakness that can be exploited for sure but it is also the way of freedom, creativity and growth without the control that power tries to exert. It is I believe what Jesus practised. A good example is the woman who anointed his feet at the dinner party; talk about an awkward moment but Jesus loved her enough to let her do it and even defended her.
Jesus seems to have refused to side with power. At the forty day fasting he refused it; When arrested he refused to use the power he had (legion of angels); His sermon on the mount included teachings on what to do when someone had power over you (turn the other cheek etc.) All seems to show he chose, and invites us, to walk the narrow path of weakness. Ultimately the cross is the best expression of this; allowing death to take him but not hold him. Not so much he defeated death but went through death and came out the other side; now death cannot touch him.
I feel that we should not confuse power and weakness. In a lot of action films there is a cliche where the hero is fighting the bad guy. At some point the hero seems to be losing and the evil dude stops to monologue on how weak the hero is, usually because he has loved ones or friends he cares about and in his attempt to defend them he has made himself vulnerable. Of course as usual in Hollywood, the hero then finds some extra strength and goes on to defeat the bad guy so we can have a happy ending to the film. This seems to nicely show what weakness is about: love and caring for others.
The Church unfortunately has often opted for the easy option of power and has been corrupted by it. When it has done so it has joined in with empire, tragically losing its way off the narrow path. No wonder there has been so many reformation and revivals! As Christians is power all we know? Perhaps in these troubled times where we see power being used in devastating ways, we should stop calling ourselves Christians and instead become the People of Easter choosing not sides but becoming instruments of reconciliation. That though invites misunderstanding and persecution and we will have to decide if we are ready for that.
A Reflection That Asks a Question
An image so clean, so pure, we sing Dressing him in clothes of white and gold With strength to wield a sword It hides the wounds we give him
Do you dream of being a courtier To a king sat in grandeur With jewelled crown and silver sceptre An aura of majestic power
Look in the mirror, ask your reflection Are you a thief who would be courtier To a king lifted up naked and bruised Who’s crown draws blood for you to drink from
Would you hear his invitation To share in his glorious pose Or mock in indignation at his critique Of power and its grotesque exhibition
I am reading in 1 Samuel at the mo and of course have been reading of the institution of the monarchy with 1 Sam. 8 being ever so central. There were good kings and bad ones, but it is not too difficult to draw a line that by the third generation of kings (Solomon) the people have not left Egypt but headed back that way. The Queen of Sheba might have been very impressed, but we don’t have to go too far behind the public face to see the cost. The hierarchy is impressive – if one is impressed with hierarchy. Not surprising that the king who comes up to take on the northern lands comes up from Egypt and sets up some golden calves! Three generations.
Saul starts well, but it is ever so hard to occupy any seat of power and to continue well. Into that context Samuel says,
The Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, but now your kingdom will not continue; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart; and the Lord has appointed him to be ruler over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you (1 Sam. 13:13,14).
God goes where we go. You are rejecting me, you want a king… I will anoint a king for you. (This of course has consequences, but in line with the series on the cross, God will take the consequences, Jesus dying as ‘the king of the Jews’!) Into these seats of power that God never instituted and that tend to corrupt, s/he looks for someone after her/his own heart. What does that look like?
It must look like a foot washing servant who is among us.
There are many seats of power in our world that will work to corrupt anyone who is appointed to sit in them (could it be that the seat ‘the Messiah’ was no different?). We can be realistic, for God is realistic. The seats are there. And always God looks for those who will occupy those seats but with God’s own heart.
I am not a Catholic, and so no surprise that I am not convinced that the papacy has anything to do with a ‘seat’ that Peter sat in! I am not suggesting Pope Francis is perfect, but when I read of his involvement with the first nations people in Canada recently I think maybe in that aspect we have God finding someone after his heart to sit in the seat that should never have been.
And I need to take to heart the seats offered to me… white, privileged male. The seat is there – how do I sit in it, or maybe do I get up from the seat (down from the seat?) and put a towel round my waist…
Pope Francis, the Catholic church and the First Nations peoples
I had an email at the end of last week letting me know that this had taken place in Canada. Might be a long time coming, but great to read.
I don’t know if you have been aware of this but First Nations peoples here in Canada, as a part of Truth and Reconciliation, and the journey of healing, have finally had a meeting with the Pope. We have been dealing here in Canada with a very violent and sad history of institutional abuse of children. Children were taken from their families and put into church run schools, often funded by the government. The government has apologised and paid out billions. The Protestant churches – Anglican and United – also apologised years ago. But the Catholic church held back. Would not apologise and has not paid what it agreed to pay. It was even difficult to schedule a time for delegates to meet with the Pope, though some of that was Covid.
This week delegates from Inuit, Metis and First Nations had private meetings with the Pope. They invited him and the church to walk with them on the journey of healing noting that the Church needs healing. They spoke about land and told their stories of trauma. They explained they have a shared Creator, this to a Church that had declared them non-human back in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Today the Pope apologised. He spoke of coming to Canada to visit their land and homes. He spoke a lot of land and intergenerational trauma. He hugged delegates. He spent way more time with them than was scheduled. Delegates danced, sang and prayed in their languages which had been banned in these residential schools. They gave the Pope gifts – a book of their stories, a cradleboard that symbolized all the children lost, an Inuit worked cross made of baleen, and other things. They have asked that the Pope renounce the Doctrine of Discovery that declared the lands as empty of humans and free for Catholic nations and the church to take over. It was put out in the 15th century and fueled how Europeans treated indigenous peoples.
A big moment for Canada and the world. It makes way for a larger shift.
I am enclosing a link to a recent post that a friend of Gayle and I put up. If the language of ‘Seven Mountains of Influence’ doesn’t mean anything it is still worth a read, for the language and theology is gaining much traction. I write about it in the preface of the book that is due out next week. I have wondered if it is just language and if the language can be used without the underlying theology of domination. I know people who use the language and are far greater servants that I am… but ultimately I am not convinced the language is redeemable. And Michele makes this clear – ‘words create worlds’.
Michele has her convictions as I have mine. Even if you do not share ours I do suggest a read of her post will be highly insightful. [I would certainly consider that the underlying theology has had a big part to play in the all-but unbelievable activities in the USA these past years… and writing as a European, I am very aware that we can think we have a window on the USA… it is not a window it is a mirror.]
Michele Perry was our first visitor to Cádiz. We had boxes still to unpack and she arrived in our first week there. She stayed for a week or so and we have stayed in touch since then. She is a remarkable and a courageous woman in the extreme. It took 5 flights to get to us, travelling with a suspected form of malaria. She was a pioneer missionary in a war torn land (including AK47’s pulled on her). I could multiply comments about who she is. I am certainly humbled to connect in a small way and observe her authenticity. (Her wider blog is worth following.)
