The service of the land is an inexorable duty laid upon Man, and it is surprising that it was not included in the Ten Commandments. The reason must be that it was prior to the Commandments, since it was already decreed in Genesis that Adam was put into Eden to dress it and to keep it, and that Man was given dominion over the Earth and all its creatures for that purpose. In attaining planetary consciousness we come back again to this primordial commandment; we have now to dress and to keep the planet, the whole planet.
-Eugen Rosenstock, “Planetary Man”
Several years ago I stated in a blog that there is a tension, maybe even a contradiction, in my outlook as an American citizen and my outlook as a Christian. I want to pick up that theme again.
As a citizen, I am somewhere to the right of the Constitution Party. Because I affirm the doctrine of original sin (I might as well say total depravity), I believe government should be small and controlled by intricate systems of checks and balances--within by the classic balance of its own powers (judicial, legislative, etc), and without by other spheres or institutions, notably the church and the family. Add to this the balance of central and local governments. I have no doubt that the collapse of the balance of powers in our culture is on the increase, and government is no longer protector, but nanny and priest. I am delighted to see groups like the Tea Party, who are trying to articulate a building frustration. If their cry becomes articulate, there will be hell to pay for one side or the other. Big government scares me, and talk about world government raises specters that would make the Lubyanka cringe. In fact, to me the words world or planet are spooky in themselves.
And there seems to be an inevitability in the whole process. One-world market and one-world communications transcend political boundaries, and perhaps pave the way for the politicians to catch up, and open the door for the inexorable rise of anti-Christ. The solution for Rick the citizen is to hold to the past. I read somewhere that the Church of the Middle Ages saw its very existence as an inhibitor of the rise of the Beast--a persuasive argument for its perpetuation. We certainly have our Protestant, evangelical, dispensational version of the same scenario. Preach the gospel, maintain limited government, resist socialism, affirm isolationism, curtail world-wide anything, and we will not be dragged into the future horrors of the Great Tribulation. Two things stand out in this agenda: the believer and the citizen become one and the same, and the past is our hope and the future our nemesis. With those realizations, the Christian in me parts company with the citizen.
In passing, it is worth pointing out that all good things come of God, and all good things are counterfeited. One-world market and communications have brought great good for man in the sovereign purposes of God. But that is an issue for another time. My real concern is with the Christian attitude towards the future. The past helps me find and know myself among others with their own pasts, but the future is what draws me and ultimately defines me. If the future is the perfect, then it draws what is not yet perfect into itself. The eschaton will reveal who I really am, and the future man who is already born in me struggles towards it and will never be fulfilled without it. That means that the Incarnation was not only God entering human space, but the future entering human time and calling us forward. The first Coming was not just a promise, but a seed, of the second. How can I possibly want to hold it at bay?
I began this blog with a quote from Rosenstock, to which I should probably turn my attention. Here is a Christian using a term that is worthy of Hilary Clinton: "planetary consciousness." Rosenstock realized as early as the 1940's that political barriers were hazing, and that "we can no longer sacrifice ourselves to dale and grove, nor to the idol of Western Civilization, nor to upholding the schism between Western and Eastern Christendom, nor to European hegemony...." Many things of the past will die or drop off as God calls the world into the future, parallel to the transformation that occurs in each individual Christian in microcosm. Doubtless rebellious man will counterfeit God's plan. But that should not stop us from longing for the time that the lion lies down with the lamb and a little child leads us. In fact, "longing" is too weak a word. "Taking responsibility" for the earth that groans for the manifestation of the sons of God is a better term.
Taking responsibility may include thinking "green," and taking part in movements that lift human oppression, but I believe that it primarily means accepting the fact that we Christians are already part of a planetary movement known as the church. The West is no longer the model for Christendom. There are mass conversions in South America and India. There are miracles in Africa. The Chinese church is full of a power that puts the West to shame. The American church is looking for a new expression of itself (or resisting it). There is a foment going on that requires looking forward, not backwards. The future is pulling, and pulling; and it is glorious, and not our enemy.
So back to the original point: here I am, stuck between past and future, pessimism and optimism, and hoping the two resolve themselves, or flow together in a way not yet foreseen. For the time being I'll live with it.
I am reminded of a joke: Did you hear about the hippie who asked a street vendor for a Buddhist hot dog?
ReplyDeleteStraight man: What do you mean a Buddhist hot dog?
He said, “Dude, make me one with everything.”
And Charlie Wilson’s famous quote, “What’s good for General Motors is good for America.”
There is a tension between being a Christian and being a citizen of the United States. As much as I wish it was so, we are not the city on a hill. What is good for the United States is not always or necessarily good for the Kingdom of God.
Although I know I am not one with everything but an independent moral agent who must walk that lonesome valley. On that Day what I have done in the flesh will be judged as I enter eternity.
Still I do not share the heart and mind of God when I say, “Look at that poor person over there,” but when in compassion my heart suffers with another because of our shared humanity.
We are the crown of creation and the dust of the earth, learning to deal with that kind of paradox is a mark of spiritual maturity.
The world is changing and changing very fast. The implications affect many parts of our life including our financial future and the future of the church in America. It is my opinion that in the lifetime of our children (meaning 30 years old today and younger) neither the “normal” American employment experience nor the “normal” American church experience will be anything they can even imagine today.
The environment? I better stay away from that one. Given what environment regulations have done to this country’s industrial base, I might say something I would later regret.
Chesterton said that if your break the big laws, you create small ones. As I think about planetary consciousness, I am thinking of Chesterton's dictum. We need not pass lots and lots of tiny regulations. Rather, we can enter in the rhythm of meditating on the Magnificent Ten. While ERH didn't see the environment in the 10, I cannot help but see it.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, "no idols" tells me that the Father regulates weather patterns, and I might trust Him and not resort to blood sheeding to stimulate a sleeping Baal. I'd say the land is still being desecrated with human blood (sweat and tears) as idol making continues to dominate our markets. Or what about Sabbath? Our family, servants, animals and the land are all invited into this rhythmic rest of sevens: days, years, and more. This is not to mention "no stealing," "no coveting."
While I believe Christ is the fullness and fulfilling of the ten, I also believe he is still speaking, guiding and leading us into love through the wisdom within the ten. I'd say if we reflected deeply upon the implications of the ten, we'd see how God's wisdom is better for the creation than endless regulations. Everything flows out from and back to relational love.
Thanks Rick. Good stuff.
"The march of Providence is so slow, and our desires so impatient; the work of progress is so immense and our means of aiding it so feeble; the life of humanity is so long, that of the individual so brief, that we often see only the ebb of the advancing wave and are thus discouraged. It is history that teaches us to hope." - Robert E. Lee
ReplyDeleteAfter seeing his nation ripped apart and his local culture subjugated and practically destroyed, Lee did not attempt a retreat to the past, but rather spent his remaining years serving as president of Washington College, helping to prepare young people for the future. American culture is ebbing, our "light on a hill" is fading, but the kingdom of God is advancing in other places, as you pointed out, and He's still working here. I wish the church in America could stop confusing the ebb here with the end of all things; she's beginning to sound like Chicken Little. Rather, we should get about the business of preparing the next generation(s) to carry the light into a much darker culture than we've known, making use of global communication, etc., to bring the scattered of God together in fellowship and labor, with an eye toward the glorious future for which He is shaping His bride!