Dead Man Walking

I went to services on Sunday morning & it was a good thing, as i needed to hear the text that was being preached: "Deny your self, pick up your cross daily, and follow me." Nothing against the good man whose responsibility it was to bring the message, but my mind hit into overdrive and most of everything i had ever learned when in the ministry about this passage came flooding inside my mind.I've been thinking about it even more over the last couple of days.

It is almost impossible to hear a good sermon on this topic, mostly because American preachers either, a) land a God sized guilt trip with this passage, emphasizing a radical individualism or, b) illustrate just how well the congregation has done in this area, and in the process democratizes the Kingdom of God.

I have been in Church services since before i was born, literally, and there are things i have never heard preached on ever. I have never ever, except the few times i tried my hand at it in youth group (where they looked at me as if i'd lost my mind because who wants to hear this when your young and full of piss and vinegar?) did anyone cover what it meant to the those ruled by the iron fist of Rome.

Three things popped into my mind: 1) alienation and estrangement, 2) political subversion, and 3) tension maintenance. If you were crucified in the ancient Roman world, it meant you were an alien and a stranger, someone who was not a citizen. You were considered to be a second class citizen, without the right of due process. There was a reason why crucifixion happened outside the city gates -- it was to make death that much more a lonely and hopeless experience because it cut you off from a ethnic or communal identity. It also meant you were considered an enemy of the State. Crucifixion was reserved for those who rebelled against Roman authority, although others who threatened the established order, such as thieves of private property and murderers. The crucified was almost always a threat to the established political order. Lastly, this passage means a tension few could be able to live their lives in. Think about a prisoner on death row, who has to steel themselves to their fate, knowing they are going to die. There have been rare occurrences in the past where the method of execution has not only failed once, but several times. Can you imagine someone who has survived multiple execution attempts, how much tension must have been ratcheted up during each

2-11 25 Minutes To Go

Although their is individual application to this passage, i believe the implication is far more communal than individual. Until i found MercyHouse, I had never attended a Church body who was not fully comfortable in the culture around them. I had never attended a community of faith who said they were members of the kingdom of God first and Americans second. I had never attended a group that has consistently, everyday, expected each individual that made up their community to live counter culture to both the political ideologies of Left and Right and the cultural expectations they were raised in. Part of the legacy of the Second Great Awakening (or the Great American Counter Reformation) is a reconciliation of Christianity, culture, and politics, and Pentecostals/Evangelicals are especially guilty of cultural accommodation.

This is glaringly opposed to the early Church. Holding true to Church Liturgy meant being branded as cannibals (the body and blood of Messiah); Christian community meant being labeled as incestuous (brothers and sisters in Christ); believing that God was Three yet One earned the name atheist (Christians no longer sacrificed to the local deities); and calling Messiah Jesus by Caesar's title "Lord" meant the possibility of a literal cross to carry as an enemy of the State. Christian morality has always revolved around people being made in the image of God and thinking that as Christians they were dead men (and women) walking. Christian morality has traditionally been viewed as without rhyme or reason by the culture surrounding the Kingdom. Christians have always acted morally by opposing abortion by adopting, ditto for saving babies left to die of exposure (mostly girl babies), by giving their lives away to die taking care of plague victims, by staying as man and wife in cultures that have practiced polygamy, and by doing the same and risking the wrath of an effeminent elite, especially in Rome (You try telling Nero that man was made for woman and woman for man and see how fast you'd be on fire to light his dinner party).

It is hard to think of yourself as a convicted political subversive with a daily death sentence hanging over your head. Yet can one follow Christ, Messiah Jesus, without at least a partial awareness of this call?

PS if any of you know a better blog location than Vox, let me know. I am so tired of not being able to download audio files that i about can't stand it.