I am feeling a little like Lewis this morning because he married an American woman in part because of immigration and then he realized that he loved her — and married her again, not in a registry office, but in a Church. (Well, she had cancer and he married her on her sick-bed). This is driven by a comment from Vanessa.
Yes, the madness…. and the black market… and the chance for revolution. Women simply cannot produce enough (or any, really) surplus to keep men in Xboxes and Cheetos.
[Returning to the miscegenation thread yesterday, I agree with Will S that we should not look at skin colour. However, we live in a fallen world, where skin colour codes, in many nations, with disability and discrimination. There are two answers to this, and they have both been used in this century. One is to rely on the judicial arm of the state to enforce quotas -- which is the model that the civil rights movement in the USA and the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa degenerated into. The other is to double down and be three times as good as the opposition. This is the strategy of the Jews, the Chinese, and White (men). The state's regulations against them do not matter, because we will work. XBoxes and Cheetos do not satisfy].
Our issues are trivial. We fight about the meanings of secular documents written after revolutions, or about how to divide the taxes in the most “equitable” fashion. We look to our leaders for solutions, and our leaders encourage this dependency.
We do not grow up. And we forget that our Church is a church of power.
1Then Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. 3He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money — not even an extra tunic. 4Whatever house you enter, stay there, and leave from there. 5Wherever they do not welcome you, as you are leaving that town shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” 6They departed and went through the villages, bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere.
7Now Herod the ruler heard about all that had taken place, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, 8by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the ancient prophets had arisen. 9Herod said, “John I beheaded; but who is this about whom I hear such things?” And he tried to see him.
10On their return the apostles told Jesus all they had done. He took them with him and withdrew privately to a city called Bethsaida. 11When the crowds found out about it, they followed him; and he welcomed them, and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed to be cured.
12The day was drawing to a close, and the twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away, so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside, to lodge and get provisions; for we are here in a deserted place.” 13But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish — unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.” 14For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15They did so and made them all sit down. 16And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. 17And all ate and were filled. What was left over was gathered up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.
I want to contrast Herod with Christ for a minute. Herod is not that unlike our politicians in any era: he was a tyrant, yes, but there was more freedom of expression in his tyranny than there is in our modern panoptican state.
Herod did not get what was going on. He did not understand that the people flocked to Jesus. He saw a bunch of working class men, uneducated, who were moving through Galilee working acts of great power and preaching a kingdom of love and service, not steel and fire. Healing people, not torturing.
And the disciples of Jesus were not funded, They went relying on the people for the very bread they ate. They were sent to heal and proclaim. This is reinforced on their return, when instead of retreating and resting, Jesus heals, serves and feeds.
Our politicians see the world in terms of legislation, compromise, party and elections. They cannot look up and see the hills, nor worship God, for they are far too busy at fund-raising meetings. And because they are busy, they cannot see the changes in society. They cannot see that the church is purging the unbelievers. They cannot see that the Gramscian “long march through the institutions has failed — because those who have come along behind that — of the same generation or the ones following — have noted that where the casualties lie, see the childless homes, and say quietly “Not for us, and not for our children”. We see them unable to retire, because their business has blinded them.
They do not see that the Church has been winnowed. Only the believers go now. And they will not tolerate the Church becoming the Kiwanis.
And they cannot see that their tendency to borrow, to steal, to acquire money so they can bribe the electorate with more “Free stuff” will fail.
But the Church will not. For the Church is, in this dispensation, doing the work of Christ, for Christ, in the name of Christ, and in the faith that Christ will bind and heal the wounds that it gets, cleanse it from the filth it is splattered with, and we will be joyously united with Christ at the end of this age.
The Church has more power than any army. The truth will out despite any oppression. And we need remember from what foundations we have come, and rediscover our first love. Playstation and Cheetos? No.
Give me succor, for this week I have dealt with the consequences of the evil we do (for that is my profession) and give me real food, real fellowship, and real love. The virtual world is fun, but does not satisfy.
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