AUSCHWITZ 'Thy kingdom come.'
Auschwitz. One is tempted toward sliding away from it with some simplistic slogans (or a stiff drink!) But one best pray, because one humanly does not have the capacity to contain it. It is a darkness that does 'put out light.' The depth, deceit, detail, and depravity of this dark place does cry with Jesus and His people through the centuries, 'My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?' Auschwitz demands of one something larger. Larger than a particular theology, larger than a parochial ecclesiology, larger (may I recklessly add) than just the Judeo-Christian faith. It demands the ever expansive Kingdom of God. One cannot visit Auschwitz without having one's 'kingdom boundaries' expanded. But this should come as no surprise, God is always pulling us into MORE. The twist here is God's ability to achieve this not via force but through the infinitely greater power of suffering. In the kingdom of God the way of suffering triumphs! Auschwitz. From 1940-45, the 'master race', with an unimaginable meticulousness to detail, and an acquired efficiency at killing, quickly graduated from shooting hundreds (proved to be far too expensive), to cremating 1500, and gassing 8,000 victims per hour. A death factory- 1.3 million came to Auschwitz and 1.1 million were killed. As we know most were from the 'chosen people'- the Jews. (Although the impaired, Poles, Gypsies, homosexuals, Soviet prisoners, & Jehovah Witnesses were also included within the Nazis' scope. And I might add, they already were laying plans for other 'inferior people.') Auschwitz. It not only outstrips superlatives surrounding the depravity of people- it cries for justice! But how? From whom? Out of the 1.3 million who came to the camp, only 110 were able to successfully escape. But the Nazis' layers of deception and secrecy were so thick that even the testimonies of the escapees among their own Jewish people (much less the wider world community) were not considered credible. To add further to this cry for vengeance is the fact that only 10% of the Nazis' who co-opted in this killing machine were ever brought to trail. Auschwitz also raises the 'WHO HAD IT WORSE' question. What about the millions killed by Stalin? As a pastor for 35 years in the African-American church, I know some of their sufferings and ongoing desire for justice, due to 400 years of slavery. What about them? And we can move from Cambodia to China and only scratch the surface- in just the 20th century (our bloodiest century on record.) Auschwitz, arouses abundant angst, yet it forces one toward a kingdom awareness. A sensitivity to the power of suffering and its force as witness. Adolf Hitler planned for his 'master race' to reign 1000 years. God tapped a 'rag-time band' from Abraham to bring in His kingdom reign. One a testimony to the use of force, the other a witness to suffering. It is no mystery today whose kingdom endures. Last summer I asked Eugene Peterson, 'who will avenge the cries of those who are gunned down on the streets of this free nation?' 'Where are the victims now?' I think the same question can be asked of the victims of Auschwitz, Hitler, Stalin, Slave Traders, (you fill in your holocaust of choice.) Where are they? Will they be heard? When? Eugene pointed me to those 'under the altar, the souls who have been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.' (Revelation 6:9.) Auschwitz. It demands an expansiveness beyond the 'favorite 144,000.' Those 'under the altar' are more numerous than our tidy categories contain. Their count goes beyond the lines of Christian or Jew or Muslim or Soviet or African-American. 'Under the altar' are all the victims of the unimaginable brutality that people made in the image of God can inflict on other image bearers. Auschwitz compels a kingdom expansiveness. And 'Yes', their testimony is waiting and WILL BE heard and avenged- it is already happening. As 1.1 million people per year visit Auschwitz, they BEGIN to hear the testimonies of those waiting 'under the altar.' When the church tells the stories of 'the faceless' innocently gunned down within the country that stands for liberty in entire world, we are hearing from 'under the altar', and beginning to receive an answer to what Jesus taught us to pray- 'Thy kingdom come.'
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'WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE?' Answer # 9
Swimming among the LUKE WARM in Laodicea. Part 2. Doctor John did not stop with his diagnosis. 'You say you are rich....but you fail to realize that you are poor, blind, and naked.' WHAT? Is this another 'John Joke?' Again Sort-of. But don't forget, John is pulling us into a 'reckless belief.' Laodiceans were anything BUT 'poor, blind, and naked.' They WERE RICH- and there in lie the cause of their lethargy. Within Asia Minor, Laodocia rivaled only Ephesus when it came to wealth, wisdom, and wonder. Founded by the generals of Alexander the Great, they also had their temples to Artemis and the Roman Emperors. But what set the 125,000 citizens nestled in the valley apart, was their 'Location, Location, Location.' Traders traveling from Ephesus to Pergamun and Anakara to Anatolya (both East-West & North-South) found Laodicea the best 'hotel' to check into. They were the Chicago of the 1st century. To add to their wealth, Laodicea developed an outstanding textile industry. Nakedness was not their forte, thanks to their valley's cotton crop, they had the latest fashions. And as if this were not enough, they also specialized in 1st century corrective eye surgery (I wonder if they could of done my cataracts!) Throw in some fermented grapes from their valley's vineyards and there was more than enough reason for traders to stop, stay, and SPEND a few days. Doctor John's jest was no joke. It was meant to hit 'below the belt.' The Laodiceans were being lulled into a lukewarm mediocrity by their wealth. Their walk had lost its edge- its sword. John's jab was more than just not choosing to stand on one's favorite 'self-righteous' soapbox. The joke spoke.....to their LIVES. Jesus came 'to bring fire.' He came to 'divide.' The Gospel must bring BITE! It is not some moralistic middle-class NICENESS! Neither is it theological CORRECTNESS. No, it confronts, unsettles, and disrupts- particularly the RICH! (of whom I count myself a member). Wealth insulates our living. It positions us into impotent postures-where we blend in with all the flowery wallpaper around us. Jesus is 'reckless.' His cross carries jagged edges that cannot be sanded down by our likes and dislikes. Jesus jars our lives away from ourselves and towards 'the poor, the blind, the naked.' How? Where do we 'Rich Laodiceans' begin? John points us toward the continual process of repentance before Jesus- who is ALWAYS there. 'I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.' 'WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE?' Answer #8.
'Swimming among the LUKEWARM in Laodicea'---Part 1. 'Is there a swimming pool where we are staying tonight?' I asked our guide as we pulled into our Five-Star Colossea Thermal Hotel. 'A pool,... of course!' As Kath made her way to the small warm outdoor wading pool I slipped into the other Olympic sized pool. 'Why were people only looking at it and no one swimming?' As I hit the water its frigid impact gave me my answer! I managed to get a few laps in and then promptly pulled a muscle in the chilly waters. It was time to find those healing thermal waters. We both headed inside. As I entered the attendant began to wave his hands, hollering in Turkish, and pointing to my head. 'You need a hairnet on your head' Kath poked me. 'A hairnet! You've got to be kidding. I don't have any hair!' 'What were we doing there?' The next hour saw 2 white netted American heads 'behaving playfully', warming themselves among waters spewing several foreign languages. 'Your deeds are lukewarm- neither cold nor hot. I wish you were one or the other!... I am about to spit you out of my mouth.' St. John writes to the Laodicean Christians. 'John, you've got to be joking.' Sort of it turns out. Laodicea is located in the Lykos Valley, bearing semblances to Livingston, Montana's Paradise Valley. Except here hay is not grown but hasheesh and opium poppies. On one side are the snow capped Bubba Mountains with ice-cold rivers cascading down and on the other side- the ancient city of Heraopolis with its stone white rocks spewing hot water into the valley. Laodicea had both hot and cold water plumbing for thousands of years! But John's thermometer read the church's temperature as tepid. Neither bringing cool refreshment nor warm healing- only an unwanted mediocrity. If one's beer is warm or coffee cold, they are best spit out than swallowed. John calls for repentance. Their deeds brought neither refreshment from meaningless materialism nor spiritual healing from a hollow human worship of the emperor- or worse yet Artemis- a sex goddess. Meaningless materialism and 'worship' of our human 'graven images'- things have not changed much. Swimming in lukewarm water is safe-no burns or pulled muscles. But a 'reckless belief' and a 'playful behavior' demand more. They require acts of risk. Deeds which challenge 'the party line' and are creative expressions of the Love that lives in us. This 'distinctive temperature' is what attracted people into the early church's baptismal pool. 'What are we doing here?'----Recklessly and playfully swimming in some strange surroundings! 5.21.14
'WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE?' Answer #7 An Ephesus- Patmos Connection- the 'believing recklessly and behaving playfully' listening as we go continues. Emmanuel, 'God with us', concisely packages the message God gives us. God with, for, and within us, in order for us to 'be fully alive, like Jesus!' As Henri Nouwen puts it, 'Jesus is more with us' than any other human being. This is the great paradox, since most if not all of our attention is given to the visible things & people which 'appear' to be closer. But geography, gods, gold nor the guru on the imperial throne can stop Jesus' compulsive commitment to be WITH US! Ephesus and Patmos are testimonies to this. Ephesus is the largest ancient Roman reconstructed city in the world. It is audacious, bordering on arrogance. Boasting a population of 400,000 at its height, Ephesus had it all, marble libraries, temples (to the Emperor and Artemis of course), an expansive agora (where Paul probably sold his 'tents' for 3 years), and an expansive harbor which safely welcomed ships commerce as well as sailors for both baths and brothels. It is the New York City of the 1st century. As one walks its streets one can faintly hear Frank Sinatra crooning: 'Ephesus, if I can make it here, I can make it anywhere.' Patmos, by contrast, is 'NO PLACE.' A tiny rocky island miles off the coast of Ephesus in the Aegean Sea. It is NYC's 'New Jersey. 'BUT GOD! Where does GOD do His 'Emmanuel-thing?' IN BOTH PLACES. But again with a minority, from the margins, and for the most part covertly. Shortly after Jesus died and rose, because of persecution, John and Mary (the mother of Jesus) escaped to live incognito on a hill immediately outside Ephesus. From that base, for several years, they could quietly come into and leave Ephesus- all the while planting several churches in Asia Minor. What is an interesting question is: did Paul and John meet each other there? When Emperor Domitian came to power (81-96 A.D.), John was no longer safe in Ephesus. Some say he went to Patmos not so much to be imprisoned but rather to escape the scrutiny of Domitian. Whatever the reason, it worked. Sources on Patmos believe that John spent at least 18 months on the island during which he was free to move about. 'The cave of the apocalypse', (a small area carved out of the rock with one window in it) is the place John would retreat to rest and renew. It is believed here that John received the 'revelation' through the window which faced the sea and by dictating to his scribe (Procurus?) he preserved the vision. There are several tales of his stay on the island- such as some trying to kill him in a boiling pot of oil-yet John lived; others saying that John never physically died but went up to heaven as light. More likely, after the reign of Domitian, John found it safe to return to Ephesus (around 95 A.D.) and finish out his days on that hill (with or without Mary) overlooking Ephesus. Today one finds a small church built in memory of John & Mary on this hill. On the other side of Ephesus up a top the acropolis are the ruins of another church built centuries later- there is a tomb stone claims the spot where John was buried about 105 A.D. (it is believed that John lived to be 104!) We know Paul's stay in the big city of Ephesus was quite different. He appeared to be well 'wired' into the civic and political culture and in the end he certainly did not 'go quietly.' His time included some 'Artemis Fireworks' and ended in an immediate eviction (Acts 19). In the end the church at Ephesus (and Asia Minor) was blessed by both the connected and confrontational Paul as well as by the contemplative John. Jesus is Emmanuel in both Ephesus' and Patmos'- in NYC's and NJ- in BOTH Chicago's& Chico, Montana's. As the letter to the Ephesian's church says, 'according to his good pleasure which he purposed in Christ, to gather up ALL THINGS, in heaven and on earth, in Christ who is the head.' Emmanuel- God with, for, and within us---- just another answer as to 'WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE?' |