{"id":16232,"date":"2021-01-26T22:02:59","date_gmt":"2021-01-26T22:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/?p=16232"},"modified":"2021-01-26T22:19:21","modified_gmt":"2021-01-26T22:19:21","slug":"inaugurating-jesus-as-lord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2021\/inaugurating-jesus-as-lord\/","title":{"rendered":"Inaugurating Jesus as Lord: A moderator’s message"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Photo by Mandy Garcia<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A message from Paul Mundey, moderator of the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of late, the inauguration of a new US president has occupied our attention. But there\u2019s a more pertinent inauguration needed during days of national upheaval: a fresh elevation of Jesus as Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many have yet to inaugurate Jesus to this status. Yes, we give lip service to the centrality of Jesus, but often we become acculturated, collapsing toward consumerism, civil religion, and an insular faith. In doing so, we fail to allow Jesus to transform every aspect of our \u201cform and frame,\u201d being \u201cborn again,\u201d not only in our relationship to God, but also in our relationship to soul, self, others, and all of creation (Romans 12).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This holistic renewal is the DNA of Jesus\u2019 dream (Luke 4:18-19), for Christ envisions life not constricted, but full and abundant (John 10:10). Such expanse is not tribal or siloed, but all-encompassing, calling us not to narrowcast but to adopt a spacious view of life. Thus, Jesus does not see us as conservative or progressive, \u201cborn Brethren\u201d or \u201cnew Brethren,\u201d Democrat or Republican, Anglo or ethnic, but as children of God called to confession and repentance–and in turn–salvation and New Creation in him (2 Corinthians 5:16-17).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such a vital, countercultural slant in Christ is promising but also arresting, for<\/p>\n\n\n\n

— a Jesus-slant requires that I learn from my enemy, not just confront my enemy;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

— a Jesus-slant requires that I condemn violence after birth, not just before birth;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

— a Jesus-slant requires that I reach toward the sinned against, not just sinners;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

— a Jesus-slant requires that I welcome and receive his work (the cross and resurrection), not just focus on my own efforts; and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

— a Jesus-slant requires that I prioritize my citizenship in heaven (God\u2019s Kingdom), not just casually nod to his authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In sum, a Jesus-slant is counterintuitive, offering an unexpected way forward amid national upheaval. It does so by calling us to be \u201cresident aliens\u201d in Christ (Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon, Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony<\/em>, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2014), loyalists to an alternate Kingdom (1 Peter 1:1-2; 2:1-12), rather than conforming to a culture of \u201cracism, nationalism, ethnocentrism, exceptionalism\u2026postmodernism, militarism\u201d (Michael Gorman, Participation in Christ: Explorations in Paul\u2019s Theology and Spirituality<\/em>, Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2019, p. 247).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In doing so, a Jesus-slant identifies the world, in the words of C. S. Lewis, as \u201cenemy-occupied territory. Christianity [then] is the story of how the rightful king has landed\u2026and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage\u201d (Gorman, p. 246).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Gorman clarifies, \u201cthis benevolent sabotage is not\u2026a Christian takeover, a religiously based coup d\u2019\u00e9tat\u2026but\u2026a foretaste of something–the new creation that has come and is coming\u201d (Michael Gorman, \u201cA Letter from Paul to Christians in the US,\u201d Christian Century<\/em>, Aug. 21, 2019, www.christiancentury.org\/article\/critical-essay\/letter-paul-christians-us<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I call us to a mission of sabotage, modeling and proclaiming New Creation in Jesus.<\/strong> In doing so, we refrain from using the tactics of the world, the flesh, and the devil, opting for strategies of the Kingdom: enemy love, \u201ccarefronting,\u201d radical hospitality, merciful justice, nonviolent protest (Matthew 5-7). This is not to minimize the abhorrence and disgust before us and the need to witness assertively; please hear me. Instead, it is a way to maximize our effectiveness as we avoid becoming the very evil we deplore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Acts 17, Paul and Silas hold a revival meeting in Thessalonica declaring Jesus as Messiah (Acts 17:3). Many believed, including both Greeks and Jews (Acts 17:4). But some Jews \u201cbecame jealous, and\u2026formed a mob and set the city in an uproar\u2026[dragging Paul and Silas\u2019s friend, Jason, and members of his house church]\u2026before the city authorities, shouting \u2018These people who have been turning the world upside down have come here also\u2026. They are all acting contrary to the decrees of the emperor [Caesar], saying there is another king named Jesus\u2019\u201d (Acts 17:5-7). <\/em>Miraculously, Paul and Silas are released on bail, slipping off to Beroea, but their message still echoes: Jesus is King and not Caesar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I pray we too turn the world upside down with the disturbing yet enlivening message of King Jesus. It\u2019s tempting to disrupt with mob, uproar, or some other conventional means, but far more effective are the countercultural methods of the Messiah. In fact, they\u2019re the best device, surprising and sabotaging, as we live as \u201cresident aliens,\u201d making manifest the New Creation of the Savior. Frankly, that\u2019s the best path forward through a highly charged political climate–modeling and proclaiming boldly another way of living, inaugurating anew Jesus as Lord!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

— Paul Mundey is serving at moderator of the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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