After a short holiday i returned to civilisation to read a disturbingly peculiar piece of news.
Apparently, John Howard is going to be bestowed with a prestigious award for his human rights achievements! US Medal of Freedom for John Howard
Initially i was incredulous that Mr. Howard, with his record of stripping the rights of minority groups rather than protecting them, would receive such an award. As Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young stated “it is ironic that a prime minister who has locked children up in detention, who has refused to apoligise to the stolen generations and who has participated in a war in Iraq that has been a debacle is given a medal for human rights and freedom.” Hear, Hear.
Giving Mr. Howard this award only makes sense when you realise it is being given by none other than his long-time ally and political director George W. Bush. Rather than recognise the ‘rule of law’ these leaders prefer to recognise the ‘rule of war’. This award is nothing more than a gratuitous show of mateship. How could Mr. Howard inspire us towards humanitarian deeds? Is this the example that we wish to follow? Is this the vision of freedom our world wishes to see?
If this is the example of a man who has strived to bring freedom, peace, and improvement of human rights then we are in trouble! Our nation, and indeed our world, needs a new imagination. As the seemingly intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict escalates, we need a new conviction on how to initiate lasting peace. With the final solution of world leaders based upon military proliferation and propaganda, who will promote another way? Who will bring change? Who will provide hope?
In my estimation, there is but one man on the horizon who truly offers an alternative way.
There is one who can inspire us towards a better world.
There is one who has initiated a new world order.
There is one who ignites a fresh new hope.
There is one who has inaugurated a compelling Dream of the future.
There is one man who is offering change we can believe in.
Who is the man to best lead this revolution?
Who inspires hope in you?
In whom do you trust?
I know, I know… It’s Che Guavera with a crown of thorns!
Noooo, it’s Jesus. The irony is that any persons truly espousing and enacting the values of Jesus will never be able to do so from a position of governmental power, and neither should we expect them to (and before anyone mentions MLK or Ghandi, tell me what office they ever held. Oh and Nelson Mandela only became President long after the reforms he helped usher in had been enacted).
Is this defeatist thinking? No I don’t think so. If you think it is, then I would ask the counter-question “Why do you frame this in terms of victory/defeat?” A world moving towards peace/shalom will not be achieved by victory or defeat (certainly not anything we will do, Christ has done it all already) but by the gentle overwhelming spread of the Kingdom of God.
I truly question whether bemoaning the war-mongering/self-promoting/pro-captialist/blah, blah, blah of our governmental leaders is a bit like complaining that Collingwood fans are being mean to Crows fans when we play in Melbourne (what did you expect!) The only way anyone gets into the high offices is by incredible levels of personal ambition and a willingness to manipulate the voters. If you won’t do this, you will be beaten at the polls by someone who will; it’s that simple (doesn’t make it right, but pacifism without pragmatism is fantasy). Representative democracy is almost an oxymoron but the case by which it could be a workable idea is highly improbable given human nature.
This is not to say that we condone or ignore the actions of our leaders, but to engage in the kind of personalised, venomous and (lets be honest) sensationalist propaganda attacks that much of the Bush-bashing community (and its bastard son the Howard-hanging community) utilisies does not reflect the character of Christ that I see in the Gospels or reflected in the letters of the NT or in Revelation.
I wonder if the whole notion of “Lets change the world” is in itself doomed to failure since it has within it the notions of victory/defeat, enmity, self-righteousness/condemnation. Rather ought we promote the idea of “Let’s live the change that Jesus made in our world”. I wonder, if all of us who profess to be followers of Christ set about solely to change ourselves to be more Christ-like, whether that would ultimately result in a more world-changing witness to the Good News than all the efforts currently being made to change others?
I’m not takling about selfish behaviour because you could become Christ-like and be selfish. I’m saying that if each of us simply focussed on feeding the hungry, comforting the sick, mourning and lonely, being peacemakers in the struggles we see immediately around us and all those other things Jesus called us to, perhaps the witness of that will bring about that other calling, making disciples of all nations. I think the emphasis on proselytising misses the point of evangelism.
Gotta go, my son just woke up.
I agree that it would be damn near impossible for a governmental leader to act in that role with Jesus as Lord. I do not necessarily say Christians shoud have no role in government but the challenge to not compromise is huge. The ways of God will predominantly infiltrate our world through grassroots action from ‘ordinary’ Christian people and communities. Expecting the government to enact a Jesus-style society is fools gold, as they do not work from a perspective of self-sacrifice, humility, servanthood, powerlessness, generosity, and uncompromised peacemaking. Let us engage the ‘powers’ but not revere them as Lord. Let us live the example in our lives and communities and be the ‘light on a hill’ in a positive sense.
Regarding Bush-bashing etc, i think your caution to act in a Jesus-like manner is a fair one. The message can certainly be counteracted by conflicting methods. Having said that, and appealing also to the example of Jesus, he did powerfully critique the religious and political leadership of his time where he wisely saw fit. This included some colourful ‘venomous’ language! Certainly, we are not Jesus and do not have his complete wisdom but the role of the Christian community to critique injustices should not be diminished. (In this particular instance, i still believe it to be a travesty of justice that Mr. Howard would receive an award for human rights! However, it really does not bother me as i do not give the award much credence anyway. The underlying point is the ‘way of Jesus’ is very different to the ‘way of the Powers’).
I loved some of your examples of how we should be living in a Christlike manner and engaging our world as individuals in our lives. I agree that this would be a profoundly striking and effective witness (history has proven this). I would also add that the Christian community as a whole needs to hold this way of life up as a standard as collectively we should offer an alternative community that is not of this world (while still engaging lovingly with it). This scope of this Christian witness is not simply in individual lives but also includes a socio-political dimension (in the broadest sense not simply our ‘political’ system).
In the end, i must concur that ‘being the change’ is a prerequisite and catalyst for expecting any change in others. While i don’t like to distinguish these categories too much as they cannot really be separated, there is no doubt that ‘evangelism/mission’ is doomed to failure without ‘discipleship’.
So how will we ‘be the change’?
Are we being the change, and if not, what is stopping us?