Listen to Barbara Willer’s plenary talk, “Addressing Empire: Fostering the Common Good in the 21st Century”, from the Church & State conference on October 27, 2012 at Multnomah University.
Church & State podcast, part 5: The African-American Church as a Prophetic Witness to the Kingdom with T. Allen Bethel
Listen to T. Allen Bethel’s plenary talk, “The African-American Church as a Prophetic Witness to the Kingdom”, from the Church & State conference on October 27, 2012 at Multnomah University.
Where is Mordecai? The “You Lost Me” Generation Is Looking for Him
This piece was originally published at The Christian Post on November 12, 2012.
Last week, I was part of a small gathering of leaders whom the Murdock Trust invited to reflect upon David Kinnaman’s work You Lost Me with David (President of the Barna Group) and Steven Garber (Director of the Washington Institute). In You Lost Me, David talks about how many young people no longer sense their connection to the church and about the need for investing in person to person mentoring relationships; such mentoring relationships will entail emphasizing young people’s divine calling and vocation and accounting for the discernment necessary to engage this very diverse culture as faithful witnesses for Christ in our various spheres of service in the public square. In the midst of the discussion, we turned to such biblical books as Esther. I was struck by the character of Mordecai and reflected out loud on his significance in the growth and development of Esther. Where is Mordecai today?
Before answering this question, I need to answer the following question: Who is Mordecai? The Book of Esther reveals Mordecai to us. He was Esther’s cousin, who cared for her growing up after her parents’ death (Esther 2:7-8) and who shepherded her through major rites of passage from becoming queen of the Persian empire (Esther 2:10-11; 19-20) to taking a stand on behalf of her own people, the Jews, as queen when they were threatened with genocide (Esther 3:1-15). Mordecai supported his beautiful young cousin in the beauty pageant that led to her becoming queen; he actually forbade her from making known that she was a Jew (Esther 2:10-11) until the time came for her to take her stand on behalf of her people (Esther 4:1-17; Esther 7:3-4).
Mordecai was a prophetic leader: he had the vision to help young Esther grow and flourish in a pagan culture under a foreign empire; likewise, he also had the discernment and courage necessary to challenge that empire when it would entail dishonoring God by honoring another or when it entailed the ultimate destruction of his and Esther’s people (Esther 3:1-2; Esther 4:1-17). As with Daniel of old, Mordecai was a prophetic leader, who knew well how to mentor a young person like Esther into becoming a great leader as queen of the empire. Like her cousin/adopted father, Esther knew how to flourish in a foreign land in a pagan empire as queen while also taking her stand on behalf of her people at great potential cost to herself—even her life.
Where is Mordecai today? Where are those mentors and shepherds in the mold of Mordecai? They will mentor a new generation of Christian leaders to flourish in a pagan empire with great conviction and courage and a profound sense of God’s calling on their lives to lead in various spheres and careers as reflecting their divine vocation. Like Mordecai, such mentors and shepherds will be people who are themselves flexible, though not fickle. How so? Mordecai had learned how to transition well from his homeland to Babylon to which he was taken in exile. Flexible he was, but not fickle. Mordecai was decisive and did not budge, when the king elevated one of the officials, Haman, and commanded that everyone bow to him. Mordecai did not flinch; he did not bow or prostrate himself (Esther 3:1-2). Esther’s story of flexibility to be queen in a pagan empire and unflinching courage to advocate on behalf of her people in the face of great risk is Mordecai her mentor’s story, too.
So, where is Mordecai? Where are this generation’s Mordecai mentors? You may not see them, but you will know where to find them: they will be standing behind and in support of their spiritual progeny—leaders like Esther. In a church age that is increasingly losing a generation of youth, who feel that they are not wanted or needed to lead in society as agents of the church in their respective spheres of service as bound up with their God-inspired vocation, we need to find mentors like Mordecai. Such leaders will be used by God to infuse these young people with a renewed sense of divine calling to be flexible and unflinching leaders who make up the priesthood of prophetic believers in the various empires of our day.
Church & State podcast, part 4: Beyond Private and Partisan to the Common Good with Paul Louis Metzger
Listen to Paul Louis Metzger’s plenary talk, “Beyond Private and Partisan to the Common Good”, from the Church & State conference on October 27, 2012 at Multnomah University.
The Elections, End Times and the Elect
This piece was originally published at The Christian Post on November 8, 2012.
You may have come across statements to the effect that the apocalypse is at hand given the election results. You may have heard similar statements from those whose candidates won, if they had lost. It certainly makes me wonder where our ultimate hopes are placed. It also makes me ponder how much we really value our democracy, which is for all the people. Our candidates may win or lose, but hopefully our democracy is bigger than our selections. One thing’s for certain. We may experience a bit of a mini-apocalypse or meltdown, if we cannot find a way in this democracy to work together across the aisle and across the faith spectrum to make sure that Lincoln’s words at Gettysburg endure—that this “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
To return to my earlier point, I find in some conservative Christian circles the idea that our country is getting progressively worse. I heard a white preacher lament this seemingly apparent reality several years ago. I thought at the time just what I am thinking now—if this is so, why then do many African Americans, Hispanics and women feel our country is getting better? I can’t help but think if our perceptions on whether things are getting better or worse are often bound up with how much we think our special interests are taken to heart and how large or small our own voting bloc is. After all, in a democracy, representation is often configured in terms of percentages.
If America is a chosen nation, as many conservative Christians believe, they should continue working as collaboratively as possible to ensure that our government of, by and for the people is as inclusive as possible. If they are hoping to return it to some mythical, ideal state of Christian nationhood, they will be disappointed. But if they seek to come forth as Christians in pursuit of our country’s democratic ideals along with others, they will find as they work with open-minded people of other traditions that there is a place for them, just as there is for others. Besides, the idea that the conservative Christian movement in America is nothing but a small, insignificant and persecuted minority is also mythical. It is a powerful force in our country, and hopefully by and large for good. Even so, conservative Christians such as me and Christians of other persuasions need to ask ourselves based on the elections where our ultimate hope lies. When Jesus returns to the earth to gather the elect, will he find faith, or simply voting cards?