(If you are a new reader, please read All Souls Conversation #1 for context)
Last week Doug opened with a list of all that we could be excited about downtown Knoxville. He mentioned Sundown in the City, the renovation of the Tennessee Theatre, the announcement of Mast General Store coming to Gay Street and many others.
This week Doug opened with another list of things in our city that won’t seem to change, that won’t heal: the racial divide, homelessness and even the unwillingness of Churches to work side by side.
Why?
Why is it that as much as things change and improve, they stay the same or get worse? Why is it that if God desires shalom with all His being that it always alludes us or so it seems.
One answer that is from the Bible: the powers.
Walter Wink in his book “Engaging the Powers” states,
“The powers, unfortunately, have long since been identified as an order of angelic beings in heaven, or as demons flapping about in the sky. Most people have simply consigned them to the dustbin of superstition. Others, sensing the tremendous potential in the concept of the powers for interpreting social reality, have identified them without remainder as institutions, structures, and systems. The powers certainly are the latter, but they are more, and it is that “more” that holds the clue to their profundity. In the biblical view they are both visible and invisible, earthly and heavenly, spiritual and institutional. The powers possess an outer, physical manifestation (building, portfolios, personnel, trucks, fax machines) and an inner spirituality, or corporate culture, or collective personality. The powers are the simultaneity of an outer, visible structure and an inner spiritual reality. The powers, properly speaking, are not just the spirituality of institutions, but their outer manifestations as well. The New Testament uses the language of power to refer now to the outer aspect, now to the inner aspect, now to both together. It is the spiritual aspect, however, that is so hard for people inured to materialism to grasp.”
If the powers are both inside and outside at once, only an inside/outside opponent is worthy of engaging the powers.
Shalom? What do you think?
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
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6 comments:
What in the world? Powers? Are you serious?
How about sitting down with the churches, or simply emailing/calling to see if they will work together for a common goal? Why does pseudo-spiritualism have to work its way in there?
Powers, good grief.
I think that there's never going to be much done between two sides when one insists upon invoking/confronting the "powers" and the other side insists there's no such thing.
That said, humility and hard work solve a lot of problems, powers or not.
I have often thought of my life as a puzzle: a picture to figure out, pieces to find, pieces to "fit" together, pieces that don't fit, pieces that are missing (allot of work for me). Lately, the Lord has reminded me that instead of a puzzle, it is more like a painting. The painting of a great artist who uses a variety of colors and textures to display his purpose and glory…every stroke important, every color of value.
A painting is an expression of the heart and life of the artist. It is the "power" of the artist that gives the "structure" or form meaning, value and purpose. Without considering the artist, the painting may not be understood, it's value not recognized. A painting has both a seen and unseen reality. Perhaps the same is true of a community…of the city. The visible forms, structures, interactions, policies are physical representations of the "artists" or powers also present.
For the follower of Christ, a life of faith is trusting in the "power", the unseen reality, more than the tangible realities "…sure of what we hope for, certain of what we do not see." I think we are wise to consider the "artists" as well as "the paintings".
I visited All Souls for the first time this past Sunday (June 19). I enjoyed the service immensely, particularly since I have not been attending a church regularly for a number of years.
Doug's message very specifically named problems and events in Knoxville's recent past, as far back as the World's Fair. I was momentarily startled when he asked "Why can there not be musical theatre in the Bijou?" (I was a part of the last production there in 2004.) Then he went on to name other examples of how the powers have become corrupted and how we believers need to redeem them.
The concept of powers established by God was new to me, even being familiar with the topic in Ephesians. My thought was that there were no powers on Earth prior to the original sin of Adam and Eve. In other words, no government, no courts, no employment, etc., in the Garden.
So, I concluded that the powers must have existed in the heavenly realms before creation. After the original sin, the concept of the powers must have been revealed to man and established on Earth. Then, naturally, our fallen nature asserted itself and the powers on Earth became corrupted.
The powers in spiritual realms had already been corrupted by the fall from Grace of the angels such as Lucifer.
So the powers being corrupted on Earth must have occurred as a natural consequence of the powers falling in spiritual realms.
Interesting concepts, and it'd be interesting to hear what readers of this post have to say about it, as well as other parts of the sermon.
Very good sermon, Doug, and the content is at the core of the All Souls identity.
I'll be back this next Sunday.
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