All Souls Conversation #2: How can Shalom defeat the powers?

(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?

All Souls Conversation #1: Shalom and Sidewalks

These are random thoughts provoked by Doug Banister’s sermon “God’s Vision for the City” delivered at All Souls Church in Knoxville. They may make sense. They may not. I invite you, in the spirit of open dialogue, to react, contribute, add to, build upon these thoughts and musings and hopefully somewhere at the center of this discussion we will find something that rings true.

During my campaign for city council I spent a lot of time thinking about issues that people were talking about, but thinking about “problems” always frustrated me and felt shortsighted and always led my mind toward pondering a more fundamental and positive inquiry: what is the purpose or goal of a city? I decided, somewhat tentatively that the goal of a city is to support, protect and promote the life, wellbeing, happiness and potential of its citizens in a way that encourages active participation and responsibility.

Cities are not ideas. They are physical settlements. For example a campground is a settlement. It has a very transient and temporary use. People live together in many ways for many reasons. I am not sure why Knoxville was established. A look back at its history would give us clues about why the roads and buildings are arranged in their own particular form.

The form of a human settlement reveals the customs, habits and social ideas of the people living there. It tells us by its size, shape and arrangement which human actions are encouraged and which are not. The shape of our surroundings physically obstructs, encourages, and directs our actions.

So what does this have to do with Doug’s idea that God is restoring shalom in the city, that God is restoring peace, wholeness, completion and delight? What does it mean, as Isaiah suggests, that God is moving the city from tears, death, poverty, idolatry and violence to laughter, healing, prosperity, worship and love?

The idea I have is that shalom is not just an idea but also a practice that is enacted by God’s people in their actions, way they live together and even the form of their settlement. Remember Doug mentioning the importance of sidewalks.

Shalom is more conducive to a city because the built environment is more cascading and overlapping. The relationships are rich with interdependence. Of course the opposite is true: when the relationships break down, the problems are more toxic.

The suburbs lack the intertwining closeness that shalom requires as a kind of precondition.

I hope this gets us thinking. Peace.

Two hundred people I admire

Yesterday over two hundred people received recognition for their successful completion of GED requirements amidst choruses of raucous applause and adulation. This was clearly more than a graduation. This was a rite of passage.

These graduates, coming from all over the Knoxville area, attended programs at Knox County Schools Adult Education, Workforce Connection Ross Learning Center, Pellissippi State Technical Community College Adult Education, Knox County Schools GED Option and the UT WAVE Program.

The event took place at the Central United Methodist Church on Saturday and included three emotional presentations by student speakers detailing the amazing struggle to get their education.

I was the guest speaker; it really should have just ended there.

I have to admit that I have a very special admiration for people who get their high school diploma this way. Life caused these young people (and some older) to wait and then turn around and choose to go back to school and learn. Many people simply get overwhelmed with their own negative thinking about the possibility of really making it happen. These people persevered. They made it happen.

I announced to them that now they know what is inside themselves: the strength, the courage, the tenacity. Now they know the meaning of education: a tool for progress, not status. And now they know the power of purpose and direction. Now they can accomplish whatever comes next. And next. And next. And next.

They now possess the most important ingredient. To pursue education while contending with daily life gives wisdom. And wisdom gives life.

At the end, all these amazing people, bathed in the love and affection of friends and family, filed to the front to receive their public acknowledgement. One by one, I told congratulations, you did it.

This is how real people are made. I applaud them for their hope. I applaud them for their struggle. God bless each one.