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Woe to the United States: A Poetic Contextualization of Isaiah 10, Particularly “Woe to Assyria” (10:5)

Woe to the United States A Poetic Contextualization of Isaiah 10, Particularly “Woe to Assyria” (10:5) Grant Showalter-Swanson
Woe to the United States A Poetic Contextualization of Isaiah 10, Particularly “Woe to Assyria” (10:5) Grant Showalter-Swanson

Woe to the United States

A Poetic Contextualization of Isaiah 10, Particularly “Woe to Assyria” (10:5)
By Grant Showalter-Swanson

Woe to the United States –

the guns wielded by ICE –

awash in blood and murder

always made excusable

by a tyrannical regime –

elicits God’s fury.

Woe to the political leaders who make morally wrong policies –

weaponizing the law to oppress the migrant and the powerless;

shielding themselves from the consequences of their wrongdoings.

Woe to the power players of unbridled capitalism

who prioritize the (b)(tr)illionaires and corporations

over the ability of the rest of us to survive –

the infinite wealth of a few

over the livelihood of the many.

Woe to the christians who blaspheme the name of Christ

to justify white Christian Nationalism

and a heretical theology of civil religion –

attributing God’s blessing to the economic

and military might of the United States –

for the benefit of an administration determined

to eliminate electoral democracy

and maintain power-over

indefinitely.

Woe to the MAGA base –

and any republicans, independents, democrats, and non-voters –

who have opted into the group-think

and mind control of a fascist

and authoritarian curation of reality.

Woe to the U.S. citizens who stand by –

apathy and agreement both leading to death –

as the Trump administration

robs the poor

plunders the middle class

reduces health care access and

eliminates health care subsidies

abuses children

controls the bodies of women

demonizes Trans/Queer people

dehumanizes non-white people

criminalizes migrants

colonizes sovereign lands

coerces foreign leaders

justifies genocide

rapes the Earth

and kills with impunity.

God demands that we ask ourselves:

what will you do on the day of judgement

when you must account for your active—

or passive— participation in this regime?

When there is no way to flee from God

behind wealth, religious platitudes,

or feigned obliviousness?

God promises eventual justice, 

for those who oppressed,

hated, or were ambivalent

toward their neighbor?

Neighbor: defined by Jesus

as anyone we encounter,

especially those in need.

 

Repent.

Be transformed by the Spirit.

And live in love toward your neighbor, as yourself.

 

But for those who suffer under this tyrannical regime –

for those who speak out and put their lives on the line

for their neighbors –

do not be afraid.

God promises that the yoke of suffering and oppression

will be removed from your shoulders

and destroyed from this world

in the final realization

of God’s peaceable Kingdom

on Earth as in Heaven.

 

Lord,

may Your will be done,

enacted and embodied

through us, the body of Christ.

Amen.

 

 

 

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Christians & Politics: A Prayer of Lament and a Prayer of Hope

Weave

Christians on political “sides” subscribe to a binary and oppositional understanding of our faith and political engagement that causes separation, harm, and idolatry.

Republicans, especially in the new Trump era, have increasingly synthesized salvific hope and politics toward a Divine King/Strong-Man Nationalism theology. This is problematic since Christ brought salvation in a way antithetical to cultural/political power, control, and exclusion. Instead, he offered preferential and tangible hope for the oppressed/marginalized. He frequently challenged, and even condemned, the power players perpetuating inequality. Ascribing divine privilege to a power-player, like Trump, toward the ends of Christian nationalist control, is idolatry.

On the flipside, Democrats often want to silence faith-led conviction in the polis, falsely believing that a true separation of faith/politics, public/private, secular/sacred is possible. This leads to an idolatry of law, legal systems, and political figures as the sites of salvation and hope.

Christians must be constantly self-reflective and challenge ourselves away from the allure of false-hopes within these camps. Our salvation is in Christ. The gospel message leads us to discern and question all powers that exist if their outcomes are not equivalent to the criteria of Christ’s ministry pronouncement of Luke 4:14-30, or the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23.

Neither party does this. There is no easy-answer to the challenge of discerning and voting with our conscience based on these faith-based criteria. Consequently, no party should have our faith and devotion. No PAC or politically activated denominational or faith-based political platform should have our faith and devotion. No nation or national symbol should have our faith and devotion. No power, system, or institution of humankind should have our faith and devotion. Only the gospel message of Jesus Christ, which commands us to love God and our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31), and the subsequent discernment and action of the Holy Spirit in our individual and communal lives, should have our faith and devotion. All else is idolatry. Idolatry that leads to hate and violence in our hearts (and sometimes actions) toward others not like us, or those who hold different values. God clearly warns against this in Matthew 5:43-48.

As the divisive and violent party-driven rhetoric amps up in the next few months, I pray that I, and all of us who follow Christ, remember this counter-cultural message. I pray that we strive to be presences of mediation and love during these volatile times. May the gospel message that we proclaim and live-out be good news for all, not for some. May our words, actions, and lives point to God’s peaceable kingdom on Earth now, as it is in heaven.

We CAN do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

Amen.

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What is ‘Basebuilding?’

Basebuilding:

Foundations built on faith, conviction, and justice.

Collaboration with community, church,

ancestors, prophets,

and future generations.

Unique in poetic and prophetic imagination

speaking and doing

an alternative narrative and

story into being.

Renouncing and denouncing

the narrative and

story of domination and supremacy

through a communal vision,

achievable and concrete,

grassroots grown,

in our ecclesial spaces

and beyond

for the queering and decolonizing

and expanding

and including

of Beloved Community.

Basebuilding:

Intentional connections and relationships,

with imagination,

as power

and wholistic transformation

for the well-being

of all people and creation.

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