Fed up with the status quo, tired of the rhetoric they finally did something about it. Who? The 99%. A flash mobish grass roots movement that hit the streets of NY, Boston, Chicago and other metropolitan cities leaving the financial districts in an uproar. Many thought it would die down, that people would disperse and the movement dissipate like other demonstrations, but like a lingering odious odor you can’t identify or seem to locate, this one just won’t go away. It’s just getting stronger, more offensive and drawing more attention. If you don’t know what I’m talking about just google “occupy wallstreet.”
People have grown so frustrated at the state of the economy, the lack of job opportunities, the growing federal and personal debt, financial inequality (that 1% of the population owns 43% of the wealth), the lack of responsibility for the privileged, the lack of accountibility from those in power, the lack of health care, the fees, the war, the weather, the cable man…(well you get the point), that what started out as a focused streamlined assault on the 1% has mushroomed to become an invitation and call to action for anyone and everyone who has an ax to grind against the establish order.
I get it. People are mad. People are motivated. People are motivated because they are mad. Motivated enough to demonstrate, motivated enough to make some real personal sacrifices so that they will be heard, in the hope that something might be done. What will they actually accomplish? In my opinion that’s not the point. The point is they are united they are acting, they are reacting. Inertia has been overcome by motion. It may very well be modern day class warefare but anything that motivates 99% of Americans to cross political, racial, socio-economic, and cultural berriers to form a united front is pretty remarkable. It is amazing what a little anger can motivate the masses to do.
Sometimes I wish people in the church would get mad. Yeah I know people in the church get mad. But not that kind of mad. I’m not talking about the prideful divisive mad that fractures congregations because they went with the other carpet color or because she got overlooked or he feels underappreciated or disrespected. I’m not talking about the kind of self righteous hateful mad that leads to cruel and oppressive judgmentalism towards the very people they were called to reach. I’m talking about the kind of madness that melds God’s redemptive people into a unified irrepressible force that advances the good news and the good work of the kingdom of God. Anger directed at injustice, oppression, and the evil forces that cause pain and spiritual confusion in the world.
The Bible tells us that there were several occasions when Jesus just lost it. As far as I can see in every instance where Jesus flies off the handle he does so to either condemn the powerful but unregenerate “religious” for their inaction or to catalyze his followers towards forceful yet redemptive loving action.
I came accross a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. in John Piper’s book Bloodlines that I found very convicting. This is what he said:
“There was a time when the church was very powerful—in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society…but the judgment of God is upon the church [today] as never before. If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authority, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the 20th century.”
If the church was as fed up with modern day slavery, sex trafficking, the plight of the poor and fatherless, racial reconciliation and the prospect that (for some of us) the vast majority of our friends and family members are headed towards an eternity of unspeakable horror; as the 99% are with the state of the US economy then I believe the world would be vastly improved. It’s not that I believe we can do it, or that God has put it on us to accomplish it. That’s not the point. The point is not how much we accomplish or how many we save. The point is to simply be in motion. The church must overcome inertia by acting and reacting to the crying needs of a lost world.
The late Christian singer song writer Keith Green put it the best in his song Alseep in the Light: “The world is sleeping in the dark, That the church just can’t fight, Cause it’s asleep in the light…”
Madness is sometimes the only thing that overcomes inertia.
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