Subverting The Empire: Reminding.

Before I got busy with work . . . I began a collection of thoughts on “Subverting the Empire”. Most of you have probably forgotten about it or didn’t read any of the previous posts to begin with. But I’m going to finish these thoughts up this week now that things are starting to slow down a bit. So if you’re still interested . . . keep reading. If not . . . my apologies.

Part One – Why We Do What We Do
Part Two – Dangerous Criticism
Part Three – Undermining (featured in Next-Wave Magazine)
Part Four – Agitating

Subverting the Empire: Reminding

They say to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.” – the book of Isaiah 30:10

Much of the prophet’s work is confrontationally subversive. To deliberately undermine and agitate is polarizing. And critique has the tendency to come off as destructive and negative (although I will challenge this assumption by discussing Critique as Construction in the next post).

In this way “subversion as reminding” is a little bit different than “undermining” and “agitating“. In that it has a much more nuanced role in subverting the empire around us. I also tend to think this is the most important aspect of subversion.

Subversion as reminder serves the dual role of reaching back to the past and bringing it to bear in the present. And even beyond bringing the past to bear on the present . . . it pulls us in the direction of the future.

It has a past, present, and future orientation.

This is a difficult tension for the prophet to be in. It’s one thing to critique the present.

But to hopefully construct a better present that is anchored by the promises of the past and a vision of the future . . . is a very difficult thing indeed.

Which is why most attempts at subverting the empire end up as heartless critique. It’s eay to undermine. And pretty easy to agitate. It’s another thing to create a future oriented present world through the means of reminding.

But its the role of the prophet nonetheless.

But what to remind people of?

We remind the empire of the past promises of another world lost, but not forgotten. We remind the empire of another world that is available now, yet still coming. We remind the empire that we are not under the rule of flesh and blood but the rule and reign of God.

This reminding is 1) part story telling and 2) part story creation.

1) The story telling involves the telling of our story from creation until now. The story of God and his called out people. This narrative is heavy on the steadfastness of YHWH to his people despite their restless and resistant behavior. And how YHWH has yet to break or ignore anything that he’s promised. What he says . . . he does. What he intended for the world in the garden, he intends for here and now and in the future.

So we tell stories that remind of us are past. And we tell stories of the faithful YHWH who is still stirring creation towards a recreation of that past.

2) The story creation is anchored in the act of story telling. By telling these stories of the past . . . we are able to create stories of the future. To remind the empire and the world of exactly what God is recreating and what we are co-creating with Him.

Any acts of subversion will involve these two acts of story telling and story creation.

These stories undergird our faith and spark within us the imago dei that we’ve have all to quickly forgotten and grown calloused towards.

The role of the prophet in subverting by reminding is to stir this dormant nature within us.

Walter Brueggemann refers to it as having a deep memory and exuberant hope.

I think that is a beautiful way of describing this act of reminding.

Subversion as reminding is having a deep memory that creates an exuberant hope.

[tags]Deep Memory, Exuberant Hope, Subversion, Subverting the Empire, Prophets, Prophets+Subversion[/tags]