Sound of Silence | Democratic Space |

Friends,

October 17 is No Kings Day again. I think we are cautiously hopeful that an election will change things, but it will take more than that to protect our Democracy.

In the meantime, I can almost put full weight on my newly repaired achilles tendon. Still probably a couple weeks before I can drive.

-Elizabeth

Biblical call for systemic change

Should church be paying attention to, taking a stand about national governance? Most of us give a strong "yes" or "no" to this question and move on. It is certainly true that the biblical witness does not speak directly to the question of democracy. And one valid reading of the New Testament writings is that it is about personal, or perhaps about church, behavior.

Isaiah, however, is completely about politics. The prophet is speaking first to a nation doomed by it's failure to care for the poor, the oppressed, and the widows. Then it speaks to the destruction of that nation, ordered by their own God, because they failed to change their ways. And then the nation as a whole is redeemed and allowed to return from their exile.

This week's Isaiah reading (5:1-7) is probably selected for the image of God creating a vineyard, to match the vineyard story in Matthew 21:33-46. But the Matthew story is about the vineyard builder's son getting killed by ungrateful tenants. The Isaiah reading is about a nation destroyed because of the behavior of the leaders who fail to care for their people.

Only one verse in our reading explains the destruction:

For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are God's cherished garden; They expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness but heard a cry! Isaiah 5:7.

The people are crying out, the grapes are rotten, the walls are broken, the vineyard is overgrown with briars and thorns.

This is not a text saying that good people should be nicer to the neighbors, or that we should be creating individual or church-based charity. Continuing in this chapter, and in the story of the prophet Isaiah, the wealthy are taking advantage of the poor, the merchants are cheating in the market, and the courts accept bribes to let the guilty go free. This is a discussion of systemic oppression of the poor, and of a government that is failing to step in and care for people of the nation.

And because of this, the entire nation will suffer.

While Isaiah is hopeful as full book--the nation that is punished by being sent into exile is eventually restored--it is first many years of decline, then battles that are lost, and then fifty years in exile.

So what then is our call to discipleship? In this story the people can only plead to the King, and to the wealthy land and business owners to return to their covenant with God. In the United States we can also plead with our leadership. And we can vote.

As a church we can help people see that God's covenant is with God's people as a whole. We each are responsible for caring for each other: for interpersonal care, but also for creating systems that ensure that each person has a enough.

The words of the prophets call us to systemic change.

How does your church engage sytemic change? Reply to this email to let me know what's happening. ​
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The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls. Makes me think of the Sounds of Silence. Simon and Garfunkel. (3:08)

"Democratic Space” is an excerpt I found on Red Letter Christians. It is from the book “Wake Up Running: Building Democratic Space at the Crossings.” By Walter Earl Fluker

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