A CONSISTENT ETHIC OF LIFE

 ¢â‚¬Å“Jesus is Lord ¢â‚¬  (Romans 10:9 [1]) was proclaimed by the early church as
their most concise creedal statement. No one ever told me this was a
political and subversive statement, until I studied the Scriptures. To
say  ¢â‚¬Å“Jesus is Lord ¢â‚¬  was testing and provoking the Roman pledge of
allegiance that every Roman citizen had to shout when they raised their
hand to the Roman insignia:  ¢â‚¬Å“Caesar is Lord. ¢â‚¬  Early Christians were
quite aware that their citizenship was in a new universal kingdom,
announced by Jesus (Philippians 3:20 [2]), and that the kingdoms of this
world were not their primary loyalty systems. How did we lose that? And
what price have we paid for it?

[1]:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%2010:9&version=NIV;MSG;KJV
[2]:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians%203:20&version=NIV;MSG;KJV

Jesus showed no undue loyalty either to his Jewish religion nor to his
Roman-occupied Jewish country; instead, he radically critiqued both of
them, and in that he revealed and warned against the idolatrous
relationships that most people have with their country and their
religion. These have allowed us to justify violence in almost every form
and to ignore much of the central teaching of Jesus.

Adapted from Spiral of Violence: The World, the Flesh, and the Devil
(CD, DVD, MP3)
http://store.cacradicalgrace.org/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=NV-C-05&Category_Code=&Store_Code=CFAAC

Starter Prayer:
You desire to hold both heaven
and earth in a single peace.