This time the words held sensus plenior (fuller
meaning). This time they were
announcing, somewhere out there in the darkness, ships were plowing their way through
the waters of the English Channel
– among them a thousand Higgins boats – the landing craft that
would bring soldiers of the Allied Expeditionary Force onto the beaches of
Normandy, beginning the liberation of France.
But first, for the members of the French resistance,
the words were commands. Men and women
began hurrying out across the countryside.
They had work to do. They were
living behind enemy lines. They were going out to undermine the
strength of the enemy. Because, when their neighbors
had whispered for them to go along with the Nazis, to
acknowledge France’s defeat, and play it safe, they had defiantly whispered
back, “I will not.”
When the people of God gather each week, as Stanley Hauerwas
has suggested, they gather as outposts of a foreign government deep in enemy
territory. These people have given their
allegiance to a foreign monarch and openly long for a coming invasion. It is no wonder some of the wisest of earth’s
rulers have looked upon their gatherings as dangerous and subversive. It is no wonder some have had no qualms about using the power of empire to bring these outsiders into line and
make them safe.
And so, some among the resistance have become comfortable with an enemy culture. They speak of a
kinder, gentler empire. They urge the rest to lay aside their
separateness. The appeal sounds noble and
seductive. Fit in. Be safe.
Don’t make them mad at us.
But, the weekly gatherings pose the problem. Messages keep coming from overseas. Messages that constantly push people from
safe to subversive. "Respond to hatred
with love." "Craving wealth is a root of
all kinds of evil." "It's a good thing when the empire turns its iron fisted gauntlet against you because of me." The play-it-safe approach is constantly undermined by messages that sneak their way into the weekly gatherings.
“Les sanglots longs des
violons de l'automne…” Everyone knew
what it meant. They knew the next
morning’s sunrise would bath light over a few miles of beach, a small slice of poor
defeated and occupied soil, that would once again be free France. These were the last hours before
liberation. There were orders that had
been given and now there was work that had to be done.
The worship of the church is a gathering behind enemy lines
to reaffirm loyalty to a foreign power and to receive messages that will send men
and women out to sabotage the enemy and to recruit more into the
resistance. To those who stand at the
doors and urgently whisper to those leaving, “Don’t go overboard. Fit in. Play it safe,” comes the answer of
the church, “We will not.”
1 comment:
Hi Tom,
In searching for an image for my new blog, Subversive Church, I cam across your 'resist' image. That led me to your blog.
I had a previous blog, Dinner Church Movement, which I have just turned over to a core of leaders of dinner churches. That takes care of the 'meals' biblical research that I have been doing. Not it frees me to start this blog on the other aspect of recent scholarship of the first two centuries of the 'Jesus Movement'.
It is interesting to find a kindred spirit. How did you get to where you advocate subversive Church? I would be interested in knowing.
Bud Tillinghast rev.bud@mac.com
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