{"id":211,"date":"2010-12-23T07:11:15","date_gmt":"2010-12-23T13:11:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ipsinaction.com\/ips\/?p=211"},"modified":"2024-06-20T15:44:40","modified_gmt":"2024-06-20T15:44:40","slug":"living-opposition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/?p=211","title":{"rendered":"Living the Opposition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Living the Opposition<\/h2>\n

Katie Davis<\/em>, Loyola IPS MAPS<\/a> Student<\/p>\n

In contemporary society, we are all bombarded with the temptations of individualism, consumerism, and militarism that inevitably shape our understanding of what it means to be human in the world today.\u00a0 In the midst of such peril, YHWH as revealed in the Old Testament presents a countercultural path to life through the choosing of the covenant to this day.\u00a0 Contrary to popular belief, the Old Testament is not merely an antiquated text; rather, it introduces poignant and relevant themes such as God\u2019s saving power, social organization based on covenant as opposed to coercion, and the urgently important notion of \u201cprophetic consciousness\u201d as opposed to \u201croyal consciousness\u201d.<\/p>\n

As Christians, we tend to grapple with the role that the Old Testament can or should play in our experiences of faith in the Trinity.\u00a0 Are the Old Testament and the New Testament so different that Christians can disregard the former?\u00a0 Is the Old Testament simply a starting point to be read solely through the lens of Christianity?\u00a0 Walter Brueggemann stresses the importance of continually learning from the Jews and the way they read the Hebrew Scriptures as well as the necessity of honoring our similarities and acknowledging our differences.\u00a0 For we cannot, he suggests, fully understand the New Testament without having a firm grasp on the Old Testament.\u00a0 With openness to the graces of these Books, we as Christians can gain access to the interior life of a God with whom we can become acquainted in a totally fresh and more substantive way.<\/p>\n

In reading the second half of An Unsettling God, <\/em>I was particularly struck by several of the insights Brueggemann provided in terms of his understanding of God\u2019s dialogical relationship with the nations.\u00a0 From the very beginning of this course, I struggled with the notion of Israel\u2019s chosenness<\/em>; if some people were chosen, were some people not chosen to be loved by YHWH?\u00a0 What does this say about justice and inclusion sought by an all-loving, all-merciful God?\u00a0 First, Brueggemann unpacks Amos 9:7, a verse that he refers to as \u201ca stunning departure from self-congratulation\u201d for Israel (128).\u00a0 \u201cAre you not like the Cushites to me, O people of Israel?\u201d declares the LORD.\u00a0 \u201cDid I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir? (Amos 9:7).<\/p>\n

The text illustrates that YHWH\u2019s transformative power exists for everyone, even supposed \u201cenemies.\u201d\u00a0 Compared to innumerable completely self-serving and self-indulgent comments regarding Israel elsewhere in the Old Testament, these words and Brueggemann\u2019s interpretation of them shed light on some difficulties I encountered earlier in the semester with reconciling the violence of YHWH against everyone except Israel in the Old Testament and the pacifist we find in Christ Jesus.\u00a0 Considering the reality of a world in which God often becomes mobilized for the war effort (134), Brueggemann subversively endorses the limitlessness of God\u2019s love for all people on every \u201cside\u201d of a conflict.\u00a0 Additionally, he emphasizes the image of God as an enforcer of justice, not as One who inflicts violence and destruction upon people.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Brueggemann reminds us of the redistribution of names of affection for Egypt, Assyria, and Israel.\u00a0 This evidence, too, bolsters the belief that YHWH and YHWH\u2019s love are far too massive and life-altering to be limited to one particular group of people, no matter how much they had been favored previously (130-131).\u00a0 The idea that God loves people who were formerly defiant foreshadows, in a sense, some of the ideals that would be brought to life through the parables of Christ, namely, the Prodigal Son.\u00a0 Israel could not monopolize YHWH any more than one child out of four, no matter how favored they seem to be, could monopolize a parent\u2019s affections.<\/p>\n

This aforementioned desire for special regard impacted Israel and eventually even Jesus\u2019 own disciples just as intensely as it affects us today.\u00a0 Israel, however, seemed to understand something deep down that modern-day Americans tend not to trust.\u00a0 Israel, in their worship and reflection, expressed a belief in the abundant generosity and extravagant abundance of YHWH.\u00a0 Brueggemann refers to today\u2019s drama as an ideology of scarcity, one that focuses on competitiveness, war and aggression, individualism, and anxiety out of fear that there could not possibly be enough of anything<\/em> for everybody<\/em> to have it all and be happy (171).\u00a0 People spend their lives hoarding everything from material wealth to university degrees to means of retaining visible physical youth in hopes that coveting these worldly things might provide them some semblance of security.\u00a0 Trusting in God\u2019s vastness leaves us feeling just a little too vulnerable.\u00a0 We can use Israel\u2019s example, however, to guide us to a level of intimacy with God that allows us truly to surrender to and rest in God\u2019s ever-abounding goodness.<\/p>\n

For the past four months, I have been working to develop my ministerial approach as a novice Youth Minister working with students who are at risk, to say the least.\u00a0 As a recent college graduate who is not so far removed from the experiences my high school students encounter,\u00a0 I have been learning, until recently, most of my lessons directly \u201cin the trenches.\u201d\u00a0 That is, instinct and personal experience along with passion and heart have been the driving forces behind ministerial work that takes so much more than just love for and knowledge of Catholicism.\u00a0 I have found, especially in recent weeks with my students, that the heart of the Old Testament, as we have discussed it this semester, has equipped me with the vocabulary I need to more aptly express my \u201cmission statement\u201d as a minister.<\/p>\n

At the core of my own faith journey lies a theme of yearning for grace, courage, and desire to live in opposition to the status quo, which varied, of course, according to my social context.\u00a0 For instance, throughout college as a musical theatre major, I fully anticipated pursuing the arts full-time following graduation.\u00a0 A mission trip to Jamaica in the spring of my junior year, however, significantly impacted the kind of life I envisioned for my future, thus leading me to a year of service with Jesuit Volunteer Corps.\u00a0 It was incredibly difficult for me to put some of my most life-giving passions on hold for a call that God was sending me loud and clear.\u00a0 Acknowledging the brokenness of society, I knew that God was beckoning me to a year (and most likely a life) of direct service, one that begged for the surrender of the lifestyle to which I had become accustomed and to which most of my closest friends were continuing to subscribe.\u00a0 I knew that I wanted to go deeper into God.<\/p>\n

Striving to heed God\u2019s will for me as a part of my current program which is, essentially, a hybrid of JVC and an IPS degree, the scope to consider in trying to actually live out this alternative lifestyle has broadened significantly.\u00a0 Yes, I am living in an intentional community in which I pray with \u201clike-minded\u201d individuals.\u00a0 Yes, my job <\/em>is to minister to underprivileged teenagers within the Church.\u00a0 But in how many innumerable ways do I continue to comply with structures that perpetuate \u201croyal consciousness?\u201d\u00a0 When I look at my own daily life, how authentic and formidable are my attempts to build Christ\u2019s kingdom, one that challenges me, along with my brothers and sisters, to recognize that life can be better and that we all must play a part in realizing that?<\/p>\n

So when I ponder the core of my own faith — the message I am striving to pass on to these teenagers with whom I work — I see the heart of YHWH.\u00a0 I draw inspiration from the prophets who preached faith and obedience in the face of dangerous foes and contemporaries who viewed them as insane.\u00a0 I am beginning to discuss with my students Brueggemann\u2019s vision of a brighter future — vulnerability over fear, generosity over self-indulgence, community over competition, interdependence over autonomy, feeling over numbness, and so on.\u00a0 In doing so, I hope to empower them, as well as myself, to remember the words of the prophet Jeremiah:<\/p>\n

The word of the LORD came to me, saying, \u2018Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.\u2019\u00a0 \u2018Ah, Sovereign LORD,\u2019 \u00a0 I said, \u2018I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.\u2019\u00a0 But the LORD said to me, \u2018Do not say, \u2018I \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 am only a child.\u2019\u00a0 You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.\u00a0 Do \u00a0\u00a0 not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,\u2019 declares the Lord (Jeremiah 1:4-8).<\/p>\n

Most of all, I hope the show them<\/em> hope.\u00a0 These teenagers were born into a technologically savvy, materialistic, sexually-obsessed, power-driven, and yet wonderfully, undeniably, strikingly beautiful world that desperately needs their example.\u00a0 They must know that each one of us is called by our constantly relational God to be modern-day prophets living the opposition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Living the Opposition Katie Davis, Loyola IPS MAPS Student In contemporary society, we are all bombarded with the temptations of individualism, consumerism, and militarism that inevitably shape our understanding of what it means to be human in the world today.\u00a0 In the midst of such peril, YHWH as revealed in the Old Testament presents a read more <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=211"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4731,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211\/revisions\/4731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}