The other day I watched the inauguration of President Barack Obama. I thought that the whole ordeal is an extremely interesting example of Empire and Kingdom values. It started off with several significant politicians entering and taking seats. The whole process actually reminded me of a wedding- which is typically a very religious event.
We talked about how lots of times empires will use religious language to entice people into their view and way of life. This was definitely evident in the inauguration. For example, both Biden and Obama were sworn in with Bibles, yet one of the first things Obama mentioned in his speech was how America was a land of multiple religions and faiths. We talked about this a little bit in class, but it was interesting that in doing so, he placed America above all of the faiths. Obama used America as the greater metanarrative that ties all of us together, and our faith is secondary. In this view, we would be American Christians, rather than Christian Americans. Unfortunately this subtle difference in language can really affect the way that people view America and how it interacts with different stories/metanarratives.
Obama’s inauguration address will most certainly go down in American history as a historic event. While I am not trying to take away from the significance of what transpired, I couldn’t help but notice how he contradicted himself so many times within the same speech as well as to reassert the power of the empire. For example, Obama said that he wanted America to work along side poor nations and try to relieve a lot of their major problems, and that other affluent nations should follow along. But in a few sentences later he talked about how the American lifestyle was essentially non-negotiable. And it is this way of life that is continuing the ever widening gap between affluence and poverty. This also has interesting implications when Obama moved onto talk about environmental issues. If the American lifestyle is not going to change, how are we going to progress beyond oil and develop any of the alternative energy sources that are thrown around in political circles?
I think that ultimately Obama addressed the empire in his inauguration address. While he did allude to Kingdom values, which are great things- I think that it is really important to examine different aspects of our lifestyles and find alternatives that are more socially and environmentally sustainable. But, he chose to use the empire as a means to carry this out, rather than faith. While I think that Christians can work with the government to attain Kingdom values and changes in the world, we need to not be afraid to go beyond the government. We cannot expect it to carry out our faith for us.
22 January 2009
Sports Illustrated
I read a couple of Sports Illustrated Magazines over the past few days. Sports Illustrated is an extremely popular sports magazine that is sent out weekly. It covers all the sports, but focuses especially on professional sports that are presently happening. Most of the content in issues I read talked about football and the Super Bowl.
It may seem like an artifact that only talks about sports would not have much to say about the empire, but in fact there are many subtle issues discussed. Sports Illustrated or SI has much to say about the purpose man. I feel like SI is telling me that men who are successful athletes are somehow better than I am. The ways many of the articles talk about the athletes seem to give me the feeling that they are superior to me. These athletes have money, power, fame, and super model wives, and SI implies that that these athletes are somehow superior to me. They are seen as heroes, but in reality they are no different then I. Unfortunately this flawed view of success is quite common in the empire; in fact it is extremely popular in magazines. Time, People, Rolling Stones, News Week, Vogue, Forbes, and of course SI all have one thing in common the idolization of mere people. All of these magazines put these “celebrities” in a class that is inherently better than us “common” people. The empire is telling us that if we aren’t a celebrity then we are nothing. The only way we will be happy is if we are as famous and rich as that person. The sad truth is many people buy into this lie from the empire. These people consume these magazines and dream of being as successful, beautiful, rich, or famous as the people in it. Thankfully there is hope. The Kingdom accepts all people; in fact the people that the empire may see as lesser the Kingdom sees as greater. This is another example of the backwards kingdom. So next time the empire tells you that you are a second class citizen just remember that makes you a first class citizen of the Kingdom; and that is what really matters.
It may seem like an artifact that only talks about sports would not have much to say about the empire, but in fact there are many subtle issues discussed. Sports Illustrated or SI has much to say about the purpose man. I feel like SI is telling me that men who are successful athletes are somehow better than I am. The ways many of the articles talk about the athletes seem to give me the feeling that they are superior to me. These athletes have money, power, fame, and super model wives, and SI implies that that these athletes are somehow superior to me. They are seen as heroes, but in reality they are no different then I. Unfortunately this flawed view of success is quite common in the empire; in fact it is extremely popular in magazines. Time, People, Rolling Stones, News Week, Vogue, Forbes, and of course SI all have one thing in common the idolization of mere people. All of these magazines put these “celebrities” in a class that is inherently better than us “common” people. The empire is telling us that if we aren’t a celebrity then we are nothing. The only way we will be happy is if we are as famous and rich as that person. The sad truth is many people buy into this lie from the empire. These people consume these magazines and dream of being as successful, beautiful, rich, or famous as the people in it. Thankfully there is hope. The Kingdom accepts all people; in fact the people that the empire may see as lesser the Kingdom sees as greater. This is another example of the backwards kingdom. So next time the empire tells you that you are a second class citizen just remember that makes you a first class citizen of the Kingdom; and that is what really matters.
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