Thine is the Kingdom and the Power

Thanks to my brother, Carl Grant for the following guest post:

I’m thankful to live in the Western world and to be the recipient of the many blessings entailed. But there are some things about me as an Anglo Christian that I’d rather ignore. 

I’d rather not think about the privilege and power that come with being an Anglo in this culture. I’d rather ignore that reality and pretend that my Hispanic, African-American, Filipino and Arabic (that’s just a small sample) sisters and brothers in this culture are full partakers in what privilege and power that I possess, ignoring the fact that my privilege and power are purely a function of the historical military and economic dominance of the Anglo race.

I’d rather not deal with the fact that in addition, my culture rewards my role as a Christian with privilege and power historically granted to no other faith. I’m more comfortable seeing Christianity as rightfully and even divinely ordained to be the dominant, controlling faith. That way I can feel justified in taking vehement umbrage whenever I fear that Christians are losing the upper hand in our culture. 

I easily forget that until Constantine, Christians had none of the privilege and power that I so blithely take for granted. Only when Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire and was spread by the sword did Christians gain privilege and power. These prerogatives were bought at a terrible price; the marriage of Christianity and military/economic power was not a marriage of equals. Consequently Christianity has been in many ways co-opted, corrupted and prostituted. Its close alignment with political, social and economic power structures has blinded us to the force of Jesus’ repeated warnings against seeking power. 

So what do I do with the privilege and power I’ve been handed? Do I use it to exploit others or do I use it to empower others? Do I truly bring the Good News of Jesus to others, or is my message delivered in the wrapper of cultural imperialism? Will I perpetuate and confirm the stereotype of Christianity as a Western ideology, or will I die to my cultural pride and admit that my sense of privilege and power is an impediment, not a virtue? Will I allow God to cure my power addiction and allow God’s Spirit to invite others into the freedom of the people of God?

Dear God, 
help me to remember that all power is legitimately yours, not mine. 
Help my life to tell the truth about your Good News!

-Carl Grant

impossibly wonderful gift

Another blessing in spending time with family and friends over the course of the past month is hearing the ways God is working in your lives.  I'm delighted to share this guest post written by my brother Carl, a man who seeks after God's own heart:
 

One of the most significant contributors to my view of God is Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. Ever since my first encounter with the book, its potent themes have haunted me continuously. I’ve never read anything else that portrays so piercingly what God’s love looks like when experienced, then faithfully expressed by a human being. 

 

My favorite passage in all of literature takes place near the beginning of the book, when the fugitive Jean Valjean is welcomed into the bishop’s home, no questions asked, but treated as a brother and an honored guest. Then, responding to the bishop’s warm hospitality by stealing his silver in the night, Valjean is apprehended by the police and summarily returned to the bishop’s home to face recrimination and certain return to prison. 

 

Then, in the most shocking, impossibly wonderful scene, the bishop declares to the police that the silver was a gift and he incredibly underscores the assertion by adding silver candlesticks to the “gift,” implying that Valjean had simply forgotten to take them with the rest. The remainder of the book then portrays Valjean’s thoroughgoing repentance and its fruits in the lives of others.

 

Of course Hugo’s work is fiction, but I find more truth here than in almost any factual account I’ve ever seen. I grew up viewing God as essentially angry and in need of placation, thus my need to repent to produce that effect. Hugo has helped me immensely in knowing that it’s the goodness of God that produces repentance, not the judgment of God (as Javert would have it). 

 

God’s movements of love, as mirrored also by the Prodigal Son’s father, not only precede repentance but are even performed in the face of absurd odds that they will ever bear fruit. 

 

In this emerging realization, I’m growing in gratefulness to and amazement of God. That holy magic of God’s love is intoxicating me.

Don't you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant and patient God is with you?

 Does this mean nothing to you? 

Can't you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?

Romans 2:4 (NLT)

-Carl Grant