Empires Miscalculate
A Correct Message for Our Sunday
A Correct Message for Our Sunday:
Neighbors, Empires miscalculate.
You cannot eliminate an idea. You cannot bomb a concept. You cannot shoot a belief in the face. Thoughts, feelings, and mental images of what could be (should be), you cannot crucify those things on a cross or crush them under rubble or pepper spray them, hold them on the ground, and fire a weapon into their heart.
Empires miscalculate.
Freedom as an idea. Liberation as a concept. Love of neighbor as a belief. The thoughts, feelings, and mental images of what every human being is entitled to (and every human spirit already experiences), you cannot deny those things forever, even with force and fear.
Empires miscalculate.
The desperate need to control another’s freedom, prevent their liberation, limit their beliefs, and refuse their human rights is unnatural. Suppressing ideas, concepts, thoughts, feelings, and mental images requires constant effort. Resistance to such things always grows.
Empires miscalculate.
Look at the Roman Empire’s miscalculation. Jesus resisted, and they murdered him for it, but they made an enormous error. The ideas and concepts he taught, the thoughts, feelings, and mental images he stirred, not only outlasted his own body and the Empire that took it, but it grew into an entire religion.
Empires miscalculate.
When I look at our country right now, everywhere, but especially in Minnesota, whether Christian or not, I see many following the example set by Jesus. They are in a stance of non-cooperation, disobedience, and speaking unflinching truth to power (both to the Empire and its co-conspirator religious allies).
They willingly accept incredible personal risk for the good of all, rather than clinging to fragile personal comfort. Jesus said there is no greater love than laying down one’s life for one’s friends, and in a few cases now, some have shown that level of love. I am not glorifying tragic death, but I am acknowledging the ultimate act of community care. I am acknowledging what these deaths mean about our love for one another, a love the Empire did not anticipate . . .
Neighbors, America has miscalculated.
About that religion . . .
I totally understand if some of you feel completely disgusted by Christianity. I feel that too.
We have a virulent Christofascist branch of our church (it pains me to say “our,” but it must be owned) telling its followers that Jesus sides with their hateful, violent agenda. Even though that is straight-up bullshit, the leaders of this branch have become powerful and wealthy by spending every Sunday for decades pumping their followers full of fear and then saying “American flag-Jesus with a Gun” is the answer.
There’s also a liberal (usually white) branch of our church that ignored all of this right up to this crisis point, prioritizing comfort and telling their followers they can get through this without raised voices or risky actions. They are also full of shit, failing to understand that the ministry of Jesus is primarily a radical resistance to a death-dealing Empire.
The most real branches of our church, most aligned with the actual teachings of Jesus, are on the margins. They teach liberation theology, and they aren’t located in the Imperial Core; they come from places like El Salvador and Palestine. They aren’t wealthy or powerful, and they have endured profound levels of discomfort and death for decades, with almost no solidarity from the American church.
Context
I also want to provide some context on this note, which might feel a little weird on Notes from a Neighbor. I first started sharing “Correct Messages for Our Sunday” on my personal FB page in 2018 or 2019. Then I decided I’d share them on my public IG too, but I stopped after 2023. Frankly, that liberal branch of our church I spoke about above broke my heart with its response to the genocide in Gaza, and I just wasn’t sure the messages mattered if they didn’t impact even those who said they were “open.” Today, those old correct messages feel right again, so I sent you this note.
What I mean by “correct” is this:
I mean it like an adjective, like “accurate.” I also mean it like a verb, like “rectify.”
The message is primarily meant for those who say we are Christians to reflect on how accurately we’ve been taught about the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Bible, and what we might need to do to rectify any hypocrisy we find.
The message is also for non-Christians who have been watching the hypocrisy of Christians and wish a Christian would acknowledge it and call in their community to do something about it.
I am in no way, shape, or form evangelical. Meaning I do not want to convert anyone to Christianity, and I fully respect everyone’s right to believe or not believe as they see fit. I do not believe that a Christian path is the only correct path.
Sending you love, Neighbors. Powerful, powerful love. The kind that Empires cannot defeat.
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From Jenifer (Delaney's Heartner in Crime): Angie, that's some truly authentic writing. It touched my heart and resonated deeply with me.
Truth.