OK, so I’m showing up to this party about 3 months late. I never was a cutting-edge type of guy. Occupy Wall Street has been going on since September 17 in NYC and in that time has become quite a movement all over the country, even here in Toledo. I don’t mind not being on the cutting edge, though, because sometimes “cutting edge” simply is a euphemism for “speaking before you think.” The more I have researched the Occupy movement, after 3 months I’m still not sure that it isn’t too soon to draw any conclusions. So instead, I’ll use this space as a chance to share some of what I have discovered and offer a few of my initial reactions as I hold the Occupy movement up to the light of the Gospel Story. First, my discoveries:
1) Occupy is different from what we normally think of when we hear “protest.” As the Occupy Toledo website distinguishes, “A protest is at first antagonism. An occupation is at first COMMUNITY. A protest is defined by opposition. An occupation is defined by PRESENCE. A protest is singular. An occupation is MULTITUDE.” The movement is seeking to be different not just in policy but in practice. So, instead of trying to garner votes for or against a particular issue/party/candidate, the Occupy movement is advocating a different way of organizing society. And the individual occupations seek to function in that different way: sans authority, sans private ownership, sans any set-in-stone political agenda.
2) People aren’t quite sure how to respond to the Occupy movement. It would be easier to respond if they had a set of demands or if there were a designated leader or if there were a clear audience (ie. state/federal legislators, corporate CEOs, the American public, the judicial system). Certainly there are implications of what the movement is generally saying for most, if not all of these. But we’re better at responding to something concrete with a yes or no than to what Occupy is offering.
3) There are a few popular “proposals” that are being spoken. One of the most prominent would be debt forgiveness–allusions to a biblical “Jubilee”–as a way of evening the playing field and starting fresh. The claim is that there is so much debt (individually and even nationally), that there are only a small handful of people who are not in debt to anyone–experiencing financial “freedom.” This is not a sustainable of just situation regardless of the causes of the debt, and thus it needs to be changed.
4) The movement is seeking to be as genuinely democratic as possible. This is one of the reasons that there has been great hesitancy in designating leaders or a specific agenda. That is not to say there are not some key idea people who have greatly–if mostly anonymously–influenced the movement. But this is to say that the movement has sought to be extremely dialogical, conversational, and inclusive of as many people’s grievances and suggestions as agree with their foundational goals. They are trying to listen to people whose voices seem to be largely ignored by policy-makers and corporate leaders.
So while these are some very cursory insights I have gained into the Occupy movement, let me now share a couple of the things I have observed. These are not necessarily original to me.
1) The Occupy movement and the Tea Party have some distinct similarities in spite of appearing to be polar opposites. It is true that the Occupiers tend to want government to step in to regulate businesses in order to create a more just system while Tea Partiers tend to want government to step out of regulating businesses in order to create a more just system. Yet, the more I read on the Occupiers, the more I see them–like the Tea Partiers–wanting a system that tends to be more locally oriented than federally oriented. In the Torah (Old Testament Law) and the New Testament Church, most of the economic laws and practices assume a relational, small community–at least compared to the U.S. Both groups recognize that economies function best (most justly) when they are small and relational and that one of the biggest problems we have right now is that our economies are not just nationally, but globally intertwined. Without the possibility of relationship with those we are buying from and selling to, it makes the biblical economic principle of compassion difficult to follow. Odd, but the Tea Party and Occupy movements each see the same problem and share the goal of a more locally-driven economic system. And I agree: while globalization may allow many of us to get more things more cheaply, I find it very difficult to see any lasting, just, healthy, or compassionate solution that does not involve some sort of re-localization of the system.
2) One of the questions we have to ask any movement is, “Who are you trusting?” For the Tea Party, the clear answer seems to be “the Market.” They mistrust government and are putting their faith in capitalism to take care of things. For the Occupy movement, the question is a little more complicated. They are obviously mistrusting “the Market,” largely based on the greed and indefensible inequality they see in corporate leaders. But does that mean they are trusting the government? Well, perhaps. I suppose they believe the government might step in and do some regulation or help out in redistributing some wealth (a term I do not use pejoratively). But perhaps they are really trusting the people or a pure democracy. As David Graeber (one of Occupy’s key idea guys) reasons, “If democracy is to mean anything it is the ability to all agree to arrange things in a different way.” I think they believe that since our current system seems to pretty much be a human development, if they capture people’s imaginations, they are quite capable of developing a new system. So the idea that their lack of focus or political agenda is self-sabotage may be a bit short-sighted. The goal is not to work within the system to alter the system, but to collectively create a new system. This is what many people seem to be missing, and why Chris Hedges senses, “This is a goal the power elite cannot comprehend.” In some sense, this approach is quite Christian: aim at people’s hearts, capture their imaginations, and invite them to join in in a new way of doing life. It is based on vision and invitation before policy and legislation. On the other hand…
3) No matter how inclusive any movement claims or tries to be, there is always an underlying worldview, a Story that drives it. The Occupy movement does share with the Scriptures a concern for the poor, the voiceless, and the helpless. The Occupy movement does share a Christ-commanded commitment to non-violence (yes, like all human movements, we should expect slip-ups). In fact, the Occupiers may be far more influenced by Christianity than many of them would care to admit. There is much, I believe, that Christians can affirm in the Occupy movement. As Jim Wallis writes, “When they stand with the poor, they stand with Jesus.” Yes, the movement borrows from pieces of the Christian vision. No, it is not a Christian movement at heart. As much as our trust is in anything other than God’s New Creation process, we are at best settling and at worst doing something spiritually dangerous, replacing one kind of sinful system with another. More on that here…
4) I think the big question that arises for me is, “If the Occupy movement (somehow) succeeds in bringing down the ‘system,’ will they have the foundation of character and commitment to actually replace it with something better?” As Jesus says, sometimes casting out one demon merely makes space for more and worse ones to enter in. One dangerous scenario that we face individually and any reform movement faces is the tendency to get caught up in the “others’” sin without owning our own sin. If the Occupy movement gains power and influence, how will that power affect the character of their movement? The fear of wealth redistribution is whether we can actually trust the middleman, the re-distributor. Again, Jesus never tells us to trust humanity. We should hold a healthy skepticism as much as we believe that we are all susceptible to the power of temptation and sin. So I am wary of those who jump in and embrace a movement like Occupy wholeheartedly and place their hope for transformation and new creation there.
So what is a Christian to do? Well, let me humbly and hesitantly suggest that I think it is important for Christians to engage the Occupy movement in a positive way. First, we are called to see where God is at work and join him there. I certainly don’t agree with every idea or practice of the Occupy movement (if this is even possible!). But our job is not just to participate in things initiated by the Church, but to join where God is at work. There is enough going on in the Occupy movement that seeks to stand for the poor and stand up to injustice that it is at least worth amplifying those parts of the movement that are picking up God’s voice. Second, it is important for the Church to engage the Occupy movement–and I say this as humbly as I can–because they need us. Christians have been given a truly wonderful vision of what God is doing in this world and how he is doing it. If there is hope for a new movement of justice, compassion, and reconciliation, that hope comes from God’s initiation of that work. The Scriptures tell us that God is blessing the world through a people who put their trust in him and cry out to him, not through people who try to do it on their own. That is our Story, and we can live out that Story among the Occupiers. As I have mentioned above, the Occupy movement also needs to be called to humility and confession. Someone needs to affirm that there is great sin in our systems, but the biblical Story is very clear that we all participate in sin. Our sin that may seem small in comparison to the system’s sin, but only until we are given the opportunity to continue in those sinful patterns on a larger scale. An arrogant revolution is a dangerous revolution.
Only time will tell whether the Occupy movement is just a flash-in-the-pan or a lasting and growing force in our culture. As Christians, our calling remains the same regardless: to be the Body of Christ, God’s representatives in this world, partakers in a radical kind of life, seekers of justice, and proclaimers of true hope. If the Occupy movement joins us in part of that, let’s be grateful for that. More on Occupy soon here at the blog. And if you’d like, join Pastor Luke Lindon and I as we Occupy Nautica Coffee in Mayberry Plaza on Tuesday, December 13th at 7pm, where we will be discussing further the Occupy movement. We’ll discuss some of the questions I’ve posed in this blog and many more.
Articles, websites, and blogs:
http://occupywallst.org/– Occupy website
http://www.sojo.net/blogs/2011/10/05/occupywallstreet-helpful-links–links to info on the Occupy movement and historical context
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/distribution-of-wealth/–some analysis of statistics related to the 99% number
http://cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=12485 and http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/24/where-do-you-fall-on-the-income-curve/–some recent research on how distribution of wealth has changed over the past 30 years
http://www.sojo.net/press/occupy-wall-street-christians-debate-if-jesus-would-occupy-protesters–Jim Wallis an his thoughts on whether the Occupy movement has some “Christian” character
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/why_the_elites_are_in_trouble_20111009/–a Occupy is being underestimated by the “elites” as well as an insider’s account of what goes on and how it developed
http://www.jesusradicals.com/we-need-a-confessing-movement/–a call for protesters to acknowledge their own sin even as they hold others accountable
http://www.reclaimingthemission.com/is-it-time-for-evangelicals-to-join-occupy-wall-street/–discussing how evangelicals can/should engage the Occupy movement based on 3 Christ-like aspects to Occupy
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeremy-john/the-occupation-of-the-lor_b_1119252.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false&fb_source=message#undefined
We are almost to the end of the “Holidays” as we celebrate them in our American culture. Typically, this season begins with Thanksgiving, moves through Christmas Eve/Day and culminates in New Year’s Eve/Day. Yes, I know the holiday season seems to be expanding faster than Santa’s belt after all those Christmas Eve cookies, but let’s just keep it simple for the moment. The inspiration for this article came a couple years ago as I was reading about the spiritual discipline of Celebration. Because I tend to be a fairly task-oriented, forward-looking person, I am someone who needs times to stop and celebrate the ways God has blessed me. The discipline of Celebration really resonated with me. And I thought to myself, “It would be great to have some people over for a meal and time of sharing with each other and thanking God for the ways he has blessed us over the past year.” I started to think that this idea sounded rather familiar. If you’re a little quicker than me, you’re already shouting at your computer screen, “That’s Thanksgiving!” Well just calm down! Because eventually I got there too. But here’s my question: Is that what we really do on Thanksgiving?
