Schooled in Denial

Last night I dreamed I had a conversation with Walter Brueggemann.

Maybe it went something like this…

That’s Brueggemann on pain, artistry and the role of the church in a culture of denial.
And a culture of denial is always part and parcel with imperial exceptionalism.
It’s part of the mantra of the “we’re number one” mentality.
So the empire arrogantly says…

I sit as a queen
I am no widow
I will never mourn
(Revelation 18:7)

But of course the empire provides no exemption from sorrow.
Yet it’s in the pain of sorrow that hope is born.
Not the the panicked, desperate bid for cheap certitude–
But authentic hope in God which has always been an anchor for the people of faith.

Don’t give up.
You are loved.
And you are going to make it.

BZ

Everybody’s wearing a disguise
To hide what they’ve got left behind their eyes.
But me, I can’t cover what I am
Wherever the children go I’ll follow them.