Tuesday, October 18, 2011

The Powerful and Powerless in Partnership

"In the paradox of Jesus Christ- Yeshua from Nazareth, anointed One of history- the paradox of God's cultural agenda is summed up most perfectly and completely. God is for the poor- the oppressed, the widow and the orphan- and he is for humanity in our collective poverty, our ultimate powerlessness in the face of sin and death. But he makes known his redemptive purpose for us through both the powerless and the powerful, using both to accomplish his purposes. When God acts in culture, he uses both the powerful and the powerless alongside one another rather than using one against the other. To mobilize the powerful against the powerless would simply confirm 'the way of the world.' But to bring them into partnership is the true sign of God's paradoxical and graceful intervention into the human story.

I believe this pattern- God working with the poor and the rich, the powerless and the powerful- serves as a kind of template for seeking out what God might be doing now in our human cultures...." (Culture Making, p. 209).

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