+Z’ev

Today’s assigned readings:

AM Sirach 10:1-8, 12-18, James 5:7-10

PM Micah 4:1-5, Revelation 21:1-7

An undisciplined king ruins his people, but a city becomes fit to live in through the understanding of its rulers. The government of the earth is in the hand of the Lord, and over it he will raise up the right leader for the time. Human success is in the hand of the Lord, and it is he who confers honor upon the lawgiver… Sovereignty passes from nation to nation on account of injustice and insolence and wealth.
Sirach 10:3-5, 8

This is an odd day for me. I made a decision when I started this two-year cycle of meditations that when a given Holy Day was designated by AM and PM readings that I would use the readings for the Holy Day instead of the regular readings. So what is the good Christian Anarchist to do when the “holy day” is July 4th?

It’s a doubly odd day for me because one thing that drove me batty when I was Orthodox was the weaving together of various nationalist mythologies and Christianity. A lot of Orthodoxy treats Russia or Greece or Serbia or Ukraine or Ethiopia or Kosovo as if - as far as God was concerned - they were the new chosen nation. The line “because of our sins, God let X happen” comes up a lot. But then we sure spent a lot of blog-ink saying 9/11 wasn’t a curse from God. And, like the Muslims, we say “God willing” a lot: as if God actually cares that I’m going to try to fly to Charlotte on the 23rd, God willing…

Of course the Orthodox are not the only folks to do this. I learned in school about the Divine Judgement in favour of the English Reformation in the defeat of the Spanish Armada. God had further cursed the Catholics in the defeat of King James by King William. Of course, God gave the New World to the Catholics. He put Israel back in place - how are we to read that?

How does a nation get an “undisciplined king” who “ruins his people” when the Lord is supposed to “raise up the right leader for the time”? Unless the undisciplined king is what the people deserve.

And so we get Bush?

Is God so involved in the affairs of the world that even the very kingdoms are under the control of him who said, “my kingdom is not of this world”? Or is there something else here?

I don’t know. I can say that seventeen more times, if you’d like. When St Paul said there’s nothing wrong with obeying the emperor, did he know that a few years later that emperor’s heir would be a lunatic who would commit wholesale slaughter on the Christians? I don’t know. When subsequent generations of Christians have tried to marry Church and State because of what St Paul mistakenly babbled off, should we blame them? I don’t know.

I know: I’m sounding redundant. I even waited until after Mass this morning at St Mary’s in the hopes of getting some insight. No such luck. We’ll just call this a “ramble” like I do on my other blog.

Have a good BBQ, where-ever your politics are. I have to go to work.