On an important day to Al-Qaeda, the American Embassy in Kabul brought in Al-Qaeda flags, said Al-Qaeda prayers, and honored the traditions and rituals of that organization.
What? Surely not. Why would the American Embassy celebrate a regime with which it was at war? I mean, come on!
Willimon notes that Barth notes that our human institutions are nothing but shadow regimes. The author of Ephesians notes that the Church is fighting against powers and their principalities in a war with Christ at our head.
So why, then, would we continue to bring the world into our embassy?
You know, on July 4th?
The Church is the Kingdom God which is at war with the World, albeit a spiritual war. Would you expect that the American Embassy in Afghanistan to celebrate Al-Qaeda? No, then why bring the world (people would cry, well used too, havoc if you had a dance in the sanctuary, etc.., etc.., etc…) and the regimes which oppose the Church into the Church of Christ?
The sanctuary of the Church (house) is a holy place and should not be lent to just anything.
Joel L. Watts holds a Masters of Arts from United Theological Seminary with a focus in literary and rhetorical criticism of the New Testament. His interests include exploring the role of mimesis in human civilization, specifically in the study of religion and media, as well as science fiction and the way in which it has allowed mythology to be explored in light of scientific discoveries of the past century. He is the author of Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark: Introduction and Commentary (Wipf and Stock, 2013) and a co-editor and contributor to From Fear to Faith: Stories of Hitting Spiritual Walls (Energion, 2013).
Website: → Unsettled Christianity
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So is the American embassy to be identified with the Church then? What’s your point? Perhaps the prayer was one of those in Psalm 137.
whats the source for this story? cant find it in the news. if its true its OUTRAGEOUS
It’s something called satire, Jim. The Bible is full of it.
false. the bible is full of theology. it may take different literary forms, but the bible is a theological collection, not a collection of satirical stuff
Err . . . try the Book of Jonah . . .
Oh this is a true story. Experienced this in worship today, with bullsh!t mottos like “freedom isnt free” as if Christ’s sacrifice is equal to our soldiers dying and singing America the Beautiful. I just stand in silence whenever “patriotic” propaganda is sung in church. Best thing to do, protest without saying a word.
Joel, you have given Jim a coronary and a post that’s likely to spread like wildfire to people who don’t get the (rather weak) metaphor.