choosing belonging over pride | march 20

Last week Derek proposed that the whole book of Judges could be summed up as “the failure of an awards and punishment model of society.”  In the framework from Judges 10 that we discussed last week we noticed that God treated Israel much like a delinquent child in school with huge empty threats of abandonment, and then eventually caving in (perhaps even enabling).  This week we see an even more exaggerated hyperbole of systems that chose retribution, entitlement and differed responsisbility.

Jephthah was the son of a prostitute deported by his step brothers (sons of his father’s legal wife).  But years later, when their clan was loosing a series of battles, they recruited Jephthah to fight for them and he returned to his home town as a war-hero.  In his hubris he promised to sacrifice, as a victory celebration,  whatever came through his door.  The gut wrenching turn of events that follows  reverses everything you think is good and civil about community. He sacrifices his own daughter!

Outcast becomes outsider, and then returns as an insider, and then repeats the habit of exclusion by creating a cycle of death that closes in on himself.

Peter Block suggests that cycles of retribution, revenge, security, and entitlement break down community while wholeness, belonging, and relatedness reverse those cycles:

Restorative community is created when we allow ourselves to see the language of healing and relatedness and belonging without embarrassment. It recognizes that taking responsibility for one’s own part in creating the present situation is the critical act of courage and engagement, which is the axis around which the future rotates. The essence of restorative community building is… it’s citizens’ willingness to own up to their contribution, to be humble, to choose accountability, and to have fiath in their own capacity to make authentic promises to crete the alternative future.

For whatever reason, Jephthah’s promises were more about himself than a future that included others.  What are our promises about?  What futures are we seeking?

Come build a discussion about a collective futures and the sabotage of individualism. We’ll meet from 5-7 at Alison’s place, 409 Deckner Ave SW 30310.

CORRECTION: Alison’s Address is 1474 Desoto Ave SW.

 

This entry was posted on March 17th, 2011 and is filed under Worship This Sunday. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or Trackback from your own site.