I live in two worlds. The first is the world of the Bible. Within the Bible I experience a continual political, spiritual wrestling between two mighty forces of history. The first is the power of empire -- represented by extravagant wealth backed by military muscle and embodied by cruel, selfish tyrants like a Pharaoh. Inevitably, these tyrants become increasingly violent, increasingly dictatorial, increasingly blind to the struggles of normal, ordinary people. They fall into the delusion that all of the world should serve them, honor them, and bow down to them. Their end is always painful, always destructive, and always a source of happiness for the poor.
The other force of history I encounter in the Bible is the cry of the oppressed and afflicted. These people are usually disorganized, vulnerable, confused, and pretty much helpless. These people struggle for daily bread, for a living wage, for a possibility to raise a family, the possibility of a normal, basic life. The story that the Bible reveals is that God is on the side of these people: the oppressed, the poor, the victims of empire. God is actively at work, behind the scenes, like a termite gnawing away at the foundations of empire until it rots and crumbles. Then, as it teeters into destruction, the possibility of a new society, a new economy, a new embrace of the poor becomes a live option.
In other words, in the Bible I continually experience an ongoing revolution. There are the forces of tyranny versus the counterforce of resistance to tyranny. God has chosen sides in this battle, and chooses to work within history on the side of those without political, economic and institutional power.
The second world I live in is my flesh and blood life of citizenship within American empire. I'm a middle-class guy with a family, a living wage, surplus money, and a wee bit of capacity to have a wee bit of institutional power. In other words, I get along quite well in empire. Lately, my two worlds have come into collision. It seems that our Mayor in his secretive, dishonest and cruel policies of destroying the campsites of the homeless is acting more and more like a Pharaoh wannabe.
The agenda of this Mayor is to eradicate the poor, the very sight of the poor. In his vision of the "great city" our buildings storm the heavens in height, creating a magical world of perpetual Disneyland. Indeed, our mayor's head is screwed so tightly up the arse of the wealthy that the only air he breathes is perfumed through their flatulence. With his head in the hole he just doesn't seem to have the capacity to hear the cry of the afflicted.
But that second Power of history does hear, and act. In other words, this mayor has overstepped his boundaries, and is in great need of fresh air.