Progress is a god, it is the god to which human life is expendable. Progress is a god of death. Progress in our world means, more, better, faster, stronger, richer, progress is synonymous with the future, where we are heading, whether we are ready or not, the world continues to move forward at any cost. But this god doesn’t want you to know that it is already dead.

You can not stop the future, that is obvious, but what is not obvious is why progress is synonymous with the future of our planet. Progress is causing the death of our planet, not ensuring the future. Progress is directly related to food and water shortages that cause the death of more people each day than anything. In the name of progress nation rises up against nation and causes the conflicts ravaging our planet.

Progress is fighting the war on terror, which makes our planet ’safer’, which allows ‘free trade’ and greed to be unbounded, for that is certainly ‘progress’… Global corporations and governments that kill, apathetic well fed masses who don’t want to share with the oppressed. Violent revolutions rise up, out of sheer necessity the starving grasp for the only objects they have ever known to bring change, weapons, having received silence for so long, maybe now they can force others to listen to their plight. But despite this progress, war cannot make things right, more than that it is unoriginal. War is an ancient force, the war to end all wars has been promised and fought over and over throughout history, without resolution.

In the midst of this fallen mess of rag tag domination I can only ask one question, who is the Kingdom of God for? Who gets God’s blessing anyway? Who is the kingdom of God for, the thin, the good looking, the religious, the strong, the rich, the beautiful, the intelligent, the righteous, those with the ability to get ahead, those who have an edge over others.

But Jesus said, Blessed are the poor in spirit…Blessed according to Frederick Dale Bruner means I am with you, or I am on your side. Which means Jesus is on the side of the losers, the spiritual zeros, the pathetic, the lame, the out of it, those at the end of their rope, the bankrupt, the morally bankrupt, those without a shred of good within them. In other words, there is nothing praiseworthy or appealing about being poor in spirit, especially since our world worships progress.

This is an announcement, it is not helpful advise, it is not a command, neither instruction nor blaming, it is not information on how the world works. But it seems to be in direct conflict with progress, the gods of this present world are not impressed by this announcement, which renders all their power useless.

The very moment in the name of progress that we look down upon anyone simply because they seem not the be as disciplined, hard working, upright, smart, responsible, moral, god fearing, or trustworthy as we are, because they have done something or made idiotic, immoral or oppressive choices over and over again, we at that moment are in fact rich in spirit and Jesus’ announcement is no longer for us. As we knowingly choose to serve other gods.

Who gets the earth? Again, Jesus said, blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. According to the Mishnah, “All Israelites have a share in the world-to-come, for it is written, Your people shall all be righteous; they shall Possess the land forever.” (Isa 60:21) Just as we already thought, the earth belongs to the strong, the righteous, the powerful, the Kings and Rulers, the rich, the good looking, the thin, the stars, those who have used their abilities to pick themselves up by their own boot-straps. Those who have an edge, but once again Jesus’ announcement shocks the powers as it renders all their schemes powerless.

Once again Jesus takes the power of the principalities and renders them useless. All those years of conditioning, all those years of learning what beautiful people look like, what successful people do, what leaders are supposed to say, how they dress, how they move, their manners and mannerisms…But it is the meek shall inherit the earth.

Frederick Dale Bruner says, “First and literally the beatitudes are Jesus’ surprisingly counter-cultural God-bless-you’s to people in God-awful situations.” In other words, blessed are the shy ones, the unnoticed, the average, the quiet ones, the addicted, those who live with a nagging feeling that life is passing them by, with those who are missing out, with those who are not getting their slice of the pie, those who feel that no matter how hard they try they are constantly falling behind. Blessed are those who can’t quite get it together, who can’t seem to ever get on top of things, who constantly feel as though they are falling short….Blessed are they because God’s world has plenty of room for them.

The Kingdom of God is for them because now that Jesus himself is present among us, God’s imminent rule is here and we are to live in that world, here, now, today. God’s kingdom is here, we do not hope for death to be defeated because death has already been defeated, we need not kill ourselves in the name of progress as the progress of this world is already dead to us.

The god’s of this world are no longer our god’s and we need not fear them. We need not fear nor comply with progress at any cost. The Kingdom of God has instilled within us the audacity to utter no in the face of national allegiance, to utter no in the name of unethical practices that allow some to get ahead. To utter no in the face of judgmental-ism, racism, hatred, fear, preemptive strikes and exclusion. Is there a promise for the principality that is progress, is there no American dream except nightmare? Is there hope for these fallen principalities and our involvement with them…

William Stringfellow in regards to the powers says, “The categorical answer is no, the answer informed by the biblical witness is no. The answer for those who are Christians is no, and therefore the answer which Christians commend to other human beings is no.”

This no is hope, that confesses the nations idolatry to progress and hence to death. This is a hope liberated from a thin moral naivete about any supposed unique destiny for the future, a hope that is emancipated from vain ambitions that progress is God’s holy plan.

This no is the no of resistance to the powers that be, a no that is the only way to live humanly. Babylon the great is fallen and in the midst of that fallen empire we cry out HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, Long Live the Slaughtered Lamb. Which issues the only hope worthy of humanity, because a no to death means yes to the gift of life. In God’s kingdom there is room for all, not just the ones who we expect to be there…

How Long shall we sing the Lords song in a Strange land?

‘This work is inspired by the recent Series on the beatitudes by Rob Bell, and by William Stringfellows work, “Ethics for Christians and other aliens in a strange land”.