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What a heady week in halls of power it is. As the various factions among the ruling class try and out do each other with claim and counter claim, the poor and dispossessed seem little acknowledged or cared for. Last week, in Sydney, if you read the blurbs, it might have been thought that the poor and dispossessed were centre stage. A closer examination shows that, well, maybe not. I’m talking about the 2006 Hillsong Convention, once more bringing together some of the rich and ruling class of the conservative Christian right.
About 12 months ago I raised the subject of raising the dead by discussing one of the headline speakers at the Hillsong Convention, Reinhard Bonnke who claimed to have raised a dead man in Nigeria. Bonnke was back this year. This time he proclaimed, “I want to paint the world red with the blood of Jesus Christ”. And we thought that was George W Bush’s intention!
Bonnke has a multimillion dollar a year mission to save the world and told the faithful gathered at the ex Olympic stadium that, “I want hell empty and heaven full!” He was not alone on the stage. Also joining him were Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, Rick Godwin and Matthew Barnett all of whom are part of the emerging “faith dynasties” to which Hillsong Senior Pastor, Brian Houston, also belongs.
What strikes me about this group is the inter-linkages they have with each other. They all attend each other’s conventions and it would true to say, form part of the core of global “warriors for Christ” whose declared intention is to “save” us from our “sins” by getting the “gospel of Christ” into our hearts. Their churches are a part of a multi billion dollar a year empire that stretches across the globe.
They have built huge buildings and monuments to their empires and have, collectively, millions in their thrall. They preside over foundations and organisational structures that spend millions on programs to ostensibly “help” the poor. Yet what is obvious is that none of them are engaged in any form of what is often described as ‘radical’ politics but what I believe is more like “real value politics”. Let me expand on this a little.
What I mean by “real value politics” are the struggle to establish the real values of tolerance, openness and justice. The kind of politics that refutes the claims of such odious legislation as the so called “workplace reforms”. The kind of politics that examines the treatment of refugees and says “No! This will not happen”. The kind of politics that goes beyond the economics and looks at the material outcomes of health, education, law and order and indigenous policies. The kind of politics that puts people first and manna last.
I looked at the line-up of key speakers and entertainers at the Hillsong Convention and notice that all of them are financially secure, the majority white and very unrepresentative of the poor their god calls them to love. You may recall that at the 2005 convention Prime Minister in waiting, Peter Costello, opened the conference with a claim that if everyone became a Christian there would be no more conflict. I guess, 12 months on, he has still failed to notice that most of the conflicts of the last 100 years have been led by so called Christian nations.
Back at Hillsong this year, the faithful, after shelling out up to $280 per head, were treated, not to sermons on how to fight the political fight and how to engage in social transformation, but rather such topics as Bill Hybels’ sermon on how to ensure that you never join with the poor in their “horrific conditions” but pray for them. Or perhaps if that didn’t lift you high enough, Pastor Jentezen Franklin from Free Worship Chapel, USA, got through with his message that standing in “the middle ground” is good enough. Maybe it was Brian Houston’s call to “have influence” and not to get caught up “in the small things” that did it for you. Maybe it was his insight into the way your love can be measured by, “what you hate, by how you judge, what you will defend and fight for and by your conversation”. Or maybe what floated your boat was the size of the offering plate each day.
As I’ve said before I know many Christian people who have sacrificed their livelihoods and who take incredible risks for their faith in order to attempt to transform the real hell on earth that many live in to a little or much better place. The stories of the martyrs who faced up to power with truth and died horrible and cruel deaths are truly inspiring as is the work of many unsung Christian men and women who work alongside the “unsaved” to fight for basic human and political rights. Indeed here in Victoria the Uniting Church has been an outspoken denomination on issues such as gaming machines and the governments dependence on that revenue stream right across to opposing the war in Iraq.
At a time when the most radical government in Australia’s history is tearing down institutions founded to provide basic rights and protections, at a time when most people seem least engaged in the political process and at a time when most people are more fearful than they have ever been, it is easier to look for the “gospel of contentment” rather than the politics of “real values”.
Brian, Bill, Rick, Matthew and Jentezen all belong in the same league as Jesus inner core of disciples, Peter, James and John. Three men who never quite ‘got’ what it was Jesus was on about. They too had thoughts of building huge temples and wanting to cast down fire and brimstone to burn up their perceived enemies. The inner three were engaged in infighting, big noting and betrayal. Peter, James and John were, like Brian and his pals, captives of their culture wearing the blinkers of their inherited faith.
In the story of what is known as the “transfiguration” Jesus takes the inner three up a hill upon which they have a vision of Jesus with Moses and Elijah. The three think they have seen a vision of which they and they alone are the sole proprietors. They offer to build three “booths” –what we would call today ‘temples’ – but Jesus tells them that is not necessary. Not too much later they are fighting over who will be the greatest in Heaven. What comes next is the story of legend.
Jesus picks up a little child and tells them that anyone who harms an innocent harms the kingdom of heaven. Right after this the inner three start to bicker about who should be allowed to perform miracles. Jesus tells them not to worry about who is doing the work as long as it’s being done. Fantastic stuff! Jesus shows no desire to consolidate power. He shows no inclination to found monuments to himself and demonstrates that self interest and aggrandisement form no part of his vision for the world.
It seems to me that the threat posed by such conventions as that held last week by Hillsong lies not in what they did, sang, prayed for or spent. It seems to me that the great threat is that the leaders of these movements are not willing to do what they boldly proclaim their followers should. That is, to stop bickering about who is the greatest, to cease building more and bigger monuments to themselves, to stop devising new ways to extract money from their congregations and actually, in public, stand up to power with truth and demonstrate that they really do love the rest of us and join with us in the struggle to create a more just, fair and equitable society right here on earth. Their sermons on the “gospel of contentment” and self interest really do need to be replaced by a praxis of “real value politics”.