Ordinary Time 09: A Kingdom Divided

As part of Tim’s sermon today, he talked about Walter Brueggemann’s concept of the royal consciousness — an ideological capture that comes from prosperity. He named three features of it. First: numbness.

Brueggemann said that when a person or community achieves a certain level of comfort — with all their basic needs met — something starts to happen to their imagination. Gradually, they start to focus on what’s next (& then next after that, and next after that, and next after that, etc).

And then slowly, the suffering of those at the bottom becomes tough to really see and to feel. Tim said, “The cries of the exploited are still there — they’re just harder to hear over the ambient noise of the all-out pursuit of what’s next.” Injustice requires a certain level of numbness in order to persist. It’s not a byproduct of the system; it’s a feature. Because, if those at the top could actually feel what those at the bottom feel, the pyramid that is the ideology would never hold.

What do you think about this idea? Do you think that if “those at the top” could really hear and feel what those at the bottom experience, the system would fall apart? why or why not?

When you consider this idea, do you identify more with those at the top or with those at the bottom? Why?

To what extent can you see yourself in this idea of someone who is numb to the suffering of those at the bottom?

The second feature of the royal consciousness is static religion. Tim said that when the disruptive presence of God — the prophetic — becomes a force that’s used to legitimize the status quo rather than calling the powerful to account, you’re seeing this concept play out.

In this paradigm, religion defends the status quo. Injustice ends up with the full weight of religious conviction behind it, and the powerful are justified by religion. Tim pointed out that this Type of religion doesn’t require bad intentions or a lack of sincere devotion, only a certain level of comfort.

Where can you see your own experience in this idea of static religion — are you tempted to be drawn into this way of thinking, or is it something you’ve been a part of in the past?

How hard is it to find the ways you might participate in this form of ideological capture? How uncomfortable does it feel to look for them?

How important is the idea of a God who challenges the powerful important to your concept of God? How much do you think it impacts and influences the way you live out your faith day to day?

The final feature of Royal consciousness is oppressive social order. A important piece in this concept is that royal consciousness’ oppression doesn’t say, “hey, I’m an ideology” — instead, it presents itself as the facts of life. It says, “this is how the world is — it’s always been that way, it always will be.”

How does this message or idea resonate for you right now, in the midst of the climate we live in these days — politically, socially, in terms of justice, both local and global and everywhere in between?

As you look at all of these three features together, particularly within the framework of prosperity as their origin, what surfaces for you?

If you can see yourself that way, how does it feel to examine yourself as one of the prosperous people in the paradigm? Do you feel moved to any specific kind of response?

What might it look like to respond with action as prophetic resistance?