Bishops' Blog

Cities

When I was living in Canada’s largest city I read in the paper of a survey in Alberta: how many hated Toronto? 70% said they did. When I mentioned this to a friend who was a Torontonian, hie replied ‘30%! Not bad?’ This feeling is not rare about big cities, and I would venture that not a few people in the more rural parts of our diocese share it!

In our recent clergy conference, Brian Brock, a theologian at Aberdeen, reflected on Jacques Ellul, a French theologian who was also a World War II resistance-fighter and early commentator on technology. In particular he was interested in Ellul’s The Meaning of the City. In that book Ellul first understood the city, and in particular Babel, as a rebellion against life in the garden, where God intended the human to live. By its very nature the city entailed pride and pretense. We see this theme in the Bible throughout, since close to its conclusion, in Revelation, we read of ‘Babylon the fallen’ (18:2), where John has in mind Rome. We need to note, historically, that great cities were throughout connected to empire, as well as slavery of one form or another. More recently T.S.Eliot in his poetic cry of modern despair speaks of

Falling towers

Jerusalem Athens Alexandria

Vienna London

Unreal

But Ellul, and we too, need to see how God in His redemptive mercy takes our own detours and puts them to a good use. Great cities were the places where faith in Jesus first flourished, so much so that Christians came to use the word for country folk (paganus) for those still caught up in the local gods. More generally, the grandeur of the imperial city with all the diverse subject peoples present and co-mingled, became a feature of the city of God itself, of ‘all nations and tongues.’ (Daniel 7:14), originally an Hellenistic vision taken captive to Christ especially as it redeemed the Roman imperium.

The hybris and corruption reaching back to Babylon is never lost sight of: these too describe us the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. But the dynamism, diversity, and destination of the city are features of the goal toward which we move. And where we find these features in great worldly cities themselves, an example of which is contemporary Dallas, still by grace speak to us of the final city of God.

+GRS

Do Not Erase

I have tried hard to limit my comments about the present political situation to points of theology and places where actions impinge on my flock. But I understand ‘flock’ to include congregations where I used to work…

The US Defense Department has removed from its website ten articles about the Navajo code-talkers who used the complexity of the language of the Diné (to which I can attest) in the aid of our nation’s battle against fascism in the Second World War. There was a code-talker within my congregation at Good Shepherd in Fort Defiance. We can be grateful to all veterans, and at the same time be appreciative of that particular contribution of Navajo Americans.

Classifying their story under the category ‘DEI’ as a pretext to erase this piece of history is foolish and mean-spirited. Remember, there is a longer history of suppressing the distinctive gifts of native culture which should not be repeated.

Revelation tells us that around the throne will be found every ‘family, language, people, and nation’ praising the Lamb, at the center. Among those worshipping will be the Navajo singing in the tonal mother-tongue of the code-talkers.

+GRS