caesar, colossians, poetry, and things...

So I just recently finished reading Colossians Remixed by Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmaat. It is an incredible book by this Canadian husband and wife duo who work extensively on developing students who will live out a biblical worldview through Christian Reformed Campus Ministries. There was one or two chapters in the book that I'm still trying to think through (i.e. I'm not 100% if I understand or agree with), but largely, I can recommend this book hands down to anybody who is a Christian living in a consumeristic society.
While reading this book, poetry welled up within me, and I wrote it down. I haven't written poetry in years! The following blog posts are all poems inspired from reading Colossians Remixed, in response the all pervasive "empire" -- as Walsh and Keesmaat say -- of consumerism. The subtitle of the book is: Subverting the Empire. Basically, it takes the Epistle of Paul to the Colossians as a very subversive text within the context of the Roman Empire. It discusses what "empire" is, exactly, and how following Christ is -- necessarily -- in conflict with empires and their violent domination. Jesus, quoting Isaiah (who in turn was using Jubilee imagery from Leviticus), said in his first sermon,
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

He preached this in the midst of an empire who claimed that its leader brought prosperity to all -- but expanded its territory by conquest and had slaves from the conquests. This Pax Romana supposedly brought peace to all the many, many different kinds of people it brought together, and yet, Jesus was subject to capital punishment on the cross...and so were many of his followers. We must ask why? If Caesar was god and offered peace and prosperity...then anybody else claiming to have peace and fruitfulness from another claiming to be God was committing treason! But who was God, and who gave freedom, peace, and fruitfulness?

Anyway...the next few posts will be some of the poems that resulted from me reading Colossians Remixed.

Christ's Shalom to you!