Washington

I have been walking around Washington DC for the last couple of days and it is an interesting experience. It was built, and it is lived in today, as the ruling capital of an empire. It is also a capital built out of a hope that a political system could be created that preserved and uplifted the dignity of all. It is an interesting, but profound difference.

Desmond Tutu once told the story about how when work was being done on drafting a new constitution for a post apartide South Africa. Inside they were studying the American Constitution as a guide for creating a more just society, while out side there were police ready to arrest, imprison and torture them, who were paid for and supported by the US. Empire – that which dominates and exploits; or Beacon of Hope? This seems to be the fundamental and ongoing question which faces the US.

Over the last many years it is the vision of the US as empire that has come to dominate. This extends before the reign of the Bush dynasties. Democrat and Republicans have for years been united in their shared belief that the US can exploit and dominate the world. We must remember that it was under Clinton that the US not only turned a blind eye to genocide in Rwanda but pushed forward structural adjustment programs that condemned millions to poverty and death. Even Al Gore when he was in office did curiously little in terms of making a concrete difference in addressing climate change. Under Bush, quite wars became active and more destructive, and the language which once at least acknowledged climate change became outright hostile.

The question is how can the shift towards being a beacon of hope occur? This is a question not just for Americans, but for all of us in the wealthy world. It is especially a question for people of faith.

Increasingly I believe that this is a question of vision. First of all there is a profound need to have a vision which can see the reality of the world as it is. Watching the news hear is disturbing. Flashing music, repeating stories, hyped up language all work for focus the attention, but in reality blind us from everything else going on in the world. From meeting with some advocacy folks here the Congress if putting finishing touches on a Farm Bill. Now will the growing global food crisis this is REALLY Important. It is after all subsidies and bio-fuels in the US and Europe that has devastated farming and caused hunger in the developing world. This is huge. We are talking about life and death for millions, but it doesn’t make the news. So the question is how can people of faith become a people of vision, who are not so distracted, but can see what is going on and help others to see as well?

The other side of vision is possibility. Again and again we are given a tale that tells us that this is simply the way of the world and it is naive to work for anything else. Ironic coming from a country which was born out of a dream for a different kind of social order. Dreaming of what is possible and then working towards it has been the heart of what has transformed our world. When the declaration of Human Rights was passed it was basically dismissed by the powers of the time as irrelevant and given not teeth to insure that it would remain so. Yet it created a vision of what is possible and people began to work to achieve it. While its vision is not yet realized, we have come along way. It continues to shape policies and it has become the standard by which countries are judged. Human Rights gained teeth because people believed in the vision it created.

So the question is what is our vision? How do we begin to unflinching see the world as it is? How can people of faith, of all faiths, create a vision of hope that we can give our lives towards achieving? How can our lives and community become a narrative which prophetically challenges the narrative of empire? This is our challenge, it is also or possibility. There are many to proclaim the story of an Empire. It is our task to proclaim the story of hope.