Noisy Americans

This post is mostly notes from David Zac Niringiye's session at the Jesus and Evangelical Power Conference at First Pres Berkeley in Oct 2006. David Zac is from Uganda and his talk was titled "Releasing the Gospel from its Evangelical Captivity".

David Zac shared with us that he thinks it must be very difficult to be an American and a Christian. "The pressure is unbelievable" he said and he has begun to pray for us as Americans. He said that very often American Christians will offer prayer for Uganda but that he felt hesitant to suggest that he might pray for us. It was an impression that those in Uganda are the ones who are in need of prayer and not the other way around. How telling and how troubling.

David Zac spoke a lot about what he called the noise in our lives that we are surrounded by. He said this noise:

• clouds out reality
• distracts us from the truth
• blinds us
• is deceptive
• defines our stories
• defines our identity
• is the stories we tell ourselves
• is the story that is told to us by media, culture
• is the popular story
• is what power structures thrive on

He hoped that we would ask ourselves what is this noise in our own lives. And then he told us a story from the gospel of Luke, the story of the two men on the road to Emmaeus. Jesus had been crucified and the two men did not believe the women who had told them that Jesus had risen. When Jesus comes up beside them on the road and starts talking with them they do not recognize him. They are blinded by the noise of the story that had been told to them for so many generations - that the Messiah would come in power to deliver Israel. "We had hoped" that Jesus was the one we were waiting for - to rise to power and replace their oppressors. Who is dominating, who is in control - that is the way of the world. It was only when Jesus later broke bread with them that their eyes were opened. The first time Jesus broke bread with them was when he had just told them that one of them would betray him. It was a time of brokenness for them. In that same way, they are broken now and it is when Jesus breaks bread with them that they see him for who he is.

I have heard it said often that it is when we are broken, when we find ourselves with nothing else to hold onto, that we call out for Jesus. When everything is fine and we go about our daily lives and everything is rolling along the noise of our culture by default becomes our road map and our truth. I pray that I will recognize the noise in my life for what it is, that Jesus will challenge me and wake me up, that I will not be numb to the suffering of my brothers and sisters all around our world, that God will give me the strength to be a servant and the humility to give Him the glory.