Why I like the Occupy Movement (or how to piss off occupiers and Christians in one fell swoop)

Before I start this blog I want to make it absolutely clear that I am speaking only for myself. These ideas originated in my little grey cells and are representative only of my thoughts and ideas. I do not represent all Occupiers and I certainly don't represent all Christians.

I read this article a while ago that argued that Occupiers are not protesting at all. In fact, the Occupy movement is testing a new way of living. When people ask me about the movement I often say something to the same effect. The reason that these protesters have not made any demands is that they are not trying to correct the broken system. The Occupiers don't want to change one form of oppression for another equally damaging form. Instead the Occupiers are testing a new way of living. They are building, literally from the ground up, a new society with a new style of leadership and communication. They are making a new society right in the middle of the old one. They're testing a new way to live in this world that is still living in the old world.

If you've read my blog for very long you might know where I'm going with this. If you've talked to me much about my theology you might know where I'm going with this. (I honestly can't believe I didn't realize this until I woke up at 3 am this morning, unable to sleep).

In the Church we have this phrase the Kingdom of God (KoG for short). Too many people associate the KoG with this pie in the sky place that you go when you die. (This may be heresy, or my youth, but I'm not sure what happens we die. I do, however, believe 100% that Jesus came to preach about what happens here on Earth and how we treat one another in the here and now and he wasn't all that interested in an afterlife). The Kingdom of God is what Jesus talks about a lot. He says in the book of Mark: "The Kingdom of God is at hand" (1:15). In fact, "Many scholars, both conservative and critical, regard the kingdom of God as “the central theme” of Jesus’ public proclamation." (That came from this site) My understanding is that the Kingdom is already realized by the death and resurrection of Jesus, but also that it is not quite here yet. In fact, Christians are the ones that are supposed to bring about this new Kingdom.

This Kingdom is a new way of life. It is a way of living in which all people are treated with dignity and respect. The doorway to this kingdom lies in the way you treat those that are homeless, in jail, hungry, and without clothes. (Matthew 25:36-40). The KoG is supposed to be an experiment in a new way of living. This experiment is supposed to make people uncomfortable and perhaps even change lives. Jesus and all of his disciples were killed by the government. I don't think it's because they were trying to talk about what happened after you die. They were trying to change an exploitative system that rewarded the few by exploiting the masses. Sound familiar?

All of this being said. I don't think that Occupy movement is the Kingdom of God. I do think, however, that it is getting a lot closer than the Church has been in recent years. The injustice and oppression in our society has been crying out to God for Justice. The Church has been refusing to answer (I'm not condemning the many Christians working for justice - I am condemning those that in Jesus' name are actively supporting hate and working towards making the rich richer while the poor become poorer.) The Church is losing it's relevance because it has stopped experimenting in a new way of living that is risky and challenging and bringing about something like the Kingdom that Jesus talked about. Luckily for us, God is bigger than the Church and can (and does) use all people to bring about God's justice. The Occupy movement looks much more like the Church than many churches today.