Occupy the Church Pt. 1 - We are the 99%

No matter what your thoughts on the Occupy Wall Street movement may be, I believe there is a significant statement being made about the state of the Christian church. A term that gets tossed around a lot is “the 99%”, and yet they seem to be such a small group of people. I don’t know a single person who is occupying anywhere right now, so I seriously doubt I don’t know anyone in the 99%. Another phrase often used in regards to these protests is “The Redistribution of Wealth”, taking the hard-earned cash of the 1% and giving it to the ‘undeserving and whining’ 99% who have fallen victim to the ‘admirable ways of capitalism’. And when it comes to Christianity many people respond to this movement with “how can we complain about being the bottom rung when everyone in America is in the top 1%”.

I figured that these are three different and distinct criticisms of the movement that all illuminate a different aspect of how God is working through these people and these circumstances. So for the next three Mondays I’m going to break apart each one of these problems: The mantra that “we are the 99%”, the “Redistribution of Wealth”, and finally the concern that all of America is better off than 99% of the world and so we can’t complain.

This first post is dedicated to the 99%, the chant that has become the one common strand through all the protests.

megaphones on buttons make them louder!

I went down to Orange County on a Thursday night to visit some friends of mine for a “Bible Study”.  I put that in quotes because more often than not, it is us sharing a beer and talking about our frustrations with the world and how we wish we could make something of our lives. I brought up the idea of Occupy Wall Street and my friend said essentially the same thing many people were saying, “these people don’t know what they’re protesting, or why. They’re pointless and aimless and they certainly don’t represent the 99%” And despite being incredibly uneducated on the circumstances of the problem, I found myself coming to their defense.

I knew of the failure of banks to make morally upright decisions, the failure of our government to hold them accountable and the failure of us as American people to stand up for our rights and participate in our democracy. This movement, at the very least, was an attempt to solve the latter of those problems. To be clear, I have no idea whether or not the statements made by protestors in all of these movements across the nation are the best solution to our country’s economic woes but I will say that not making any statement is far more of a failure.

We have forgotten this, or at least it would seem that way from the overwhelming response in the media and from people I am close to. When people get together to voice their frustrations and opinions it is fine to disagree, it is fine to respond with your own frustrations and opinions but it would seem the only wrong action is to outright disregard and belittle those who have used their voice. For this blog post I’m not even going to touch on the biblical view of “Redistribution of Wealth” and so I also don’t plan on saying whether or not these protests are justified, I will say however that the response is not.

I have trouble relating to the Occupy Wall Street Movement, mostly because I am a full-time employed youth pastor who belongs to a credit union. Being that I am a pastor, a large chunk of my education at Bible College was dedicated to coping with being part of the 99%. So when I hear people complain about unemployment I can sympathize but not empathize (or is it vice-versa?), I can understand that they have those feelings but I can’t feel those feelings. I am removed from the problem.

and I am very thankful that I am!

And here’s where things get Christian-y.

This blog post is called ‘Occupy the Church’ because people aren’t. Our churches are hemorrhaging our youth at a surprising rate and new churches are popping up that seem further and further from the unity we are all supposed to find in Christ. There may be plenty of people going to church on a weekly basis but it seems fewer and fewer are occupying the Church at large, stepping into a community of believers that extends beyond the walls of a chapel, or worship center, or trendy warehouse. So the question becomes why does living in a tent in the middle of a city protesting big banks and bad government decisions look more appealing than worshiping a God who loves all people and brings justice on big banks and bad governments and even dirty ill informed protestors?

I’ve heard pastors say things like “All of these kids these days are totally fine with the gays and so they leave the church.” “All of these kids these days don’t believe in absolute truth and so they leave the church.” “All of these kids these days don’t see the point in traditions or how the church is now and so they leave the church.”

And so churches begin making their goal to preach against homosexuality, to simply instill absolute truth, and to reinforce traditions and traditional thought.

That is not the goal of the church.

That is not the goal of a Christian.

And when we make that our goal we will lose people who have come to find the love of Christ.

The OWS movement chants, “We are the 99%” because that means they belong to something bigger than themselves. Isn’t that what the Church should offer? You know when you get really hungry and then you eat nothing but cookies or ramen for dinner? Does that satisfy? What about when you eat a big Chipotle burrito? It seems like there’s nothing that satisfies more. Why are people satisfied with being part of 99% of humanity and not satisfied with being a part of the body of Christ, the One who speaks life into being? Our youth is sick and tired of being marginalized and pushed out, belittled and talked down to. They are hungry for the love of Christ and they are settling for an empty meal of belonging to a group of people who are unified in anger and frustration. Why choose that over the peace of Christ?

I was never a fan of pews but they're not as bad as tents...

            I think they’re justified in protesting, because how did we offer anything different from Wall Street? In what way did we love people when we taught them the evils of homosexuality and post modernism over the goodness and greatness of Christ? In what ways did we offer an alternative to the American way of hedonism and unbridled capitalism, which thrives on the work of others, when we gladly accepted offerings to the Lord to pay for our own luxuries? We took money from our young people and used it to glorify capitalism and to teach them that their frustrations aren’t justified, that their concerns about their homosexual friends who they loved dearly are pointless, that their questions about truth and what is real are too big and crazy for the Lord to handle.

            The fact is we are the 99%. The 99% makes big mistakes, and hurts others. We are failures to our youth and to our country. 99% of the time 99% of the people are going to do things that are 99% wrong. We failed to accept that and so we moved forward arrogantly and stood up for things other than the glory of Christ. I’m not trying to romanticize the movement. I think they’re a bunch of unkempt, unemployed people who don’t really know what the problem is… but the thing is, they should be able to find more of a solution in the church than on Wall Street and that is our mistake, not theirs. It was the government’s mistake to not monitor Wall Street more closely and protect people from the failures of the banks and it was the bank’s mistake to offer loans to people who couldn’t pay them. Let’s be different. Let’s be the first ones to admit our faults and to stop committing them (likely so we can commit a whole new set of faults in the future). We need to be a solution because we need to be the body of Christ and his body was the solution.

            Our job is proclaiming His victory, to celebrate, and to lead others to His victory to celebrate with us. If we allow ourselves to wallow in our mistakes as a church, or the mistakes of our youth then we fail them.

            God redeemed the gays and the homophobes.

            God redeemed the modernist and the post-modernist.

            God redeemed the dirty hippies and the Wall Street bankers and if we are not preaching that at all times through our actions and our repentance, then we are not celebrating that redemption.

            Our youth left the church and went to Wall Street, because there was more truth there than there was here. Let’s repent.

           Let the 99% be redeemed by the One.