I define a commitment to anarchism is as a commitment to undoing the power-over (the hierarchies) that exists in human relationships with each other and all living beings (including our planet).
This is a different ethic than leaderless chaotic craziness. That’s the caricature of anarchism and anarchy, right? Everyone is just running around like a crazy person, breaking stuff and setting things on fire. How liberating.
So I guess if we just put them together it cancels everything out and we’re good, right??
With this sermon my invitation is to suspend your judgement as much as possible for the moment and give an anarchist ethic a chance. Obviously you don’t have to agree with my perspectives but I hope you can see how an anarchistic ethic is not as far-fetched as it might initially seem.
I’m also intentionally using the phrase “anarchistic ethic” to put an emphasis on practice, or to use Christian terminology, discipleship. I do not find anarchist ideology all that useful in the same way I don’t find orthodox Christian theology all that useful. Both projects try to fit everything into neat boxes, proving their impenetrable coherency. I’m not interested in that. I’m interested in how we actually live our lives as followers of Jesus.
One resource that has been super helpful in writing this sermon is a little book by my friend, Mark Van Steenwyk. It’s called That Holy Anarchist and it’s a 70 page primer on Christianity and anarchism. In true anarchist fashion you can read the whole thing free online and I highly recommend doing that.
In the book he looks at the anarchist streams that run through Christian history and scripture. It may not surprise you to know that Anabaptists make an appearance there. Furthermore, in the essay on anarchism for the Encyclopedia Britannica, Peter Kropotkin traces the birth of anarchist thought in Europe to early Anabaptist communities.
Mark points out that all the movements in Christian history with an anarchistic ethic have been considered heretical, in some way, by the dominant religious groups of their time. This may seem obvious, he writes, but if a religious group is dominant, they don’t like antiauthoritarian tendencies in their midst.
Am I saying Anabaptists called themselves anarchists? No. But clearly they were embodying an anarchist ethic toward the church and state officials that were trying to keep them in line. They said, “You have no authority over us. You can even destroy our bodies but that won’t defeat our movement.” Anabaptists were non-violent, other than aberrations such as at Münster.
Which brings up a good point about anarchism and violence. I would argue that doing violence to another body is an abuse of power and therefore contrary to an anarchistic ethic. At the same time questions remain about self-defense, property destruction and the self-determination of oppressd people. I mean, Jesus destroyed a bunch of stuff when he flipped the tables on the money-changers and made a whip of cords to, at least, drive out the animals.
But leadership can’t be anarchist, right? I would say that leaders in a community committed to non-hierarchy can function with an anarchist ethic. This looks like calling people into leadership with gifts and skills that correspond with the needs of the community. It’s not that any particular leader is seen as better than the other people but rather as possessing the capacity to meet needs and honoring that responsibility. In the same way, other roles and responsibilities in the community are held and honored. And the sharing of wisdom is not relegated to any one person but can spring forth anywhere in the community. I’m curious if you think that is true of this congregation.
Now, let’s turn to scripture. There we also see threads, or even tapestries, of an anarchistic ethic. In the Hebrew scriptures we have an origin story where all created beings lived in harmony together in an abundant garden. We have the example of Babel where Yahweh scattered the people who had become quite impressed with their big tower. We have the practice of Jubilee redistribution. We have a king-less society until the people begged and begged and begged to be like everyone else. And then it was just a mess, but the prophets show up to set things straight… or at least to try. That brings us to Isaiah, specifically Isaiah 58:1-12 which is one of the lectionary texts for today.
The context for the passage is post-exilic, meaning that the people who were taken into exile have returned and are trying to make sense of their situation. They are clearly wanting some direction from God.
you shall cry for help, and the Divine will say, Here I am.
Earlier this week our Outreach committee used this passage during our prayer time and had some discussion about it. The group on Silent Retreat is also reflecting on this passage. What stuck out to me when we were discussing it earlier this week is how it lends itself to an anarchistic ethic.
Then in verse 9 God shows up. “Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and the Divine will say, Here I am.” Perhaps it’s like, because you are acting in ways that embody the Divine, you’re able to experience connection with the Divine. It’s not about seeking a higher power to solve your problems or the problems of the world. Rather you’re empowered to practice Divine love and justice, and through that practice you usher in Divine reality.
It’s also worth noting that the prophet is using “you” in the plural. He’s speaking to the whole group, saying that their collective healing and vindication is possible. It’s about a community being committed to this way of living.
When I think about actions taken by members of this congregation in the past couple months, I can see this mystical anarchist ethic. No one is telling this group what the step by step process is to embody justice in these times. No leader said you now have permission to do nonviolent direct action. You are trusting yourselves and each other and taking action and being accountable. You, we, are being transformed through this action, just as we are a part of transforming our reality.
What has this looked like among us? It’s looked like developing the courage to call elected officials and creating a space for prayer and going to Standing Rock and being chained together and singing hymns and prominently displaying Black Lives Matter signs at our homes and giving money to the ACLU and teaching children freedom songs and showing up for protests and having a difficult conversation with someone who sees things differently than you and going to SFO in solidarity with detained immigrants. We have done all these things.
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Thanks for sharing this. Really timely issue for the church at this moment in time. I like the references to the example of the early Anabaptists. I totally get that we are called to do the Isaiah 58 stuff. I struggle with how much we are called to directly engage the political powers/systems of injustice…i.e. try to make the government function by our worldview of a moral code under God. We are not a theocracy anymore. But I do see that injustices need to be confronted. I often go to Jesus’s words of “my kingdom is not of this world” and think that gives justification for not engaging politically, but I guess there he was talking about not using violence. I’ll check out the Holy Anarchist.
Hi Deborah, thank you for this response. I just saw it today! Sorry for not responding sooner. For me the concern is not so much with our government, but with broader society/culture. This includes the government but is not limited to it. I feel that our call as followers of Jesus is to embody the kindom of God here and now which means we will be at odds with anything manifesting oppressive power. I think at root the institutions that have power are the institutions of racism, sexism, heterosexism, economic disparity, xenophobia, heterosexism. These institutions can manifest in lots of different places (including within ourselves). So embodying our call as following of Jesus means that we seek to transform these systems wherever they are found.