The Message of the Christological Bookends

I have to admit that I don't have too much to say this week. It seems like every Friday night I get ready to write and I get a block in my mind. Then, the next morning I think of about eight things that I should have written about. However, I do have a quick thought.
Wednesday I sat down and watched Newsies for the first time. In some ways it was not exactly my favorite. However, there are many things which I did really like about it. The first and most important is the general idea that ideas can change the world.
In the film, a group of newspaper boys group together to form a union and challenge the power of Hearst and Pulitzer. A newspaper man helps them with their cause. This group of mere boys was able to topple some of the most powerful men in America.
I love that idea. The idea that we can bring change through words and ideas. That we don't need violence and power, but moral supremacy, to win our battles. That is an idea which is at the core of America. It is an idea which governed most of our finest moments. In the last century it was an idea that ended segregation, communism, and apartheid. Then there is also the work of men like Gandhi. Peaceful protest is a concept which we all must learn to understand. I believe it is in the very grain of our society. As Bono put it last night on Conan, "America is an idea, and I fell in love with that idea."
However we have too often lost that idea. We somehow think that we can just muscle change into existence. Diplomacy is replaced with action. Sanctions and moral mandates are made inconsequential by missiles. Why have we resorted to being that type of people?
And why have we done it in the church? Both Randy Harris and Landon Saunders have been at Harding in the last semester, and they both have had a similar issue. Christians have made our mission about power. What political sway we have and how much we can be listened to and agreed with. We fight so that our politicians, media and art (I use the term here loosely), and general worldview is not ignored. "We will not be silenced" we say. People like Pat Robertson and Jerry Fallwell are seen as our leaders. Christians in America today are people who are screaming so that everyone will here them, not listening with the ears of Christ.
That is not to say that we don't have some sort of important role. I am merely saying that the church does not flex her muscles and use political clout as a weapon. The church is not a mere voting block. It may give us respect now, but it will not always. I would argue that it actually currently is making us more a pawn than anything else.
We are part of a kingdom that is ruled by a king born in a manger and killed on a cross. That should tell us how he made his impact. It wasn't with his might, sway, or popularity. He showed the world who God is by submission, rejection, and pain. We shouldn't expect the whole world to get it and agree with it, instead we should expect the darkness to be unable to comprehend the light.
I think on men like either the Newsies, or better yet Gandhi and MLK Jr., and I think, if only I had lived then. If only I could have been part of that cause and marched with them in their holy battles for the return to righteousness. Then I think, do I live in that time? Is it that we aren't in a time of reform, like the 1960's, or is it just that my eyes are not open. I think a man like Martin Luther King (or even Martin Luther for that matter) is defined by his vision. His ability to see injustice and see the reconciliation that needs to come. Jesus also had that vision. It is my prayer that he will strengthen it in me.