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The Rise and Fall of the American Empire
  
Articles              
  The Coming Exile was published in that wonderful magazine, The Other Side in July - Aug 2003. It was my first extended attempt at looking at what we had become as Empire and where we were going. The article began its life as a sermon at our Eighth Day faith community.  

Speeches
 
 

Crises of Empire is a lecture that I offered at the Servant Leadership School/Festival Center in July of 2008 at a conference on Jubilee economics. I exlore briefly three previous Western empires and look for lessons for us in the waning years of the American empire.

When Things Fall Apart is a talk from the 18th anniversary of Joseph's House (our home & hospice for homeless men and women), trying to assess the economic, social and political future of our society, the likelihood of significant disruption, and what role compassion and justice might have in preparing for this difficult time and living through it. June 2008

Reversing the Move Toward Empire is a talk I gave in November 2004 (right after the presidential elections) to a group of mothers of small children who met once a month to discuss topics of importance to them. In it I identify some of the issues of American Empire and begin to think about how we might find hope.

 
Sermons (unless otherwise noted, these were all delivered at our Eighth Day Faith Community.)  
 

Empire and the Powers is a sermon I offered at Friends of Jesus Church (one of the other faith communities of Church of the Saviour in Washington) in May of 2005. I had been increasingly concerned about what was coming as the American Empire began running up against itself and its contradictions. In this sermon I explore three of the Powers: Democracy, Capitalism, and Corporations. It seems to me that communities of faith have a special responsibility in this time.

On Prophetic Judgment is a sermon I offered again at my own Eighth Day Faith Community on September 11, 2005, the fourth anniversary of 9/11 and shortly after Hurrican Katrina struck New Orleans down, revealing, for the first time to some Americans, the face of American poverty and the inadequacy of societal response. The question I explore is What is the nature of God's judgment? How does one make sense of an Old Testament prophet like Jeremiah in today's world?

Interpreting the Signs of the Times is another of my sermons on what it means to live within these perilous times of Empire. Delivered in February 2005, it looks explicitly at some of the fragility of the United States economy and other problematic areas, but it also discusses the nature of "parallel structures" that might be built up within the church that may prepare us for the coming crisis.

Torture and the Arrogation of Power is a sermon that I offered at LaSalle St Church in Chicago in January of 2006 when the revelations of presidentially sanctioned torture were at their height. I had some reluctance in giving this as a sermon because I feel quite strongly that most political debate ought to be kept out of the pulpit. This is not to say that the church should not be involved politically--I think it should--but it is to say that there are very few political issues that are actually confessional, ie that all Christians need to believe one way or another. Torture, I believe, is one of those issues. Not everyone in the congregation agreed, and two stood during my sermon to say so. It was a lively time.