|
What remains as vivid now as it did at the start of Occupy LSX (London Stock Exchange) is the enduring symbolism of a protest movement sheltering in the shadow of the dome of St Paul's Cathedral, in full view of the offices where traders and brokers ply their trade. The very geography of the protest forces the issue of where the church stands in relation to the urgent questions raised by global capitalism.
It's perhaps intriguing to note that Proverbs describes wisdom as 'calling aloud' and 'raising her voice' not from the palace or temple, but 'in the open' and 'in the public square' (1:20), 'at noisy street corners' and 'city gates' (1:21). Wisdom speaks from the heart of the economic life of Jerusalem, calling it to account. Consider the verses in the immediate context which issue a dire warning, that those who go after 'ill-gotten gain' will end up destroying themselves (1:19).
My intent is not to suggest that every banker is necessarily after 'ill-gotten gain', but rather, by analogy, to encourage a certain posture towards the protest: what, if any, wisdom can be discerned from the voices that are 'crying aloud' in the City?
If we hope to learn wisdom about macro-economic policy, we will probably be disappointed. Many commentators have critiqued the absence of economic proposals offered by the protests. Theologian Luke Bretherton argues that to expect this is to misunderstand the purpose of the protest. He suggests that 'the power sought is not political power but the power of imagination', that the protest hopes to create space - literally a public space - for imagination.
The occupy website offers an invitation: 'We need alternatives; you are invited to join us in debate and developing them; to create a better future for everyone.' For something to be truly alternative, it has to be rooted in a different imagination.
The church, grounded in the biblical narrative, enables and embodies a different way of seeing the past and present, and a different way of imagining the future. Perhaps the wisdom found in the Occupy LSX protest is that it reminds the church of its prophetic gift of imagination. Biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann articulates this very point: 'Our culture is competent to implement almost anything and to imagine almost nothing... It is the vocation of the prophet to keep alive the ministry of imagination, to keep conjuring and proposing alternative futures.'
|