“You Got the Part!”
My friend got to the cast list before me and blurted out, “You got the part!” I got the lead role in the upcoming school theatre production. I got the part I auditioned for but now I was overwhelmed with what that entailed. Much of the success of the show would be tied to my performance. At that moment, I realized it is much easier to be a consumer of entertainment than a producer. We humans love to be entertained. We seek, prioritize, and, to some extent, crave entertainment, which is everywhere.
Politics and entertainment have merged today, so one can hardly tell them apart. Terms like “political theatre” and “infotainment” describe what we see in political debates and streaming news coverage—the media build-ups opposing candidates like prize fighters at a weigh-in.
Consequently, politics seems to seep into every aspect of our lives—from late-night TV and morning sports highlights to Disney films and even the checkout at the grocery store. As political content has become more polarized and entertaining, it has also become divisive, causing many to fear sharing who they support for fear of negative repercussions. In their book, Jesus and the Powers: Christian Political Witness in an Age of Totalitarian Terror and Dysfunctional Democracies [1], N.T. Wright and Michael Bird seek to address these fears and our current political moment to help Christians faithfully witness while confronting the disruptive and troubling “powers” at work in the world. In this post, I will look at two concepts from this book that most resonated with me.
Kingdom-Vocation
Early in chapter one, these two concepts emerge when they state:
“We believe that the Church’s answer to the global crises of our day is, in sum, the kingdom of God. The Church’s message and mission rest on the notion that God is King, God has appointed Jesus as the King of kings and Lord of lords, and the Church’s vocation is to build for the kingdom!’ Our working hypothesis is that the kingdom of God is not from this world, but it is emphatically for this world. The Church’s kingdom-vocation is not only what it says to the world, but is also what the Church does within and for the sake of the world.”[2]
First, they bring to the forefront the primary occupation of the Church, which is to build for the kingdom. They further clarify in their above statement that this is done in both word and deed. The Church’s message is the “Good News” that Jesus Christ is King. He has conquered sin and death, defeating the “powers” of darkness through his sacrificial death and victorious resurrection. However, Wright and Bird contend this message should not be reduced to a subjective, individualistic message but instead worked out in a community, stating, “Of course sin, forgiveness, reconciliation with God and with one another, continue to matter. But for the first Christians, these were realities to be worked out in actual community, not simply private transactions between God and the soul.” [3]
In researching my NPO, I have explored the concept of Rugged individualism and have come to understand the harmful impact it has had on both American society and the American Church. One of the primary effects is isolation, contributing to the widespread “Loneliness Epidemic.”[4] For Christians, it is crucial to understand the “Kingdom-vocation” as carried through words and deeds in the community context. In this way, as the Church embodies God’s justice, peace, and power in humility, it vocalizes the Kingship of Jesus in the world through action. It speaks truth to power as it loves the unlovely, cares for the immigrant, and contends for the powerless. A historical example of this comes from the words of the Roman Emperor Julian in the late 4th Century:
We must pay special attention to this point, and by this means effect a cure. For when it came about that the poor were neglected and overlooked by the [pagan temple] priests, then I think the impious Galileans [Christians] observed this fact and devoted themselves to philanthropy. And they have gained ascendancy in the worst of their deeds through the credit they win for such practices. . . . The Galileans also begin with their so-called love-feast [open meals], or hospitality, or service of tables—for they have many ways of carrying it out and hence call it by many names—and the result is that they have led very many into atheism [denying the Greco-Roman gods].[5]
The Roman Emperor called his priests to engage in charitable work to beat Christians at their own game. The Church’s faithful obedience to the teachings of Christ spoke truth to power and challenged the Roman Empire.
On The World’s Stage
The second concept Wright and Bird make clear is that the Kingdom, while not from this world, it is for this world, and therefore, the Church cannot afford to withdraw from politics.[6]
Today, the Church faces what it thinks is a binary dilemma: whether to retreat and stay safe or engage in conflict with the culture. According to Wright and Bird, a proper Biblical perspective is neither retreat nor fight but actively participate in the world to benefit it.
N.T. Wright said recently in a podcast interview when speaking about Jesus’ agenda of God’s kingdom and what the whole Bible is about, “It’s not about how humans go to be with God, it’s about how God comes to be with humans, and what happens when he does.”[7]
In this highly entertainment-driven cultural moment, a helpful metaphor is found when seeing the world as a grand theatre. Wright and Bird introduce this idea by saying, 
“History is the theatre of divine glory, and all history will culminate in a dramatic moment when
God puts the world to rights through Jesus.”[8] In this metaphor, the Church as the Body of Christ has a crucial role. Theologian Kevin Vanhoozer puts it this way:
The disciple’s vocation is not to play-act but to tear off the masks that occlude one’s true identity in Christ. Those who play their parts well are witnesses to reality, to the word of promise and truth fulfilled in Jesus Christ. To play our part well, however, we need to play with others. Our calling in Christ is ultimately a corporate vocation…The drama of doctrine reaches its appropriate conclusion, then, only when it is performed by the whole church.[9]
Simply put: “We Got the Part!”
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
[1] N.T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, Jesus and the Powers: Christian Political Witness in an Age of Totalitarian Terror and Dysfunctional Democracies (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2024).
[2] Wright and Bird, Jesus and the Powers, 7.
[3] Wright and Bird, Jesus and the Powers, 66.
[4] Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community, 2023, Retrieved from https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf.
[5] Julian, Letters. Epigrams. Against the Galilaeans. Fragments, trans by Wilmer C. Wright, Loeb Classical Library 157, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1923), 123.
[6] Wright and Bird, Jesus and the Powers, 36.
[7] N.T. Wright, “CNLP 674 | N.T. Wright on Christians Buying Into The Culture Wars, How the Gospel is Political, And Advice on Leading Through the Election Without Losing People,” Sept.5, 2024 in The Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast, produced by The Art of Leadership Network, MP3 Audio, 1:37. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-carey-nieuwhof-leadership-podcast/id912753163?i=1000668451960.
[8] Wright and Bird, Jesus and the Powers, 6.
[9] Kevin J. Vanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical Linguistic Approach to Christian Theology, (Lousiville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2005), 397.
About the Author
Chad Warren
A husband, father, pastor, teacher, and student seeking to help others flourish.6 responses to ““You Got the Part!””
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Chad,
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the Kingdom of God and wondering if we as Western Christians are too heavenly focused and lose sight of building God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
You mentioned your NPO and rugged individualism. I wonder if you looked at any racial/ethnic differences when it comes to rugged individualism? Is this primarily a White thing?
For my book this semester on leadership that has been written in the previous 5 years, I am reading Estranged Pioneers: Race, Faith, and Leadership in a Diverse World. The authors discuss how persons of color often feel isolated/estranged when leading multiracial churches.
Hi Chad,
Thank you for your post. I enjoyed reading your post – I connect with real life story you shared – “We Got the Part”.
Churches face dilemma between retreating to stay safe or engaging in conflict with the culture. Wright and Bird propose an alternative perspective of actively participating in the world to benefit it. Do you agree or disagree and why?
Chad, first, congrats on getting the part. I’m sure you knocked it out of the park. 😉
Second, I appreciate your description of kingdom-vocation, and the critical research you are doing with regard to rugged individualism and the detrimental effects of loneliness.
But with your permission, I’d like to take a tangent.
I belong to a liberal church where our relatively young pastor has a really hard time with the words “king” and “kingdom”. She says the Lord’s prayer with the insertion of “kin-dom” meaning kin or family (there’s something to that).
It’s a new concept for me; I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about how God’s “kingdom” may be extremely off-putting to some; that it may, in fact, create a visceral enough reaction that they become closed off to the love God offers.
For my own edification and thought processes, how do you – or would you – address a parishioner who came to you with these concerns and questions? I do think it’s related to our topic this week, the “powers.” But a parishioner wouldn’t know that; they’d just be put off by the terminology.
Thanks for your help.
Great post Chad! I appreciate the metaphor and the insights from your post. How does this have implications for you in your pastoral ministry?
Hi Chad, Thanks for your post. I appreciate the model of your clear writing style as I am struggling a bit to regain my footing in “The Blog.” You called out the importance of doing our Kingdom work in community to make a stronger witness. What ideas do you have to move a congregation towards “community for Kingdom” from an individualistic going to heaven mindset?
Hi Chad! Congrats on getting the part! Your comment
“to play our part well, however, we need to play with others”, resonated with me. From your perspective, how can we better play with others, particularly as we are trying to share the kingdom in this politically tense culture where partisan politics has divided the church?