Things Fall Apart

If Facebook feeds are any measure of anxiety levels, then we’re reaching a new high. Friends’ posts share news of overt hatred and violence, the likes of which we haven’t seen in decades:

• A seemingly unending onslaught of police killings of unarmed black people.
• White supremacists shooting people as they pray, setting fire to churches, and shooting into crowds of multiethnic protesters.
• More than 1,000 mass shootings in the U.S. since the 2012 massacre of children at Sandy Hook.
• Millions of Syrian and African refugees flowing into Europe—the greatest movement of people across Europe since the Holocaust.
• The so-called Islamic State ushering in what looks to be a new world war.
• Oh, and the climate is changing at an alarming rate.

It feels like the world is unraveling.

But what if it is? What if we are, in fact, witnessing the end of the world as we know it? Would that be so bad?

Think about it. The world order, as we know it, rests on deep foundations built by worldwide colonization, imperialism, slavery, patriarchy, exploitation, and ecological consumption. Most of the violence listed above traces back to economic and social systems of dominance—one group over another or humanity’s domination of the rest of creation. White supremacists feel threatened because people of color are finally rising up and saying “No more!”

While 16 mass shootings occurred between 1995 and 2005, there were 38 from 2005 to 2015, according to a recent report by Mother Jones. In recent years, people have pushed against the gun lobby with all their might, but the NRA seemed invincible.

But following the San Bernardino shooting rampage, President Obama responded to years of grassroots advocacy and congressional stalemate by seeking a work-around, executive action to expand background checks and close gun-show loopholes.

Millions are fed up and want change—and as a result, eventually, the end of arms hegemony will come. The scales will tip and politicians will pay for their unconscionable consent to needless death and destruction.

If the world as we know it unraveled today, what would be lost? It depends on your vantage point: Over the past 40 years, our culture and politics have shifted. The culture has moved toward greater inclusion—even while some have embraced fringe ideologies and backed policies of exclusion.

What would be lost? Those crushed by structures built upon foundations of imperialism, colonization, racism, misogyny, and economic caste might witness the unraveling as fulfilment of Isaiah 61 and Luke 4—the year of Jubilee, the year the chains finally fell off with a loud clank. And those who benefited from the status quo might have to face Jesus and decide if they really love the one who identifies with “the least of these.”

Perhaps the unraveling isn’t Armageddon. Perhaps it is the cross before the resurrection. Perhaps it will lead to redemption and the re-formation of our society. Perhaps now, in the face of violence, destruction, and chaos—perhaps now is the time to dream and plan and begin to build the world we want.