From “The Lamb’s War” blog of Micah Bales:

One unique way that Occupy Church is participating in the American Spring is through the development of a theological basis for this movement.

When I read this line in Micah’s post from yesterday,  my heart sung.   Yes! A theological basis for this movement. It is the hope I intend to help further and enable and resource in any way I can with all the theo-tech-gnosis I can offer.

Encampment, street protest and rallies – these all have a place in our toolkit. But in Occupy 2.0, we are working to develop organization that can sustain a long-term movement for justice. The American Autumn was an expression of our passionate refusal to cooperate with unjust structures, and the American Spring is about developing positive alternatives to those structures. We are not merely protesting – we are organizing.

http://lambswar.blogspot.com/2012/03/this-american-spring.html

Here’s the CLEAR, obvious to all who take the time to listen AT ALL to anyone in support of Occupy :

we will accept nothing less than the restoration of a government of the people, by the people and for the people

Funny thing about these detached critics of Occupy in the U.S.  You didn’t hear them asking this of the Arab Spring.   Why?  It was clear to the rest of the world what the people wanted.  They insisted on the end to the oppression;  the oppression of economics and the oppression of violence.  Here,  there is the same,  although the physical violence is not as overt,  the economic violence done to our country is severe.  And as Occupy is showing that it is not “GOING AWAY” as so many have jested as encampments get evicted,  the physical confrontations come to the surface as the powers that be say “enough of the reminders” of the way things are.  At some point,  the powers have to come out from behind that curtain/veil of “democracy in words and rehetoric”  and make their statements with force concerning who is “in control”.  But Occupy says NO.  We say , through continued, insistent prescence,  encamped or not,  that this is not going away.  And as Micah says here in this blog post,  the church has always been called to this very message.

We are in the early planning stages of a program to equip the Christian community to engage in stockholder activism, and to move its money out of the most exploitative banks and into local banks and credit unions.

we are discovering how the Holy Spirit calls us to the work of reconciliation and economic justice.

we are exploring whether Occupy Church might release a declaration outlining our sense of how the Spirit is speaking to the churches in our present context

While Occupy 1.0 was primarily centered in public encampments, the next phase of this movement is playing out in offices and living rooms, coffee shops and schools. This spring, we are rolling up our sleeves and getting our hands dirty in the messy business of grassroots organizing.

Thanks for this post Micah!  YOU have said it and said it well.  I hope to see you andf others in #occupyDC nd #occupyFaith and #occupyChurch when I am on a trip to Philadelphia the second week in April (I’ll be passing through DC for a few days on my way back to Tennessee after  that event held by the Religious Communicators Council,  where I am poroducing their awards show on April 12).  I hope to be also asking people there about their thoughts and involvements for faith communities in the Occupy movements.