May not have an option

Romans 13:11 You know the times in which we are living. It’s time for you to wake up. Our salvation is nearer now than when we first became believers.

In 2017 I read a book that transformed my way of thinking. Until the recent events around the globe, I thought the contents of this book were meer fantasy and wishful thinking. This book is The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher. I had an opportunity to meet Mr. Dreher at an event we sponsored at my home congregation of Trinity Anglican Church in Lafayette, LA. At that time Mr. Dreher admitted the book was dated a bit because the US elections had just taken place a year prior and the outcome of the administration had yet to fully been realized. 

Now we are 3 1/2 years into Donald Trump’s presidency, in the midst of a global pandemic like never before seen, and a global uprising against oppression and assumed tyranny. What I find most interesting is you see the same form of riots and protest for very different reasons. On one side you see those in democratic and capitalistic nations fighting for socialism and freedom of the oppressed. Normally seen split across racial lines. Minorities joining together to battle their assumed oppressors. Both historical and current. On the other side, you see the populous of Socialist, Communist, and Totalitarian regimes fighting for their freedoms and rights. It becomes very obvious that the old saying in true. The difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter depends on the side your on.

So what does all this have to do with The Benedict Option? After living this new normal for six months, I have begun to realize that in this polarized world right and wrong and good and evil, have become subjective. In Mr. Dreher’s book, he outlines the possible roots of the problem and a new kind of Christian politics. But with blurred lines, we can no longer just sit in the pews of the church and stick our heads in the sand and wait for the storm to pass. We quickly realized that in a matter of weeks our churches can be closed, our ‘normal’ can be altered, and our lives as we know it can all be changed. And many in society are more than willing to comply all in the name of public safety.

I now realize that The Benedict Option may not be an option. The time is now that ‘if’ we lived in community, raised our own food, limited our contact with the society around us, and looked out for the well being of the limited few in our inner circle, we would be compliant to the pandemic and social orders of the day. We have been given a forced trial run of what our world could be or should be. Should we get back to community living? The idea of a global society has proven to be unsustainable. Corporate farms are one decision away from breaking down the entire supply chain for a nation of 328 million people. Only those willing and able of supplying their own resources will fair much better than those living off the system. Those people that make a living corporate, nationally, and internationally are one decision away from being unemployed. Those who chose to live in the community of major metropolitan areas are one decision away from total lockdown due to safety and lawlessness. The megachurches of the day are one decision away of restricting thousands of people from public worship. But those smaller communities of faith can continue to worship in community and fellowship.

We have now realized that living in a small family community with one another will bring us sustainable living and safety from an unstable society built on a postmodern globalist utopia. Like a house of cards, our global society has crumbled. From the cities of the United States to the jungles of Panama, to the plains of central Africa, we have seen one pandemic and one voice of oppression to bring their society to their knees. The option is clear. The option might well be in the contexts of The Benedict Option.