Exile can often be misunderstood as a dwelling for evil and ill-will. However, Exile is most often a place for the non-conformist, the restless soul rebel, the misunderstood thinker. I wish to present, not an executionary form of exile, a place of judgement, punishment, and condemnation, instead I would like to offer an experiential form of exile, a place of growth, development, and maturation. So, with exigency, I exhort you, the reader, to follow in an exploration beyond the exiguous exoskeleton of Exile and exhume the explicitly expounded explanation of the exonerated and extricated Exillic Community.
There is a great mispercetption of the Exillic Community. The Exillic Community is filled with the social outcasts, those who think differently, who act out of the social norm. However, one thing that I would like to stress about Exile is that through excommunication the exiled have been told that they've been sent away as a form of punishment, but as the Bible shows what was meant for my evil has been turned around for my good. The Exile becomes my place of growth, my safe haven. I've been exiled in order to experience. And in exile we find others whom have experienced similar situations. As we share our experiences we form a bond, stronger due to the fact that we've been through similar situations. This bond that we share becomes a community. Therefore, our place of exile becomes our new home. In exile we have formed a family tree that is deeply rooted within the nutrient-filled soil of experience. So, when you are faced with discrimination, pain, and hatred, remember that you're only continuing upon your path toward your new home, a place of growth, a place of rest, and a place of love. Exile is not a place for the death of the soul, it's a place for the depth of the soul.
Peace & Love,
Shalom
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In this life, we are faced with a
great paradox. We are indeed exiles. We are indeed far from our eternal home. And we are indeed social outcasts, meant for a better and higher standard, but hated for it. Yet we must somehow
form a balance. We have many years yet to live in this world that is so far from heaven. We must find some equilibrium, some place or rest. Yet somehow we must never settle for all the world has to offer. We are torn between making this existence the best we can for ourselves and others, versus waiting with baited breath for the world to come.
In this case, living in Exile has nothing to do with heaven per se. It does have something to do with the kingdom of God and because we are a part of the kingdom of God, then we are exiles, we are not exiles because we tout certain political views or vote a certain way, we are exiles because we live in the Divine Tension of Nay, which transcends the right and left in our culture, we are exiles because kingdom ethics may not look like Christian values as touted in an American Chrisitianity. It is living in this Divine Tension that makes us exiles and heirs to an Eternal Kingdom but that is incarnated in Earthly Reality
What is "The Divine Tension of Nay"?
The Divine Tension of Nay comes from the Book of Joshua where Joshua meets the Captain of the Host and askes are you for us or for our enemies and he says Nay (KJV version of it) I am on the Lord's side. Being in the position of Nay means at times we transcend sides where folks wants us to take sides; be it traditional right or left. The Divine Tension of Nay seeks to cut through the rhetoric of our society and address folks and situations where they are at with the Kingdom of God, not American politics that pose as the Kingdom of God.
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