Let's "Occupy The Kingdom of God" for the sake of all

The "Occupy" movement has occupied my mind recently.

This is no surprise to me: I was a latter-day hippy, having entered my teenage years in 1969 and coming of age toward the end of the Vietnam War. Likewise, my collegiate days in the 1970s were filled with all things counterculture. With a dual major of journalism and sociology, papers were often penned on topics such as the underground press in America, drug references in rock music, and the socioeconomic background of the primary players in the Youth International Party (Yippies).

Blend that background with my own personal dis-ease when it comes to corporate greed and the politicians whom we've elected to power in this country, mix in the the co-mingling of those two forces, and you have the fuel for a cautious cheerleader on the sidelines.

Why cautious?

Consider the Washington Post report that T-shirts, coffee mugs and other stuff emblazoned with a variety of "Occupy" locations and slogans are being hawked online and at locations across the nation. Almost in lock step, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office received a number of applications from enterprising merchandisers, lawyers and others seeking to win exclusive commercial rights to such phrases as "We are the 99 percent," "Occupy" and "Occupy DC 2012."

In the words of Walt Disney's immortal Goofy: "There's sumpthin' wrong, here."

I feel the same way about those who capitalize on the anti-establishment songs of the '60s to try and pry cash from aging baby boomers. Nothing like hearing The Beatles' "Revolution" in a Nike ad, or Mercedes-Benz using the Janis Joplin classic "Mercedes Benz" to peddle its four-wheeled messiahs. Of course, I don't consider The Beatles really that countercultural, so maybe that works after all; however, Janis Joplin said her song was "of great social and political import," but said nothing of selling great imports.

A real countercultural movement today would be to "Occupy the Kingdom of God," to truly care about the things that the ultimate homeless one, Jesus Christ, cared about -- chief among those were the poor, the infirm, those whom society and the religious authorities marginalize. To occupy one's self with those needs, to identify with the least and last among our society, is to "Occupy the Kingdom of God."

Not to diminish the needs and concerns of "the 99 percent," but U.S. Census data tells us that there are those who were disenfranchised by corporate greed and governmental injustices long before "the 99 percent" arrived to "Occupy" anything.

Now that I think of it, didn't Jesus leave the 99 to go in search of the 1?

Certainly that's a clue to how we "Occupy the Kingdom of God."

The whole scene is reminiscent of the words of the anti-Nazi theologian Martin Niemöller, who is often quoted along these lines (though in a number of variations):

In Germany they first came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me --
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

To "Occupy the Kingdom of God" is to occupy ourselves with speaking up for those who are not like us, to be concerned with the others, and to not wait until there is no one else left to speak.

Perhaps if the 1 percent had been concerned with the 99, or even concerned about those who were impoverished and disenfranchised before the 99 came to "Occupy," our nation would not stand in need of occupation.

Perhaps the 99 would do well to go in search of the one who has long been disenfranchised by the 99 percent whom the 1 seek to "Occupy" today.

Then perhaps we would all learn that to "Occupy the Kingdom of God" is a far greater occupation than to "Occupy Wall Street," "... Main Street," or even "... Sesame Street."