Did you know that when you make the confession of faith that we use at communion that you are also confessing to what some would consider to be subversive, counterrevolutionary activities?
This is clearly understood in China today. "Liao Yiwu is one of the most prominent and outspoken contemporary writers in China. His epic poem, 'Massacre,' composed in 1989 in condemnation of the government's bloody crackdown at Tiananmen Square, landed him in jail for four years" (God is Red, vii). His other writings are also banned because the Communist government considers them to be subversive.
In 1998 Liao met a Christian for the first time, a neurologist turned preacher in a Protestant church. Liao, himself a skeptic, admired the courage of this man and other Christians so he set out to interview several of them. His book, God is Red, records many of his interviews.
As I read the book I found it ironic that a primary tactic of the government is to force Christians to make confessions. One elderly Christian told of his imprisonment, beatings and torture, and added, "Before the government reversed its verdict against me ... I had written several hundred confessions." Many were confessions of Christian activities, such as meeting together, preaching, and evangelizing -- all considered to be counterrevolutionary.
I find this ironic because, for Christians, confession is at the heart of their faith. Confession is what it is all about. An open, willing, unforced, confession of one's commitment to Christ. When these Chinese Christians complied with the demand of their officials to confess, were they contradicting their Christian faith? I don't think so. They complied because they knew as well as the officials knew that their faith did in fact go against the interests of the totalitarian state in which they live. Their confession of faith in Christ was indeed subversive.
It has always been that way. In the beginning, when Christians made the simple confession, "Jesus is Lord," they were going against the Roman political and religious establishment that said, "Caesar is Lord."
When we say "Jesus is Lord," what gods in our culture do we subvert? What is it in our culture that tempts us to worship it? The almighty dollar? Big-time sports? The cult of celebrity worship? The electronic gadget? Whatever idol it may be, our confession of faith at the communion table says, in effect, "get behind me, Satan; only Jesus is Lord."
