For a Time Such as This

I mentioned when I spoke at our Reflecting and Reimaging event that my remarks stemmed from a blog I was working on. This is that blog - if you were at our event most of it will be familiar, with some polishing and editing!

When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, ¹³ he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. ¹⁴ For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” Esther 4:12-14

I am not one to believe that all of situations and promises of the Hebrew Bible (old testament) can always be directly applied to present day. However, I will confess to thinking a lot about this verse and this story lately and how it has so much relevance or at least resonance with our present moment.

A familiar story to many – quick context

Esther was a Jewish women living in exile in an empire which had conquered Israel and she had been trafficked into the palace as part of the King’s harem essentially – although we’ll talk about the privilege and comfort she enjoyed at this point in the story – let’s be clear she was a victim of exploitation who didn’t seek this position

I won’t belabor the potential parallels I’ll just say that the context of Esther is that there was corruption at high levels of government that left her people, an ethnic minority in the empire, vulnerable to persecution and exploitation. Esther was in a position of extreme wealth, privilege and in many ways insulated from the world around her.

In the verse Esther had been asked to risk her privilege – and in a very real way potentially her life – to plead the case for her people before the king. She was not super excited about this and tried to get out of it. Her uncle’s response is the substance of the verse.

For a time such as this

The challenge Mordecai offers is – paraphrasing here – what if you’ve been given privilege for the purpose of exercising it now, when people are in dire need. What if its not for you at all you are in this position, with this privilege, but for those on the margins, those most at risk?

Perhaps by now she might have been formed by her new position in the empire. Esther was likely enjoying a lot of comfort at this point, and some real, though limited, power which she had not had before. I don’t want to romanticize her position nor ignore the real comfort, wealth, and power she was at least exposed to. She was removed from her covenant community and might have forgotten the power, love, hope and justice of the God of her people.

In any case she was not proximate to the problem and as such her understanding about what was happening and what mattered was mal-formed.

Her uncle was reminding her not just of who she was as a child of God but also who God was – one who saves (relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place) – because it seems like maybe in the midst of wealth and opulence she might have forgotten that too. Comfort and wealth, privilege and power can insulate us – can form us. Mordeci was saying you are not there for you, you don’t have it all to serve yourself. Remember – we belong to a God who is bigger than empire. Remember who formed you and resist the mal-formation you have undergone.

How do we connect this story to ours?

For a time such as this

We certainly don’t need to look far to find similar ideas and admonitions in the Bible. You can hardly get through a chapter of the prophets, a page of the Psalms or Proverbs, a parable of Jesus or a letter to the early churches without a mention, a plea, a demand or a command to care for the most vulnerable, to stand up for the oppressed, to take care of those in need. Despite how it is somehow represented in certain parts of the church and world the call to follow Jesus is a call to stand in the gap for others, to sacrifice in the name of neighbor love and to lay down whatever privilege and power you have when necessary to help others.

This is the consistent call of God on his people. Mordeci reminded Esther of this call. She was now a part of the very system that threatened her people – how much had she been formed by it, transformed from the way of God she had been taught as a child? Empire can be comfortable, empire can seem right – how else will we maintain order, empire can be tempting – perhaps you too can rise to the top and become oppressor instead of oppressed.

Have we forgotten our own identity in Christ and the power and justice of the God we serve as we live amidst the opulence and excess of empire?

Have we been formed by empire?

We must remember when empire tries to tell us who we are and what matters most -

Ours is not a power-seeking faith, a privilege-hoarding faith, a give a little keep a lot faith, or a stand by and see if it all works out without my risking anything faith. Ours is a here I am send me faith, a doing justice loving mercy faith, a serving Jesus through the least of these faith, a culture countering sacrificial faith, a turn the other cheek faith, a you first me last faith. We serve, are loved by, are called to and made whole by the creator sustainer and redeemer of the world, the God of justice and abundance, of mercy and hope who was and is and is to come.

We are not of the empire but children of the most high God

What if we lived like we knew this in the very marrow of our bones? What if we were continually, deeply and recklessly being formed and transformed by this truth?

What would we be willing to risk? What would we look like? What would our communities look like? What would our world look like?

For a time such as this

I know you know this, you know I know this to some degree. I don’t think I am sharing anything incredible profound or even new, but sometimes we need it laid out and proclaimed to remind us – who we follow and to take an honest look at the ways we have strayed – how we have been formed by empire and not the love and teaching of Jesus.

Are we telling the story of empire or of Jesus with our lives? How can we better tell the story of Jesus in the choices we make, the ways we use of our resources and how and when we raise our voice.

This is the call, the work we are doing and will focus on in 2026– to disciple, inspire and equip our brothers and sisters in Christ to undo the formation we have undergone at the hands of the world, of the American dream, of White nationalism, of Christian nationalism, of empire – to get back to the foundation of who are in Jesus and for the joy of the cross set before us rest in him even while we get to work in a time such as this. We want to foster community and inspire a movement of prophetic imagination –

The task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish and evoke a consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us. Prophetic ministry has to do not primarily with addressing specific public crisis but with addressing, in and out of season, the dominant crisis that is enduring and resilient, of having our alternative vocation co-opted and domesticated.

We need to imagine more and less than what we see and have always known. We need to believe God when he says he is making all things new and that we, and our neighbors, are his precious workmanship created and called to do good.

At BFJN this does not mean that we are stopping our work in housing justice – or anti-racism – or any of the other ways we engage with the social issues that matter.

But we will be sharing, developing and leaning into resources that will help us disciple our community and all those the Lord brings to us – to imagine a different world, a better world. Imagine if one day, when we arrive in heaven it feels familiar because we have come so close to building God’s kingdom here on earth and live into this understanding in our action and advocacy.

Welcome to the resistance

Not a political movement, but a Jesus movement.

We resist consumerism in favor of generosity

We resist overconsumption by finding our enough

We resist individualism to seek the good of our community

We resist turning away from the hard things to answer God’s call

We resist filling our storehouses so that we can be rich toward God

We hope you will join us! Go to our events page to see what we already have planned for 2026!

We would also love to come to your church and share one of several workshops we have developed on understanding homelessness, what it means to have a sacred economy and more – ask us about it!

Micah – we are hosting an experience in March – join us or invite us to do one specifically with your church on dates that work for you – we’d love to!

We are excited about where the Lord is calling us and trusting he is doing a good work and that together we can and will build a world where everyone can thrive.

For a time such as this.