Phoenix's Prophetic Deposit

As we explored in the Grace for Interdependence post, I believe that Phoenix has a grace to step forwards into the interdependent paradigm that God is drawing the world into in our day. As we discussed there, this is connected to the recent development Phoenix has had as a metropolis. I believe there is another critical layer to consider as well though: I believe there is a spiritual grace that is laying dormant there as well.

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The Name "Phoenix"

Names are prophetically meaningful in the Bible: places are often named in a way that is connected to what God does in them. Perhaps one of the more famous examples is the town of Bethel. This location is named by Joseph after he has the famous "Jacob's Ladder" dream:

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. Genesis 28:16–19

The word "Bethel" means "house of God", and it becomes a place that is treated as a "thin space" throughout much of the Old Testament. Judges live there, prophets are sent there, even the Ark of the Covenant spends some time there. The house of God indeed.

Given this pattern in the Bible, one can't help but wonder about the name "Phoenix". This name draws from the legend of the Phoenix: an ancient myth about a bird that would die and resurrect itself every 500 years. (Interesting note: the last reformation in the church happened nearly exactly 500 years ago).

The name Phoenix actually points to exactly what we would ask the Lord to do in the church through our mission! The Church in the West appears to be on its last legs, but we are choosing to believe that this is not the end, but rather a rebirth into something new and different. God is not done with the Church in our day: growing into a new paradigm and being reborn to new life. This is the assignment we have ahead. That seems more than coincidental to me.

(Random aside, some people contest the Phoenix is mentioned in the Bible. I find the evidence not fully convincing, but interesting enough to pass along).

The name Phoenix itself carries a prophetic weight - but there is actually one more layer take takes our conversation even deeper.

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Native American Cultures

A brief aside here: from what I can gather, studies of native american cultures reveal to us that their societies were based on interdependence. For example, the first paragraph of this article on the subject reads,

Native American societies are based on the concept of interdependence. Interdependence means that all things in the universe are dependent on one another. The idea is that everything in the universe works together to achieve a balance in oneself, the community, and the universe. In Native American societies before their contact with European culture, relationships intertwined both animate beings and inanimate beings (for example, trees and water). The philosophical and sacred notion of interdependence produced a well-defined kinship system.

This is an interesting observation: the cultures that lived in this land before the Europeans colonized it were a more interdependent society. It is quite possible there is a spiritual deposit laying dormant in these people groups. Btw, guess where the highest density of reservations in the country is? Arizona. (Probably linked to it being the last territory to be made a state in the continental US)

In fact, one of the more helpful books on this whole journey was a book called The Starfish and the Spider. In it, the author explores decentralized organizations and the power they have. (Decentralized power structures are closely related to interdependent functioning). One of his key examples were the Apache Indians, who as a result of their decentralized society, were able to successfully resist Spanish armies for hundreds of years (where other tribes caved much more quickly). Guess where they lived?

If there exists a spiritual deposit of interdependent societies in America, I would hedge a guess the most likely place to go looking would be in Arizona.

Cool right? Well, even a bit more interesting is the fact that Phoenix was named what it was because it was built on a long-abandoned native american city. The first farms were made using the irrigation canals the Hohokam people had created hundreds of years prior. When it came time to name the city, they named it Phoenix because they saw that they were resurrecting a city from the ashes, like the legend depicts.

What this means is this: not only does Phoenix describe what we want to do: see the Church resurrected in the West in a new form, but it also describes the city itself as a city resurrecting from the civilization that lived on a foundation of interdependence. The name "Phoenix" prophetically describes both the resident spiritual deposit, and our mission itself.

Tell me that's not God. Maybe that's all coincidence, but that seems unlikely to me.