pioneermeditations

Within a few verses of Matthew 16 Peter heard Jesus say to him “Blessed are you” and “Get behind me, Satan”.  How did Peter the Rock become Satan so fast?

Any opposing spirit can be called Satan. Usually we think of Satan as a singular being, also known as the Devil, Lucifer, the Evil One or Father of Lies. But we can become opposing spirits or Satans to one another.

In chaplaincy training one has to become very aware and open to one’s feelings.  Often those feelings have been deeply repressed but will resurface when we are trying to deal with someone else’s feelings.

I was expressing my feelings for my parents at a certain time of my life.  They had resurfaced during a discussion with others.  Another chaplain told me that I should have felt other than I did.  This chaplain did not understand the circumstances or the consequences of my parents’ actions during a certain period of my life.  Beyond that, no one has the right to tell someone else how he/she “ought” to feel.  My feelings were my own and laying guilt or shame on them was not helpful.  This chaplain had become an opposing spirit to me.

Peter had become a Satan to Jesus when he tried to make Jesus conform to his own expectations.  Peter apparently preferred to have Jesus stay safe even if that meant Jesus’ ministry would not be as effective.  Jesus was willing to die for the cause of freedom and grace for all peoples.  Peter’s spirit was in opposition to Jesus’ spirit.

It is easier than we might think to be in opposition to the spirit of another.  For instance, have you ever told someone “Don’t cry.”  That is telling the other person that their feelings are wrong.  What is more honest is the admission that their tears disturb us and we don’t like it. More helpful is to join the other’s sorrow, expressing “I see that you are hurting, but I am with you to help bear your burden.” Dry their tears from their eyes, but do not deny them their tears.

Which part of American society has dropped off the most in regular church attendance?  The answer from a recent study was the poor and unemployed among the white population.

Many possible causes were offered.  Some of them only showed the bias of the researcher.  I think the reason, simply put, is that religion no longer works for them.

For better or worse Christianity has been shaped by the prosperity of western civilization since the Renaissance.  As long as one is in the group for which the tenets of faith reap tangible results the predominant religion of western civilization works.  Not surprisingly the wealthiest were the most likely to be attending church services.

There was a direct correlation it seems between the frequency of unemployment and the absence from religious services.  Think about it.  When you hear that those who do right will prosper and you are not prospering, what are you supposed to think and feel? When your value as a person is tied to your prosperity, how can you possibly feel valued when you are desperately poor and have been rejected or laid off from a job?

Karen Armstrong in her survey of The History of God shows that all monotheistic religions suffer a great apostasy and reform when the society it influences fails to prosper. When religion no longer works for us, we change it.

I don’t think spiritual truth changes, but the way we understand and express it has to change.  Of course, to do that we have to admit that we have been wrong.  That is not something that those who proclaim “the eternal truth of an unchanging God” can easily do.  Better, perhaps, to say that we are evolving and progressing in our spiritual lives.

I used to think it was an urban legend until a friend told me of a case of which there was personal knowledge.  A couple in a northeastern city saved everything, spent only enough to eke out an existence.  Eventually they both had to be hospitalized.  There was enough in the bank to take care of their needs.  When the relatives gathered to clean up the apartment, they found dollar bills in random places in the living quarters. Scattered among pamphlets, books, clothes, and dishes was more than $200,000 in small bills.

They were hoarders.  We recognize it as a mental health issue when it gets to this degree.  In many ways we see people hoarding their lives.  They refuse to spend it on anything meaningful.  It is as if they think that failing to spend is saving.  It is not.

This kind of approach to life shows up in business, personal finances, politics and religious communities.  A life well spent is saved.  Those who fail to spend their lives or their substance on anything that improves the life of others have not saved themselves either.

We probably don’t see it until it becomes extreme, but there are many unclaimed liberties all around us.  People go back into abusive relationships when they could walk away and start new lives.  People repeat self-destructive behaviors that could be changed for healthier habits.  People remain in jobs, churches, and communities that oppress their spirits even when freedom is offered.  Sometimes those people are us.

“Better the devil that you know than the devil you don’t know” is how the reluctance to accept liberation is expressed.  But, does there have to be a devil?

When little brother puts a live frog in big sister’s bed, he may claim the devil made him do it.  We know that is simply externalizing his own desire for excitement or possibly revenge.  The devil in this case is simply a lack of internal self-discipline.  Often that is all the devil is.

Fearing the devil is often simply fearing one’s own abilities or lack thereof.  There are other forces that seem demonic, bent on hurting us.  These things will always exist.  The key issue may be whether or not we can step onto the battlefield and hold it together, that is, continue to be whole within.  When we know that neither death nor life can separate us from God’s love, we are ready to claim the liberties – the freedoms from guilt, shame, fear, etc. –  that are ours.