Tag Archives: Principalities and Powers

Giving Up

Advent

December 14, 2022

Scripture Reading: Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
   you who lead Joseph like a flock!
You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
   before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.
Stir up your might,
   and come to save us!
Restore us, O God;
   let your face shine, that we may be saved.

O Lord God of hosts,
   how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
You have fed them with the bread of tears,
   and given them tears to drink in full measure.
You make us the scorn of our neighbors;
   our enemies laugh among themselves.

Restore us, O God of hosts;
   let your face shine, that we may be saved. –Psalm 80:1-7

This was an interesting scripture to read after spending time trying to analyze the mid-term election results. Several non-partisan groups worked hard to encourage Oklahomans to vote. We did not tell them how to vote but to study issues and the candidates, make their own decisions, and vote. Yet we had fewer people turn out to vote in the 2022 mid-term elections than in 2018. Oklahoma has one of the lowest voter turnout rates in the United States. This sounds to me like people who have given up on themselves.

As I read the Psalm quoted above, it too sounds like a people who had given up on themselves. Perhaps they had given up on God. When I read something like this, I wonder if these people are aware of a wrongdoing for which they believe they are paying penitence. Or are they people caught in the wrongdoings of others and cannot understand what they have done to deserve their dilemma? Probably a little of both. For example, do the poor of the world choose to be poor, or is their poverty necessary to support the greed of others? It certainly was a question for the Israelites and their descendants. whether the oppressors were outside their group or inside. What Paul would later write about as the principalities and powers (King James translation).  

This same scripture, Ephesians 6:12, in the NRSV, describes it as

For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

In this scripture, Paul invites us to struggle against the systemic patterns in our world that result in poverty and its many manifestations, among other negative outcomes. In a democracy, voting is a good place to start.

Prayer: Lord, strengthen us to stand up to the present darkness in our world so that everyone at least has enough. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Moving Forward

Living in the Spirit

June 26, 2022

Scripture Reading: Luke 9:51-62

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ To another he said, ‘Follow me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ Another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’ Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’ –Luke 9:56-62

Jesus is saying our commitment to God must be all or nothing if we long for what he called the Kingdom of God, what is now being described as the Compassionate Community or the Beloved Community. The time for our commitment to working toward the full formation of the Kingdom of God is now. The principalities and powers of evil are enfolding us with hatred, bigotry, greed, and lust for power that will be our undoing as individuals and as a nation if we do not turn away from it. They are doing their best to divide and conquer, and it is working. No wonder they do not want us to study history, the failure of great empires would look way too much like our world today.  Government corruption, over-expansion of military spending, and economic troubles where the rich got richer, and the number of poor increased all describe empires before they fell.

Constantine’s takeover of Christianity and redefining its tenets to advance his cause may well have been the final blow to Rome’s decline. Christianity is now a credential for candidates for office, but the Christianity being fostered does not seem to be based on Jesus’s definition of the most important commandants when he answered the question, ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ He said to him, ‘“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’ (Matthew 22:36-40)

We do serve a living Savior who indeed is in the world today* ready and longing to help us in our work. He is asking us to put our hands to the plow and implement the beloved world community he envisions for us rather than allowing those principalities and powers to rule. We never work alone when we are doing God’s work.

Prayer: Lord, grant us the courage and the wisdom to foster a world ruled by love.  Amen.

*Derived from the hymn, He Lives by Alfred Henry Ackley  See at https://www.hymnal.net/fr/hymn/h/503/8

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Being the Body of Christ

Advent
December 9, 2017

Scripture Reading: Mark 1:1-8

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
   who will prepare your way;
the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
   “Prepare the way of the Lord,
   make his paths straight” ’, –Mark 1:1-3

Surely we are wandering in a wilderness today. Caught in a bramble bush full of the thorns of the world, we cannot seem to find the truth. My theology professor, quoting Ephesians 6:12*, referred to such a state of being as dealing with the principalities and powers of the world that only God can defeat. Greed and lust for power are among the tools of these principalities and powers as is divisiveness. The church, the designated Body of Christ in the world today, must with God’s guidance and power do all it can to defeat such threats while spreading the love of God among all of God’s children, a challenge of Holy proportions.

Surely we can find something on which we all agree and begin there to develop a cohesive approach toward creating a world where love rules. I always fall back on the list of things Jesus described in Matthew 25 that include dealing with hunger-poverty in general, health issues, strangers, and people in prison or better yet keeping people out of prison. Jesus seemed to concentrate his efforts on those realities; perhaps we should too.

If we can take the higher ground and stop competing with each other for the “we know God better than you do award,” we can fulfill our calling. We might even learn to enjoy working together,  wouldn’t that make God’s day!

Prayer: Holy One, break down the barriers we build and others erect in our way so that we can be the productive representation of you in our world today. Amen.

*Ephesians 6:12
KJV: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

NRSV: For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

 

Finding God in the Dark

Living in the Spirit
November 16, 2017

Scripture Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Now considering the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they say ”There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape! But you, beloved are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. –1 Thessalonians 5:1-5

I do not feel like I am light. I sense darkness all around that I am unable to lessen. I have an emergency light that requires no batteries. A windup crank creates just enough energy to power the light for a very short time. I grow weary of cranking and re-cranking when required to rely on it, but the light always shines forth from my efforts if just for a little time. When depending on such a tool one grows more assured that darkness is not as powerful as we make it. In fact, knowing that that little light will always be there when needed, I can even take comfort in seeking God in the darkest of darkness. Why else do I close my eyes to pray? Closing my eyes shuts out the world and allows me to be alone with God. Do the principalities and powers that use darkness or opaqueness as a tool of fear not know they are enabling my relationship with God?

As a fan of The Screwtape Letter, I must assume that cosmic battles pitting darkness against light are a constant reality that ebb and flow. We, followers of Christ, struggle to maintain consistency in being the Body of Christ opening gaps in love allowing darkness to penetrate. Our one constant which we must hold to again and again is that Christ is the light of the world over which no darkness can prevail. We must keep turning the crank of service to God in love.

Prayer: Lord set our feet on the higher ground that defines our perspectives and lights the way to our service in support of your Kingdom coming. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.