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| Daily Readings |
| 10.29.04 (1:25 pm) [edit] |
Daily Readings
Friday, October 29, 2004
Psalm 84:1-12
Nahum 2:13-3:7
Revelation 13:1-10
Luke 12:13-31
The thematic thread that runs through these four passages reveals how powerfully our DESIRES affect our lives. We are shown both nations and individuals who give expression to their desires and live with the consequences. The specific contrast that is set up is that between greed that takes more than it needs, on the one hand, and trust that relies on God to provide for our needs, on the other.
In Luke 12:13-21, the first portion of the Gospel reading, we are introduced to a man who places his confidence in his wealth, which apparently is quite substantial. “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years,” he says to himself. But, of course, he dies in the night a foolish man, foolish because he is one who “stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God” (12:21). Jesus’ point is: “Be on guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (12:15).
Tell ancient Rome that! Its greed is of a different sort. Power is its aim, and, while wealth contributes to its power, the amassing of control over more and more is the preoccupation of this empire of antiquity. In service to its grasp for power is the exercise of cruel and oppressive policies. In Revelation 13 John describes Rome as a devouring Beast. He tells us, “The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority” (13:5). In addition, “he was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation” (13:7).
This is greed of another sort. It is the amassing of power -- abusive and oppressive power -- by a ruthless empire. Greed, in this case, is played out on a broader plane than the greed of the man Jesus tells about in Luke 12, but the principle is the same. Self-serving, self-aggrandizing pursuit of gain (wealth, power, whatever) has a sinister countenance.
And God judges such motivation. That is why we have the man in Luke 12 having to give account for his life (12:20). And in the Nahum selection (3:1-7) we have God calling a nation to account. He raises up the Babylonians to destroy Nineveh, “the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder” (3:1). Nineveh (by which is meant the whole of Assyria) is called “the mistress of sorceries,” a description that refers to the entrapping seductiveness of her diplomatic and commercial alliances.
In contrast to the grasp for power and wealth that we see in the rich fool and also in the empires of Assyria and Rome, the readings for today give us Jesus’ words in Luke 12:22-31. This section begins with Jesus saying, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear” (12:22). He asks us to consider the ravens, whom God feeds, and the lilies, which God adorns in splendor. Just as God takes care of them, he will take care of us. Therefore, instead of preoccupying ourselves with how much we have or can get, we are to “seek his kingdom, and all these things will be given to [us] as well” (12:31).
Psalm 84 provides a view of the person whose DESIRES are healthy: “My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God” (84:2). God honors the desires of such persons. “They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion” (84:7). In a manner mirroring Jesus’ words that “God feeds” the birds (Luke 12:24), the psalmist says that “even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself” near the altar of God (Psalm 84:3).
In contrast to the Beast of Revelation 13, which is on the move to devour, as was Assyria some six hundred years earlier (see Nahum 2:12) and, in some ways, the rich fool of Jesus’ parable, we have in Psalm 84 the person of whom it is written, “O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you” (84:12).
We ourselves may entertain DESIRES that do not center in trusting God’s provision. To the extent that we do, we may find ourselves grabbing for more and exhibiting greed. This is the path of destruction, as we can see from the examples of Nineveh and the rich fool.
On the other hand, when we place our trust in God to take care of our needs, we find a level of satisfaction that cannot otherwise be known. When our desire is for him, we need never fear (or, worry) that the supply will run out. There is abundance without measure.
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| Caregiver and Warrior in Partnership |
| 10.16.04 (8:07 am) [edit] |
Mon 11
Received a copy of Patricia Adson’s book, Finding Your Own True North.
Tue 12
Began reading Adson’s book.
Wed 13
In reading Adson’s book (Finding Your Own True North), gained a new insight. Professionals who have wounds (“blows struck by others”) are more sensitive, because of the wounds, toward others who are wounded. BUT, if the pro hasn’t experienced healing, he (or she) may “so completely identify with” a client who has been victimized that he keeps the client in a state of dependency. Adson presents a brief vignette of a therapist (Katherine) who empowers her clients by helping them “resurrect their residual strenghths and competencies.” Clients are then able to rewrite their stories. They change from a passive voice, in which they focus on what others have done to them, to an active voice, in which they speak of triumph over adversity. If this doesn’t happen, “clients are in danger of having their lives revolve around the wounds of childhood and never choosing a path of their own.” (See pages 47ff.)
As I read this, I realized something about my preaching. For the past few years, I have been identifying (over-identifying?) with people struggling with their own wounds (some of them self-inflicted, as many of mine are). I have been aware of the fact that I am reluctant to call these folks (and myself) to a higher standard. Have I, perhaps, been “keep[ing] those clients in a state of dependency”? If so, the solution, it would seem, is to work on healing for myself.
Again, when Adson describes the Caregiver archetype, she says that, when it is “the only archetype activated, therapists feel indispensable and clients quickly become too dependent” (p. 50). As I apply this to myself, I can see that I have scripted myself as a Caregiver (with an ally in the Orphan). The danger I face is the shadow side of the Caregiver, where “lurks the misguided martyr who totally sacrifices self for others and in doing so helps neither” (p. 50).
What is needed is the aid of the Warrior archetype. Adson quotes Carol Pearson’s book, The Hero Within, and talks about those who internalize the urge to slay dragons and, instead, declare war on themselves. I think this relates to me. I too quickly assume the blame for things.
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