2 Months to Kickoff OR Run DMC

Parallel Lives

Not that I am not happy with the life I am currently living, because I have always felt like I am walking down yellow brick road and will one day meet the Wizard with this current life that I am leading (or in minister speak, I feel I am leading the life to which I am called).....but sometimes I read something or see something that stirs in me a deep hope that reincarnation is the way things work out, because I think it would be so fun to be and do so many different things. More things than one life allows time for. (especially considering we're not promised tomorrow!) Today it was an email newsletter from Ring Lake Ranch.

Here's a list of some parallel lives I'd like to lead. If this looks like a meme to you, go'n ahead and consider yourself tagged and track back because I'd be interested to see what kind of things you'd like to do too.

1. Suppose I'll start with the life I almost led if it hadn't been for the call into ministry: I would have attended either UNC or UVA for a post graduate degree (or perhaps both) and gotten a Ph.D in Buddhism (Tibetan, though Zen is what I have learned most about from my undergrad prof. McDaniel--b/c I think I remember there being a big pro in the field at UVA) or American Religion if at UNC--just like another of my prof's, Dr. Jane Harris. Then, of course, I would have been employed at Hendrix College. One of my friends from college, Brad, actually did get his post-grad degree in Tibetan Buddhism at U of Chicago and studied in Tibet as well. I saw him at a friend's wedding in South Carolina a year ago, and he seemed very happy with his life (though he seemed somewhat disenchanted with being in school for so long.) I think he was going to go work in a museum. That sounds good.

2. If I'd followed my high school dreams for life, I'd have gone into the field of archaeology or perhaps paleontology. I just had a fantasy the other day that I had pursued this goal and had made my mark on the field by developing a computerized "virtual catalogue" of footprints and bones that could be used to connect missing links.

3. It would be great to work at Ring Lake Ranch mixing the design of workshops on spirituality with the care of horses, fishing, the mountains, hiking, etc.

4. I study architecture and apprentice myself to Frank Gehry or Fay Jones. I love organic architecture.

5. I would be an illuminator for the St. John's Bible.

6. I would be a journalist.

7. I would be a commentator for the Arkansas Razorbacks football team.

8. I would be my cat, Lao-Tzu. (At the moment, she seems quite interested in my coffee)

9. I would be a competitive scrabble tournament geek.

10. I suppose I could have continued on as the program coordinator at Occidental College Office of Religious and Spiritual Life. I had a great boss/collaborator, and it was a fantastic thing to encourage the spiritual development of intelligent college kids at America's most diverse college. It was also cool to have a huge grant to work with.

11. I would be a parrot-head, surf all day, and live on Na pali Coast.

There's more, but now that I've gotten that out of my system, time to get on the sermon.

Hmmm. I get to plumb the depths of sacred writings and weave that together with life and lives in order to inspire some words that I stand up and give to a congregation of people who consider that something that is part of the worship of God. I get to break bread and lift up a cup of juice and acknowledge the real presence of Christ in those things, and then I get to place that bread in people's hands with the words "brother/sister, the bread of life." Even though I'm not worthy of the comparison, I get to represent Christ to people who are about to die, about to give birth, and about to awaken. I get to cultivate an awareness of the undercurrents of Reality for a living.

This life is pretty cool, too.

Okay, now I'm ready to write a sermon.

Don't let the bastards grind you down OR Ignorance is Bliss

Medium steak, glass of cabernet, and corn on the cobb with my son. These are a few of my favorite things.

Fun with the Articles of Religion

Here's something I stumbled across while preparing for my 6:30 group study of Doctrine and Our Theological Task. Did a bit of Sherlocking, and found some pretty interesting stuff. Wrote the email to a few people I thought would find it interesting, but then thought I'd put it out there for anyone to comment on or bite into.

Hey Jack, John, and Dad
John--another doctrinal dilemma for you. Jack, Grayson may find this interesting--feel free to pass on if you like.
I was looking through my Articles of Religion in prep. for my doctrine study tonight and stumbled across the following, listed after the articles under parentheses that noted that the following "This statement seeks to interpret to our churches in foreign lands Article XXIII of the Articles of Religion. It is a legislative enactment but is not part of the Constitution. (See Judicial Council Decisions No. 41, 176.)"

Then the "pseudo-article" states the following....
"As far as it respects civil affairs we believe it the duty of Christians, and especially of all Christian Ministers, to be subject to the supreme authority of the country where they may reside, and to use all laudable means to enjoin obedience to the powers that be;

I thought it was interesting that in decision 41, they give an historical background of the "pseudo-article" which included the following words as well:

and therefore it is expected that all our Preachers and People, who may be under British or any other Government, will behave themselves as peaceable and orderly subjects."

I can't really find when or under what action we lost that savory bit of language, but apparently it read that way at least until 1947.

I've linked you to the JC decisions below.

JC Decision 41 (1947)
http://archives.umc.org/interior_judicial.asp?mid=263&JDID=121&JDMOD=VWD&SN=1&EN=100


JC Decision 176 (1960)
http://archives.umc.org/interior_judicial.asp?mid=263&JDID=261&JDMOD=VWD&SN=101&EN=200

Interim JC Decision 6 (1968)
http://archives.umc.org/interior_judicial.asp?mid=263&JDID=1032&JDMOD=VWD&SN=1&EN=8


I just thought you'd find it pretty interesting. It's been kind of a thorn in the article of confession's side for some time, giving problems to the MEC South and the Civil rights movement as well. In the 1960 decision, the JC is dealing with someone who seemingly opposed a resolution giving support to the "sit-in" protests and other non-violent protests on account of that particular resolution being "against the restrictive rules," which state that no GC shall adopt new standards or doctrine contrary to our present existing and established standards of doctrine." JC found that the above mentioned "thing" was not a constitutional act. I've been thinking about writing a petition that just does away with the "footnote" all-together, being that what it says is rooted in colonialism, that it no longer reflects the character of our global church, perhaps. (Do we want to encourage "obedience to the powers that be" to those living in Zimbabwe or the Congo, or any number of other places under totalitarian rule? Also, the character of what is said is clearly (and more eloquently) stated in Article XVI of the Evangelical United Bretheren, which states:
"We believe civil government derives its just powers from the sovereign God. As Christians we recognize the governments under whose protection we reside and believe such governments should be based on, and be responsible for, the recognition of human rights under God. We believe war and bloodshed are contrary to the gospel and spirit of Christ. We believe it is the duty of Christian citizens to give moral strength and purpose to their respective governments through sober, righteous and godly living." (Italics mine). Sober, righteous, and godly living is a better way to show our respect for a government than "obedience" don't you think? Also, Bretheren seem to leave a caveat there that gov'ts derive their "just" powers from God, not nec. all power--am I reading that truthfully, you think?

Peace,
nathan

Sunsets out my back door

This sunset was so odd--I remember seeing the light change out the window to a orangish pink. I looked outside, and everything looked tinted. How beautiful!

Unwelcome Guest

Tonight after Lara and I had played a few games of "Butterly Express" (a new computer game "marble shooter") I went in the kitchen to get a refill on my water. When I walked in the kitchen, I saw a small black animal by our dining room table. My first thought was that it was a neighbor's cat (who usually like to eat our cat's cat food) and was just about to snap and hiss at the cat so that it would leave our house--then I saw the white stripe down this particular cat's back. The hiss lodged itself in my throat and I ducked back in the hallway to marshall Lara into position. "We have a skunk in our house," I told her as I closed the bedroom door. "What do we do?" What do you do in this situation? You want the skunk gone, but you also don't want to startle it. If a skunk lets off its spray in a house, it is not just a matter of an unpleasant smell for a few days. You have to get rid of furniture. It can be a big loss of property.
The situation was pretty clear. We had left the garage door open on accident, and the skunk had come in through the cat door which is in our house door out to the garage (a very nice convenience that one of the parishioners put into place when we moved in so we don't have to have the litterbox and catfood (which Wesley loves to play with and on occasion eat) in the house.
So what did we do? "Who can we call?" Lara said. My heart was pounding. What is this animal going to do? What if one of my cats gets after it? "If you don't tell me someone to call in 10 seconds, I'm just going to call 911." Oh jeez. We're going to have quite a reputation around here. The last time we called 911 was when Wesley mysteriously disappeared from our house. Turns out he had learned how to open the door to the garage and found a coke (which we don't let him drink) can with a little coke in it and had found a little hiding spot where he could drink it in peace. While he'd usually respond to us when we called (frantically) for him, this time he instead chose to stay put and finish his coke.
I can just see the 911 operator: "Oh that crazy Methodist pastor who couldn't find his kid in his own house is calling me because he's got a skunk!"
But we were desperate. Lara called 911, apologized and explained our situation. She transferred us to the police department. The policeman said he'd be right over. By this time, we'd bravely peeked out our bedroom door and saw that the skunk wasn't in the hallway, then we branched out and made sure the skunk wasn't in any of the other rooms as we made our way to the kitchen, shutting the doors as we went. The skunk wasn't in the kitchen or the living room or the laundry room or the pantry. I sighed with relief as a bent down to lock the cat-door. Then I headed to the front door to meet the policeman.
We explained our situation, and by this time Lara had looked in the garage too and didn't see him. The police officer said that if we had a shot-gun and could get a clean shot at him if he came around again, it would be fine to go ahead and shoot it. (I assumed he meant outside the house) Last year we noticed a family of skunks making their way into the culvert under our driveway, so I assumed they were taking up residence again. I don't know if I could shoot it, but that would better than getting sprayed! While we were talking, I casually walked over to take another look in the garage, and saw the skunk under the car. Once again, the action movie music rose to a crescendo as my heartbeat quickened. I herded Lara (who had already taken her ambien and was a bit too brazen about the whole situation for my taste) into the front door, and went back in the house to make sure I had locked the cat door. Officer Wiggins banged around in the garage for a while, and we finally saw the varmint tear out of the garage and dash across our front porch, right in front of the front door (previously, Lara had complained about not being able to be part of the action outside on the front porch, but I had insisted that the skunk could decide to come out of the garage and go for the bushes which are right to the other side of our front door. Can you picture that? Garage---------Front door---bushes. Turns out it was a fortuitous decision on my part to insist that we stand inside the front door as to not startle the skunk on its retreat. It is hereby recorded as an instance where I was right and it was important to take my advice on a particular matter. :) So, that's our country fried night of entertainment. What did you do tonight?

Clergy should get a Compass

This past year, I read (or actually listened to the audiobooks) of an enchanting, beautiful, and disturbing trilogy of books called His Dark Materials. The first part of the series, called The Golden Compass will be released by New Line Cinemas this December and look like they're going to be a hit. The trailer begins with a reference to the successful LOTR trilogy that New Line also masterfully brought to screen, and the two books are both epic and engrossing. They also both have strong undercurrents of religion and spirituality. However, while Tolkien had a positive view of religion, which shone through in his epic, Philip Pullman's view of religion is fairly negative and can also be seen in the pages of His Dark Materials. God is referred to as "The Authority" in the Golden Compass, the church is a dominating bureaucracy that stands in the way of innovation and discovery for fear of the truth behind what might be discovered. Children are tortured in a physical, emotional, and spiritual way by the church, and the heroes of the novel are on a quest to aid an uprising against the Kingdom of Heaven on a Miltonian kind of Armageddon.

Now, I'm not someone who would ever advise one to censor what they read because of objectionable material. Instead, I would encourage everyone I know to read these books. I think they are wonderful--wonder full. But, as a clergy person, I'm happy that I have read and delved into Lyra Belaqua's world (the parallel universe that the main character lives in) to explore it before most of my parishioners have been exposed to it. I'm sure they will have questions, and I prefer to be prepared. Many of our parishioners will be exposed to the Golden Compass this Dec. and many will then pick up the books to read. I'm not sure how far down the rabbit hole New Line will go in the presentation of Pullman's original themes and metaphysics, but the book is quite enchanting and persuasive, and it will do us good to be able to respond knowledgeably and engagingly. I recommend a summer diet of Pulmann, Milton, and Blake (Pulmann's two chief inspirations). As Blake once did, the metaphysics of the book challenge the traditional metaphysic of Christianity, except Pullman has physics at play in his construction of another metaphysic as well. I suppose you could call Pullman's a quantum metaphysic. An excerpt from the second book, The Subtle Knife, of the rebel angel Balthamos addressing Lyra (the main character) “It's an angel speaking, Balthamos said quietly. The authority, God, the creator, the Lord, Yahweh, El, the King, the Father, the Almighty - those were all names he gave himself. He was never the Creator. He was an angel like ourselves; the first angel too, the most powerful. But he was formed of dust as we are, and dust is only a name for what happens when matter begins to understand itself.”

On another note, after reading the whole trilogy, I do believe that Pullman could be quite persuaded by Process Theology, but perhaps that is the subject of another post (or book).

I envy all of you who will now pick up His Dark Materials for the first time now and be able to fall into discovery of the world of armored bears, witches, Will, Balloon flying Texans, daemons, and the like. If you don't have time to read, the audio book is excellent, (BBC production including Pullman as the narrator's voice) and can be listened to in the car (although you may find yourself driving more just to listen).

Oh, and lest I fail to mention it, Pullman is presenting the metaphysic that is contained in the book to advance the story, not to "describe our world, per se." Here's a clip from a BBC interview: BBC: "So, this is an account of where our beliefs, all kinds of beliefs, come from?
PP: No. I wouldn't say it like that. It might turn out to be an account of where my beliefs have come from, but first and foremost, it's a story. You see, I didn't set out to write this thing in order to embody a myth. The myth was something for my own private needs. I needed to have something; some sort of solid ground on which the rest could be erected. But the most important thing as far as the reader is concerned, is the story of what happens: Event succeeding event, explanations of things that were mysterious, gradually becoming apparent. Consequence is being worked out, and so on. That's how stories work, and I'm concerned with a story rather than anything else."

I think that Pullman is dead on in the interview and also in the "moral" of the book that our stories will ultimately save us. I think we in this day and age get too caught up in the discrepancies of "fact" and "fiction" and forget about the much larger power of story or myth. Why does Jesus still find such resonance in our culture 2000 years later? Because he told stories.


I'm attaching a BBC interview with Pullman on a program called "Belief" here.



And a link to the "fansite" for all things Pullman here.



Enjoy!

Grandma wanted to borrow the DVD of my life

A couple weeks ago my grandmother passed away in Monticello, AR. She had pneumonia, but had been debilitated from about 10 years of Alzheimer's disease. On the morning I found out that she died, I felt glad and strangely confident that she was now finally and completely made whole. Alzheimer's is such a difficult disease, that I felt like I had mourned her loss over the course of 10 years--the news of her death was an end to that mourning for me. This isn't the same experience for everyone who knew and loved grandma. My mother, for instance had developed a rhythm of going down to visit her, sitting with her, and was there when she died. My grandpa used to walk to the nursing home every day to make sure they were caring for her as they should. My visits were more infrequent; so for me the loss is less a disruption to the rhythm of life. My dad and I did the funeral service. I was glad that I was given the honor of memorializing her--being the oldest grandchild, I took the approach that I was there to give voice to the grandchildren, and to relate how grandma was a loving grandparent.

As I mentioned, she suffered (and we all suffered) with Alzheimer's for about 10 years. This is such a vexing disease for one who proclaims the reality of the spirit (where was her spirit in those last years? trapped?) and the sanctity of remembrance (there seem to be theological as well as existential consequences to the loss of memories). But for some reason, when reading over the funeral scriptures, I drew confidence from Paul's beautiful words, "we shall be changed, in the twinkling of an eye" and in John's mystical vision of God's proclamation, "Behold, I make all things new." It has been a while since a scripture has penetrated my mind and touched my heart. Usually they just get stuck in the swirling world of ideas, study, and application. These two pierced my heart and formed my words that I shared with the family during the funeral. Praise God!

I share all of this because last night I had a dream that grandma was sitting in my grandparents cluttered living room, and I was there with her. Grandma was really excited to watch this DVD I was holding. It was a home-made DVD similar to ones that I've made of video clips of Wesley's first year, or like the ones I made for our family for this past Christmas, except that this DVD was somehow a record of the 10 years of my life that she missed. I remember feeling a great deal of excitement about the prospect of sharing those moments with her, and when I woke up, I felt refreshed as soon as I opened my eyes for the first time in a long time.

And by the way, the photo is taken by my sister, who is very talented. I'm sure she doesn't mind that I lifted it from her flickr site (Haley Ruth), even though it says "rights reserved."

Sermon Scraps--Emmaus and a Violin Virtuoso ignored

I'm not preaching on the Emmaus story from Luke this Sunday, but I read a story in the Week this past week that was from the Washington Post that reminded me of it. Take it and run with it.
Here's a good blog link that I found that details the story, including a youtube of the performance, and some reflections. Basically the gist is that a major violinist named Joshua Bell played his 3.5 million dollar Stradivarius at a subway stop in D.C. for close to an hour during rush hour and hardly anyone even stopped to listen. The Post asks, "Do you stop to listen? do you have time for beauty? Shouldn't you? The Washington Post arranged this experiment in context, perception, and priorities--as well as an unblinking assessment of public taste: In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?"

I thought the story made a good parallell to Luke's story about the 2 disciples on the road to Emmaus who encounter a stranger with whom they share conversation along the journey. When they reach their destination, they make an effort to convince the stranger to have dinner with them (Luke tells us the stranger makes like he is going to take leave of them once they reach their place), and when he obliges and then has dinner with them, they recognize that it is Jesus when he sits at the table and breaks bread with them. These disciples are good witnesses for us to stop and smell the roses, to encourage beauty and truth and love and depth to win out in our own lives.

Toward the end of the youtube video, (which is shot in time lapse to a soundtrack of one of his performances), you see several congregate at the end--one woman had seen him previously at the library of congress and recognized him as he played, several others looked as though they were perhaps just caught up in the moment--I'd like to count myself among those four or five, but in reality, how many masterpieces of God's have I simply passed with tunnel vision on "my priorities?"

City of Dated Angels

Tonight Lara and I finished watching City of Angels. We kept noticing things that dated the movie. (i.e. "Oh my God, look at Meg Ryan's glasses!" "Look at that Pepsi can!" Sarah McGlaughlin and Alanis Morrisette?!) Then it hit us--the movie has been out since we started dating. A movie that came out when Lara and I started dating (10 years ago) is now dated to our eyes. The laughter died down in the Mattox den.

World's Finest Sabbath Nooma Boombox Canon

Just a random assortment of things:
Today, Lara and Wesley and I started a new thing in the Mattox household--an official Sabbath. We only did things that were non-work related (okay, we did clean up the house a little bit.) We started off the day by going to get some breakfast at the "Little Cattleman's" restaurant here in town. This is a restaurant that has "Support the troops" painted in the windows and has all the hashbrowns a cattleman such as myself can manage. Whilst paying the bill, I noticed that they were selling the "World's Finest" chocolate bars that i used to sell back when I played little league in Fayetteville. The chocolate bars (offered in chocolate almond, caramel (oozy, not gooey), and crunch, would come in a box that would convert into a little carrying case that I would lug around my neighborhood (Sequoyah Woods) and sell for a dollar (or was it two). Anyway, I noticed that they have changed the format of their bar. Now it is a longer and thinner bar (like a Wonka bar). When I used to hawk them, it was wider and shorter. I didn't buy one, but now am planning on going back this week and picking up one. The whole circumstance reminded me of bringing the bars to school to sell and being on the schoolbus eating them. I have a distinct memory of peeling one open while being enchanted by the boombox of this cool six grade girl. The boombox had a 3 inch black and white t.v. screen, and she always used to bring it on the bus and play Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer." That is the most lucid memory of elementary school bus rides that I have, and it is a good one!

Also of note, and completely unrelated, I realized that I've never shared on this blog my newfound admiration for Rob Bell and all he offers the world of Christianity. We use the nooma series in the Sunday school class I teach, as well as for young adult gatherings. I also just finished his "Velvet Elvis" audiobook, and it is full of gold. If you're looking for something fresh, approachable, genuine, and entertaining, I'd recommend either or both of these. The nooma series videos are 10-15 minute meditations on a given theme that are really provocative and beautiful. They give me chill bumps every time. (Especially Dust). On the "Young adult, emergent tip" I am also looking forward to attending the "Gathering" with Tim Keel (of Jacob's Well) and Doug Pagitt (of Solomon's Porch) on Mt. Sequoyah. I think it will be great. I've already shard beers with Doug at the Jan. gathering in Atlanta, but I've never met Tim and am impressed with what I've seen of Jacob's Well. I remember reading about it in Christian Century a year ago or so and feeling proud of what was happening in the church.

Last but not least, we have recently bought a new Canon Powershot A550. We like it. I've been reading the manual today (a good Sabbath activity, no?) and haven't taken any informed shots yet, but here's one that I like. (Weley's a little bugged by the orange light that comes on before the flash)

And here's a picture of heaven.

Horseradish Root

Anyone know if it should be boiled or not before grating for the maror for a Seder meal? We're having one on Maundy Thurs. Good Friday we'll have a Tenebre service, I'm practicing banging my Vietnamese gong for the moment after the last words of Christ are read. At least, that's what I did last year. I got a d'jimbe for Christmas, would a little roll on that be more evocative? Comment and vote! Saturday our church is having an easter Eve service with a new Paschal Candle lighted on a bonfire in the parking lot and everything. We'll process into the sanctuary while singing "Chirst Whose Glory Fills the skies." Right out of the Book of Worship, or as I call it, the BOW. Then, after we've brought all the brass and empty cross into the sanctuary, we have a community service that features women singing songs, reading poetry, and giving dramatic performances of the resurrection narrative. (To sort of symbolize the idea that the women disciples kept the lamp burning during the crisis moment in Christian history.

Holy Week gone awry

I'm a C+ Catholic!

Roman Catholic 79% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 71% Emergent/Postmodern 64% Neo orthodox 64% Modern Liberal 50% Charismatic/Pentecostal 46% Classical Liberal 39% Reformed Evangelical 21% Fundamentalist 4% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

Everyone's Waiting

i watched the last episode of Six Feet Under tonight--left me feeling sad and complete and empty. Death was always a "character" in the show, and here we weren't left any pretensions that our characters escape the fate that awaits us all. It was beautiful to see everyone's final moments. What an idea for a finale. If you're a fan, and you want more---go to the HBO website, they have some neat stuff, including some "inside the script" things that are pretty cool, and the obits for the characters.

Lewis Center

I just took a survey here, it looks like a good site so I'm going to save it here for later. You can look at it too.

The Ego has Landed

There aren't so many things as humbling as busting your ass in front of a bunch of teenagers.
This happened to me today: I was shooting hoops out behind the church and one of the balls flew over the chained link fence. When playing with Wesley the week before, I had simply lept the fence instead of walking all the way around. So, of course I think nothing about going for it again. Except this time, I didn't raise my feet high enough, and one of my shoes caught the top of the fence--which caused my upper torso to go flying toward the ground where my feet were supposed to be. I hit with a thud and a "uuugh" (which was the wind going out from my lungs) It didn't hurt, but still, it looked really stupid. I noticed one of the girls looking at another teenager like they really wanted to laugh, but didn't know if it was okay. So I started laughing, and then we all had a good laugh. I made a joke about "my ups" the next time I went up for a shot, and that got a few laughs too. Now the only thing is, my wrist really hurts.
The whole scenario got me thinking of embarassment. It has been a while since I've been embarassed. On the other hand, I don't really feel that embarassed. I more feel sorry for them because now they're probably going to think of me flopping over the fence when they see me, and that must be a hard thing to square with someone you should respect and admire. (I am their pastor, after all). In other words, I'll get over it and probably not remember it in a month or two, but can they ever again relate to me as a pastor without cringing in that embarassed for me, "wanting to laugh but not sure I should" memory?
Perhaps the ego hasn't landed quite yet in my case--They probably don't occupy much of their time or mental energy thinking about me anyway, I suppose. Of course, I do kind of get up and speak for 15 minutes in front of them every week. Of course, they are usually more concerned wiht their text messages than me anyway. Hmmmmm....Does this make sense? I took a pain pill because of my wrist!
Happy trails!

Devil in Disguise

I decided not to go in this direction for my sermon, but it was a good page or so of information. If it sparks anything or fires the ole imagination, cheers!

We probably have diverse viewpoints about this figure in our faith tradition. Many of us probably don’t believe that evil has some personification, that perhaps Satan is some psychological projection of the evil inside us. Some of us no doubt believe in a real and tangible Devil who is actively trying to upend God’s designs for the universe. Perhaps you don’t believe in the Devil or even evil as a reality at all, but instead simply consequences for not aligning our will with God’s will.
I’m not sure there are any requirements for orthodoxy on the Devil. We don’t focus our beliefs in that direction. In some ways it really doesn’t matter. We pray to be led not into temptation, but delivered from Evil, but we don’t define what that Evil is like. Satan is a number of things in the Bible—and much of our scriptures were written in a time when the Jewish imagination had not yet conceived of “The Devil.”
But the Devil makes an appearance there in our scripture today. We hear about him and what the early Christian mind thought was his authority. In several places in the New Testament, the Devil, some spirit trapped between heaven and Earth, has jurisdiction over much of the world as we know it. Satan tempts Jesus with the power to rule over the entire earth in a political fashion, much like the people of Israel were expecting the Messiah to do. The Devil takes Jesus up on a high mountain and says to him, “I will give you all their authority and power, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I wish. So if you worship me, it will all be yours." Elsewhere, in 1 John 5:19, we hear “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of Satan.”
This must have been pretty apparent to the early Christian church people, who were hunted down by the authorities and tossed to the lions. It wasn’t hard for them to imagine who was behind it all, pulling the strings—it must’ve been the Adversary. The rulers of the nations seemed to be in collusion with the Evil forces of the Universe. They were to be feared and opposed as diligently as the Devil himself. Paul writes to the Ephesians, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world…”
I mention these things today because I believe it is important for us to examine our evolving relationship with Evil. The early church drew the battle lines—it was the Kingdom of Heaven against the Kingdoms of Earth. Have we evolved as a society? Have the Evil forces behind the governments of the world simply evaporated, moved into easier to identify realms? If one judged by the focus of the televangelists and Christian radio wonks, it would seem that Christians believed nowadays that Satan had changed address to Hollywood or the Halls of Science and Jesus himself had taken up residence in Washington!

I'm a geography geek, okay?

This is a version of the world map proportional to wealth. Cha-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-eck it and more by clicking on the map.