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Name: R. D. Gabriel Gender: Male
Interests: Good books, bad movies, nature, history, weight lifting, world religions, science & technology, theology, good beer, dead languages, politics, biology, dimestore psychology, philosophy, Shakespeare, comic books, political theory, & the occasional cigar. Expertise: I've worked in genetics labs, trauma bays, state capitols, and a whole lot of Church congregations. Along the way I somehow picked up degrees in Genetics, Developmental Biology, World Religion, Theology, and History with various minors. Currently studying life with toddlers and puppies.
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Scripture: 24th Sunday After Pentecost (the Reign of Christ), 2009 B Sermon: Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. AMEN. Upon witnessing in Egypt the same solar eclipse that accompanied the Crucifixion of our Lord, Dionysius the Areopagite, a pagan at the time, is said to have cried aloud: “Either the world is ending, or God is dying!” * * * Well, brothers and sisters, we’ve come to the penultimate Sunday of the Church year. Next week is the end of the line—the Sunday when we celebrate with joy the triumphal reign of Christ the King, merciful and loving ruler of the entire cosmos for all eternity! Alleluia! Gathered into one by the Holy Spirit, let us pray for the Church, for the world, and for all people according to their needs… You call us, Lord, to trust in You When chaos rules the land Grant us faith and wisdom true And take us by the hand You call us, Lord, to steward Earth Rouse us to heed Your call Raise Creation to rebirth When we cause it to fall You call us, Lord, to work for peace And thus Your hope to share Work in us, Lord, that wars may cease In mercy—hear our prayer You call us, Lord, to visit those Who deep in sickness dwell So like the blossom of the rose Bring hearts to bloom as well You call us, Lord, to love the poor The lonely and outcast That we on Heaven’s golden shore Might live as One at last You call us, Lord, to reconcile Though we would scarcely dare Walk with us, Lord, this holy mile In mercy—hear our prayer You call us, Lord, to love our kind As diff’rent as we seem So place in Christ our heart and mind That we might live Your dream You call us, Lord, to celebrate And cherish gifts of life Keep and guard our fam’lies’ fate And harmonize our strife You call us as You called the saints Who rest now in Your care Our lives with Christ You must acquaint In mercy—hear our prayer Lord, long ago You spoke to us by the prophets, but in these last days, You have spoken to us by the Son. In His most holy Name we lift before You those whom we name now, both silently and aloud… Jacob, Aaron, Jared, Denise, Myron, Linda, Bill, and Kris… for the happy recovery of those recuperating from sickness or surgery… for all parents who labor and pray for the health of their children… for the ELCA and the entire Church Catholic… for the USA and the nations of this world… for soldiers, veterans, and those in need. And we praise and thank You, Lord, for pleasant weather, new life and new families, new celebrations and a new year of the Church! On this penultimate Sunday, we cry with joy, “Come, Holy Spirit, come!” Into Your hands, O Lord, we commend all for whom we pray Trusting in Your mercy to light and guard their way. AMEN. | | |
| THE OCCULT! A Twisted History of Western Esoteric Traditions Few words have as negative a connotation as “occult.” The term literally means clandestine, hidden, or secret, though in modern parlance it tends to refer to knowledge of the paranormal or supernatural, as opposed to purely scientific knowledge. Oftentimes occult is taken to mean knowledge meant only for the few, and which must remain hidden from the great mass of humanity. Most practicing occultists, however, maintain that it is simply the study of a deeper, inwardly focused, spiritual reality that extends beyond pure reason and the physical sciences. A more politically correct term for such a body of knowledge might be “esotericism,” and along with the Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman thought, the esoteric tradition often claims to be the third great pillar supporting Western Civilization. I’ll be honest with you: the incredibly complex and twisted history of occult knowledge is far too vast for us to do any real justice in a single sitting. And quite frankly, this sort of thing tends to give me a headache! Nevertheless, a Christian should explore other religions and spiritualities for several reasons: (1) to be able to share the Word of God as Law and Gospel with our neighbor in a language that he or she can understand; (2) to appreciate the uniqueness of our own Christian faith; and (3) to demystify, and thus de-fang, occult practices. Ignorance breeds fear, neither of which is appropriate within the Body of Christ. I. THE ROOT RUNS DEEP: Origins of Western Esotericism 1. Pythagoreanism! Pythagoras (c. 570 B.C. to c. 495 B.C.) may vie with Plato for the title of most influential Western philosopher, but he stands alone as the granddaddy of the occult. Like most of history’s greatest teachers—Buddha, Socrates, and Christ included—Pythagoras leaves to us nothing written by his own hand, and so we must rely on the works of his disciples. Biographical details are sketchy at best, and mainly depend on which legends one decides to accept. A number of myths popped up around him, including that his father was Apollo, that he glowed like Moses with divine light, that he could teleport through both space and time, and that he had a golden thigh, indicating his own divinity. We may safely assert that Pythagoras was born on the Greek island of Samos, and is said to have traveled extensively throughout Egypt, Arabia, Phoenicia, Judaea, Babylon, and even India, accruing as much knowledge as possible from a bewildering array of teachers. Sounds a bit like Bruce Wayne, really. Pythagoras founded a secretive brotherhood that operated partially as a school and partially as a monastery, imitating many aspects of Spartan society. Initiates were oathbound to Pythagoras and to one another, passing through a period of probation and progressing through gradations within the organization. Not everything was taught to everybody. Secret symbols allowed Pythagoreans to recognize one another even if they’d never met before. Meals were held in common, and ascetic practices included the “Pythagorean diet” forbidding meat and fish—and also, oddly, any type of bean. Even touching beans was considered verboten. We have no idea why. Pythagorean thought was dominated by mathematics and the transmigration of souls. Basically, the ultimate substance of things is apeiron, “the boundless,” and it is only by the notion of peiron, limitation, that the boundless can take form. In other words, things only exist because there is a void between them, making them distinct entities. When the apeiron is “inhaled” by the peiron it causes separation; instead of an undifferentiated whole, we have a living whole of interconnected parts separated by void between them. This interspersion of thing with void cannot be done willy-nilly, however; it must be done as part of a natural (musical) harmony. Order thus arises from chaos. All this leads to the Pythagorean obsession with numbers, because the continuum of numbers illustrates a universal principle of reality: a series of successive terms, separated by void, and progression harmoniously. All reality may be represented numerically and harmonically, leading to a mathematical understanding of planetary orbits and thus the famed “music of the spheres.” Primes and multiples of 10 really excite Pythagoreans. The God of the Pythagoreans is the Monad, referred to as the First, the Seed, the Essence, the Builder, and the Foundation. Purification rites and rules for living enable a reincarnated soul to achieve moral purity, and thus gain a higher form in the next life. God is to be worshipped spiritually, as the material world must be escaped in favor of the realm of mind or spirit. Popular Pythagorean symbols include the circumpunct to represent the Monad, and the inverted pentacle (not a satanic symbol until the 20th Century) to represent Empedocles’ five earthly elements and the void between them all. Numerology, reincarnation, secrecy, purification rituals, and sacred geometry would all remain hallmarks of the esoteric tradition for over 2500 years. 2. Gnosticism! Gnosticism slightly predates Christianity, and infiltrated Jewish, Christian, and pagan communities of worship. In the most general sense, Gnostics believe in hidden knowledge, or gnosis, which of right belongs only to a select few special people. Details vary, but the basic Gnostic mythology goes something like this: God is way too high up and far too perfect to be bothered with anything other than admiring His own perfect self. (This comes from Aristotle’s concept of the Unmoved Mover.) He creates lesser beings known as Aeons, who are basically angels or pagan gods. One of these Aeons, Sophia, decides that she wants to try and create something without the true Creator’s help, so she gets herself pregnant. The resulting offspring is a twisted, malformed, evil monster known as Yaldaboath. He immediately tears his mother into pieces and uses her corpse to create the physical world (not unlike Marduk structuring reality from the sundered body of Tiamat). For Gnostics, the Creator God Yahweh of Jewish Scripture is actually the wicked, deformed Aeon Yaldaboath, who fashioned this broken, fallen world. Thankfully, portions of Sophia’s spirit remain embedded in the souls of certain special humans. These chosen few may escape the hellish cycle of reincarnation by a rigorous, celibate, ascetic lifestyle, and thus return to the world of the Aeons. “Christian” Gnostics claim that Jesus Christ is not God, but is an Aeon like Sophia, Who enters into this physical world in order to save those of us who have Sophia bits stuck in us. Gnosticism appears to be one of those perennial heresies, cropping up at regular intervals throughout Christian history. The medieval Cathars of the Albigensian Crusade were a later iteration of Gnosticism, and the so-called Gnostic Gospels have experienced a recent resurgence in popularity. Hidden spiritual truths inappropriate for the unwashed masses that allow for a progression to selective salvation remain favorite esoteric ideas. Notice how Gnostic notions of reincarnation, works-righteousness, and a hands-off God continue to resurface. 3. Neoplatonism! Like Gnosticism, Neoplatonism flourished around the same time as the Early Church. Founded by Plotinus as an attempt to preserve the authentic teachings of Plato, Neoplatonism become a school of religious and mystical philosophy that heavily influenced a variety of Christian thinkers—most prominently, St. Augustine. Plotinus’ Enneads speak of God as the Monad or the One, the primeval and infinite Source of Being. The Monad has no attributes of any kind, without magnitude, thought, or life, as the Monad is “above existence” and “above goodness.” (In the words of Luther’s abbot, “The Father is too high! Cling to the Son.”) Nevertheless, the Source is constantly producing things without diminishing or altering Itself in any way. The Source emits existence like a force or radiation. Directly or indirectly, everything is brought forth by the “One,” and God is all in all. Derived existence, however, is subject to a law of diminishing completeness. Like a series of concentric circles, everything is an image and reflection of the first Source, but the further each successive stage sits down the chain of being, the less its share in true existence. We are, basically, progressively fainter echoes of God. The first reflection of the Source is the Demiurge, or Nous, which is a perfect image of the One and does all the work (or rather, is the energy) of organizing the material world. The Nous is pure mind or intellect, and is completely indivisible. The reflection of the Nous, however, is the world-soul, and while the world-soul may preserve its unity and remain in the Nous, it may simultaneously unite with the corporeal world and thus be disintegrated. Pieces of the world-soul (i.e., individual human souls) have the free will to either turn to the Nous, or to abandon the intellect in favor of the sensual, thus losing themselves to the finite material world. Parallels to the Christian Trinity are several. Unlike the Gnostics, Neoplatonists don’t condemn the material world and its Creator. So long as this world is pervaded by the soul—that is, idea governs matter, and the soul governs the body—the world remains harmonious, fair, and good. Those souls overpowered by sensuality and lust seek to cut themselves loose from true Being, and thus assume a false existence. Such a lost soul must turn back along the same path on which it fell. He or she must pursue a hierarchy of virtues, a system of works-righteousness, by which the soul pulls itself back up towards God. The civil virtues restore harmony to life, reuniting you with the world-soul. Purifying virtues free the soul from sensuality and lead it back to itself, thus rejoining the Nous. And finally, a state of perfect passivity and repose may bring one to an ecstatic union with the Source, Who is beyond all thought or ego. Thus can a soul escape reincarnation and be swallowed up in the One. Later Neoplatonic philosophers included complex systems of divine beings to help along the way. The idea of God having multiple emanations or echoes, and these leading to various levels of reality, is an important contribution to the occult tradition. II. THE HEART OF THE MATTER: Twin Rivers of the Occult 1. Hermeticism! Now we come to the big guns. The stalwart trunk of occult belief in the West may be summed up in two words: Hermeticism and Rosicrucianism. Hermeticism arose from Hellenized Egypt in the Second Century A.D., and brewed together a system of syncretistic and intellectualized pagan thought from both Greco-Egyptian mythology and Greek philosophy. Its main texts are attributed to a character named Hermes Trismegistus, or “Thrice-Blessed Mercury.” Now, a herm, in ancient Greece, refers to a stone pillar, post, or amulet in the shape of a phallus that demarcated boundaries and warded off evil. It is also considered to be an instrument of communicating with the divine, thus linking it to Hermes, messenger of the gods. While some followers of Hermeticism eschew the religious approach, considering theirs a philosophical system only, many hold that all great religious have equivalent mystical truths at their core, and share an understanding of esoteric tenets with Hermeticism. Several Christian thinkers considered Hermes to be a prophet, and pointed to him as evidence for a prisca theologia given by God to Man from antiquity. Hermes Trismegistus supposedly penned 40 books, but the vast majority was lost when the Alexandrian Library burned. Three extant works make up the core texts of Hermeticism: the Corpus Hermeticum, which records several dialogs between Hermes and God; the Emerald Tablet, which coins the extremely popular occult phrase, “as above, so below”; and the Kybalion, published anonymously in 1913. Hermetics study “three parts of wisdom”: alchemy, astrology, and theurgy. Alchemy, rather than transforming lead to gold, is an investigation of material existence through the mysteries of life, death, and resurrection. It often invokes the four elements of earth, wind, water and fire. Astrology, which Hermes claims to have been discovered by Zoroaster, teaches that the movements of the planets have meaning beyond simple physics, and actually hold metaphorical value as symbols in the mind of God. The planets influence Earth but do not determine our actions. Astrology seeks wisdom by understanding such influences and dealing with them. Theurgy actually deals with two types of sorcery: white magic, accomplished with the aid of angels or gods; and black magic, conjured by summoning demons! The dictum “as above, so below,” teaches adherents to understand the physical, mental, and spiritual levels of reality as influencing one another, especially in a microcosm- macrocosm relationship. Understanding oneself leads to understanding of the universe. As with most occult systems, Hermeticism professes reincarnation, a rejection of the physical world, and the existence of both the All (God) and the Nous. The Hermetic Creation story, meanwhile, is bizarrely convoluted and complex. Once it fell out of favor with the Christian Church, Hermeticism went underground via a series of secret brotherhoods, and has resurfaced periodically throughout Western history. The modern esoteric tradition as a whole is heavily steeped in Hermeticism. Many magical systems owe a great debt to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a secret society open to both sexes and dedicated to the teaching of alchemy, Kabbalah, magic, and “the principles of occult science.” 2. Rosicrucians! Between 1607 and 1616, two anonymous manifestos were published in Germany: the Fame of the Brotherhood of R.C., and the Confession of the Brotherhood of R.C. These documents claimed to present to the world a “most laudable Order” of mystic-philosopher-doctors promoting a “Universal Reformation of Mankind” and “built on esoteric truths of the ancient past,” which, “concealed from the average man, provide insights into nature, the physical universe, and the spiritual realm.” To say that these two works caused a sensation would be a considerable understatement. They caused a “Rosicrucian Enlightenment,” and inspired dozens of secret societies and scores of publications all claiming to uphold the doctrines of the original Rosicrucians. According to the Fame, a German doctor and mystic philosopher known only as Frater R.C. (later identified as Christian Rosenkreuz, or “Rose Cross”) traveled to the Middle East to study under various masters. Upon his return, he gathered a small circle of friends and disciples into a secret society—the Rosicrucian Order—in A.D. 1407. The eight members, each a doctor and sworn bachelor, undertook an oath to heal the sick without payment, maintain the Order’s strict secrecy, and find a replacement for himself by the time he died. Thus had three generations supposedly passed between A.D. 1500 and 1600, a time of unprecedented growth in scientific, philosophical, and religious freedom. Now, these two documents were not to be taken literally, and were regarded either as hoaxes or allegorical statements. The manifestos themselves explicitly state that they “speak unto you by parables.” Some even believe Rosenkreuz to be a nom de plume for Francis Bacon. Clearly both books were heavily influenced by Hermeticism, and many believe that they used the language of alchemy and science to publicized their opinions and beliefs—which, in general, encouraged the Reformation. (It should be noted that the center of Luther’s seal is a black cross upon a red rose.) Later authors claiming the Rosicrucian title pointed toward a symbolic and spiritual alchemy rather than an operative one. The rose cross represents the soul (a rose) crucified on the material world. Later legend claimed that as the true Rosicrucians had arisen due to an explosion of freedom, so they then fled to the East at the outbreak of the Thirty Years’ War. The “Rosy Cross” appears in literature throughout the 16th and 17th Centuries, and various men of science were inspired by the Rosicrucian legend to create the College of Invisibles, the direct precursor to Isaac Newton’s Royal Society. Two of the 33 degrees in Scottish Rite Freemasonry were inspired by the Rosicrucians. Today, Rosicrucian societies fall generally into two categories: esoteric Christian groups who associate esoteric ideas with the “mysteries” of which Christ spoke in Matthew 13:11 and Luke 8:10; and initiatory groups that follow a degree system of study and initiation, such as the Rosicrucian Order AMORC and the Rosicrucian Order of the Golden Dawn. III. THIS DAY AND AGE: Witches, Nazis, and the Modern Occult 1. Theosophy! Founded by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky in 1875, the Theosophical (“god wisdom”) Society had three goals: (1) to form a nucleus of a Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or color; (2) to encourage the study of comparative religion, philosophy, and science; and (3) to investigate the unexplained laws of Nature and the latent powers hidden within Man. Theosophists hold that all religions are attempts by the “Spiritual Hierarchy” to help humanity evolve to greater perfection, and thus each religion has some portion of the truth. Religion, philosophy, science, the arts, commerce, philanthropy, and other “virtues” help lead people ever closer to “the Absolute.” Planets, solar systems, galaxies, and the entirety of the cosmos are all regarded as conscious entities, fulfilling their own evolutionary paths. Spiritual units of consciousness, or Monads, may manifest in angels, human beings, or other forms; Monads are the reincarnating “unit” of the human soul, consisting of the two highest of the soul’s seven parts. Seven is a sacred, perfect number. Supposedly, human civilizations, like all parts of the universe, develop cyclically through seven stages. Drawing from Hesiod’s Five Ages of Man, Blavatsky posited that that all humanity, and indeed every Monad, cycles through a series of seven Root Races. Thus in the first age, humans were pure spirit; in the second, they were sexless beings in the now lost continent of Hyperborea; the third consisted of giants living on Lemuria, another lost continent; and modern humans finally developed on yet another lost continent, Atlantis. Now we find ourselves in the fifth age, which belongs to those descendents of the Atlanteans, the Aryans. The Aryans are just waiting for the other races to die out, so that Lemuria can re-emerge in the sixth age. Guido von List merged Blavatsky’s ideas with his own brand of nationalism, creating a theory of racial evolution known as Ariosophy. (Blavatsky herself vehemently denounced racism.) This led to the Thule Cult Society, one of several German occult groups preaching Aryan—i.e., Teutonic—supremacy. Both the Theosophical and Thule Cult Societies incorporated swastikas into their emblems, and heavily influenced Nazi ideology. 2. Thelema! Aleister Crowley, once denounced by the Church as “the wickedest man alive,” had a series of bizarre experiences in 1904, culminating in what he claimed to be the dictation of his Book of the Law via a non-corporeal being named Aiwass. A Hermetic practitioner who broke Golden Dawn’s code of silence, Crowley founded his Thelema (“will”) occult society upon the dictum “Do what thou wilt” from Rabelais’ 16th Century satirical work, Gargantua and Pantagruel. Sir Francis Dashwood had likewise adopted the saying for his mysterious Hellfire Club, which Benjamin Franklin supposedly attended, in 18th Century England. | | |
| Ah, St. Martin's Day! November 11th commemorates a Roman soldier turned preacher, later elected bishop of Tours. As Martin is the patron not only of soldiers but of soldiers-cum-peacemakers, I find it hard to believe that Armistice Day (later Veterans' Day) fell on his holiday by accident. When Hans and Margarethe Luther birthed their little boy on November 10th, 1483, they took the newborn for Baptism the next day -- St. Martin's Day -- as was the custom. Hence: Martin Luther.
11/11 is also National Corduroy Day, and, oh yes, our anniversary. We're celebrating it the traditional way: by teaching Confirmation classes in separate towns, leaving our son with yet another babysitter, and then staying out late to teach an adult forum on the occult. (I'll post the occult handout tomorrow or the next day.) Just as we didn't see each other until 11:00 p.m. on Sunday, not at all on Monday, and 10:00 p.m. yesterday, so I don't expect to see my lovely bride until 9:30 or 10:00 tonight. Romantic, no? 
But even if we never see each other, we did get our anniversary gifts a bit early. I've had the same television since the middle of undergrad, and we've been musing literally for years (since we were dating) about getting a new one someday. One of our babysitters told us that WalMart was having a sale, and at my wife's prompting -- honestly, I was more reluctant than she! -- we came home with a 32" Samsung HD flatscreen and a BluRay player.
I have to admit, it's pretty. At the moment we have no BluRay disks, and we need to call the satellite company in order to upgrade our channels and DVR to high definition, but both of those situations shall be rectified soon. We could have gone for a 40", but as our last TV was maybe 19" or 20", this was upgrade enough! She also bought us a pair of matching Viking rune rings.
I've been wearing mine next to my wedding band, and I've already gotten a lot of admiring comments. Of course, out here anything with runes on is enough to warm the cockles of these Scandinavian hearts. Roughly translated, it says, "Think of me; I think of thee. Love me; I love you." Surprisingly sentimental, coming from a culture whose very alphabet looks violent. I love you, hon. Some day we'll actually have time together. When we're retired. Or dead. Whichever.  | | |
| I'm belatedly realizing that my sermons tend to include an unusually high amount of dismemberment. That's what comes from regularly using medieval monarchs to illustrate my points, I suppose. Nevertheless, it went over quite well this morning! It's hard to make a guy named Lionheart boring...
When it comes to Greek mythology, the two granddaddies of them all are, of course, Homer and his rough contemporary, Hesiod. Everybody reads the Iliad and the Odyssey in high school, but Theogony and Works & Days prove inexplicably less popular. Not enough dismemberment, perhaps. Anyway, as most of my readers know, Hesiod spoke of Five Ages of Man:
- The Golden Age of peace and harmony, when Man lived amongst the gods and the Earth spontaneously produced fruits and honey for them to eat. After a long and fulfilling life, a man would lie down to sleep and die peacefully, never having known the rigors of age. This Age ended after Prometheus brought fire to Man, and Zeus wiped out the Golden race by unleashing Pandora's Jar. (Yes, it's a jar, not a box.)
- The Silver Age, when humanity fell to fighting one another and refused to worship the gods. Thus Zeus wiped them out in a great Flood. That should sound awfully familiar.
- The Bronze Age of violence, passion, and unrelenting warfare. This is also when mankind starts building shelters (of bronze), indicating recognizable civilization.
- The Heroic Age of heroes, monsters, and demigods, notable both due to its lack of an associated metal, and also because it is the only Age not to be a diminution of its predecessor.
- The Iron Age of modern Man, marked by complete depravity, the total destruction of morals, impiety, fratricide, the dishonoring of parents, and the breakdown of the social contract. Sounds pretty accurate to me!

Ovid mostly concurs with Hesiod, though he either eliminates the Heroic Age or conflates it with the Bronze. And Hellboy adds an Age of Frogs. Anyway, St. Jerome attempted to assign historical dates to each of these periods, and his estimates were surprisingly brief. Most of the Ages only got a handful of decades in which to play out! Frankly, after exploring Ryan and Pitman's Black Sea hypothesis in a Confirmation course about the Great Flood, and weaving mythological beasties in with Biblical stories for our Christian Education Forums, I think the groundwork has been laid for doing a better job of it.
Clearly the Golden Age, marked by idyllic innocence, direct interaction with the Divine, and destruction wrought through a woman sneaking forbidden fruit, corresponds to our all-too-brief stint in Eden. The Silver Age of godless violence washed away by a Flood takes us from Cain to Noah. Going with the above Black Sea hypothesis, of which I'm rather fond, that puts the end of the Silver around 5500 B.C. The Heroic Age, obviously, reaches its climax with the Argonauts and the Trojan War, around 1250 B.C. This coincides rather nicely with Biblical accounts of Israel conquering the giants of Canaan, and the following period of the Judges with heroes like Samson running around yanking up fortified city gates. This assumes an "early" (1550 B.C.) rather than "late date" (1250 B.C.) Exodus.
The Iron Age is our own bizarre little epoch, in which we've driven all the unholy terrors of the primeval forest into the realm of superstition, while simultaneously becoming the greatest monsters of them all through such modern wonders as eugenics, lobotomies, and the atomic bomb. The cut-off between Heroic and Iron could be... Alexander the Great? Maybe Caesar Augustus? Perhaps the honor should go to Herodotus, the first truly non-Jewish historian, who marks the moment when history began to outstrip legend in the minds of the West.
But whereas most synthesis between the Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian blends with surprising ease (see: all of Christian history), I'm not quite sure what to do with Hesiod's Bronze Age. What warlike, bronze loving civilizations arose between the Flood and the Trojan War? The obvious contenders would seem to be Egypt and Mesopotamia (3500 B.C.), together the Cradle of Civilization. The end of that era could then be marked by the coming of the Sea Peoples and their so-called Aegean Apocalypse, or even by the volcanic annihilation of Thera, which has been blamed for everything from the destruction of Atlantis to the Ten Plagues of Egypt! Yes, dear reader, this is precisely the sort of thing I ponder when left to my own devices.
The human mortals want their winter here...
Did you know that 54% of Icelanders openly profess belief in elves? The government actually diverts road projects around elf habitats for fear of the little sprites monkeying with the construction equipment. And Bhutan actually has a wildlife sanctuary dedicated to the Yeti. But what particularly fascinates me about the Icelandic accounts of elvish encounters is just how medieval they are -- insofar as modern Icelanders, like medieval Europeans, talk about entering hidden elvish homes, having coffee and pancakes with them, and even being asked to maintain a respectful silence upon passing near an elvish Church! As I recently recounted:
Almost every mythology contains a category of being which is neither ghost nor god, angel nor devil, but is a sort of quasi-mortal creature—indeed, not just a beast, but a type of person—magical in nature, fond of pranks and puzzles, ranging in attitude from malevolent to benevolent. Be they hobgoblins, leprechauns, pixies or gremlins, Europeans typically refer to them as the Fair Folk, or fairies. They tend to be much like human beings, with similar families, concerns, and vocations, but living in a hidden or parallel world, concealed by magical "glamour" ... In medieval literature they are not un- or anti-Christian, but often assist the faithful and show an orthodox religiosity. And you thought that was useless knowledge! Little did you know that I was prepping you for your next foray into Iceland. Kudos to the Destination Truth marathon for a particularly entertaining episode on icy Scandinavian elves.
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Scripture: 23rd Sunday After Pentecost (the Reign of Christ), 2009 B Sermon: Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. AMEN. If you ask me, one of the greatest movies of all time is the Adventures of Robin Hood! Not the recent versions, mind you, but the old 1938 swashbuckler with Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland and Basil Rathbone. Folks, it doesn’t get any better than that! Everybody knows the story, right? Good King Richard of England, Richard the Lionheart, has nobly gone off to do battle with Saladin in the Third Crusade. But while he’s gone, his weasely younger brother, the dastardly Prince John, usurps the throne and crushes the British Isles under merciless, unjust taxation! Thankfully, the people have a hero in Robin of Loxley, an outlaw noble who resists John’s tyranny, and who robs from the rich to give to the poor, ever fighting the good fight until that hoped-for day when the true King shall return from the East to restore justice and rectitude to the land. So Robin fights, Richard returns, John is deposed, and Maid Marion gets wooed. Roll credits, close curtain, all’s well that ends well, right? Sure. In the movies. But alas, the true story does not end there. Reality isn’t quite so rose-colored as Hollywood would have us believe. There really was a Richard the Lionheart, of course, but he wasn’t quite the Good King of legend. His father, Henry II, had married the gorgeous and powerful Eleanor of Aquitaine, thus creating the famed Plantagenet Empire, with as much land in France as in Britain. At his mother’s behest, Richard and his siblings spent much of their young adult life waging war against their own father in order to seize the throne. When he himself became king, Richard had naught but disdain for the swampy British Isles, much preferring his mother’s duchies in France. A francophone himself, King Richard never bothered to learn English, and complained bitterly that he’d have sold England if only he could’ve found a buyer! That said, Richard did indeed have the heart of a lion, insofar as he showed peerless strength and savagery on the field of battle. Upon taking up the Crusade, his ships sailed for Acre in the Holy Land, and as they arrived they beheld the shoreline thick with Muslim archers and warriors right up to the sea. Fearlessly, monstrously, Richard rammed his boat headlong onto the shore and leapt alone off the prow, single-handedly hacking down the Saracens to clear a beachhead for his troops. Acre was taken by sheer brute force. Islamic chroniclers record an incident from another battle, in which Richard fought so fiercely and thrust so deeply into the Muslim ranks that he soon found himself alone and completely surrounded, his men having been left behind. His horse was soon cut out from beneath him, and on foot he fought so savagely that all the enemy soldiers pulled back several steps, leaving him alone and spattered with gore inside a circle of scimitars and spears. One Saracen noble, offended that a lone infidel should strike such terror into the warriors of Allah, charged Richard on horseback, attempting to lance the king on the spot. But Richard’s sword struck the rider on the shoulder, cleaving straight through his armor and passing diagonally through his torso, literally splitting the knight in two with a single blow. The Muslim soldiers cried out in shock and horror! Saladin, ruler of the Islamic forces, had been watching from afar. Upon seeing his mounted noble split from collar to hip, he pointed at Richard and said to his aids, “Give that man a horse and send him home.” He had earned it. This, my friends, was the King for whom Robin Hood was waiting! This indomitable, unstoppable, godlike warrior. Little wonder his people called him Lionheart. Prince John, meanwhile, was known as Softsword—a name as embarrassing then as now. Weasely little John didn’t stand a chance. Eventually Richard did get home, and John was booted just like in the movies. But it wasn’t quite your “happily ever after.” You see, the first thing Richard did upon his return was to re-conquer all those castles that had rebelled against him in his long absence. During one such siege he boastfully rode out beneath the castle walls, daring them to attack, when a young boy shot him through the shoulder with an armor-piercing crossbow bolt. Richard’s surgeon botched the job and he lost the arm, his wound rapidly growing gangrenous. Knowing his injuries to be fatal, Richard nonetheless soon cracked the castle and had the young boy who’d shot the quarrel brought before him. “Why,” he asked the child, “have you slain your own king?” “You killed my brother,” the boy replied defiantly, “in one of your endless wars.” “Give this youth a satchel of silver and set him free,” ordered the King. “Everyone else in the castle is to be hanged. And let it not be said that I am without mercy!” Thus perished Richard the Lionheart. His brother John retook the throne, legitimately this time. And all of Robin Hood’s many adventures proved to be for naught. “Put not your trust in princes,” sings the Psalmist, “in mortals, in whom there is no help. When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.” This has sometimes been called the antigovernment psalm. But it does not apply only to heads of state. “Beware the teachers of the Law,” Jesus says this morning, “who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! “They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” Yes, brothers and sisters, place not your trust in politicians, and certainly not in religious authorities with long robes saying windy prayers. We are thieves and brigands. And not the nobly folkloric sort either. I’d like to say that such condemnations apply only to other people, to blustery televangelists who make millions by prophesying that Jesus wants you to put $10 in the box! But this falls on all the clergy, self-righteous as we are. According to the Law of Moses, money was collected by the religious leaders for the purpose of caring for widows, orphans, foreigners, and other vulnerable peoples upon the fringe of society. But money, like all forms of power, corrupts. In our Gospel this morning, with 1500 years between Moses and Jesus, the Temple institution no longer gives to powerless widows, but instead devours their houses. Furthermore, a poor widow, with nothing to live on but two copper haypennies, gives all she has to the very Temple intended to provide for her. The most vulnerable are being used by the greedy and power-hungry, who then, as now, hide behind a veil of respectability and pious self-righteousness. Adding insult to injury, this poor widow is often used once again in the modern day, when preachers hold her up as a model for giving all that you have to the Church—as if poor people of limited means should suffer for the very institution established to care for them. True stewardship involves earning, saving, and spending, as well as giving. The Church’s job is to feed the hungry, both spiritually and materially. No one, then, should have to go hungry so that the Church may prevent hunger. It’s nonsensical! That’s right up there with destroying the village in order to save it. Christ does not want us to be poor. Poverty is an evil to be fought, not an ideal to pursue, and certainly not a mechanism for salvation. But we indeed are to give out of our abundance so that we may love our neighbors as ourselves. Not more than ourselves—not less than ourselves—but as ourselves. In this we must be wise as serpents and gentle as doves, just as Jesus commands. So in this day and age, brothers and sisters, when so many princes and preachers claim to be Robin Hood, while they in fact they take from the poor to enrich themselves, do not place your trust in mortals. Even the good ones, the ones who truly mean well and work for a better world, will falter and fail, if for no other reason than that they are human. Secular messiahs make for terrible saviors. They arise from the East only to be cut down once more. But instead, place your trust in Christ Jesus, Who, as we heard in Hebrews, has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and Who now appears in the presence of God on our behalf. For He Who bears the sins of many will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him. And we do not wait in vain. We pray to God that we may be rightly guided in the proper stewardship of all the gifts provided to our households, our communities, and our congregations. And we pray to God that He guide us in just and proper governance, for the Lord appoints princes over the people not that the masses be ruled, but that the needy be served. Christ grant us wisdom to act with love in such earthly affairs! But ultimately we know that people may fail, money may run short, but Christ will never leave us. He is the true King for Whom we wait. He is the true Lion of Judah. And when Church, State, and all other rulers fail us—Jesus never will. Thanks be to Christ, our true High Priest, and King of all Creation! Alleluia! AMEN. Prayers of the Church: Gathered into one by the Holy Spirit, let us pray for the Church, for the world, and for all people according to their needs. Lord, we pray for veterans, For soldiers in their work and life Violence the planet rends As mortals pour out bowls of strife Remind us all, O Prince of Peace That You call armies to protect That murder might be stemmed and cease And harmony thus resurrect Let the sword be last resort An instrument of mighty care We stand before Your holy court Lord, in Your mercy—hear our prayer Gold and silver, patient God Are ever idols in our heart Let us not in greed defraud The vuln’rable who stand apart Possessions, Lord, You do protect By Your Commandment not to steal Yet in hoarding we neglect The poor who then to You appeal Give us wisdom with our money None can take it with us there To Jesus’ land of milk and honey In Your mercy—hear our prayer Lord, Your Church does oft devour Those for whom we’re meant to live Teach us that Your godly power Is the selflessness to give Ev’ry man from king to peasant Stands the same before Your Throne Though divided at the present All are one in Christ alone Let us see in ev’ry human Jesus Christ, Your Son and Heir Give our vision Your acumen In Your mercy—hear our prayer Lord, we pray especially for those we name before You, both silently and aloud… for Myron, Jacob, Aaron, Linda, Bill, and Kris; for the Arno and Perala families; for soldiers and their loved ones, especially the victims of Ft. Hood; for a just and merciful peace; for Your Church in all Her divisions; for families wounded by money woes; for all children undergoing medical care; and for all who dare not pray to You. Into Your hands, O Lord, we commend all for whom we pray Trusting in Your mercy to light and guard their way. AMEN. | | |
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