The Spirits of Chaos
Addressing current events can feel a bit like grabbing a live wire these days. Hold on too tight or too long and you could be harmed. The ground under us is ever shifting and allegiances are volatile. In recognition of this, I'm sharing a homily that my priest, Fr. David, gave last Sunday, after the attempted assassination of former president Trump.
Current events — Christ's thoughts? (YouTube)
I was so happy for this reminder to keep our thoughts focused on Christ, rather than get caught in the way the wind is blowing at any given time. It reminds me of the practice of meditation. Focus on your breathing — feel your mind wander off — return gently to your breathing.
Fr. David asks questions that all of us know the answer to: Is the spirit of the media you consume the Holy Spirit? Or is it the spirit of chaos? If you get too caught up with this spirit, will you know peace, or discontent and resentment, if not outright hatred of your neighbor?
It can be hard for the head of a church these days to be so forceful in rejecting the media. I'm grateful for the candid assessment of the problem before us from a spiritual perspective. Especially in a time when, in many evangelical churches, pastors can find themselves under siege when they challenge the political sentiment of their congregants.
“Nearly everyone tells me there is at the very least a small group in nearly every evangelical church complaining and agitating against teaching or policies that aren’t sufficiently conservative or anti-woke,” a pastor and prominent figure within the evangelical world told me. (Like others with whom I spoke about this topic, he requested anonymity in order to speak candidly.) “It’s everywhere.”
This isn't just a right-wing phenomenon. At the progressive church I used to attend, when membership begin dropping, the pastor was the most convenient scapegoat for some (this is a common phenomenon). I once had to do an evaluation of my pastor, something that felt awkward and wrong. I never imagined having to go through a corporate HR process with my spiritual leader. In the end, the pastor resigned.
In the Orthodox Church, the priest has a sacramental role. The structure of the church gives the priest a stronger hand to preach in a direction that may be inconvenient to the modern man. The Eastern Orthodox Church doesn't conform to standard American religious myths. This is a blessing, as it takes us out of the momentary context and all the emotions that come with it, and allows us to turn our gaze upward at larger truths.
