I Pledge Allegiance...

The Lord said to Elijah, “I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal.” 1 Kings 19:18

Jesus said to his disciples, “You are those who have stood by me in my trials.” Luke 22:28

REFLECTION:

The name "Baal" in the Bible is often used as a generic term to refer to various "false" gods of the cultures and people surrounding the Israelites. At times, it refers to the Canaanite sun god, and at other times seems to be used to refer to the main male god of the Phoenicians. For the sake of brevity, let's just say that in the Bible, "Baal" is a symbol of what we worship that is NOT the one, true God revealed in the history of Israel and the person of Jesus.

Because of this, I am thinking this morning about the other gods we worship...and about one in particular. The self.

In a consumer society, the self is a god, and fulfilling the needs, wishes, and whims of the self is held up as the highest good. Why else would we rush right out to buy the next newest thing, except that fulfilling our desires has been hammered into us as the reason we are alive? Why else would parents get into fights over this year's Christmas toy craze, except that being a "good parent" in our culture's eyes often comes to mean "fulfilling your children's wishes and desires"?

I could write a ton more about this tendency of ours, but we see it. We feel it. Making sure we, and those we love, have the "best" is often understood to be the best thing we can do with our lives. Sure, we wouldn't necessarily SAY this outloud, but it is how we act...having "enough" to fulfill consumer desires is what makes us feel like good parents, good spouses, and good friends.

Ironic, isn't it, that we have made the celebration of Jesus' birth the time of the year when our consumer tendencies reach a fever pitch? That we celebrate God showing up in a poor, backwater town by reveling in our own riches?

So I am thinking this morning about the two kingdoms that vie for our allegiance. The Kingdom of God and the kingdom of self...

The kingdom of self tempts me to think that my wishes, my desires, my needs, my struggles, etc...are the only thing that matters. This kingdom demands allegiance, and the others around me pay the price because I only have so much time and energy and it is going toward the kingdom I've chosen.

The Kingdom of God, on the other hand, demands perspective. Allegiance to this Kingdom means I have to see others, and their needs, as well as my own. It means working toward balance, even though we'll never perfectly achieve it. It means humility; acknowledging that no matter how hard we work, God still has to take over for us and that's OK.

Today, may we seize as many moments as we can to pledge allegiance to the Kingdom of God. It's more complicated than the other kingdom, but in the end it offers Life, Love, and Peace sufficient for the journey instead of an exhausting drive to fill our ever-deepening pits of need. May God give us the strength to see where this Kingdom is breaking in, and the strength to invest our time and our passions there.

PRAYER:

We seek our comfort through you, caring God. You know each of us better than anyone. Teach us today to rely upon you for all of our needs. In your grace encourage us to teach others and help those in need. We ask this in the name of our precious Lord and Savior, Amen.*

*Prayer taken from the Moravian Daily Texts