so i thought it might be interesting to explore the whole idea of dragons- but discovered early on that there are some key differences between how different cultures portray this mythological creatures, as well as the powers and such ascribed to them. rather than go on and on, let me say this about that:
go to wikipedia and type in 'dragon'
now read the entry.
there- so in order to move forward, let me just clarify... the dragons of which i speak are not the oriental ones- (probably the subject of a whole nother blog). no, we're looking at the horrific creatures that lace european mythologies with a larger than life, manifest evil presence. the stuff that jabberwocky (from lewis carroll's through the looking glass) and smaug (from jrr tolkien's the hobbit) are made of- the stuff that the great heroes like saint george and shrek have always had to defeat in order to save the girl.
(interesting: read revelation 12.1-17 with this idea in mind)
in his Complete Guide To Middle-Earth, robert foster defines the word Dragon as follows:
"Evil creatures of northern Middle-earth, huge, powerful, scale covered, long-lived, greedy for treasure and full of malice. They could bewilder anyone who looked in their eyes and their words were cunning and seductive…"
these giant villains of western myth are the ultimate self-serving consumers: destroying, controlling or hoarding all that is in their path, choking off life and freedom and while cultivating a stockholm syndrome-like bond of fear and appeasement, requiring absolute servitude of those who live within their realm. they create slaves- they always have.
it's funny how certain ideas act as hyperlinks to other experiences. all week long, i've been thinking of a certain bruce cockburn song which has embedded in it the title of the album in which it appears. the tune is called 'hills of morning' and the record is dancing in the dragons' jaws- very strongly based on and alluding to the writings of charles williams.
(tangent: no surprise that the quote in the previous blog entry is from the same record. sometimes we read a book or listen to a song or see a film and we receive one idea- other times the aesthetic leads us in a number of different directions through a number of different topics simply because we continue to be willing to receive more from the larger work.)
Women and men moved back and forth
In between effect and cause
And just beyond the range of normal sight
This glittering joker was dancing in the dragon's jaws
(bruce cockburn)
this song seems to hint at hope that lies beyond that which we readily perceive, but which is nonetheless real. it and the works by charles williams that inspired it "explore the sacramental intersection of the physical with the spiritual while also examining the ways in which power, even spiritual power, can corrupt as well as sanctify." (WIKIpedia, of charles williams)
the really cool thing is that, unlike his oxford writers' guild (self-dubbed Inklings) contemporaries c.s. lewis and j.r.r. tolkien, williams' fantasy pieces take place in our contemporary world- which perhaps invites the question:
what ARE the dragons of today? two rather nasty ones come to mind, along with a third that is unmatched in its subtlety:
- Economics: commerce, trade and credit (affluence/ disparity)
- Politics: abuse of power, influence and resource leads to injustice
- Substance issues: counterfeit gospels offering temporary peace from the other two (and countless others) all the while establishing its own realm and subjects.
well, first of all, we need to remind ourselves that it's not our fight. it’s a Spirit thing
matthew 28.18-20 (famously referred to as the great commission) speaks of Christ's authority, and of the need for those who follow him to go out into all the world. luke 24.45-49, tells the same story from the perspective of another, with certain nuances draw to the fore. in the luke version, Jesus speaks of going out, but reminds his followers that there is an order to things, and that they are to wait until they receive that which is promised to them from the Father: 'power from on high.' acts 1.8, (traditionally held to be written by the same author as the gospel of luke) records the words of Christ more directly related to this promise of power and authority: 'you will receive power when my Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses...' and so on.
see, without that power there is no authority and, one could contend that when there is no authority there cannot be any real victory over a dragon. mere mortals are limited in strength and resource and dragons seem to be these horrible things that know and respect no limits. the merely natural cannot prevail- the supernatural must engage for it is a supernatural battle.
so how do we engage supernaturally? how do we receive this promise of dragon-thwarting might? well, it seems to come through agreement entered into with God. it seems to come with being in league with good rather than evil, and being in relationship with the source of the good... without this relationship, there is no witness to bear.
the challenge (arguably greater, even, than the challenge posed by the dragon itself) is to actively cultivate conversational intimacy with God- to speak regularly with, not to God. speaking with connotes a dialogue in which both parties are engaged, taking turns, alternately speaking and listening. this allows God to draw up divine plans with his servants which enable these servants to be in agreement with and fully used within them.
it's not enough to be ready to fight.
we must needs be ready to be part of someone else's fight- God's.
so what does one wear to someone else's war?
No comments:
Post a Comment