Can We Learn From the Secularist?

One of the great things I appreciate about the desert spirituality of the late antiquity period of Christianity is the deep humility of the Ammas/Abbas. They were sought out for their wisdom but several stories of these wise teachers show that it is they who are the ones in need of learning. Here is among one of my favorites taken from Tim Vivian’s book “Becoming Fire”:

A person of devout life who was not a monk came to see Abba Poemen. Now it happened that there were other brothers with the old man, asking to hear a word from him. The old man said to the faithful secular, ‘Say a word to the brothers’.

When he insisted, the secular said, ‘Please excuse me, abba; I myself have come to learn.”

But he was urged on by the old man and so he said, ‘I am a secular. I sell vegetables and do business; I take bundles to pieces and make smaller ones; I buy cheap and sell dear. What is more, I do not know how to speak of the Scriptures, so I will tell you a parable: A man said to his friends, “I want to go to see the emperor; come with me”. One friend said to him, “I will go with you half the way”. Then the man said to another friend, Come and go with me to the emperor”. and the friend said to him, “I will take you as far as the emperor’s palace”. The man said to a third friend, “Come with me to the emperor”. The friend said, “I will come and take you to the palace and I will stay and speak and help you have access to the emperor”’.

The brothers asked what the point of the parable was.

The secular answered them, ‘The first friend is asceticism, which leads the way; the second is chastity, which take us to heaven; the third is alms-giving, which with confidence presents us to God our King’.

The bothers withdrew, edified.

Here is Abba Poemen divesting his privilege so another, presumably one who is seen as less than the Abba, can teach. The divestment of power by Poemen is not just humble but a humility that is inspired by the Christ.

The fancy Greek word is kenosis. It means to self-empty. It is what God does in Christ by becoming human. It is what Christ does on the cross by dying. It is was the Holy Spirit does by dispersing to all people. It is what the Church is supposed to be doing when it comes to our position of power by being quite so that others can be heard.

Divestment is not something that people in power are too keen on. I know that I struggle with it. However, divestment of power is the way of leadership that is most needed today. Divestment of power, the self-emptying and kenosis of Christ is what we are called to do but we in power resist it. We are threatened by it. We presume that our ways are not only the best ways but THE WAY. We think that it is we who should be heard because we have the education and people come to us, but until we in power learn that kenosis is our call we only contribute to the cycle of violence and blame.

Poemen divested his power in this position and protected the secular one (the stranger and foreigner). Poemen made the audacious claim that the scandalous one has something to teach, has something of value. Poemen modeled to the brothers what Arsenius said that he can know “Latin and Greek, but I (we) do not know even the alphabet of the peasant (the other).”

Many Church leaders tend to think that being in but not of this world means that the culture has nothing to teach or offer the Church. That the Church should in fact learn nothing but be the teachers of culture. It is assumed that if the culture teaches or values something that is contrary to the Church then it is the culture that is wrong.

And yet, Poemen and Arsenius thought it was good to learn from the culture and peasant. Almost as though the culture and peasant have something that is closer to the heart of Christ than the Church does.

What can we learn from the secularist?

The Horrible Miracle of Apollonius, Acts 19, and 2020

This model of the Temple of Artemis, at Miniatürk Park, Istanbul, Turkey, attempts to recreate the probable appearance of the third temple. Wikipedia.

Once upon a time there was a booming commercial city called Ephesus. Jobs were plentiful through a local silver mine which employed not only miners but also was the source for refiners and artisans. Tourists came from all parts of the world to see the city center where there was a massive structure. It was considered one of the seven wonders of the world - the temple of Artemis.

Like many tourist destinations, a number of cottage industries pop up around the temple. As one approached the temple, you would be invited to purchase little silver replicas of the goddess, Artemis. Perhaps as a souvenir, but probably more that it is understood that if you wanted to please the gods, you would buy a statue and make a donation. 

Ephesus was a port city, the crown jewel of a temple, and a founding myth of their goddess. Being such a city with trade and commerce, Ephesus was very cosmopolitan and took a lot pride in their past as being the most important cities to ancient Greece - it was the center of the world for a long time.

But that was a long time ago. 

In this city, there are a number of preachers peddling all sorts of religions and claims. And just outside of town was a tent maker named Paul who was talking about a man named Jesus. For two years Paul keeps talking about Jesus and has gathered quite a number of people following what is simply called “the Way”. 

Followers of the Way were less interested in the temple center than they used to be. There was a decline in the number of statues sold and a loss of revenue. Fewer donations and sacrifices made at the temple. The Way followers rejected the silver statues and, to the shock of these silversmiths, the followers of the Way began to convince others to do the same. 

24 There was a silversmith named Demetrius. He made silver models of Artemis’ temple, and his business generated a lot of profit for the craftspeople. 25 He called a meeting with these craftspeople and others working in related trades and said, “Friends, you know that we make an easy living from this business. 26 And you can see and hear that this Paul has convinced and misled a lot of people, not only in Ephesus but also throughout most of the province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands aren’t really gods. 27 This poses a danger not only by discrediting our trade but also by completely dishonoring the great goddess Artemis. The whole province of Asia—indeed, the entire civilized world—worships her, but her splendor will soon be extinguished.” 28 Once they heard this, they were beside themselves with anger and began to shout, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

Demetrius and his guild had a number of grievances against Paul and the Way followers. Paul’s work was undermining their business model. He was a threat to their way of life. Paul was a foreigner and an outsider who was twisting the minds of the true Ephesians. He was a threat not just to their economics, but he was offending the Goddess they had all worked so hard to appease. Paul was a threat to the existence of the whole city, a threat they felt like they had to get it rid of.

But how? They called a meeting.

Well it was more like a mob whipped into a fervor as they showed their unwavering devotion to their Goddess:

29 The city was thrown into turmoil. They rushed as one into the theater. They seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from the province of Macedonia. 30 Paul wanted to appear before the assembly, but the disciples wouldn’t allow him. 31 Even some officials of the province of Asia, who were Paul’s friends, sent word to him, urging him not to risk going into the theater. 

Over the two years Paul had collected many donations for his evangelical cause. He had the funds and revenue stream to make it in the city, even sending the surplus funds to others around the area. But one person’s charity is another person’s hand out. One person’s expression of generosity is another person’s enabling behavior. Paul’s companions urged him not to go to the mob because they may seek to recoup the money they feel Paul “took” from them and their businesses. 

32 Meanwhile, the assembly was in a state of confusion. Some shouted one thing, others shouted something else, and most of the crowd didn’t know why they had gathered. 33 The Jews sent Alexander to the front, and some of the crowd directed their words toward him. He gestured that he wanted to offer a defense before the assembly, 34 but when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” This continued for about two hours.

This is the power of the mob, it blinds and binds. 

The mob becomes blind to the ways their actions and thinking are harmful. They are blind to the limitations of their thinking. The mob is blind to the holes in their thoughts and perceptions. Mobs overlook the internal hypocrisy and contradictions, and ironically, are able to see the hypocrisy and contradictions in others. 

Looking around these individuals sees there are others who have similar grievances and they grow closer together. The individuals move as one, speak as one. The individual gives way to the group and they are bound together. Once bound together critiques on the group are understood as personal attacks. When a dissenting voice attempts to speak, they are drown out. When someone tries to say something that is not the party line, slurs and insults ensue. The mob will not tolerate anyone speaking anything counterfactual. The mob is bound to one another and to their sense of the world.

The crowd distills contradiction to opposition.

The mob grows restless. Surely if something does not happen then they will make something happen. The group is hot, tired and fired up. Some have hot heads and red faces while trying to outshout the marginal voices around them. There grows within the crowd a sense that anyone could be a mole, an impostor, an unbeliever. A fear to say the wrong thing or to say the right thing in a way that moves through the crowd. In an effort to ensure keep the group pure, chants break out. The eyes fall upon those who do not say the words enthusiastically so the shouts become louder and louder as people proclaim their allegiance to Artemis - which makes followers of the Way very uneasy.

They remembered what happened not very long ago in the theater of Ephesus. The city was in the middle of a plague, many died. Some thought the problem was that there were too many people in the city that did not belong. Being a port city it was full of languages and colors. There were competing ideologies and theologies. Some of the leaders thought that the plague was the result of all these differences and that Artemis was getting angry at so many unfaithful citizens. 

There was tension in the city and along came a pagan miracle worker named Apollonius. Apollonius gathered a mob into the theater and told them that the cure to the plague was for everyone to pick up a stone and kill a lonely blind beggar. And they did. 

And so when the mob was once more in the theater, whipped into a frenzy because of another possible economic calamity, echoes of Apollonius’ cure were in their ears. In fact many had brought their own stones. Perhaps more tragically, followers of the Way had stones too. 

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The story of the silversmiths or the story of Apollonius are not limited to the past. As William Faulkner said, “The past is never dead. It's not even past.” The theater we stand in, the moment of our time, the frenzy and tension of our day - what are we going to do with the stones we carry?

When Lack Becomes Loss

Peter Rollins continues to be a thinker that challenges me beyond what I am capable of thinking. While I listen or read him I feel like I understand in the moment, but as soon as try to explain it I fall apart. Not unlike when I walk confidently into a room only to enter that room and instantly forget what I came into that room for.

Rollins mentioned that there is “lack” and “loss”.

Both lack and loss are about an absence in our lives. Lack is about an absence that was never present, loss is about an absence that was present. I lack about a foot in height and overall skill to play basketball well. I never had that height or skill to begin with. However, I can loose my car keys that I thought were in my pocket.

The Bible speaks of humans created with lack, not loss.In Genesis at creation it is said that when God blew into the nostrils of the dirt, the dirt became “nephish.” Nephish means a bundle or collection of desires or appetites. The human being has appetites not because we lost something (like food) but because we have a lack that drives us (hunger drives us to find food). We can address the lack with healthier or non-healthier things, but the lack is not something that can ever be extinguished.

Someone can lack acceptance, and no matter how many awards they receive there is never enough. This person never received acceptance to begin with, it cannot be lost because it was never acquired in early life.

The problem is when we think our lack is a loss. That is to say, if we think that there was a time when humans were once complete, whole and without lacking anything, but then we lost it - we are mistaking our lack for loss. If we think that we can go back to another time (Eden, 1950’s, 1990’s, etc.) and “rediscover” what we lost - we are mistaking our lack for loss. If we think that our individual lives was without antagonism at some point in our past - we are mistaking our lack for loss. We have not loss anything, Jesus reminds us the Kingdom of Heaven is here and to come (unfolding). We never lost it, we only lack it.

Treating our lack as a loss means that we live our lives seeing the lack within us is a problem to resolve, rather than a source of energy. If we were to resolve our lack, it might be the most miserable thing we could do. As it is said, the only thing worse then not getting what you want is getting it. Because once you get it you realize that “it” cannot meet the lack within and you will be crushed. It is crushing to discover that the thing that you want, that you think will fill the lack, does not exist. The quest of life to fill the lack is revealed as a sham and so we fall into dismay.

Like the end of the movie The Graduate. The two went through hell and back in order to fill the lack in their lives. Then as they sat on the bus with the one they thought would fill the lack, they discover the lack is still present (“Hello darkness my old friend…").

Be mindful of the preacher or prophet who preaches that your lack is a loss and that they have what you have lost. You will not find it, because it was never lost to begin with.