Abram believes a deity has given him “land as a possession.” Paul believes his deity does not desire “minds occupied with earthly things,” rather, our “citizenship is in heaven.” After witnessing Jesus’ glowing Transfiguration, Peter desires possession of both, land on earth for shrines to heaven, “let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” Peter’s thinking is clouded, “he did not know what he was saying.”
Institutional christianity likewise can have clouded thinking about possession. It mixes the beliefs of Abram, Paul, and Peter. Abram’s desire for possession leads him and us into the cloud of war. As Abram desires to violently possess Canaan, so other warlords desire to violently possess Rome, Mecca and Medina, the Holy Land, the Sudetenland, Iraq, Ukraine, and so forth. War Lords are addicted to possession with little regard for its impact. Usually associated with drugs, the word addicted originates from a judge awarding one person to be addicted to a master who possesses them. The addict is possessed as a slave working land the master possesses, or, as a soldier getting more land for the master to possess. In part, Paul of Tarsus is addicted. Paul seems addicted to possessing heaven, though it leads him and us into the cloud of escapism. Paul is mimicked by believers in Armageddon, Atonement Theology, End Times, Second Coming, and so forth. Addicted to possessing heaven and escaping earth we reject Jesus’ way of engaging with War Lords addicted to possessing the earth. Instead, we use Jesus’ name as our minds become clouded with the Prosperity Gospel and with Preppers. The madness of possessing money addicts people to equally addicted pastors who preach a heavenly father’s favor while the pastor prospers from the people’s money. Preppers possess all manner of earthy stuff in order to not die in an earthly disaster and not go to heaven, the place they claim is their home. Both reflect an addiction to magical thinking and schemes for salvation. Each perspective desires to possess something or use something and therefore cannot hold what they claim to desire in regard. Under all this influence of desire but not regard we too are likely confused and ‘do not know what we are saying.’ A spirituality of regard frees us from being addicted – to War Lords, to theologians, to magicians. A spirituality of regard has us hold earth and heaven as mystery, embodying all that is miraculous. We live transfigured lives, in touch with all creation, ourselves, and other people.
“The question that is vital, (is) namely, whether or not the people – no matter how much or how little they possess – regard (the possessions)… The right way is to regard (possessions) as something entrusted to us to use for the benefit of ourselves and others. The wrong way is to look on it as something we own and can use as we desire. (Peter Maurin)
Prayer: Spirit, guide me to hold all things in regard.
Question: If there is someone or something I use, how can I develop a spirituality of regard for them?
March 13, 2022 Gospel Luke 9:28b-36 Second Sunday of Lent