We find ourselves involved in so many activities, interests and requirements in life. We have our jobs, our families, our hobbies. We have parents and children to take care of, bills to pay, leafs to rake, and soon we will once again have lawns to cut. Each one of these is its own little sphere that we find ourselves in.
We live in a variety of spheres all at the same time. From 9 to 5 we are in our work sphere. We head home for the family sphere. Maybe after supper we go to a kids ball game, or to bowling league, or just camp out in front of the television. Each of these areas of our lives I call "spheres."
When children are small they have only one sphere. Within it are mom, dad, and other immediate family with whom they have regular and constant contact. Sometimes, say on a Sunday at church, we drop our children at their Sunday school class or in the nursery care, and we find our children are not quite as excited about being left alone. In essence, we are forcing them out of that sphere that brings them identity, comfort, and sense of security. "Seperation anxiety" is the proper term for that they experience. It is a subset of a larger pychological category known as "Attachment disorder." We expect that to happen to our children, "disorder" relates more to adults.
What happens to us when the things we have used to identify ourselves dissolve, disappear, or morph into something unexpected? If I decide I'll vote for a political candidate because of their stance on things I believe deeply in; what happens when they get into office and don't enact legislation I was expecting? How do I feel? Am I still a supporter?
That's what happens to a group of people on Palm Sunday. Jesus rides into town on a donkey and they're expecting him to boot the Romans out of Jerusalem. Instead he preaches a gospel they weren't ready for or expecting to hear. They had attached themselves to an expectation of Christ and were disappointed when the Messiah was one of a different sort. Their anger is so great from the detachment they've experienced that they take Jesus and nail him to a cross.
It is our nature to attach ourselves to those things that give us significance. This is how we develop our self-esteem. I am a husband, father, pastor, runner, fisherman.... etc. These are the things I have attached myself to. My self-esteem is on the increase if I experience a healthy marriage, well reared children, a responsive congregation, a personal best run, and a boat full of fish. It is on the decline if the opposite is true.
So what happens when I experience traumatic detachment from any one of these. If I don't run fast or don't catch fish... there's always tomorrow. But what happens when my marriage is on the rocks, or divorce is on the table? What happens if a child wanders down a dangerous path of drugs, or considers suicide as an alternative to life? What happens if my congregation rejects my ministry? Will my waning self-esteem lead me to the same sort of inappropriate behaviors that led Christ to the cross? These attachments are rocky, temporary, and out of our control. In fact, the really do control us if they are our identity center.
The term "God-Esteem" is not my own. Googling the term reveals over 3000 links. (I especially like this link of scripture references, though I'm not sold on the rest of the site.) Yet it's a very apt thought. God-esteem is deciding that we will be identified by and through our relationship with Jesus Christ. It is attaching ourselves to who we are as a child of God, a brother or sister of Christ, a part of what God is doing in the world. God-esteem is deciding through that attachment, that our other spheres of life will be our minsitry and not our identity. God-esteem is attaching ourselves to Christ the way St. Patrick illustrates in this prayer. I recommend praying this prayer every day this week and let it become your identity.
Tomorrow we will begin to look at the five most common spheres of our lives that tend to suck us in to the temptation to be identifed and esteemed by them, rather than by our life in Christ.
May God bless your Holy Week journey with Christ.
Pastor Dave
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