JR. Forasteros - March 28, 2021
Everybody Wants to Rule the World
What does it take to be on top? Jesus final temptation - to rule the world if he'll worship the devil - is a clue. What kind of test was that? And how does it shed light on the path Jesus calls us to walk today?
From Series: "Bad Deal"
Why are temptations so... well, tempting? Why are we so attracted to things that are bad for us? And how can we resist them? In this Lent series, we explore the nature of temptation and turn to Jesus' example to heal us. Plus, some help from Dostoyevsky's Grand Inquisitor, because what would Lent be without some 19th century Russian literature?
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Today’s about Ghost stories. Though they appear in many forms, the quintessential ghost story involves the spirit of a dead person who’s stayed around (usually a haunted house) because they have unfinished business. Maybe they have to deliver a message or ensure proper burial or get revenge. Whatever the case, once their business is complete, they leave into the afterlife.
Unlike our previous two monsters, today we’re not ghosts. Rather, to quote Peter Rollins,
We are the haunted houses. — Peter Rollins
We move through life collecting hurts, wounds and scars, evidence of pain inflicted on us by other people. Some may be slight, exaggerated in our heads – maybe someone who cuts us off or says something cruel or who causes us harm by accident. Others could be huge, life-altering. A spouse who left. An abuser. And there’s a whole range of hurts between.
Whatever their source, however legitimate or not, these people, these hurts don’t just exit our lives.
We carry them around with us, in our heads and in our souls. They haunt us, returning again and again out of the ether to drag us through the past, to relive history, to reopen old wounds.
The problem is we don’t know what these ghosts want. We don’t know how to resolve their business and get them to leave us. We can’t escape their haunting – especially if the person who hurt you is still a part of your life.
