Some Pharisees came and said to him,
“Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”
—Luke 13.31
Now suddenly those old temptations get real.
The bread, security and power
that Caesar and Satan offer or withhold
feel different now.
Now, when the Empire threatens,
not in the safety of the desert,
our answer matters.
As in the desert, the Emperor’s threats
are mere temptations, illusions born of fear and desire.
We need no magic wand, no shielding angels,
no protection of the kingdom.
The Emperor wants me to be afraid.
I will not comply.
My power lies not in what I fear, but what I trust.
God, help me to choose empathy over Empire,
to stand for love against the threat of pain,
to disregard the kingdom of fear
and trust the ecology of your grace.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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