Thought for Today
Exodus 22:18 You shall not permit a female sorcerer to live.
Deuteronomy 18:10 No one shall be found among you who makes a son or daughter pass through fire, or who practices divination, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer,
Acts 8:9 Now a certain man named Simon had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he was someone great.
Acts 19:19 A number of those who practiced magic collected their books and burned them publicly; when the value of these books was calculated, it was found to come to fifty thousand silver coins.
Do you believe in the Easter Bunny? Can your rational, adult mind accept the idea of a rabbit, a mammal, without a balanced opposed thumb being able to dye and then hide eggs? I’m not a biologist, but even I know that rabbits do not lay eggs. I know that rabbits have not negotiated an eternal contract with chickens to annually provide an inexhaustible supply of eggs to be dyed and then hidden. Even if they had, where would the rabbits get the money to buy all that dye? Yet, this whole idea, this myth permeates our culture and society. Sometime during the next few weeks you will see stories of neighborhood, even city-wide egg hunts. Certainly you will be treated to at least one story about the White House egg hunt. Are we the only ones who realize the absurdity of the idea? Or, like me, do you relish this and all the other myths of childhood? And, occasionally, do you secretly wish that magic really exists?
I was initially educated as an engineer. I like to think of engineers as pragmatic, practical scientists. Engineers take the concepts and ideas of basic science and apply them to the problems of everyday life. I was surprised at the realization that in 40+ years of practicing engineering, I only knew one avowed atheist. I’m sure there were others who just never said anything. But the vast majority of the engineers I have known are people of faith; many were very active in their community of faith. Yes, I did live most of my life to date in the midst of the Bible Belt. Yes, I was raised in a biological family of faith and by parents who remained active in our church as long as their health allowed them to be.
There are myths, legends and non-scientific traditions associated with our liturgical calendar, especially around Christmas and Easter. Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are not religious figures and yet are ubiquitous around their respective, religious holidays. In some sense, the myths have transcended their origins and ‘escaped’ out into the secular world. They have come to be significant economic factors in many societies and cultures.
Do you ever find yourself longing for a little magic in our world? Maybe, as you watch the excitement of young children around Christmas or Easter? Do you yearn for the joy and glee of that holiday magic? I suspect many of us do (it’s hard to type with my hand raised!). I believe that is part of the reason for the success of the Harry Potter books and movies. They portray a world in which magic not only exists but is also a significant factor in peoples’ lives. They are also honest about the potential for magic to work for good or for evil.
The Bible takes a dim view of sorcery, magic and of the practitioners of such. Depending on the translation you choose, you will find witches, sorcerers and magicians condemned. It is not so much a condemnation of there being things beyond our comprehension. The very definition of faith is “Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” A MSWord search yields the definition of magic as “The power of apparently influencing the course of events by using mysterious or supernatural forces.” That sounds a lot to me like “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
I do believe in magic. I believe in the power of our Christian faith to transform lives, to recreate believers from what they were to what our Creator God intends them to be. I have faith in that transformative power, because I have witnessed it in countless lives and experienced it in my own life. The power of that faith is not even limited to ‘things hoped for” or any preconceived ideas about “things not seen.” Faith can literally achieve the impossible.
So, do you believe in the Easter Bunny? Why not suspend your rational, adult mind and its analytical power during Lent? Believe in the Easter Bunny . . . and more importantly, believe in the Empty Tomb and the Resurrected Christ.
Stay safe, believe, trust God,
Pastor Ray