Sometimes we can hear people admit that they bow to a power in their life That may mean that they pay close attention to it - they abide by its rules and demands - they move as that power demands or requests - they can see personal benefits from going along with this or that power or group. Usually the bow is to an institution and not and individual - although that can also be the case.
At other times we can see how a person's life is influenced -maybe even controlled - by a power in their life and yet they do not seem to see it or they are unable to acknowledge it. Prophets have a history of pointing out how we bow to the powers of the world. I'm not necessarily talking religious prophets here because I want to acknowledge all the prophets who help us see and hear that which we are unwilling to see and hear in our own lives. That is probably why prophets are only appreciated after they are gone or when they have moved on to address another group or issue or their message is so poetically veiled folks do not hear it. We usually do not like to have a mirror held up to our lives when the reflection makes us see everything.
We are in the middle of political process in the U.S. that is giving us many opportunities to witness how folks bend and bow to the powers of their lives. We throw around the language like 'special interests' when we want to point out that a politician or a group is attached to or under the control of a person - a corporation - a policy issue - or a 'really good cause.' Just listen to the rhetoric from so many of the people in the presidential race. Many point at others in the race and name the powers that seem to be controlling them or influencing them too directly. Most of the time these are not prophetic voices. More often they are blame-throwers attempting to cast themselves as a more trustworthy or honorable person. Someone is accused of bowing to the right which allows that person to hide or conceal the fact that s/he is bowing to the left.
I was going to label this post to what do we bow because I am talking about institutions and groups to whom we bow - not necessarily a person. Then I remembered the Citizens United decision from the Supreme Court. All of the sudden, those powers that are able to play with the lives of politicians and citizens are no longer a maze of smoke and mirrors and tax shelters. They have become individuals - or at least they now can be addressed in such a way - even as we cannot grasp all that they are. It is almost the way religious storytelling takes the power of evil - the power of negativity - the power of death - the power of division - and exposes it all within the guise of personhood. That nasty devil - Satan - Lucifer. The power of evil is no longer 'in the air' - it is right there - it can be named. Did the Supreme Court give us a way to name the powers of evil around us?
For those who bow to the cross and take on the life of the Crucified and Risen Christ, sometimes it is good to see how we are all drawn into bowing to other powers. It is not easy to admit. Being retired makes me see again that I am counting on Wall Street to do whatever it can - in whatever way it needs to do it - so that my pension will prevail over time. So there, I named one of the powers. And yet, I also go by that name for I bow to its power for the life it may give me. I could clean up how I bow by saying I invest in 'clean or good' companies - but that is simply like kissing another part of the beast.
When we devotionally bow to the life of the Messiah of God and to the way that life is made manifest in the community of the followers of Jesus, could it be that we will be more and more able to name the powers of death around us and expose them and turn from their power - to live a new life? In the meantime, it is good to keep asking one another to whom do we bow.
TRRR
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