THE FIGHT AGAINST EVIL

  The theme of this Sunday in the middle of Lent is our duty to fight evil.   And here in the texts we find what and how we are supposed to fight.    It is not like other fights with weapons and arms.   We are to use non evil weapons.  “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Walk as children of light for the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.”  Ephesians 5:9   We are to fight with what I have come to call Soft Power.     We find this idea clearly in Jesus´ soft power manifesto in the sermon on the mount, Matthew 5 :3  and forward.  For example

Blessed are the pour in spirit

for theirs is the kingdom of God

Blessed are those who mourn

for they shall be comforted

Blessed are the meak,

for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and

thirst after righteousness,

fo r they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful,

for they shall obtain mercy

Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they shall see God.                                                                                                                  Blessed are the peacemakers                                                                                                              for they shall be called the Sons  of God

Etc.

I discovered the power of Soft Power in an odd way.  During the 90s   Stockholm received as a visitor Boris Yeltsin, the prime minister of Russia. He stayed at Grand Hotel which became a fortress.   1500 police were in charge of his protection and the use of 1500 cars. With him he had of course the black bag with the codes to start an atomic war if needed.  No more powerful person had visited Stockholm.   But one year later I asked on different occasions “Who was the important person who visited Stockholm last year?”   Out of 300 people one of 8 could remember that it was the powerful Boris Yeltsin.  It was Advent and as I preached in the pulpit of Storkyrkan  I happened to look to my right and see the almost life size manger scene with Mary riding on the donkey towards Bethlehem.  Here there was no police to insure that she was safe.  Not only that but she was pregnant.   The thought went through my head.   How is it that we forget Yeltsin after one year but remember this simple pregnant woman 2000 years later?   It is because she and the child she carried represent a totally different kind of power than Yeltsin…. Soft Power.   The power so clearly taught and lived by Jesus.  And it is indeed a powerful thing and something that is respected and honored  in all times all over the world.   And it works  in our fight against Evil.

When I was in college, I had a course in Geology.  The professor was an elderly highly respected geologist.  One of my friends asked him one day, “What changes the surface of the earth more ,volcanoes or earthquakes?”   He answered, “Neither, what changes the earth´s surface most is  not the big violent happenings but the small forces like wind, waves, frost and so forth.  They have worn down continents many times, over 2 kilometers of granite.  It is the small forces that work…. If they are given time.”

It is the same with our fight against evil.  It is the Soft Power that wins in the end   IF WE DON’T GIVE UP. IF WE KEEP AT IT!!   That is are call. That is our duty.  That is our privilege.

GO FOR IT!!      DAVE/ Pastor of The International Church of Stockholm

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