Delivered from darkness (prepaid): most of us seem prepared to enter into a Faustian pact, bargaining the soul for a pair of Nikes.

Colossians 1:11-20

Once upon a time, in response to the insistent ringing of the bell, I opened the door to a travelling salesman who warmly greeted me with the words: "Buy a shirt, sir; it will bring you luck."

"I don't believe in luck," I said smugly. "I am a Christian minister."

Not to be overcome or outdone, he became serious and replied: "Ah, you believe in God; I, too, believe in God. Buy a shirt and God will bless you." I did not buy a "lucky" or "blessed" shirt. In truth, there have been days when I could have used a little more of the one or the other.

In contrast, the opening verses of Colossians (1:11-14) pray that the believer may have the strength derived from God's power and endurance marked by patience, acknowledging God's goodness in joyful thankfulness. Not subject to the fates, principalities or powers, believers have been delivered (prepaid, as it were) from the power of darkness to the Kingdom of the Son where there is forgiveness and redemption.

That's a long way from a lucky shirt or even from the New Age store I pass daily which offers a variety of spiritual powers guaranteed to provide health and promote personal well-being. In addition to miracle workshops, dream explanations, astrological interpretations and palm readings, we are urged to buy secret knowledge and good luck through tarot cards, angel amulets, pyramids, special diets, exotic oils and many wondrous books.

Astrology has returned to offer assurance that the sun, the moon, the stars and their interaction manage our destiny. Edmund's words in Shakespeare's King Lear speak of this "foppery of the world, that, when we are sick in fortune -- often the surfeit of our own behaviour -- we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, the stars; as if we were villains by necessity, fools by heavenly compulsion ..." I know it is nice that people are "spiritual," but something tells me we've seen most of this before and it is not helpful.

To the small city called Colossae in what is now Turkey, Paul wrote at a time when there appears to have been something of the same mix of religious "opportunities" as I have described (see Chapter 2). This strange brew of bits and pieces from a variety of religious sources is sometimes called Gnosticism. It was more like a movement or even a mood than a system. Gnosticism flourished at a time of change when fear was pervasive and the future was uncertain.

Although we live in a scientific world, it is still a place marked by dread of the "elemental powers" and concern about a future that holds no guarantees. Something like the Gnosticism of Paul's day, the New Age mood of our day addresses spiritual seekers who, as consumers, pick and choose religion as any another commodity. This makes the day attractive to those who sell any "new" or "secret" way of life that offers "health," "power" and "success."

Governments, though once shy about advocating gambling, now shamelessly promote "luck" as a life-style. You can't win if you don't play; and, who knows, maybe you will be a winner. (Should I have bought that shirt after all?) In a slightly more subtle way, the advertising industry, with its slogans and hyperbole, uses the technique of the magic formula, as Paul Tournier once observed. Rational thought is discouraged, and each new object can be placed where it can be admired and even worshipped. Most of us seem prepared to enter into a Faustian pact, bargaining the soul for a pair of Nikes or some other item of technological wonder that promises health, wealth and happiness.

The hymn or creed that is Colossians 1:15-20 wonderfully proclaims that it is to Christ we should look for the key to understanding life. To understand the meaning of creation and the Church, look to the cross. Passages such as this remind us the Bible is our text for understanding our times and place. It does not provide us with direct answers to our questions (you'd need a lucky shirt for that!) but informs our faith and brings it to expression.

For Discussion and Reflection

* You might try singing Colossians 1:15-20.

* Consider passages such as Deuteronomy 18:9-14 that decry divination, magic and the sacrifice of children. We don't sacrifice children in the same way, but does our life-style sacrifice our children or children elsewhere in the world?

* What did Alfred North Whitehead mean when he wrote that "the divine element in the world is to be conceived as a persuasive agency and not as a coercive agency?"

* Why is indifference more devastating to faith than persecution?

L. E. Ted Siverns is the minister of First Church in New Westminster, B.C.