4/10/22 “Law of Attraction” by Nancy E. Petty
Luke 19:28-40
In my days of being a youth minister, there was a phenomenon that took place after every big youth trip. To understand this mystery, it is important to know that at the height of the youth program at St. John’s Baptist Church in Charlotte, where I served as youth minister, there were about 75 active youth in the program. Every year, we would have about a half dozen trips—fall and spring retreats, summer youth camp, a mission trip, usually a day trip in the summer to a water park, and, for me, the dreaded winter ski trip. I still have trauma from the year I allowed the youth to convince me to ski down the longest, most dangerous trail. I came down that trail, part of the way on my hands and knees and the other part on my backside, saying non-religious words the whole way down while the few youth who truly cared about my life accompanied me. But that’s not the mystery.
The phenomenon that occurred after these trips has to do with what happened when we returned home. Invariably, after every trip I would have one set of parents come to me with a concern about something that happened on the trip. Whether it had to do with their youth or some decision I had made while on the trip, they would focus on their one concern. And every time, I would be distraught that somehow I had failed them. After one such concern session with a parent, I was talking with an adult leader. After sharing my distraught-ness, she looked at me and said, “Nancy, you take 75 youth on a ski trip, you bring them all home safe, all limbs still attached, and you are going to choose to focus on the one concern? You need to get over it and focus on the 74 who returned with no concerns.”
The mysterious phenomenon at the heart of this story is not the youth nor their parents who came to me with concerns. There are always concerns in my line of work, and I would guess the same is true in every line of work. And it is true that in my profession, it is the responsibility of any pastor to listen carefully to issues of concern, to be compassionate and to be responsive – no mystery there. No, the mysterious phenomenon in this story is my inevitable focus on the one concern to the point of not being able to see all the positives. After every trip, sometimes even before the bus pulled back into the church parking lot, I was focused on who was going to be upset or have a concern about the trip. That was the energy I was putting out into the world after every trip. Back then, I didn’t know there was a universal law that applied to this phenomenon that I was caught in.
The Law of Attraction is one of life’s biggest mysteries. Whether we are doing it consciously or unconsciously, every second of our existence, we are acting as human magnets sending out our thoughts and emotions and attracting back more of what we have put out. “Hundreds of years ago the Law of Attraction was first thought to have been taught…by…Buddha. It is believed he wanted it to be known that ‘what you have become is what you have thought’. This belief is deeply intrinsic in the Law of Attraction. With the spread of this concept to western culture also came the term ‘Karma’…Over the centuries it has been a common understanding among many that what you give out to the world (be it anger or happiness, hate or love) is ultimately what can return to your own life in the end.” (The Law of Attraction.com)
This universal law, the Law of Attraction, can be traced in the teachings of many civilizations and religious groups. We see this universal law in our own sacred scriptures. In Proverbs we read: “As one thinketh in their heart so are they.” In the book of Deuteronomy Moses writes: “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses…choose life that you and your descendants my live…” In Romans, Paul pens these words: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God…” And in the book of Philippians he writes: “Whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
But what does the Law of Attraction have to do with the story that begins Holy Week—this story of Jesus riding into Jerusalem with a dark cloud hanging over him and his disciples? The Law of Attraction says that “We attract whatever we desire; and whatever can be imagined and held in the mind’s eye is achievable if you take action on a plan.”
As we enter this story today, I want to posit that we enter it, not from the perspective of Jesus, but rather as the disciples. We are those walking the path with Jesus—to accompany him on the journey that was set before him. We are the ones he is counting on to accompany him, to serve him, and to assist him as he faces the days and hours to come. What we do, how we respond, and what we focus on will make a difference.
To two of his disciples Jesus says, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” So let’s imagine/remember that we are those disciples. Our friend, our leader, our teacher, has just told us to walk up to a stranger and take his colt. Every year about this time we wrestle with what is meant by this “colt that has never been ridden.” But this year, I’m hearing these words as one of the disciples, and I am wondering what actually emboldened these disciples to go and do what he asked. To answer that I want to back up a step or two.
Jesus and the disciples are about the work of Jesus’ ministry all the time. They are travelling together, eating together, and preaching together. Jesus is sharing his message of radical love, radical grace, and radical justice through words, deed, and we must imagine, through his very presence. It is almost as though Jesus is emitting a kind of force or energy that unmistakable, but so new, so revolutionary, that it is constantly unpredictable, no matter how long you have been exposed to it. The disciples witness, over and over, that Jesus is operating from and in an elevated state –authentic, compassionate, rooted in the moment and those around him, but also clear and uncompromising on how he saw his purpose in the world and what he came to do in the world.
If we stay with this force or energy metaphor, we can think about it like this – the day- to-day world is operating on a certain frequency, or level. On this everyday level, the frequency is full of static - we walk around most of the time pre-occupied about what happened yesterday, or dreaming about what we might eat for dinner, or narrating a monologue on how things always seem to go wrong at the worst moment. Yes, we have moments of presence, but for the most part, we are disconnected and unconscious, creatures of habit and comfort, motivated by personal safety and the avoidance of pain.
And then Jesus comes along and it’s as if the air clears, the static dies down, and we snap out of this sleepwalking daze. Jesus is on a whole different frequency – one without static or noise, a frequency that seems to call us above the smallness of life and into the very act of living. The people who encounter Jesus seem to recognize this different energy or frequency right away – they know he is something special, something new, something different. And the ones who are willing are changed by their encounter with him, as though they are able to also tune into this frequency he is teaching from, and once they’ve heard it they want more of it.
Let’s go back now to our task – the one Jesus has given us to walk into town and take a colt. From our everyday frequency, this sounds like madness, and a sure way to get arrested or run out of town or beat up. But if I can stay on the Jesus frequency, this different energy, I’ve learned that things unfold, that what he foresees, no matter how unpredictable, comes true, and most importantly, that when I’m at that frequency, miracles happen. And so I walk into town and see the colt, which I would likely have walked right by without his influence and his words, and I approach the owner and the colt calmly, clearly, and with profound presence. And somehow, the owner hears not just the noise of somebody wanting something, he hears the voice of Jesus, he hears the frequency, through me, of this higher energy, and he agrees to let me take the colt.
You see, I believe this Law of Attraction isn’t quite as simple as the internet, and a lot of motivational speakers would like us to believe. I don’t think this law means we attract to ourselves what we desire out of self-interest or greed, just as I don’t believe we are guilty of wrong belief or wrong action when bad things happen. No, I think this law of attraction is an over-simplification, or if you will, it’s the everyday frequency version of a deeper truth. I think it is less about the “what” in this law, and more about the “where.” What I mean is this, when we operate from the everyday static of life, we draw to us static and chaos. When we operate from a deficit mentality, we draw to us deficiency. When we can find our way to love and an open heart, we draw to us heartfullness and love. These are not things, they are ways of being, or more accurately, ways of seeing. What if the Law of Attraction is about how we see, or you might say, where we see from? And when we can see from the higher frequency, we see the same world, but in a whole new way. Our focus becomes centered on what is possible, on where there is hope, even in the midst of violence and war and death. We don’t ignore the injustices but we see a way to resist them.
If you have seen any of the images from the war in Ukraine, maybe you have seen the images of Ukrainian’s sitting at their piano’s playing beautiful music in the midst of rubble from the shelling that have destroyed their homes. Or you have heard the voices of children singing songs of hope and resilience as they take safety in crowded bomb shelters. In recalling these images, I, in no way, am suggesting that the war waging in Ukraine is anything but horrific. And still, there are those individuals living through the hell of the war that are able to focus their energy on a higher frequency that attracts and helps us vision a deeper truth—the truth of a resilient peace that overcomes war, and a justice-love that is stronger than hate.
As you, as we, enter this Holy Week—as we walk with Jesus the road to Jerusalem—we might be wise to ask, “From what place we are operating.” Are we operating from the everyday static of life, thus drawing to us static and chaos? Are we operating from a deficit mentality, thus being drawn to deficiency? Or can we find our way to love and an open heart and thus be drawn to love and heartfullness knowing there is darkness around us? Can we find our way, as did those two disciples, to listen above the static and chaos? To go with confidence, clarity, and calmness to do what Jesus asks of us. If we apply the Law of Attraction to the spiritual life—that is living on Jesus’ frequency—how might we respond when Jesus sends us to our “village” to retrieve our “colt” so that his purpose might be fulfilled today?
Imagine, just imagine how we might make a difference in the world and in our own lives if we became transmitters of Jesus’ frequency. If we became so attracted to his frequency that what we put out into the world is his radical vision of justice-love, his grace, his forgiveness, his mercy, his love. If there is any truth to the Law of Attraction—that what we put out is what comes back—then imagine how you, how we, might still see the same world, but in a whole new way.
As you enter this Holy Week, what might you/we experience if we follow the lead of those two disciples and live above the everyday static and chaos and instead go into this week trying to live, see, and listen from a higher frequency? Might we, even in the darkness of the events surrounding this Holy Week, see the same world, but in a whole new way? Might we hear with more clarity where Jesus is asking us to go and what he is asking us to do for him today?
