I’m not superstitious… am I? A Christian perspective on Friday the 13th
Today is Friday the 13th. Does that make you nervous? Did you glance anxiously over your shoulder on your way in to work this morning? Carefully avoid stepping on sidewalk cracks or walking under ladders?
Probably not. I’ve never met anyone who took Friday the 13th, or any of those thousands of other little superstitions, seriously (although it’s interesting how long they’ve stuck around, given that few people give them any credence). Americans, and Christians in particular, aren’t a superstitious lot… or are they?
This morning, I took stock of my life to see if anything I did could be called “superstitious.” And I was surprised to realize that in fact, I often act on what you might call “Christian superstitions.”
By “Christian superstitions,” I mean spiritual activities performed not because they contribute to my life as a Christian, but out of fear, routine, or a sense of obligation. When I do “Christian activities” mindlessly, out of guilt, or “just because I’m supposed to,” those activities become little more than dumb superstitions. Here are a few examples from my life:
How often have I mumbled the same old prayer before meals without giving any thought to what I was saying? Surely, a prayer in which I am not even paying attention to the words has no value at all. How often have I gone to church on Sunday morning out of a sense of “Christian obligation” rather than a desire to worship? If I’ve just spent an hour sitting in the church pew daydreaming about the latest Batman movie or worrying about work, I’ve just wasted an hour of my life on a pointless activity. How often have I dropped money in the offering plate at church because I’m expected to, and not because I want to gratefully give back to God? I may be helping the Kingdom of God financially, but the activity is robbed of any of the spiritual import it’s meant to have. If I give of my time or money for no other reason than “that’s what Christians are supposed to do” or out of a vague sense of guilt, that’s just empty superstition.
As you can see, I can be quite good at taking praiseworthy spiritual activities and turning them into meaningless religious routine. I don’t think that’s much more useful than avoiding black cats on Friday the 13th.
What about you? Every Christian must struggle at some point with the challenge of keeping our daily and weekly spiritual activities from becoming empty routine. How do you stay on guard against this tendency toward superstition?
[Photo by flickr user rachdian; used under a Creative Commons license.]
I certainly agree that our “Christian activities” should be meaningful and not just another obligation, but the flip side is that, when struggling with life issues, burnout, or any kind of dry season, it really pays to keep those routines going while your attitude is off-track.
Good point, Ruth. Sometimes having a “normal routine” to fall back on can keep us from falling off the deep end when we feel spiritually or emotionally embattled.
I too have acted out Christian activities out of fear. I’m sure we are all guilty of this. A normal routine is a good thing to keep us stable but we should also remember that our hearts need to be in our prayers. I believe that reading the Bible regularly can help us keep our hearts and minds in the right place. Psalms would be helpful to read when we feel that we are not using our hearts or doing our Christian activities to please God but to secure ourselves from our fears. I’m glad this topic was brought up.
certainly agree that our “Christian activities†should be meaningful and not just another obligation, but the flip side is that, when struggling with life issues, burnout, or any kind of dry season, it really pays to keep those routines going while your attitude is off-track.