Volume 27, No. 45 November 24, 2002

Statues of Limitation

Easter Island is undergoing a resurrection.

Centuries after it was laid waste by war, disease and slave-trading, the
east Pacific island best known for its mammoth, mysterious monuments is
coming back to life as a tourist mecca. Its story holds a powerful
lesson for the church of Jesus.

The isolated volcanic outcrop off the coast of Chile was found by Dutch
explorers on Easter Sunday, 1722. Until then, the Polynesian inhabitants
thought they were the only people in the world. Like their focus, their
one thousand giant, coastal statues faced inward, overlooking every move
in the village, from fertility rites to funerals.

Researchers say each stone statue was carved to hold the spiritual
energy of an ancestor. Standing as high as three storeys and weighing
more than 50 tons, the statues always had their eyes done last because,
as soon as they were completed, the spirit of the ancestor was said to
enter the figure.

"You could inherit spiritual power from your family, and you could get
it through your own skill," says Professor Jo-Anne Van Tilburg of UCLA.
"A tattoo artist who did brilliant work could acquire spiritual power
through the beauty of his or her work. A chief had spiritual power based
on who that chief's ancestors were. So it was likened to spiritual
electricity -- something that entered you when you were plugged into the
other world."

Over time, the statues got bigger and taller as each carver tried to
out-do those who'd gone before. There was relative harmony for a while,
but the islanders -- oblivious to life outside their own limited circle
-- used up all their resources. Wood and food shortages led to fierce
fighting and the deliberate toppling of the sacred statues. If a rival's
figure landed face up, the eyes were smashed to destroy its spiritual
power. Soon, the entire culture collapsed, plunging the island into
cannibalism. Adding to the injury, European slave traders arrived and
carried off 2,500 people, leaving behind a deadly legacy of smallpox
that spared only 111 islanders who lived among the ruins of their
ancestors' achievement.

A similar fate awaits any church that behaves as though it's the only
island of truth and righteousness. If we ever come to believe we have a
monopoly on God's grace and favour; if our focus is turned inward to our
rites and rituals instead of to the needs of the world; and if we
worship the traditions of our forefathers in the mistaken belief that
spiritual power comes from them, we're doomed.

Spirituality can't be inherited. God has no grandchildren. How long our
family has been in the church counts for nothing, and we must
continually remind ourselves that being right with God is something we
can't acquire by our own skill. The minute we think the time, energy and
talent we pour into our church work makes us deserving of heaven, we've
missed the point of Jesus' mission and submission at the Cross. The
rescue from sin and death He offers is an unearned, undeserved gift that
leaves no room for inflated egos.

But if we lose sight of that and begin building monuments to ourselves,
our church will soon dissolve into a deadly disunity; one in which love
will be in short supply, and pettiness or competition will pit us
against each other, and push us into tearing down one another's work. In
such a distracted, weakened state, we'll be no match for evil, outside
influences that infect the church and carry off many to the sorrowful
slavery of sin. The few who would survive such a situation would be left
sitting amid the ruins of glories gone-by.

Father, protect us from pride. Help us to keep our eyes focused on a
true source of power -- your Lamb; our hearts fixed on a true sense of
purpose -- your lost; and our wills fastened on a true sign of piety --
your love. Otherwise, our church will become a mere curiosity where
people only visit and marvel at monuments to the past.

-- By Rick Gamble, published in Cross Current, the weekly newsletter of
the Followers of Christ congregation in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.
Reprint at will in not-for-profit publications. To subscribe, contact
sgamble@bfree.on.ca <mailto:sgamble@bfree.on.ca>
<mailto:sgamble@bfree.on.ca>