MYTHS AND LEGENDS

From My Perspective - - - 

Myths, legends and old wives tales have been shared over many generations. They can be in the form of Ballads or Stories that have varied adaptation. All of us have had some exposure to Fairy Tales and Fables, as well as Legends and Myths. One of the most famous legendary heroes in history is Robin Hood (author unknown). He's a figure in English folklore, whose story originates from medieval times but who remains significant in popular culture where he is painted as a man known for robbing from the rich to give to the poor and fighting against injustice and tyranny. His band consists of a group of fellow outlaws going by the name of his Merry Men. Robin Hood became a popular folk figure in the medieval period, continuing through to modern literature, films and television. In the earliest sources, Robin Hood is a yeoman,  but he was often later portrayed as an aristocrat wrongfully dispossessed of his lands and made into an outlaw by an unscrupulous sheriff of Nottingham. He lives in Sherwood Forest with his group of followers. When he sees Maid Marion, he develops a love interest for her and goes to any means to gain her attention and reciprocal love.

Another one of these notable stories is The Legend of Sleepy Hollow written by Washington Irving. He tells the story of Ichabod Crane and his unimpressive attempt to win the heart and hand of Katrina van Tassel in the context of a comical ghost story. Ichabod comes to Sleepy Hollow, New York, from his home state of Connecticut, to be the schoolmaster of the village. Sleepy Hollow is a small, very quiet town said to be under some kind of enchantment. Its residents all seem to move a little slower, daydream a little more, and be more prone to believe in the supernatural. Sleepy Hollow’s most famous supernatural phenomenon is the ghost of the Headless Horseman, said to be a Hessian soldier who lost his head to a cannon ball during the Revolutionary War. The Horseman is seen most often riding by the church, where local historians say he was buried. He is believed to be always in search of his head. Ichabod is fascinated by this story, being especially interested and prone to believe tales of the supernatural.

In a non-fictional area, the idea of Myths and Legends has infiltrated matters of the church. The Encyclopedia Britannica (Online) states: “Rudolf Bultmann (1884-1976) is referred to as being a leading 20th-century New Testament German scholar known for his program to demythologize the New Testament, i.e., to interpret, according to the concepts of existentialist Philosophy, the essential message of the New Testament that was expressed in mythical terms.” His basic premise was: “that Christian faith is, and should be, comparatively uninterested in the historical Jesus and centered instead on the transcendent Christ. Christian faith, he asserted, is faith in the kērygma (proclamation) of the church, into which Jesus may be said to be risen (Bultmann’s understanding of the Resurrection), and not faith in the historical Jesus.” Some of his students expanded into areas such as “the linguistic mode of human existence (New Hermeneutic).”

In practical areas, perhaps one of the greater myths in the contemporary church is found in the phrase where effort is to be made to safeguard the peace, purity and unity of the church. A primary way to achieve this reality is adapting to the Prayer of Jesus Christ in John 17:20-21 where He prays: "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” One of the detriments to this reality are strong-willed people in the church who are also people of means. They effectively control the direction of ministry and those who minister. They are in clear violation of Scripture, such as Romans 12:3, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.” Our focus and commitment should be in terms of what God is and what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him. It should be God and “WE” - not “ME” and God. Consider these things with me.