The Spider's Web

What is your first reaction when you walk into a spider's web? Mine is to step back and brush it out of my hair, then peel it off my fingers, and the check for the spider. Fortunately, I am large enough to not become trapped in most webs. Some webs are so big that it is impossible to brush them off. This picture of Moscow from space is one example:



Photo from Space.com

Spiders' webs are among God's most amazing works, but the web is both beautiful and dangerous. The cities of man, along with their rulers, can appear beautiful when seen in the right light, but make one wrong turn at the wrong time, and you could wind up like the spider's prey. This juxtaposition of beauty and danger in the same image reminds me of how commonly this type of thing occurs in life. Think of the dangerous smile of the politician, think of the reassurance of the "nanny state" with its promises of social security, universal health care, etc. I was reading the book of Proverbs last week and recall the warnings of the allure of the seductress,

Proverbs 5:1-13
My son, to my wisdom be attentive, to my knowledge incline your ear,
That discretion may watch over you, and understanding may guard you.
The lips of an adulteress drip with honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil;
But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, as sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death, to the nether world her steps attain;
Lest you see before you the road to life, her paths will ramble, you know not where.
So now, O children, listen to me, go not astray from the words of my mouth.
Keep your way far from her, approach not the door of her house, Lest you give your honor to others, and your years to a merciless one;
Lest strangers have their fill of your wealth, your hard-won earnings go to an alien's house;
And you groan in the end, when your flesh and your body are consumed;
And you say, "Oh, why did I hate instruction, and my heart spurn reproof!
Why did I not listen to the voice of my teachers, nor to my instructors incline my ear!

There are lessons there for our nation. Are there any other associations that come to mind?

I, for one, will be thinking about this reading as the images of the consecration of Mary Glasspool float around the world wide web this coming weekend. I am sure those images will appear beautiful and attractive to some, but to this wary fly on the wall, the awareness of the dangers of the sticky web that is being spun in the Episcopal church should keep me safe. The Proverb warns us to keep our distance. In addition, we need to think more about the Proverb's warning about our hard-won earnings going to an alien's house in light of this new thread in the spider's web.