finding abundant hope

December 5, 2007

Ephesians 3:14-21

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

Bill and Carolyn were a couple who from the outside seemed to have such a great marriage and watching them from afar, I always wanted to find ways that they could share the secrets to having a good marriage with others. Finally, one day, Carolyn sat me down and admitted that they did indeed have a good marriage but they wouldn’t purport to share their secret with others because she didn’t think that their secret would work for others. It was unique to their relationship. Each morning as they awoke, they would look at each other and verbally commit to the marriage and to loving each other for that day and that day alone. They made a daily conscious choice for each other.

“Paul” writes to the Ephesians this prayer for the Church in which he desires them to see themselves as one with Christ, to understand that every action that they make as a church is a reflection of Christ’s action in them. That being the case, his heartfelt prayer is that they will know or experience the love of Christ as opposed to knowing of love from an intellectual perspective. He prays that they will be so anchored in Christ that their spirits are renewed daily. It is his hope that these people will have the attitude toward Christ that Bill and Carolyn had to each other! Paul wants the people to make a conscious choice to choose every day to both allow and be aware of God’s Spirit at work in them. With that awareness will come the understanding of being rooted and grounded in Christ’s love as well as the gift of a fuller awareness of love and its meaning. With such awareness, Christ’s reflection to the world will be seen in each of those believers.

As I drove home from work yesterday, everyone whose path I crossed seemed to be perturbed. The driver who couldn’t get the chance to turn left wouldn’t choose patience but instead threw up her hands in frustration. The neighbor who wanted to put her trashcan back in its place remarked with disdain that the sanitation crew had not arrived . . . yet! I know that we are human and we often let ourselves off of the hook with that excuse, but I’m inclined to think that if Bill and Carolyn have it in them, if the Ephesians had it in them, that maybe we have it in us, too, --to choose to seek God’s Spirit daily and as a result live in love.

We have entered a season in which we focus on the preparation for and arrival of a baby that would grow in wisdom and stature and then sacrifice his life for you and for me. If we really believe that to be true, then I think we have a duty to render our gratitude by making a daily choice for God’s Spirit to be at work in us and for that Spirit to overflow through us. May we rise to the challenge and in so rising find abundant hope! Amen.