March 19, 2008
Colossians 1:12-20
“ . . .giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.”
While visiting some friends of mine recently, I spent time with their five year old adopted son, Igor. Igor wanted to make Easter eggs and his mother had everything we needed. I set the crisp, clean water in cups on the table and Igor took the colored tablets and dropped each into the water. He marveled as each one upon immediate contact with the water began to alter the water’s color.
Just as it didn’t take much for Igor’s water color to change, it didn’t take much for the Gnostics and their teachings to have a similar effect in the Church at Colossae. The people seemed to be fast falling for the mistruths that were being shared. So Paul (or whoever the author may be) begins with a usual Pauline statement of gratitude and works to help the people understand who Jesus Christ really was. He uses a hymn that would have been very familiar to the people of Colossae and would have been in common usage in the day. But, he alters the words rather significantly by adding phrases that would not have fit within the normal pattern.
Basically, Paul wants the people to understand that Jesus was the one who reflected God’s very nature in the world and that the job of the church is to reflect who Jesus was and is to the world thereby reflecting God.
In order for that to really happen, several things have to fall into place. First, we have to make sure that we aren’t buying into false teachings like the Colossians. Second, we have to thirst after God. Just to say that we long for God isn’t enough. We have to do what it takes to grow—to pour ourselves into knowing God at deeper and deeper levels. Once we know God at those deep levels we have no choice but to live out that new level of life everywhere we go—not just in the church building or at work or at home but everywhere. When we do this we begin to form a new kind of evangelism. People see in us something different and if we slow down and let them get to know what is different about us, we stand a significant chance of developing relationships that will reflect Christ. We stand a significant chance of really living out what it means to be the church.
This week is holy week and if ever there was a week to think about who Jesus really is and how he intersects our lives, this is it. So there are the questions—who is Jesus to you? What difference does Jesus make in your life? What difference are you making in the world because of Jesus? And, as the church, what significance are we to the world? These questions would be easily answered with what we used to call Sunday School answers (pat answers) but I encourage you to really think about them.
Paul understood what a negative difference the false teachings were making and that is why he knew how important it was for him to turn the tide with the truth. This is the time to examine the truth within ourselves, within our churches and be honest about what our truth means for the world. May holy week be a time when we discover the wonderful colors of God’s truth in us and may we be motivated to live those colors in our world! Amen.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Knowledge, wisdom, understanding
March 12, 2008
Colossians 1:9-11 & (12)
“For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you an asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.”
Prayers can be truly special gifts to others. Sometimes prayers require us to generalize and so they can seem impersonal. Other times, when we really know the situation in someone’s life we can pray for those specific things. We can find just the right words to make request of God and in so doing help someone else find a little more peace. Those specific prayers somehow seem to bond us with others for we have been able to be vulnerable with each other and that state of vulnerability somehow has an adhesive-like effect!
The Apostle Paul didn’t have direct experience with the Colossians. He knew of their situation only from the reporting of Epaphras so it would have been easy for this pastoral prayer to be one of those more generalized prayers. Yet, Paul understood what was going on in the church. They were being swayed by Gnostic teachers.
Gnosticism in a nutshell went something like this. There were at least two gods—one higher and one lower. The lower god without permission of the higher began to create non-spiritual things (like the earth, creatures, humans). The higher god not liking what was going on provided a counter measure by giving the humans souls/spirits that would allow them to see through the non-spiritual and claim only that which was spiritual thus lifting them to a higher realm—the realm of the higher god. These Gnostic teachers were using words that would have been familiar to other strains of religion. They were words like knowledge, wisdom and understanding; but the Gnostics were using these words with eschewed meaning so that people were missing the true message of the Christian gospel.
Paul chooses a pastoral prayer as his means for redefining these words and the Christian perspective for them. He calls them to understand that knowledge is not something that is hidden or mysterious, it is the vehicle for doing God’s will and meeting the needs of God’s people. The other words have the qualifier of being spiritual. This is to suggest that they are gifts of the Holy Spirit with wisdom being the quality that enables obedience to God’s direction and understanding being the mechanism for grasping moral choices. Endurance and patience then become the attitudes through which prayer is offered.
Paul wants them to understand in a very pastoral way that his prayer for them is that they will claim all of these things in ways that honor Christ. So, his becomes a didactic means for praying them toward true knowledge, wisdom, understanding, endurance and patience.
As we enter a new week, can we do this? Can we turn our hearts and minds to focus on the ways that we might miss the true message and then seek to find that message through true knowledge and the claiming of wisdom and understanding? I think we will find a freedom in so doing and maybe even the gifts of endurance and patience to boot. Know that my prayers go with you! Amen!
Colossians 1:9-11 & (12)
“For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you an asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.”
Prayers can be truly special gifts to others. Sometimes prayers require us to generalize and so they can seem impersonal. Other times, when we really know the situation in someone’s life we can pray for those specific things. We can find just the right words to make request of God and in so doing help someone else find a little more peace. Those specific prayers somehow seem to bond us with others for we have been able to be vulnerable with each other and that state of vulnerability somehow has an adhesive-like effect!
The Apostle Paul didn’t have direct experience with the Colossians. He knew of their situation only from the reporting of Epaphras so it would have been easy for this pastoral prayer to be one of those more generalized prayers. Yet, Paul understood what was going on in the church. They were being swayed by Gnostic teachers.
Gnosticism in a nutshell went something like this. There were at least two gods—one higher and one lower. The lower god without permission of the higher began to create non-spiritual things (like the earth, creatures, humans). The higher god not liking what was going on provided a counter measure by giving the humans souls/spirits that would allow them to see through the non-spiritual and claim only that which was spiritual thus lifting them to a higher realm—the realm of the higher god. These Gnostic teachers were using words that would have been familiar to other strains of religion. They were words like knowledge, wisdom and understanding; but the Gnostics were using these words with eschewed meaning so that people were missing the true message of the Christian gospel.
Paul chooses a pastoral prayer as his means for redefining these words and the Christian perspective for them. He calls them to understand that knowledge is not something that is hidden or mysterious, it is the vehicle for doing God’s will and meeting the needs of God’s people. The other words have the qualifier of being spiritual. This is to suggest that they are gifts of the Holy Spirit with wisdom being the quality that enables obedience to God’s direction and understanding being the mechanism for grasping moral choices. Endurance and patience then become the attitudes through which prayer is offered.
Paul wants them to understand in a very pastoral way that his prayer for them is that they will claim all of these things in ways that honor Christ. So, his becomes a didactic means for praying them toward true knowledge, wisdom, understanding, endurance and patience.
As we enter a new week, can we do this? Can we turn our hearts and minds to focus on the ways that we might miss the true message and then seek to find that message through true knowledge and the claiming of wisdom and understanding? I think we will find a freedom in so doing and maybe even the gifts of endurance and patience to boot. Know that my prayers go with you! Amen!
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Faith, love, hope
March 5, 2008
Colossians 1:3-8
“In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit.”
I was in a meeting the other day where the question was posed to the participants, “What is the best thing about your church?” I was an ex-officio member so I didn’t answer verbally but there was only one word that came to mind. I tried to think of other things and there were many other wonderful things but this word kept trumping them all! Love!
Love is the best thing about St. John’s Baptist Church. I watch it between parishioners. I feel it from parishioners and am allowed to share it with parishioners! Love is at the root of any successful church and any successful relationship and it is there that the Spirit of God is found.
The Apostle Paul had little knowledge of the church at Colossae except for what Epaphras had told him. But Epaphras must have felt about that church as I feel about ours and because of those feelings Paul was able to understand and render gratitude for who they were together as part of the larger body of Christ.
Paul outlines three components in the context of his gratitude that serve as fuel to the church. First, there is faith in Christ. This is clearly a foundational piece of Christianity. But for Paul it is not enough for it to mean that one has invested his or her belief in Christ. Faith to Paul was about trusting Christ. It meant being able to let go in the uncertain places of life and experience contentment because of one’s knowledge that God would unfold the picture of life just as it was intended. We moderate and progressive Baptists tend to miss this point. We tend toward complicating this piece of the theological perspective but as we grow we realize that the simple tenets are often those most difficult to claim in practice.
Second, there is the love that we have for each other. To trust God so fully is to first be willing and able to love God and if we have that disposition then the challenge and opportunity comes in being able to extend that love to others. But the extension is never self serving. It is always about what is best for the other.
Third, there is hope. For Paul this was an eschatological piece but he would also agree that hope is what grants meaning to living. Without hope especially in the face of the trials and tribulations that we face, we would only know much gloom. Hope is that thing that pairs with faith to enable us to trust. It is that thing that in the rough patches of life allows us to love when it is difficult to even try.
The combination of these three faith, love and hope are the three pronged characteristics that unite us as Christians in the most fundamental of ways. Without these Christianity would offer little point. Without these, I confess, that my life would be misery!
So let me this day, as Paul did with the Colossians, thank you for being people of faith, love and hope. These three are gifts to me as a member of this church community. These three are the things that make us family! Let us celebrate our Christian family this day! Amen.
Colossians 1:3-8
“In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit.”
I was in a meeting the other day where the question was posed to the participants, “What is the best thing about your church?” I was an ex-officio member so I didn’t answer verbally but there was only one word that came to mind. I tried to think of other things and there were many other wonderful things but this word kept trumping them all! Love!
Love is the best thing about St. John’s Baptist Church. I watch it between parishioners. I feel it from parishioners and am allowed to share it with parishioners! Love is at the root of any successful church and any successful relationship and it is there that the Spirit of God is found.
The Apostle Paul had little knowledge of the church at Colossae except for what Epaphras had told him. But Epaphras must have felt about that church as I feel about ours and because of those feelings Paul was able to understand and render gratitude for who they were together as part of the larger body of Christ.
Paul outlines three components in the context of his gratitude that serve as fuel to the church. First, there is faith in Christ. This is clearly a foundational piece of Christianity. But for Paul it is not enough for it to mean that one has invested his or her belief in Christ. Faith to Paul was about trusting Christ. It meant being able to let go in the uncertain places of life and experience contentment because of one’s knowledge that God would unfold the picture of life just as it was intended. We moderate and progressive Baptists tend to miss this point. We tend toward complicating this piece of the theological perspective but as we grow we realize that the simple tenets are often those most difficult to claim in practice.
Second, there is the love that we have for each other. To trust God so fully is to first be willing and able to love God and if we have that disposition then the challenge and opportunity comes in being able to extend that love to others. But the extension is never self serving. It is always about what is best for the other.
Third, there is hope. For Paul this was an eschatological piece but he would also agree that hope is what grants meaning to living. Without hope especially in the face of the trials and tribulations that we face, we would only know much gloom. Hope is that thing that pairs with faith to enable us to trust. It is that thing that in the rough patches of life allows us to love when it is difficult to even try.
The combination of these three faith, love and hope are the three pronged characteristics that unite us as Christians in the most fundamental of ways. Without these Christianity would offer little point. Without these, I confess, that my life would be misery!
So let me this day, as Paul did with the Colossians, thank you for being people of faith, love and hope. These three are gifts to me as a member of this church community. These three are the things that make us family! Let us celebrate our Christian family this day! Amen.
The Spiritual Journey and Our Community
February 27, 2008
Colossians 1:1-2
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.”
Today we begin a new book! This letter to the church in Colossae is yet again a disputed letter. We will for our purposes assume that Paul has written this letter but even in that assumption there is so much that we do not know. We don’t really know when it was written. We can guess . . . sometime in the late 50’s or early 60’s . . . possibly. The dating affects our estimation of the place in which it was written. It could have been when Paul was in Rome or Ephesus or Caesarea.
What then, do we know? We know that this assumed author, Paul, is writing to a church located in what is modern day Turkey. The church was a product of its society. It had been formed in the midst of a pagan mindset and is often the struggle of the church. The church had lost its balance and was being influenced more by the society that surrounded it than by the tenets of the faith. Around it were those who gave deference to nature worship, to astrological direction and to wisdom teachings that stemmed from cults. What this meant for the church is that they were losing sight of who Christ really was. They were missing the value of what Christ’s death and resurrection had done for them and missing the spiritual freedom that comes from that understanding.
As Paul opens the letter, he once again establishes his authority as an apostle. He mentions Timothy, possibly because Timothy was his scribe (of course, we don’t know that for certain either.) The greetings of grace and peace are to remind them that as Christians they are under the rule of God and that their lives must be lived that way.
Where it would be easy to gloss over these introductory words of scripture, I think they call us to ask two serious questions about our churches and about ourselves. First, as a church family, in what ways might our church be in danger of letting the surrounding community dictate its identity? Said another way, in what ways might we be surrendering our message to accommodate the community? I believe there is a special balance to reach effective ministry. Second, are we as individuals so committed to our faith and spiritual journeys that we submit ourselves to God’s direction for our lives? If not, that feeds into corporate church problems especially when we may be leaders in our churches. I think it behooves us to consider these questions for our own growth and for our thriving as the family of God. They aren’t light questions but the consideration and necessary adjustment of our living can make all of the difference in how faithful we really find ourselves. May we be found faithful! Amen.
Colossians 1:1-2
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.”
Today we begin a new book! This letter to the church in Colossae is yet again a disputed letter. We will for our purposes assume that Paul has written this letter but even in that assumption there is so much that we do not know. We don’t really know when it was written. We can guess . . . sometime in the late 50’s or early 60’s . . . possibly. The dating affects our estimation of the place in which it was written. It could have been when Paul was in Rome or Ephesus or Caesarea.
What then, do we know? We know that this assumed author, Paul, is writing to a church located in what is modern day Turkey. The church was a product of its society. It had been formed in the midst of a pagan mindset and is often the struggle of the church. The church had lost its balance and was being influenced more by the society that surrounded it than by the tenets of the faith. Around it were those who gave deference to nature worship, to astrological direction and to wisdom teachings that stemmed from cults. What this meant for the church is that they were losing sight of who Christ really was. They were missing the value of what Christ’s death and resurrection had done for them and missing the spiritual freedom that comes from that understanding.
As Paul opens the letter, he once again establishes his authority as an apostle. He mentions Timothy, possibly because Timothy was his scribe (of course, we don’t know that for certain either.) The greetings of grace and peace are to remind them that as Christians they are under the rule of God and that their lives must be lived that way.
Where it would be easy to gloss over these introductory words of scripture, I think they call us to ask two serious questions about our churches and about ourselves. First, as a church family, in what ways might our church be in danger of letting the surrounding community dictate its identity? Said another way, in what ways might we be surrendering our message to accommodate the community? I believe there is a special balance to reach effective ministry. Second, are we as individuals so committed to our faith and spiritual journeys that we submit ourselves to God’s direction for our lives? If not, that feeds into corporate church problems especially when we may be leaders in our churches. I think it behooves us to consider these questions for our own growth and for our thriving as the family of God. They aren’t light questions but the consideration and necessary adjustment of our living can make all of the difference in how faithful we really find ourselves. May we be found faithful! Amen.
Being peace to others
February 20, 2008
Ephesians 6:21-24
“So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus will tell you everything. He is a dear brother and a faithful minister in the Lord. I am sending him to you for this very purpose, to let you know how we are, and to encourage your hearts. Peace be to the whole community, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who have an undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The great plus of having been a minister at St. John’s for the last seven plus years is that I have had and continue to have the blessing of getting to know you all better. You allow me the opportunity to celebrate the great things with you and to grieve with you in the painful places. You allow me to be your cheerleader and your coach whenever those roles may be necessary. You let me into the holy ground of your lives and you allow me to love you and for me, there is no greater gift. Thank you!
As pastor to the Ephesian people, this author uses these closing words of the scripture to speak those pastoral words to this people whom he loves. He sends Tychicus as his postal service to communicate to this family of his that in the face of all of those difficulties that life brings there are four things that are gifts of God to us and those four things are then gifts that we are equipped to offer each other. Peace, love, faith and grace are those four things.
So then, as I reflect on my own life, and as you reflect on yours, the question remains, how? How are we receiving these things from God? Can we look at our lives and identify those places where God has gifted us with peace, love, faith and grace? And then, the secondary question comes. How are we expressing those in relationship to others? I would ask us to think this week about people in our lives. Who is the hardest person we know to love? Who needs our grace the most? In whom do we need to have more faith? Who do we know that most needs to experience peace? Once we’ve asked those questions one of the great gifts of this Lenten season to ourselves and others can be the implementation of expressing God’s peace, love, faith and grace to those people. I hope they will all be yours this day! Amen.
Ephesians 6:21-24
“So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus will tell you everything. He is a dear brother and a faithful minister in the Lord. I am sending him to you for this very purpose, to let you know how we are, and to encourage your hearts. Peace be to the whole community, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who have an undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The great plus of having been a minister at St. John’s for the last seven plus years is that I have had and continue to have the blessing of getting to know you all better. You allow me the opportunity to celebrate the great things with you and to grieve with you in the painful places. You allow me to be your cheerleader and your coach whenever those roles may be necessary. You let me into the holy ground of your lives and you allow me to love you and for me, there is no greater gift. Thank you!
As pastor to the Ephesian people, this author uses these closing words of the scripture to speak those pastoral words to this people whom he loves. He sends Tychicus as his postal service to communicate to this family of his that in the face of all of those difficulties that life brings there are four things that are gifts of God to us and those four things are then gifts that we are equipped to offer each other. Peace, love, faith and grace are those four things.
So then, as I reflect on my own life, and as you reflect on yours, the question remains, how? How are we receiving these things from God? Can we look at our lives and identify those places where God has gifted us with peace, love, faith and grace? And then, the secondary question comes. How are we expressing those in relationship to others? I would ask us to think this week about people in our lives. Who is the hardest person we know to love? Who needs our grace the most? In whom do we need to have more faith? Who do we know that most needs to experience peace? Once we’ve asked those questions one of the great gifts of this Lenten season to ourselves and others can be the implementation of expressing God’s peace, love, faith and grace to those people. I hope they will all be yours this day! Amen.
Be change
February 13, 2008
Ephesians 6:10-20
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet, put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.”
When you trace the etymology of the word disaster you find that it comes from the Latin root word, astrum and evolved into combining with the French prefix ‘dis’ + astro (meaning star.) What in the world does that have to do with this scripture?!
As you know, in the days of these early Ephesians there was much stock placed in the power of the gods their abilities to rule over the things of the world—sea, stars, etc. Such ruling was thought to determine the destinies of humans. It came to be thought that the gods and spiritual powers were battling against each other and eventually that as humans we had a role to play in this spiritual battle.
It is from this mentality that the words of the author are written. True Pauline perspective would have championed the idea that Christians have been given what they need to defend themselves against the evil attacks of powers at work against them. So from that perspective, the author feels the need to exhort the church that this use of their defensive spiritual equipment is crucial for making a difference in the world around them.
We don’t have this same mentality these days. I’d like to think that we have advanced in our spiritual understanding of God—that life isn’t so literal as it used to be.
We can’t deny that disaster is still a part of our lives—so an inkling of that ancient spirituality does remain and the call of the scripture really does remain applicable to our lives.
Our world is full of natural disasters, full of disasters that humans must claim as our responsibility. Our lives are full of disasters, sometimes in the form of the relationships we maintain or do not maintain for that matter, sometimes in the form of finances, sometimes in the form of our own lack of self-care. I am convinced that such disasters are not caused by God but are rooted in our own spirituality and in our own distance from God. I contend that if we would pour ourselves into a thirst for God, into a posture that causes us to reach for God in every moment, we would begin to find a peace within ourselves that would equip us to face the things that look and feel like disasters at any level. We would have the ability to share the transformative experiences of our lives with each other and help others find peace and by our own example and encouragement, Pollyanna as it may seem, I believe that our world would begin to look very different because people’s lives would be changing.
But, how do we get to that place? We must be willing to be like that soldier of the Scripture. We must prepare our hearts to be that place where God really resides—where the fruits of God’s Spirit find their home. We must put on God’s truth as if it were our uniform for living and by seeing God’s truth all of those gifts of the Spirit will be seen in us. Such an admonition of the Ephesians author required much of the people of his day and it requires much of us. The question remains—are we ready?
Was it Gandhi who said, “be the change you want to see in the world?” Are we ready to see peace replace disaster? Are we ready to watch lives around us change? Are we willing to engage in the spiritual vigilance required for peace to reign? It is easier to claim the status quo. It is easier to control our own living and leave God out of the picture. The choice is ours to make and rest assured the choice will make a difference—one way or another.
I hope we can claim the admonition of the Ephesians author to put on God and thus ‘be the change we want to see in the world.’ May it be so! Amen.
Ephesians 6:10-20
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet, put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.”
When you trace the etymology of the word disaster you find that it comes from the Latin root word, astrum and evolved into combining with the French prefix ‘dis’ + astro (meaning star.) What in the world does that have to do with this scripture?!
As you know, in the days of these early Ephesians there was much stock placed in the power of the gods their abilities to rule over the things of the world—sea, stars, etc. Such ruling was thought to determine the destinies of humans. It came to be thought that the gods and spiritual powers were battling against each other and eventually that as humans we had a role to play in this spiritual battle.
It is from this mentality that the words of the author are written. True Pauline perspective would have championed the idea that Christians have been given what they need to defend themselves against the evil attacks of powers at work against them. So from that perspective, the author feels the need to exhort the church that this use of their defensive spiritual equipment is crucial for making a difference in the world around them.
We don’t have this same mentality these days. I’d like to think that we have advanced in our spiritual understanding of God—that life isn’t so literal as it used to be.
We can’t deny that disaster is still a part of our lives—so an inkling of that ancient spirituality does remain and the call of the scripture really does remain applicable to our lives.
Our world is full of natural disasters, full of disasters that humans must claim as our responsibility. Our lives are full of disasters, sometimes in the form of the relationships we maintain or do not maintain for that matter, sometimes in the form of finances, sometimes in the form of our own lack of self-care. I am convinced that such disasters are not caused by God but are rooted in our own spirituality and in our own distance from God. I contend that if we would pour ourselves into a thirst for God, into a posture that causes us to reach for God in every moment, we would begin to find a peace within ourselves that would equip us to face the things that look and feel like disasters at any level. We would have the ability to share the transformative experiences of our lives with each other and help others find peace and by our own example and encouragement, Pollyanna as it may seem, I believe that our world would begin to look very different because people’s lives would be changing.
But, how do we get to that place? We must be willing to be like that soldier of the Scripture. We must prepare our hearts to be that place where God really resides—where the fruits of God’s Spirit find their home. We must put on God’s truth as if it were our uniform for living and by seeing God’s truth all of those gifts of the Spirit will be seen in us. Such an admonition of the Ephesians author required much of the people of his day and it requires much of us. The question remains—are we ready?
Was it Gandhi who said, “be the change you want to see in the world?” Are we ready to see peace replace disaster? Are we ready to watch lives around us change? Are we willing to engage in the spiritual vigilance required for peace to reign? It is easier to claim the status quo. It is easier to control our own living and leave God out of the picture. The choice is ours to make and rest assured the choice will make a difference—one way or another.
I hope we can claim the admonition of the Ephesians author to put on God and thus ‘be the change we want to see in the world.’ May it be so! Amen.
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