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12th Sunday after Pentecost, B
August 23rd, 2009
Ephesians 6:10-20Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13Therefore 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. 14Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. 15As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. 16With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18Pray 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.
19Pray 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, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.
My book club just finished reading the book "Geography of Bliss" by Eric Weiner. It's a travel book in which the author goes to various places to try to figure out what it is that makes particular places happy. The country of Bhutan even has a GNH (Gross National Happiness) just as we in the US have a GNP (Gross National Product). The goal is to make sure that Bhutan continues to be a place of happiness. The thing is, it's not a matter of whether an individual is solely happy, but whether the community as a whole is happy. They even have votes about how the country should be run (laws and whatnot) based on whether it is good for the whole.
I was struck by this and wondered, given the way we are socialized in the US, if we'd be able to vote based on the greater good rather than simply what would be good for a person as an individual.
But, that is also what Paul's letter to the Ephesians is about. Living as a community of God, a body of Christ. Paul does not give this illustration of the armor of God as if one person was wearing it, but that the whole Body of Christ - the Church - was. And, the task of this body of Christ is to proclaim justice and righteousness and a gospel of peace.
I imagine a more-than-three-legged race. In a three-legged race, two people are tied together and move together and race against others. Those who are good at it work together, and communicate. In a more-than-three-legged race, the same skills of working together and communication are important. And, as it is the Body of Christ we're talking about here, the first kind of communication needs to be with God.
Paul instructs the Ephesians to pray in the Spirit at all times.
**This is my final ComeUnity blog posting since I am taking a new call. It is appropriate that my final blog post contains Paul's closure to the letter to the Ephesians. I thank you for engaging in Scripture study with me, and will continue to pray for the various ways in which the Word is heard and explored through Unity's ministry. As I pray for you, I ask that you pray for me, knowing that we are part of this same body of Christ, now dwelling in the Word in different locations.
In peace,
Pastor Amy Becker
Sing, Sing a Song
11th Sunday after Pentecost, B
August 16, 2009
Ephesians 5:15-2015Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, 16making the most of the time, because the days are evil. 17So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, 19as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, 20giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This week a number of us head to camp for a few days, and so I will offer a simple blog posting that I hope will be a lot of fun.
One of the songs that sticks in my mind from my childhood and watching Sesame Street sings, "Sing, sing a song. Make it simple, to last your whole life long. Don't worry if it's not good enough for anyone else to hear. Just sing (la la la la) sing (la la la la). Sing. Sing a song."
This is the spirit with which I read this selection of Ephesians. Filled with the Spirit we sing. What are song, hymns and psalms that make you recognize that you are filled with the Spirit? What are favorite hymns and songs that you sing when you're by yourself?
Imitators of God
10th Sunday After Pentecost
August 9, 2009
Ephesians 4:25 - 5:225 So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. 26Beangry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27anddo not make room for the devil. 28Thieves must give up stealing;rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. 29Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. 31Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, 32and be kind to one another, tender-hearted,forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. 51Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, 2and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Note: Jim Bjugstad is guest blogging this week and preaching on Sunday.
In looking at this text (which may or may not have actually been written by the Apostle Paul - there are varied opinions), I was struck first by the passage that begins: "Be angry but do not sin..."
It seems like it's walking a fine line to carry anger, yet in such a way that it not become a sin, something that keeps us apart from God. I'm interested to hear instances where you might feel anger is called for, and how you might express that anger without letting it get out of control.
In verse 51, we're told to be "imitators of God." Acknowledging that we humans, sinners that we are, will always be imperfect imitators, who would you hold up as either a living or historical example of that?
Promothing Growth
9th Sunday After Pentecost
August 2, 2009
Ephesians 4:1-16I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. 7But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8Therefore it is said, “When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.” 9(When it says, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) 11The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. 14We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. 15But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen, in her book Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories That Heal, talks about finding a skeleton in her uncle's closet. A true skeleton, not some long buried secret. As a young girl she would play with this skeleton, including having tea parties with it.
When Paul writes about the Body of Christ, I usually think about an enfleshed body - one that you don't really see the inner-workings to, but that you know that the foot does one thing and the arm another and the eye another. But, it's much more complicated than that. As Paul writes here, we "grow up in every way into him who is the head" - "the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped...promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love."
This image of the body as needing each part so much, - down to the ligaments - the image that as we as individuals grow up into Christ, we promote the whole body's growth - is helpful when we consider how we live in community with each other. How we live our lives, how we express our faith is connected to one another.
When have you recognized how your faith is tied to another's? How have you helped another grow in faith, which then meant that you grew in faith? When have you recognized that someone else's faith growth impacted your faith?
Body Building
8th Sunday After Pentecost
July 26, 2009
Ephesians 3:14-21For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, 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.
I am struck with the prayer, that it is a prayer for strength and love and knowledge that could fit almost any time and place. Reread the prayer. Read it outloud.
The prayer asks for strength and knowledge, not to overcome or overpower another, but to be strengthened to do the work that God would have us do. The prayer for strength and knowledge is that we may be granted it so that we might be church in the world.
The well known Bible verse, "I can do all things through him who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13) expresses this same sentiment.
Who do you pray this prayer for? How do you feel God's strength and the power to comprehend? When have you felt that God has worked within you and through you, accomplishing more than you could have yourself?
Peace, Love and Understanding
7th Sunday after Pentecost, year B
July 19, 2009
Ephesians 2:11-22Remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth, called "the uncircumcision" by those who are called "the circumcision" - a physical circumcision made in the flesh by human hands - remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with it commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.
Christ came to bring peace and to reconcile people to God and to one another. However, as seen in this selection of Paul's letter to the Ephesians, and in our world, often the way we followers of Christ tend to fall away from this vision.
I am regularly struck in conversations with friends about God and religion, how often people turn away from practicing religion because of things other people did. How often it a betrayal of trust, or a message of exclusion that means that people cannot experience God's love and grace coming through organized religion.
I am pained by this because I truly believe that it is in the waters of baptism and the breaking of the bread that we most clearly know God's love for us. I believe that in community we learn about God, in community we experience some of God.
I'm curious, how do you think, we as children of God, can witness to this message of peace and reconciliation to people who have been cast out and betrayed? How can we witness to that to one another? What thoughts do you have about this scripture?
Mystery - revealed!
6th Sunday After Pentecost
July 12, 2009
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. 5He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight 9he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, 12so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. 13In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; 14this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.
"With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, thing in heaven and things on earth."
I am struck by the sentence above, particularly the phrase, "the mystery of his will." How often do I wish I understood the mystery of God's will! I think I mostly am eager to understand this mystery as I look at little picture stuff: when I want to know how God would have me act in a given situation or what purpose mosquitoes hold on this earth that make them of value to God.
But, Paul tells the Ephesians that God's purpose is to draw all things in heaven and earth to God through Jesus Christ. That is not a bad mission statement. how it gets enacted are the little picture things, but this is the overall good news - that God is bringing all things to him.
This doesn't mean that all things in heaven and on earth now have crystal clarity, but it does give us direction and some of that wisdom and insight that has been made known to us, and our hope is set on Christ and our purpose is to live for the praise of his glory (vs 12).
What does it mean to you to have your hope set on Christ?
How do you live for the praise of Christ's glory?
What is your take on the mystery here? What has been revealed?
(Don't) Justify Your Love (Faith)
5th Sunday After Pentecost
July 5, 2009
2nd Corinthians 12:2-10I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows. 3And I know that such a person—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows— 4was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat. 5On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. 6But if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I will be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think better of me than what is seen in me or heard from me, 7even considering the exceptional character of the revelations. Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. 8Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, 9but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.
First of all, I must apologize for the incredible stretch of a title of a Madonna song. But, now it's running through my head, and so it will be the title for this post.
This section of 2nd Corinthians is really an interesting conversation that Paul has with the Corinthians. He sounds a bit defensive. In the first couple verses, Paul is talking about an ecstatic out-of-body experience by which some judged whether or not someone was faithful.
I recognize this in conversations with people sometime. The need to justify their faith to another person. (Maybe it's because I'm a pastor that people do this, do other people experience that?)
Paul says though, that it's not out of our strength or our experience that we have anything to boast about. Not one of us has the power that Christ has in weakness.
That's an interesting phrase - but it is in weakness that Christ chose to be strong. Christ was strong by going to the cross, by giving his life, by serving others.
We are strong not in our own accomplishments, not in our own experiences, but because Christ has conquered death.
Do you ever feel the need to justify your faith to another person? If so, when and why?
Discuss this idea of being powerful in weakness.
Abundance and Need
4th Sunday After Pentecost
June 28, 2009
2 Corinthians 8:7-15Now as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you—so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking. 8I do not say this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others. 9For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. 10And in this matter I am giving my advice: it is appropriate for you who began last year not only to do something but even to desire to do something— 11now finish doing it, so that your eagerness may be matched by completing it according to your means. 12For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has—not according to what one does not have. 13I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between 14your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance. 15As it is written, “The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.”
During the devotion at a recent council meeting we had a discussion about the phrase "God only gives you what you can handle." For a starting point, I don't believe that God's purpose in the world is to give us stress and hardship, but in other ways I disagree with this statement as well.
If we read this in the individual sense, I fully disagree. There have been many times when I haven't been able to handle all that was coming at me. There have been many times when I've talked with people who have been hit from every side and it is just too much.
But, in the collective, I might be able to accept this phrase - with God, and our neighbors, there is nothing we can't do. Well, this too might be a bit "pie-in-the-sky," but, it's closer to reality. Together, we are able to handle quite a bit more than as individuals. Hopefully this is a give-and-take situation, such as Paul describes to the Corinthians.
Sometimes one has abundance (of time, resources, ideas, etc) that he or she shares, sometimes that one is given the abundance of another. One of the grounding principles I hold is that God has truly given us (meaning the entire world) enough. That people exist with not enough is a symptom of sin. A symptom of our unwillingness to share in abundance and ask for help in times of need.
When have you shared in your abundance?
When have you needed what another has shared?
An Acceptable Time
3rd Sunday After Pentecost, B
June 21, 2009
2 Corinthians 6:1-13
As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. 2For he says, “At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.” See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! 3We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, 7truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; 10as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
11We have spoken frankly to you Corinthians; our heart is wide open to you. 12There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours. 13In return—I speak as to children—open wide your hearts also.
Timing is everything, so the phrase goes. Jokes, investing money or buying a house, when cooking, when asking for a favor - the time and the atmosphere in which we allow ourselves to be vulnerable. All of these pay attention to time. Paul reminds the Corinthians that not only did God say that God would listen and save them (and us) at the right time...but that time is now!
This means that it isn't after we accept God's grace. It isn't after we are pure and have knowledge and are patient and kind. The acceptable time for God to encounter us and save us was before any one of us was fit for the kindom of God. That, my friends, is grace. The grace of receiving what we are not worthy to receive...only, we are made worthy by the very act of God giving that grace freely to us.
God's timing is different than our timing, and while that can be frustrating at times, in this instance, it is the very way we are able to live.