Armor?

WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
August 26, 2012
Rev. Mark R. Miller
Ephesians 6:10-20 
“Armor?”

    I have never said this before, and it might come as a surprise coming out of my mouth, but here it is, “There is a fundamental moral failure in our society.”  This is not all that shocking of a statement really.  All we have to do is begin to list the troubles in our time - or even for the last few weeks.  The epidemic of unreported black on black crime is astounding.  And as soon as we do that the natural tendency is to figure out who is to blame . . . mental illness, poor parenting, poverty, lack of jobs, or just bad people.  And then begins the litany of things we must do.  What we need is to figure out a way to create right action.  The reaction of the church is to talk - without actually using these words - about finding a better moral theology.  What I mean by this is that if we can teach right then people will act right.  But the truth is that this type of moral theology is an abysmal failure. 

    It is a failure because at the end of the day we have a fundamental misunderstanding of the problem.  And if we cannot name the problem, any solution will miss the mark.  The symptoms of the problem we know well.  So we address the symptoms and wonder why things do not get better.  We are taught that there is a formula for every problem.  So when our formulas do not get better we begin to scapegoat.  The problem is poor people, rich people, white people, black people, gay people, Muslim people, atheists, liberals, conservatives . . . and then once the problem is identified we simply plug in the formula.  But from the programs of the Great Society, to ending all corporate regulations, nothing seems to work.  We hunger for the next great savior who promises jobs with no specifics or law and order at the price of freedom - or at least some people’s freedom.  But each of these fails because we have missed the root of the problem. 

    As Christians we have language to address this problem but we have not done a good job of expressing it.  Instead we have been drawn into partisan battles and too often have led the charge of scapegoating.  The problem with our public face is that we have forgotten a simple but basic doctrine of the church.  Yes, it really is about bad theology.  There is really only one problem and that problem is what we call the doctrine of the Fall.  Yes we are all sinful.

    The issue can seem outdated, but the real problem is with how we have taught this doctrine.  We have said that human beings are inherently evil.  We do not like to say this because we like to think of ourselves as basically good people.  But at times like this it is important to remember that behavioral psychology and evolutionary biology have shown that given the right circumstance and opportunity we will act in horrific ways.  But the church has stopped short with this.  We have forgotten that the doctrine extends to anything and everything that human beings have created or will create.  In other words, our institutions, our governments, our schools, our communities, and even our nations are affected by the power of the Fall, and are at their core – sinful.

    So what does this mean?  It means we cannot join the calls for scapegoating.  The trouble with society, the trouble with our country, the trouble with our world, the trouble in our neighborhoods, our churches, and our schools is not something “out there” but something inside all of us.  And the language of bad guys and good guys sounds ridiculous and ignorant after about third grade.  It also means we shouldn’t be surprised when all our best efforts or hopes for a new day are undermined.  We shouldn’t be surprised that advances in women's health are under a full-on assault or that the voting rights act is in danger of extinction.  It does mean we better stand up against these assaults, but we should not be surprised or fall into despair.  And this is where Paul comes in.

    The language of Powers and Principalities may seem strange but it is all a matter of interpretation.  Some of us are quite comfortable imaging embodied demons walking around out to get us or trip us up.  For others this may seem to be nonsense.  The good news is that Paul is not talking about embodied demons or spirits but something more.  Modern lay Episcopal theologian William Stringfellow addressed this in amazing fresh ways.  The powers of this world are explained as:  institutions, systems, ideologies, political and social powers.  Whether we give them mythic or spiritual power these things have a power that goes beyond the simple gathering of people. 

    Think of it as mob mentality.  People caught up in the mob often talk about being almost outside themselves doing things they might not otherwise have done.  Moving beyond the mob for a few moments, think about institutions or political systems or governments.  The power of each of these or the goal of each of these is self-preservation.  And self-preservation, selfishness, is the basic mark of a toddler.  Add to this the greatest military might the world had ever seen and you have the mix of holy terror. 

    Now we can begin to understand the plight of the Christians at Ephesus.  They lived as a religious minority in a Roman and pagan place.  They were under the thumb of military occupation.  Rome understood how to keep order and how to keep the empire running smoothly.  In the end the empire had two faces.  The first face was one of seduction and the other was pain.  Rome was generous to its friends and allies.  It would heap lavish power and wealth to those willing to follow.  But, for those who refused, came crucifixion, taxation, military conscription and other forms of slavery.  This is how the fallen powers of this world work.  But despite their many ways of functioning they ultimately work in one realm, death. 

    The legacy we are left from the Christians of Ephesus is the reminder that all of our institutions, our countries, our best efforts and even our best people are fallen.  Despite our belief in the goodness of people, we must admit that inside each of us is the power of death and destruction.  We might not have blood on our hands but we are all part of the war machine.  We are part of the systems that have created the violence on our streets and the violence in the board rooms.  The problem is not out there or with other people but part of us. 

    There are symptoms with which we must wrestle.  It does not mean that we overlook when young men pull guns out in a crowded Colorado theatre or in Heman Park last Friday.  Those men are responsible for their crimes.  But they are not animals, they are not evil, and they are not unlike you and me.  It does not mean that we stand idly by when making more people hungry as the solution to our deficit problem.  It does not mean that those who propose it are the spawn of Satan.

    Our battle is not against flesh and blood.  This language reminds us that the struggle will not go away when this group or that group is gone.  If we elect the right politician or enact the right policies everything will not be alright - it might be better but it will never be perfect.  And anyone who tells you otherwise has forgotten the lessons of utopian thinking and the doctrine of Sin.  Instead, we are called to figure out how we can live out our faith and hope in a world drenched in death.   

    The language of the armor might be a bit much or maybe too militaristic for our modern liberal ears.  But what Paul is doing is undermining the very militaristic culture in which they lived.  Each piece of this outfit is not about going on the attack but preparing oneself for attack.  It was intended to remind the hearers of the need for spiritual preparation.  And though this passage has been twisted and distorted for evil in the name of Christianity – it is intended to take the very implements of war and use them for non-violent, uplifting and peace seeking tools.  In the end the image is intended to give Christians a sense of hope and support in difficult times.  And we live in difficult times.  The easy thing to do is to see people, our enemies, as inherently evil.  But the call for Christians is to work for justice and remember our struggle is not against flesh and blood.  Amen.

What is a Christian Life?

WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
August 12, 2012
Rev. Mark R. Miller
Ephesians 4:25-5:1 
“What is a Christian Life?”

          My first reading of the passage this week left me with one distinct thought.  Clearly, Paul never lived through an election cycle.  How could he with the call for no falsehood, slander, bitterness, wrath, malice, and anger?  Add to this his call that instead of prison we give criminals jobs so that they can support the needy.  It is not very likely this would be part of any platform for any candidate who expected to win. 

         The more I thought about this, the more I assumed the sermon would focus on just such things. There would have been some comment, or even diatribe, about corporate executives and other robber barons that function like Robin Hood in reverse on steroids.  Imagine for a moment if those same folks spent a little time working with their hands and then giving the fruits of those labors to support the needy?  Would that not, in fact, be a better example of how a Christian nation functions? 

I will say that as I wrote that sermon there was a lot to say. It would have also said something about the falsehoods spread about people of other faiths and the power of speech that leads to the shooting of Sikhs in Minnesota or the burning of Mosques in Joplin, MO or Nashville, TN.  That sermon would have been a call to make powerful stands against the growing hate and hate filled language that is tearing at the very fabric of our society.  However, that is not where the sermon is going today.  The more I thought about it, the more I realized that such a sermon might actually lead us into a self-righteous posture.  Or, having heard, it might lead us to believe we have done all we need to do as good followers of Jesus.  But despite my initial inclinations for that sermon, this text really is not about those people out there. 

          The letter to the Ephesians was written to a community of Jesus’ followers as a communal ethic.  It was not written as a prophetic text against the abuses of society.  Instead, it was intended to be a teaching tool.  It was intended to enable and encourage Christians to grow up and grow deeper in their faith.  This passage and this book are about the disciplines and practices of the Christian life.  And at the heart of it is the basic assertion that faith is not about mental assent but following Jesus, imitating him, in speech and action.

The practices in this passage begin with our words.  Put away falsehood, or as we might say in church circles, put away all gossip.  And why would we say that?  Well, falsehood, or gossip, is really just tied to unresolved anger and even feelings of personal insecurities.  And because we have been doing it so long many times we are not even aware that is what happening.  What do I mean?  Have you ever thought any of the following:  Why are we doing that?  How can they wear something like that to church?  I do not know how they could think that?  How could he say that?  Can you believe?  Even if these questions do not ever come out of our mouths, they are toxin to our spirits when we think them.  Often, these are questions come to us in the guise of, “how people are supposed to act.”  But in reality, they reveal our judgmental natures, our personal insecurities and even unresolved anger. 

If people have a different view of the world or understanding of how to live out their faith it can lead us to question our own.  And if we are not secure enough to live and let live we will begin to see different as simply wrong.  In its more toxic form, particularly when we are at odds with another person, everything they say or do will be perceived as wrong by us.  In the end we put them under a microscope and tearing them to shreds over everything they do.  In its worse form we begin to look for allies in our anger which is where the gossip rears its head.  And this type of behavior leads to factions and infighting and left unchallenged and unchecked will eventually tear a community apart.  This is not unique to our community, or the larger Christian community, it is part of the human sinful nature.  And the sad part is that this very thing can even exist under the guise that we are all getting along just fine.  And this is exactly why Paul addresses anger and ties it to falsehood.  Gossip is really just unresolved anger at peoples and actions that are different from our personal experiences.  And this is why there is the repeated call for love.  Love keeps us from needing everyone to act and think like we do.  Love will help us learn that those who are different do not need to be reformed.

Speak truth to our neighbors for we are all members of each other.  It is a powerful theological statement but it is not what you might think.  We know the language of being part of the body of Christ.  However, the language here goes beyond the community and the body of Christ.  The assertion is that we are all tied together whether we are part of the faith community or not.  There is an assumption of a social network.  In other words, the community is connected and our participation is essential.  However, before Paul sends the Ephesians out into the world to practice this, he reminds them that it has to be happening in the community.  We will not speak truth in love, we will not put away falsehood and gossip, and we will not deal with our anger well ‘out there’ if we refuse to practice this in the community of faith.

In a time when anger is at a premium in our society, we need to learn how to deal with our own anger.  I know that this is a loving community that values getting along and working by consensus.  Those are good and important values.  But I also know that we cannot live with people in community or worship in a community long, before anger comes into play.  We might be more comfortable using the words disagreement or minor frustration, but I prefer not to mince words.  Eventually someone is going to do something that makes us angry, particularly those we love.  Paul even gives us permission.  “Get angry.”  It is all right, anger is not a sin.

Get angry but do not sin.  And that is the hard part.  It is easier to nurse a grudge or to bury anger and decide to disengage because someone has hurt us.  But reconciliation in Jesus Christ means more.  We are members of one another, which means that we have to figure a way through the anger.  It does not mean giving in with your words but not in heart, but it does mean being vulnerable and caring enough about others and the ministry of this church to risk getting angry and then figuring out how to navigate the anger with love and justice.  It is hard work, but that is the calling of a disciple. 

Even as I say this, the trouble with anger is that we cannot share our anger until there is a safe space to honor it.  What I mean is that, until folks feel safe to say to each other, brother or sister, you hurt me when you did this, or when you said that, and know they will not be dismissed with a, “that was not my intention,” then no one will come forward.  Instead, when faced with someone who is willing to share their anger, our response needs to be, whether it was our intention or not, to listen and not get defensive.  To say, ‘oh, wow, I am sorry that you were hurt by that.’ Or, how can we figure this out? Or, is there another way for me to say this or do that, so I do not hurt you or cause offense?  When this happens, true community begins to flourish.  This is what the message of reconciliation is about.  And that is why Paul says we have to practice it in here because it is not easy.

This passage from Ephesians is not simply a way to live a more moral life.  It is not about learning to be nice.  It is about growing up in our faith.  Last week, I mentioned that in Greek rhetoric we needed to be on the lookout for the “therefore.”  The ‘therefore’ this week comes in a different way.  In the last passage the therefore took a long conversation on theology and moved it into practical application.  This week, the reverse is true.  The therefore this week says that all our practice of reconciliation, all our practice of not lying and not harboring anger is a sign of our faith in Jesus Christ.  Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children, live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

          Being a Christian, and offering a witness to the world means imitating the ways of God that we have come to know in Jesus Christ.  Unfortunately, our name, our witness with our neighbors is abysmal.  The Christian witness is one of division, scandal; abuse, pettiness, and worse, hatred towards those not like us.  When I was a child, I learned a song about unity where the refrain was simple… They will know we are Christians by our love… that can only happen when we are practicing our love in here.  Which leads me to ask the really hard questions…How are our relationships with one another?  Where are we in need of reconciliation, where are we in need of dealing with our anger?  This is what it means to live a Christian life…it begins right here.  Amen?  Amen!

Unity Not Uniformity

WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
August 5, 2012
Rev. Mark R. Miller
Ephesians 4:1-16 
“Unity Not Uniformity”

It is easy to get lost in most of the Letters in the New Testament.  Or at least it is for me.  For weeks we have been reading the Gospel stories and they are… well… stories.  And stories are much easier to follow.  The Greek rhetoric translated into English is easy to get lost in all the divergent thoughts and miss the essential parts.  Our passage from Ephesians is no different.  I do not promise what I am about to say will make all those letters make sense.  I can only hope to unearth what was going on in this convoluted message.

The keys are really quite simple.  The first rhetorical trick is the Therefore.  It serves as a marker for those who have drifted off during the reading.  Each of the letters was read publically, often like a sermon, so the idea that someone might nod off is not unheard of.  But the therefore comes along as a marker that the entire previous statement has been leading to what comes next.  So if you have missed everything that has come before, pay attention now.

Therefore, lead a life worthy of the calling.  That is the simple message.  But can be lost if we do not understand or have a sense of what calling is all about.  Some reduce this sense of calling to those who have been ordained or hired in some professional capacity in the church.  However, at the time this letter was penned, there was no paid staff in the community.  The calling was for everyone.  Anyone who claimed faith in Jesus Christ was called and that message is no different today.  Each one of us in this room, or who will read this, or hear a recording of this, has a calling.  But what does it mean to have a calling?

Fortunately, the letter is pretty clear about grounding this sense of calling in some things with which we can relate.  The idea of calling is connected to the conversation about grace.  Each was given grace accordingly.  Another way to think about this is as giftedness.  And the giftedness has to do with specific work within the community.  Some are gifted to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and some teachers.  It is a pretty short list but they are not job descriptions.  In other words it does not say that what you will need to do to build the body of Christ is to hire a pastor for apostleship, a pastor for prophecy, a pastor for evangelism, a pastor for pastoral care, and a pastor for teaching, if you are a large church.  Or if you are a small church you need to hire one person who has the ability to do it all for you. 

Paul assumes that in the community of faith each person will have a responsibility that reflects their God-given giftedness.  And to this I can hear a familiar chorus of, “I used to do all those things.  I used to teach, I used to sing, I used to serve on the session, I used to have energy for that, I am a teacher so I don’t want to teach at church, I am not able to give like I used to, I don’t know those people’s names, I am not sure I can speak up, I can’t… I can’t… I can’t… anymore.”  To those, and as many others as we can come up with, I want to say this as gently and as lovingly as I can, I am not interested in what you can no longer do or are not interested in doing.  It is time to let that go.  Let go of the belief that our best days and your best days are behind you.  Don’t let that belief stand in the way of what God has called you to do at this stage of your life.

Now please do not hear me wrong.  I am not saying that you need to force yourself into doing something that sounds like drudgery.  This is not a call to recruit people to do hours of committee work and four hour session marathons or to teach children, when frankly you cannot stand them except at a distance.  But, as an aside, we have done away with the hours of committee work and four hour session meetings for the very reason that that takes all the joy out of using our gifts for the building up of the community.  But on the children piece, you might want to be praying on that one, but I promise we won’t ask you to teach.

Lead a life worthy of the calling.  Those words remind us that Paul thought it was possible to be worthy of the calling.  Unfortunately, the history of the church has implanted into too many of our heads that we will never be worthy.  That there will never be enough we can do to get to the stage of being worthy.  But the good news is that being worthy of the calling is really about being willing to share your great joy in the life of the community.

Calling and giftedness in the life of faith is about finding out what brings you the greatest joy and where your aptitudes lay.  The problem is that historically we have been on the lookout for any warm body to serve on session or a committee and then drain every last ounce of energy and every last ounce of joy for as long as we could.  And this is why many of us keep our heads down and dare I say even keep our giftedness a secret so we do not end up doing everything by ourselves.  This does not build up the body of Christ.  This is not what Paul is getting at.  And this eats away at the unity of the body because some are doing too much and others are afraid of doing too much or don’t believe they have anything to offer.  Being called and having gifts is not about killing ourselves. 

It’s about living out and sharing our greatest joys in community.  Maybe you don’t have the energy to do much hand’s on work, but you can pray and you can use the phone to check on folks you haven’t seen for a while.  Those two things alone go miles to building up the community especially if that means you are living out your calling.  Taking time to reconnect on a Sunday morning or sharing a meal with friends and inviting someone new to join the group, whatever group of which you are a part… it really can be that simple…at least to start.  But if you aren’t sure and still don’t think this applies to you then we should talk because I know that each person in this place has important gifts for the work of building up the community in love and joy.

It is clear in this letter that the love and joy serves one ultimate purpose.  And that purpose is for the building up of the body of Christ.  The strength, vitality, the love of the community that worships and serves Jesus Christ together is the whole purpose of ministry.  It is the whole purpose of our gifts, our resources, and our time and energy.  That really is it.  That might be evident when we gather for worship or study the Bible or bring food for the pantry or do a hands-on mission project.  But it is also true when we gather to decide how to use our resources for the repair and maintenance of the building or when check in on friends or members we haven’t seen for a while.  And the beauty of this is that there is no one right way to do it all.  There is no one right way to praise God, there is no one right way to do the work of the church, there is no one right way to have a parking lot conversation, and there is no one right way to organize our community. 

The only thing that matters is that we keep one goal in mind.  And to do this we need to ask ourselves, does this build up the community in love?  Is this binding us together to serve God?  Imagine really taking time to ask that question whenever we gathered officially or unofficially as community members?  What might change if we began each of our gatherings with that question?  Will this build up the community in love?  Imagine the possibilities.

While this is a call to unity is it not a call to uniformity.  And the unity to which Paul speaks is the unity of the faith and knowledge of Jesus.  There is plenty of room for divergent beliefs and individuality.  This has not often been the way this is lived out.  This week some of you might have seen the call to support Chic-Fil-A in the ongoing fast food culture war.  And as a Christian I am not really happy about the way junk food and consumerism have been wedded to the unity of faith.  But an evangelical and conservative blogger asked a question that seems to get at the idea of building the community up in love.  The question that was asked was this:  Does anyone truly believe that the message being sent last Wednesday was a message that expressed the love of Jesus Christ?  Whether or not you think the fast food chain supports a Christian message or not, did this event sound more like a battle cry or a call to share the love of God in Jesus Christ?  In other words, the love of God and the unity of faith were not served up with a side of waffle fries on Wednesday.

For those of us who do not stand with our brothers and sisters in this action or even believes what we have to remember is that unity does not mean uniformity.  I do not stand with Mr. Cathy but that does not mean I am not a Christian or even for that matter a Bible believing Christian, because I am.  And the good news is that Paul did not write that unity must come on every issue of faith.  Unity is not uniformity of thought.  The unity is on the faith of Jesus Christ.  The unity is not based on our opinions about political issues or parties.  The unity is not in the style of worship.  The unity is not in how we express our faith.  The unity is on the faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ.  But unity is an elusive thing.  The key to this comes when Paul writes that we must grow up in every way. 

            Growing up means that we no longer need other people to think like us or act like us to extend the love and grace we know in Jesus Christ.  The truth is that the immature mind cannot hold two opposing thoughts and believe that both might hold some truth.  That is where love comes in.  Leading a life worthy of the calling means we are always being called to grow up in love.  For one ultimate purpose, and that purpose is to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until 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. And to do so by speaking the truth in love, and grow up in every way.  So I challenge all of us… and invite you to challenge me... to lead everything we do with one simple idea… does this build up the community in love?  Does this equip others to do the same?  Amen?  Amen!