Tug of War

Based on James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a

Life is full of tension. We are always being pulled in more than one direction. Different demands, different responsibilities, always calling for our attention. I have some errands to run, but I want to finish this book. The budget is going to be tight this month, but they never get into the playoffs. I’ve got to go see them play now There is so much I’ve got to get done today, but I am so tired. People are counting on me, but I just can’t do it. Yes, we are pulled in many directions. Life has tension, and sometimes we get close to the breaking point.

One of the big tensions we have to deal with is the tension between two kinds of wisdom. That’s what James is talking about in this passage we heard this morning. He speaks of wisdom that comes from above and wisdom that comes from below. These two wisdoms are like two anchors in a game of tug of war. You know what I mean? Each side will have their biggest player at the end of the rope. The rope is wrapped around that person. They are the ones who do the most pulling and everyone on each side is helping that anchor pull with all their might to move that flag over the line. These two wisdoms are like that anchor. We are that flag being pulled one way or another. Which direction will we go? Will we move toward the wisdom that comes from above, live out of that kind of wisdom? Or will we live by the wisdom of the world? That is the tension that we find ourselves in all the time.

The wisdom of the world is about the way of the world. “There’s a sucker born every minute.” “Don’t bring a knife to a gun fight.” “Never let them see you cry.” “You need to look after your own interests because no one is going to do that for you.” “If you aren’t successful, then you are a failure.” “Second place is first loser.” “New and improved is always better.” “You must adapt or die.” “Survival of the fittest.” It’s a dog-eat-dog world.”

Wisdom from above, divine wisdom, is this: “Put the interests of other above your own.” “True love is this, to give up your life for another.” “If someone strikes you on one check, offer the other as well.” “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” “Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.” “There is freedom in service.” It is wisdom that doesn’t make sense. It is opposite of worldly wisdom or even common sense. But, after all, God’s ways are not our own ways. It is a way of living that often goes against the grain, in opposition to “how the world works.”

I was at a service once where Bishop Palmer gave the sermon. In his talk, he referenced a book on leadership written by an Anglican priest. It is a book that contrasts what the world teaches us about leadership and what God teaches. For example, the conventional wisdom for someone who enters into a new leadership position is to hit the ground running. Prepare yourself before you go in, clear about what needs to be done to move the mission forward, work with that positive feeling of the honeymoon period, move quickly. But another way is to hit the ground on our knees. Instead of coming in with your own agenda of what needs to be done, cleaning house, pushing forward, instead, enter in to the new assignment with a spirit of openness and humility, seeking direction from God, inviting your leaders to join you in a season of prayer to discover together where God might be leading.

Here’s another: conventional wisdom is that leaders should have thick skins. When you are in a position of authority, people who are hurt by a system will direct their hurt at you. People in positions of leadership are not always going to be liked and will always have their detractors and critics. So, you have to have a thick skin, to take the verbal blows so you can move forward. But maybe there is another way. Maybe leaders should have thin skins. If your skin is too thick, you throw up a wall. You are unable to be responsive to people. A thick skin is not a transparent skin. A thin skin allows for the experience of pain, makes you vulnerable, makes you human.

This is the tension: hit the ground running or hit the ground on your knees. Have thick skin or have thin skin. Which way will you go?

One time, I was at a coffee shop seated close to a couple of young women chatting about life. One of them made a statement that stuck with me. She said, “Is life about being successful, having a great career and making lots of money, or is it about how well you have loved and keeping the faith?” So well put. It crystallizes that tension we are all in. Is life ultimately about being successful or being faithful? Is it about having lots of money or is it about loving deeply? Of course, you can be rich and also deeply loving. You can have a successful career and remain a deeply faithful Christian. But in the end, what matters more? That’s the tension.

As Christians, our task, our struggle, is to submit ourselves to divine wisdom and not worldly wisdom. As we live out our lives and confront our challenges, we have to always be asking ourselves, “Which direction will I go? Whose advice will I follow?” As Christians, our desire should always be to follow God’s advice, to follow the direction we receive from Scripture, and from those who have a deep relationship with Jesus Christ, who can direct us in ways that honor God.

But it is still a struggle. The wisdom of the world is all around us. The world works a certain way and we live in it, constantly being influenced by it. To strike out and follow God’s wisdom while we are in the world is sometimes like swimming upstream when everyone else is going downstream. It is so easy to get pulled in this tug of war towards living our lives as the wisdom of the world dictates. To go in the other direction takes effort. It takes discernment, of being careful about the advice you receive, and the influences that you allow to take hold in your mind and in your heart. It takes acknowledgement that what seems like the right thing to do may not be so, that what God may be calling you to do makes no worldly sense. You have to risk ridicule and misunderstanding by others. To submit to God’s way and not to the way of the world is always a struggle.

But it is the right struggle. It is the good fight. That fight is to have pure heart, a heart in which we will just one thing. That’s what an undivided heart means, to will one thing. And that one thing that we are to desire is to submit to God. We want our will to be God’s will. Our only desire is to know and do God’s will. We remember the story when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane. And he cried out to God in prayer, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not my will but yours be done.” As Christians, we want to give our hearts, completely and without reservation, to God. This is the goal, the struggle, the good fight, in which we are all engaged as Christians.

And so, as we draw near to God, as we submit to God, to following God’s way and not the way of the world, we find that we must resist the devil to do so. We must resist the influence that the devil would have on us. By submitting to God, we must resist envy and selfish ambition, the two ways in which the devil often tries to influence us. Envy and selfish ambition, by the way, is the foundation for much of what passes for the wisdom of the world. I want what they have. I’m going to knock them down so I can get my way. I have my goals and, if it means using other people to get what I want, so be it. If it means climbing over people on my way to the top, well, it’s just business, nothing personal.

We discover that as we draw nearer to God, there is less incentive to be envious of others. As we draw closer to God, we find that our own selfish ambition loses its pull. The more we fall in love with Jesus, desire only to worship, be devoted to, and follow our Master, it does something to our hearts. It does something to our felt needs and desires. We look at our situations in life, perhaps look back to all that we fought and stewed about when we are younger, before we had drawn closer to God, and we ask ourselves, “Why was I fighting? Why did I let that person get to me? Why did I think that fight was worth fighting?”

See, the closer we draw to God, the less envious we become, the less attractive or meaningful becomes our own selfish ambitions. We discover the secret of peace, of joy, of contentment. Paul speaks of how he has had much and he has had little, but in every situation he has discovered how to be content. Paul knew that the things of this world, and the standing a person has in the world, are all temporary and can be taken quickly. But God is eternal and unchanging. God’s love and acceptance is unbending. The only security that can be truly had is the grace that God offers us. God’s love endures forever. To be with God, to keep the faith and love deeply, that is enough. To get to that place in life is a peaceful place to be.

Life will always have tension. We can resist the devil, as James tells us. But the devil, like the anchor on the other end of the tug of war rope, is persistent. To draw close to God and away from the devil is an ongoing and never-ending struggle. Sometimes we are going the direction we want to go. Other times, we get tired or distracted, and before we know it, we are moving in the wrong direction. We keep going back and forth. The good fight is ongoing. But our home remains in God. For we know that the fight is already won. It was won on the cross. Our choice is whether we will pull with God, and see this fight through to the end.

Speech is Powerful

Based on James 3:1-12

Speech is powerful. To have the permission to speak should not be taken lightly. There’s a reason why the first amendment in our bill of rights refers to the right of free speech. To speak is to have influence on the people who hear your voice. When you speak, you are impacting the people that hear you. They may not understand what you are saying. They may not agree with what you are saying. But the words you say still gets in their brains. They are not the same once they have heard what you said. Maybe you have heard this phrase, “You can’t unsay something.” Once it is out there, you can’t take it back. Speech can change views or reinforce views. Speech can stir up emotions or calm people down. Lives can be changed through speech. To speak is to use power.

Speech has the power to inspire. Some speeches have become legendary because of their power to inspire: Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, Reagan’s “Morning in America” speech, Kennedy’s Inaugural speech where he said that classic line, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” These and many other speeches we have heard have lifted our hearts, stirred us with pride, opened up our minds to new possibilities, given us confidence and hope for the future. Speech can inspire us.

Speech also has the power to destroy. Speech can stir up hatred, divisiveness, and chaos. It can feed grievances. It can play on our fears. It can cast blame, undermine trust, promote conspiracy theories and propaganda. Speech can rally a mob into a frenzy. We saw what speech can do in Washington, D.C. on January 6. Speech radicalized the terrorists that hijacked planes on Sept. 11, 2001 that led to destruction and incomprehensible loss at so many levels. Speech can inspire us. Speech can bring out the worst in us. Speech is powerful.

Speech also has the power to create. When God created the heavens and the earth, God spoke these things into existence. The language of mathematics can create algo rhythms that are revolutionizing the technology that fills our lives. The language of philosophy creates explanations for how the world works and what is the meaning of life, of why there is something instead of nothing. The language of history creates explanations of what happened in the past and what that might mean, what lessons we can learn from history that we can apply today, or maybe understand what is happening now. As the saying goes, “History doesn’t repeat itself but it does rhyme.” Stories, myths, legends, these are forms of speech that help us name what is true, who we are, who we should be. The speech of poetry stimulates our imagination which can inspire us or simply entertain us. Here’s a fun one from Shel Silverstein:

Peg plugged in her ‘lectric toothbrush,

Mitch plugged in his steel guitar,

Rick plugged in his CD player,

Liz plugged in her VCR.

Mom plugged in her ‘lectric blanket,

Pop plugged in the TV fights,

I plugged in my blower-dryer—

Hey! Who turned out all the lights?

Above all else, speech comes from the heart. What we say reveals something about our hearts.  Speaking from the heart is unavoidable. Even if we are reading out loud the words of someone else, how we say it and why we chose to read those words out loud reveals something about our heart. When we say things that are not true, that try to deceive how we really feel or what is really going on, that reveals our hearts anyway. When we say things that are warm and loving, or when we say something that is hurtful, this all reveals our hearts. As James points out, blessings and curses come out of our mouths, which reveals how our hearts are divided. Our hearts are a combination of love and cruelty, of warmth and coldness. The truth about our divided hearts is revealed by the words that come out of our mouths.

All of us have hearts that have been hurt. Our hearts are wounded and scarred. That’s what life does to us. None of us get through life unscathed. Part of what salvation is about is the healing of the heart. When we confess our trust in Jesus and invite Jesus into our lives, Jesus moves into our hearts. Jesus is the great physician. Jesus works to heal our broken and beaten hearts. It’s not quick. Inviting Jesus into our hearts does not eliminate the hurts that come our way. The healing of our hearts is a life-long process. It takes time to be healed from the damage that has been inflicted on us. Besides the fact that our hearts get hurt all through our lives. We are all in continual need of healing in our hearts.

Because our hearts have been bruised, because the cancer of sin has plagued our hearts, is it any wonder that we sometimes say things we wish we hadn’t said? Is it any wonder that we fail to speak up when we should? If the source of our speech is our heart, and our hearts are beaten and scarred and distorted by sin, it’s no wonder that we sometimes say things that are not pure but are bitter? As James says, fresh water doesn’t come from a bitter source. Especially for those of us, like me, who have a tendency to speak before thinking, the impurity of our hearts can be on full display.

One of the lessons that James gives us throughout this letter is the need for us to focus on the work of healing our hearts. This is what salvation is about. It’s not just fire insurance. It’s not just knowing that you are forgiven or that you will go to heaven when you die. No, salvation is about healing, the healing of the heart. Salvation is about purifying our hearts as the Holy Spirit inhabits and fills our hearts. It is about cleansing our hearts from the impurities that have stained it. There is this classic praise song that goes, “Change my heart, O God; make it ever new. Change my heart, O God; make me be like you.” This is the essence of salvation. And this work of salvation is life-long. It takes a lot of repentance, of humbling yourself, admitting your mistakes and receiving that word that in the name of Jesus Christ you are forgiven. Words of love and forgiveness have the power to heal our hearts.

While we are working on healing our hearts, it is probably best for us to guard our speech. If anything, so we minimize harm. I think we all know the saying we were taught as kids, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” is a bunch of baloney. Words can hurt. Words can cause a lot of trauma that can leave deep wounds. James shares the consensus of teachers from many cultures and throughout the centuries: that it is always better to listen than to speak. Maybe you have heard this truism: God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason. Perhaps you remember those E.F. Hutton commercials: Two men are in a posh restaurant talking about the stock market. One of them says to the other, “Who is your broker?” And his friend says, “My broker is E.F. Hutton, and E.F. Hutton says…” And everything goes silent. The waiters, the others in the restaurant, they freeze, close their mouths, and wait to hear because when E.F. Hutton talks, people listen.

Then there are the wise souls. Maybe you have known a few. They rarely speak. And when they do talk, they don’t say much. But what they do say are words that need to be heard. They are words that are thoughtful and just what needs to be said in the moment. To be a person of few words is not a bad thing. So, I think I will stop right here.

To Love is to Respond

Based on James 2:1-10, 14-17

It is pretty tough to be overlooked, to be passed over. It hurts to be ignored, to be pushed aside. George had been with the company fifteen years. He rarely missed a day of work. He worked hard. He contributed to the success of the company. He was dependable and solid. Yet, he finds himself being supervised by some kid who has only been with the company a few years. George got passed over for the supervisor job because upper management saw someone with potential, so they put him on the fast track, moving him through the ranks while George, who had put in the time and knew the ins and outs of the company, was passed over. George kept doing his job. But he had some resentment. Was George passed over because he was too old? Was it because he was Black? George is one of many examples of competent, dedicated, and hard-working people who get passed over.

Which is worse, being passed over or being ignored all together? Marcia had burned her bridges with her family. She had a man who promised to love her and take care of her. But he cheated on her and when she caught him, he kicked her out of his place. She had nowhere to live, no money, nowhere to go. And so, there she sits in front of the bank with a little scrap of cardboard scribbled on it, “Homeless, need help, God bless you.” She sits there all morning. Hundreds of people walk past her. And not one person even looks at her. It is as if she is invisible to the world.

What is especially bad is when people are overlooked or ignored in the church. I wonder if you have ever had this experience. You are visiting a church. You go into the sanctuary, worship, and then leave the sanctuary. Your presence is barely acknowledged. You walk out into the narthex and see groups of people huddled together chatting and laughing. They seem like a friendly bunch of people. You walk slowly around the groups of folks and head out the door. Nobody even noticed you apparently. I’m sure the people in that church would say they are friendly. But they were so friendly with each other they barely noticed you. It’s not a good feeling to be the one who gets the message that you don’t belong, in church of all places.

Let’s sit with this for a minute. Every now and then we do have people who come visit us on Sunday morning. When we see that visitor, all of us give them the once-over. It’s human nature. We see the person and immediately start sizing them up and making judgments. Is this someone I can relate to? Are they here to worship or do they just want to see the pastor? We do this. We make snap judgments about someone and try to pigeon-hole them, so we think we know who we are dealing with. This starts in school when kids form cliques based on all kinds of criteria. You are a jock, or a band geek, or a nerd. It is natural for us to cluster into groups based on similar interests, perspectives, and the like. How is it possible for you to be friends with a Michigan fan? I know personally that this is possible. If, every time you look at this person, you are turned off because of their style, their attitude, their bad breath, it’s hard to connect. If you have no common interests, your personalities clash, there’s just a bad vibe between the two of you. It’s hard to be in a relationship with a person who is always rubbing you the wrong way. We tend to want to spend time with people we like, that we agree with, that make us feel comfortable. We avoid being around people that put us on edge, that we think are weird or annoying. To show partiality is as normal as breathing. It’s just something we do without thinking about it.

But James makes it plain. “If you show partiality, then you are not loving your neighbor.” Your neighbor doesn’t always look like you or think like you. Your neighbor isn’t always easy to be around. Your neighbor may not fit in and might make you feel very uncomfortable. But they are still your neighbor. Anyone who enters your space, that six-foot circumference around your body, is your neighbor. And God’s commandment is clear: You shall love your neighbor. To show partiality, to overlook or ignore the person in your space, is not loving. It is hurtful.

Remember, love is not mere words. You walk into the bank and see Marcia sitting there with her little sign. You actually see her, which is a start. You look at her and say, “God bless you, be fed, stay warm, be safe.” And then you go on your way. Well, at least Marcia knows she isn’t invisible. But her situation hasn’t changed. Your nice words don’t help her. Love is not a matter of words only. Now, I know. Whether or not to give money to someone who is homeless is complicated. Maybe you can give them something to eat or some water. Maybe if you have time, you can have a quick bite with them at a near-by restaurant. Or maybe you really have nothing to give them. Acknowledging their presence is all you have to give and that should not be minimized. Still, at least for me, every time I see someone who is homeless, I am at least motivated to ask the question, “Is there something I can do right now to help this person?” Maybe there isn’t anything more than saying “hello.” The point is to be responsive and not look away. That’s what love asks of us.

Remember that love is not only a warm and fuzzy feeling. Every parent can testify to this truth. There are times when you were raising your kids, especially when they hit their teen age years, when the feelings were not always warm and fuzzy. You drove each other crazy! But you still loved your kids. Or maybe you were raising “fur babies.” Pets can be irritating sometimes. But you still love them. Even when your dog chewed up your wallet or your child stomped down the hall to their bedroom screaming, “I hate you!”, you still had love. It’s just that love is not all rainbows, butterflies, and pink unicorns.

Love is an ethic. Love is being responsive to the person in front of you, a responsiveness that meets the need of that person, so that they are better off for having run in to you. To love Marcia means to help her get what she needs if you can, whether that be some food or some shelter. What could you do besides smile and say, “God bless you?” Do you have the time to take her to a diner and share a meal with her and hear her story? Maybe you could tell her about the homeless shelter for women that can get her a safe place to stay and the resources she needs to get her life together.

How can you love that person that annoys the heck out of you? You don’t have to like them. That may be asking too much. But you can at least smile and say “hi.” That’s a place to start. What else could you do to support them, to respond to a need they might have, to communicate in a real way that you care about them?

God shows no partiality. God loves everyone the same. That’s what makes God, God. God does not overlook you. God includes you in God’s care. When Jesus died on the cross so that death would be defeated, it was for your sake that Jesus died. Jesus suffered death on behalf of everyone, not just for some. God is always there for you. Nothing can separate you from the love of God. God’s love is that big.

That is our challenge as God’s children, as those who have determined to live our lives following God’s example. The example God has set for us is hard. To love as God loves isn’t really possible. It’s that goal of perfection, of perfect love, that we strive for until we draw our last breath in this world. To love as God loves is something we strive for if our faith is to have any integrity. How can you say you love God, but you don’t love that annoying misfit whom God made? How can you say you love God and hate anyone? Well, hate may be a strong word. But maybe sometimes it’s not. Our integrity demands that we love. But sometimes love for the other is almost impossible. Thank God that God doesn’t love us based on our capacity to love others. God loves us no matter what. Still, this is our challenge. Whenever anyone enters your space, that six-foot circle around you, that’s your neighbor. God expects you to love your neighbor. How will you respond?

Works of Art in Progress

Based on James 1:17-27

When God made you, God broke the mold. You are unique. Of the billions of people God has made, there has only been one of you. You are a unique, intentional creation of God. Fred Craddock tells the story of a time when he was the pastor of a small country church in Appalachia. On the first day of Vacation Bible School, he got through his lesson plan with the kids under his care in five minutes and had only fifty-five more minutes to go. So, he decided to send the kids out into God’s creation. He said, “I’m going to ring the church bell, and then I want you kids to go outside and find something that God made. And then when you hear the bell ring again, I want you to come back and share what you found and what it tells you about God.” He rang the church bell and the kids scattered. His intention was not to ring the bell again. But after a while he gave in and rang the bell. The kids came back with what they found. Fred asked one of the children, “Mary, what do you have?” She said, “Some huckleberries.” “What does that tell you about God?” “That God is good.” “That’s right. And Johnny, what do you have?” “I have a rock.” “And what does that tell you about God?” “That God is stout.” “Yes, God is stout.” Then there was Larry, the ornery kid, the child that the teachers warn each other about. He had in his hand the hand of his sister who he got from the kindergarten. So, Fred asked, “Larry, who do you have?” “My sister.” “What does she tell you about God?” Larry thought and replied, “I don’t know.” Do you know? I think you do. God made everything in all of creation and called all of it good. But when God made Larry’s little sister, just like when God made you and me, God said, “Ah, this is the best I can do; just like myself.” You and I are the best of what God has made. James refers to us as the first fruits of God’s creation, the best representation of creation itself. God can do no better than when God created you and me.

But we are a work in progress. We are the best God can do but we are all in a process of refinement. A sculptor will look at a block of stone and see in her mind’s eye a beautiful work of art. She just has to break, chip, and shape the rock until that beautiful form comes out. Each of us are masterpieces of God’s creation. But God is still working on us. We get chipped and shaped until that beautiful piece of art that is you emerges. Our whole life is a process of being formed, shaped, refined. Of course, not everything that happens to us was what God had in mind. But God can take every experience we go through and use it to bring out the best in us. That’s our hope when we face stuff in life that somehow God is behind it all, patiently working with us, leading us, shaping us, into who God desires us to become. We are works of art in process.

God works on us through experiences that we have. God also works through people. It is through people that we come to learn and understand who God is and who God wants us to become. Think of the first Sunday School teacher who taught you to sing “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know.” What about that youth pastor, if you were fortunate to have one, who put up with you, and through silly games, campfire devotions, service projects, and short conversations, continued to build on that foundation of faith. Think of the pastor who saw something in you and encouraged and mentored you to grow deeper in your faith, to organize and lead that mission trip. Think of all the Bible study teachers and conferences you have attended where you were given information and gained insights on how to live God’s way. God doesn’t just use pastors and Sunday school teachers to help shape us into the kind of person God desires us to become. Think of that difficult supervisor who pushed you to up your game, to be a more disciplined and effective worker; the birth of your first child, and the realization that you have a precious life completely dependent on you. Or the person that you have committed to share life with for the rest of your lives. What have they taught you in your years together? God has placed many people in our lives and spoken through them to share with us God’s truths, about how God wants us to live and to love, about who God wants us to become.

Here’s the thing, though. God can work on us through experiences and through the people that God places in our lives. But we have to be open. We have to be humble and willing to listen, really listen, to take a good hard look at what we are learning, like a long gaze in the mirror rather than a quick glance. The first step in learning something is to acknowledge that you don’t know everything, and that this person talking to you may have something to say that you need to know. For God to work on us and shape us, we have to be open, be humble, acknowledge that we are works in progress. God isn’t done with you and no matter how good you feel about yourself, which is important by the way, you are immeasurably precious to God just as you are, but you aren’t finished yet. No matter how comfortable you are in your patterns and habits, there is always more to learn and to master in the art of life.

However, being open to learn isn’t the end. Gaining new knowledge, new insights, about the things of God and about how to live God’s way, how to take care of yourself in more healthy ways, how to love well, learning about these things does you no good unless you take the next step. You have to actually do the things. You have to act, put into practice, what you are learning. Almost all of us can relate to this common scenario. You go to a conference, get a three-ring binder full of great information, ideas and strategies that you can try when you get back home. And when you get home the binder goes on a shelf to collect dust. We just keep doing what we did before. We know better but we don’t act better. Using James’ image of the mirror, we look at the mirror, see what we need to change about ourselves, and then walk away from the mirror and quickly forget what we saw and what we intended to do about it, returning to our familiar habits and patterns. It is a tragedy that is repeated over and over. I’m embarrassed to admit how common it is for me, as a person who loves learning things but struggles to put what I learn into actual practice. We all get set in our ways and it is hard to break it. To become what God wants us to be, we have to act on the insights and truths, that implanted word that James writes about. We have to allow ourselves to be chipped, shaped, refined.

It isn’t easy. To change habits and patterns, to change the way we think about things or let go of what we thought was true but maybe isn’t true, it’s hard. It can be painful. It can be scary. The first time you got on a bike, that was scary. You felt awkward. You fell down a lot. You got bruised and maybe scraped your knee. But you had someone by your side to help. Maybe it was your dad who would run alongside, holding the bike as you increase your speed, and then he says, “OK, I’m going to let go.” “No, daddy, don’t let go!” “Son, I have to.” And dad lets go, you try to keep your balance and peddle, but over you go again. Dad picks you back up, helps you get back on, and encourages you to keep trying. Over and over, the process continues. But then, when dad lets go of the bike this time, off you went. All the awkwardness and fear melt away into the freedom of being able to ride that bike on your own. You speed down the sidewalk and on to new possibilities.

There are a lot of “bikes” we need to learn to ride through our lives: how to be a good student, how to be a good worker, how to be a good friend or spouse, how to be a good parent, how to be good at our vocation, how to navigate through the different stages of life. Growing up, maturing, is a process. There are people beside you all along the way. There is also a lot of awkwardness and a bit of fear from time to time. We fall down a lot. We get hurt. And there’s all kinds of influences that try to get us off track. James talks about how desire gives birth to sin which gives birth to death. He talks about how anger can throw us off track. He talks about how “sordidness and rank growth of wickedness” gets in the way of our progress. There is the temptation to learn what to do but then not acting on what you know, looking in the mirror and then forgetting what you saw. Absolutely, it is a struggle.

But it’s not hopeless. There are moments where we have breakthroughs, and we are free of old habits and ways of thought that blocked us from becoming who God intends us to be. Another chip has been cleared away. We experience growth. What once was awkward becomes natural. All along, God was with us. The one who James says is the source of every gift continually gives what we need as we strive to put into action what we are learning. And when we get the lesson, here comes the next challenge, the next barrier to break through, the next piece of stone that needs to be broken off. God is never finished with us. That masterpiece that is you, the best that God can create, the first fruit of all creation, is a work in progress. May we yield to God’s creative hand, and through learning and doing, slowly become all God desires us to become, for God’s glory.

Engage in the Resistance

Based on Ephesians 6:10-20

Today we reach the end of our summer road trip through the letter to the Ephesians. It has been quite a journey. We have seen visions of the glory of God and the unity that God, through Jesus, has provided for us. We have thought through how this unity can impact our lives today, some examples of what this unity looks like in real life. We have talked about the rules of the road, those principles and guidelines that support us in manifesting our unity. And now, we have arrived home, carrying with us the memories of this trip.

Back when I was a kid, and our family would go on summer road trips, my dad took with him a Nikon camera. He took lots of pictures, mostly of the scenery but also a few pictures of the family. When we got back home, he took the rolls of film to the Fotomat to get them developed into slides. Then, a few weeks later, my dad set up the slide projector and the screen in the living room, loaded up the carousel, and one click at a time we would view the pictures and remember our trip. It was a great way to review all we saw and did. It brought back memories of fun stories and some chuckles as we remembered the inevitable mishap that happened along the way.

I invite us to approach today’s scripture as a way to reflect back on all that we have seen these past several weeks. We enter into this time of remembering not with a slide show but with a single image, this well-known illustration of putting on the whole armor of God: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoes that make us ready to proclaim the gospel of peace, the shield of faith to quench the fiery darts of the devil, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. It’s a great image. Perhaps you can visualize yourself wearing this suit of armor and holding up the sword of God’s word. A bit militaristic, true. But also an interesting image Paul uses when we remember that when he wrote this letter he is sitting in chains in a prison.

Paul tells us why wearing this armor is something we need to do. We are to stand against the forces of evil. Verse 11, “stand against the wiles of the devil.” Verse 13, “withstand on that evil day…stand firm.” Verse 14, “stand therefore.” We can’t miss Paul’s point! Paul is very clear that there are evil forces in this world whose intent is to knock us down, break us apart, and ruin our community. These are forces from which we cannot run and hide. They are always coming after us. They are in the air. So, we have to stand our ground against these forces and not back down. Thus, the armor.

These forces of evil that Paul is talking about are not some general force. Paul identifies specific kinds of evil forces that are manifested in real life ways. He speaks of rulers, authorities, cosmic powers of this present darkness, and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. What are these? Well, they aren’t people. Our struggle is not against people but against forces. The rulers and authorities he is talking about are not human rulers or human authorities. These are spiritual entities. The cosmic powers of this present darkness are forces that emerge in the world while spiritual forces of evil come from outside of this world, the heavenly places. Now, there is a lot of confusion over exactly what Paul has in mind as far as what these specific evil forces are. But the main point for us is that they are specific and diverse. And they manifest in real life ways. These forces are present and active in society, in systems, in institutions, in people, sometimes in us. How can this be?

Back in 1962, almost 60 years ago, in Jackson, Mississippi, there were three young people sitting at a lunch counter in a drug store. They were a white man, a white woman and a black woman. Behind them were a large number of mostly young white men, although there is also an old white man standing in the back. The crowd is jeering this trio sitting at the lunch counter. The white man has had a bottle of catsup emptied on his head. The black woman looks to have had some kind of white powder poured over her head, maybe coffee creamer. When the picture is taken, a young white man is in the act of emptying the sugar jar on the head of the white woman. These three young people, their backs to the mob, sit there and take the abuse. Wearing God’s armor, they don’t run away or lash back. They stand their ground as they reveal the presence of evil forces. It is the evil embedded in Jim Crow segregation, the evil that motivated such hostility in the crowd of white men. The three young people sitting at the lunch counter, two white and one black, demonstrate resisting the forces of evil. We also see one other person in the picture. He’s an older white man, sitting at the end of the counter. He is looking down at his plate of food. His face has a look of shame. These three young people standing their ground against the forces of evil prompted in this man the need to acknowledge that the evil of segregation was not right. He was ashamed. His heart was opened a little that day. For him, this experience became a small transformation. He left that diner different than when he went in.

That instance took place in 1962. The struggle continues, and it is real. There are threats to unity and peace all around us. We see it in our political life, with so many voices of division. Racism and fear of the stranger manifest in many ways, not only through rhetoric but through policy. Our food systems separate us from where our food comes from. So much of the food we eat is processed in a factory somewhere. Our urban way of life separates us from the land we live on. We see forces of division in our churches as we divide over all kinds of issues. Misunderstandings and quarreling put stress on families that lead to division. Divisiveness bends and sometimes breaks relationships.

With so many manifestations of evil in the world, we must engage. Love requires it. We don’t need Paull to tell us to engage. How can you and I not engage with the forces of evil that seek to divide and destroy? Love demands engagement. But how do we go about engaging these forces which, again, are not people but are spiritual?

Well, I would say the first step in engaging with evil forces is to be determined in your will to do it rather than turn a blind eye. I know how tempting it is to look the other way. We are tempted to tune out the news, to cocoon ourselves the best we can with our friends and family in an attempt to shut out those forces from our awareness. But it doesn’t work. These forces are everywhere and can’t be avoided. We are tempted to rationalize what we see or minimize it or shrug our shoulders and say, “that’s just the way it is.” We say that every police department has a few bad apples rather than interrogating how policies, training and police culture can be influenced spiritually, manifesting distrust and sometimes callousness. We say it is unfortunate that Sue had to be cut off of her life saving treatments because of insurance rather than questioning how evil forces penetrate into bureaucracy and policies that lead to someone needlessly being blocked from health care. Again, this struggle is not against people but against spiritual forces that divide and destroy. These forces are all around us. The first step is to acknowledge this and be real about the influence of these forces rather than turn a blind eye or find a scapegoat or shrug our shoulders and say, “ain’t it awful.”

The second step in engaging with evil is to be set in our minds not to lash out. A violent response is not the go to move. I think again of those three young people sitting at the lunch counter. If any of them turned around to lash out at a single one of that mob it would have been an all-out beat down and nothing redeeming and transforming would have happened. That man with the shameful look on his face may have then thought to himself, “Ah, just some troublemakers.” The young resisters sitting at the lunch counter would have lost the moral high ground by lashing out. Remember, our struggle is not against people. It is against spiritual forces. Lashing out at people only perpetuates division, hatred, and broken community. Violence, verbally and physically, is destructive by its very nature.

We must set in our minds that evil forces are real and must be resisted. We resist lashing out at people. Third, we use the armor God has given us. We speak the truth. We represent righteousness. We proclaim the gospel of peace. We exercise our faith in the power of God when evil forces send out the fiery darts of discouragement and futility. We trust in our salvation. We ground our resistance in the word of God, the word that comes to us from the Spirit. By “word” Paul does not mean only what is on the printed page of Scripture. He is talking about Spirit inspired messages. Sometimes people will say to a pastor in their time of need, “Preacher, can you give us a word?” The word is just the thing we need to hear in times of struggle. That’s the word that cuts through the noise, the doubts, the hurts and confusion so that we are clear about what is happening and what we need to do to resist these forces. This is the armor, God’s own armor, that God has given us to use as we resist the evil forces that seek to divide and destroy community.

Finally, resisting evil forces is done through constant prayer. That’s what Paul wrote after describing the armor. He instructs us to pray in the Spirit at all times. Doesn’t that make sense? If we are engaging evil spiritual forces, should we not be tuned in to the Holy Spirit that works through us to vanquish these forces? We want to be a conduit through which the Spirit can flow. This happens by being aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit within us and allowing ourselves to be directed by the Spirit in our thoughts, words and deeds. We want to be filled with, possessed by, the Spirit of God so that evil forces get pushed out. Think of it this way. We receive so many different influences in every moment of our lives, influencing what we see, what we feel, what choices we make in response to a particular situation. What Paul is saying is to zero in on the influence of the Holy Spirit. Let this influence be the guiding one throughout our day. This grounds us and directs us so that we can engage the evil forces effectively, resist them, stand our ground.

And remember that the struggle to resist evil is not your struggle alone. We do it together as the body of Christ. This is a community struggle, not the uncoordinated efforts of individuals. In this struggle we truly need each other. There really is strength in numbers. And the body of Christ has numbers! There are over a billion of us on this planet right now and when you add in the billions more that are now in the church triumphant that’s a lot of members in the body of Christ. We don’t often think about how massive the body of Christ is. We buy in to the rhetoric of division within the church, which is another evil force we have to resist. Remember that the unity we have in the body of Christ is not something we create. It is what God has given us. Our challenge is to acknowledge the unity God has provided and build on that. But as long as the body of Christ buys into and even adds to the rhetoric of division, we are less effective in the struggle against the evil forces that seek to divide and destroy. See every Christian you know, no matter what church they belong to or what their theology or views they have on social issues, as a brother or sister in the resistance against evil forces. What I just said alone is a struggle. We have a lot of work to do to realize unity in the body of Christ even as we resist the forces that are seeking to rip apart society and disrupt the cycles of nature that sustain life on this planet. This engagement with evil forces is way bigger than any one of us can do. It has to be an entire group effort.

In the end, we have reason to be confident in this struggle. Even though we don’t always win the battle, even though many times we are complicit by being influenced by these forces and do harm, even though we fail to maintain the spirit of unity in the bond of peace, this is ultimately God’s struggle. The power we have at our disposal to resist evil in all its forms is divine power. And we know the end game. God will bring unity out of the chaos. Love will conquer all. The world will be mended. This is God’s determination. You have heard that phrase, maybe original to Martin Luther King or maybe he got it from someone else: the arc is long, but it bends toward justice. This is true. Our struggle, haphazard, faltering, and frustrating as it is, is not in vain.

So, I close with the prayer Paul offered to the Ephesians. Please pray with me. “I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” It is in this name, the name of Jesus, that we pray. Amen.  

Keep On Singing

Based on Ephesians 5:15-20

Our summer road trip continues through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. We have covered a lot of ground. Earlier in our journey, we visited a few glorious scenic outlooks that gave us a glimpse of how awesome God is and how beautiful is the harmony of relationships that God makes possible. The past few weeks, we have been reviewing some of the rules of the road that help us live in ways that build up beloved community, that make real that unity in Christ that God has provided for us. We have been on this road trip for a while. We actually have only a bit further to go until our trip through Ephesians comes to an end, which will be next Sunday. 

For anyone who has been on a long road trip, it is likely that at some point along the way someone started one of those road trip songs. When I was growing up, my family belonged to a large church located near downtown Oklahoma City, St. Luke’s United Methodist Church. We had a large youth group, so much so that the church purchased a full-sized school bus for us to use when we would go on trips, including snow skiing in Colorado during spring break and mission trips to various locations across the country during the summer. The bus was painted white with a big blue stripe along the side. When we were on one of those long trips, someone would get us started singing songs. We might sing church songs like “Pass it On” or “Kum By Yah.” But we also made up a song that went like this, “We all ride in a blue and white bus, a blue and white bus, a blue and white bus. We all ride in a blue and white bus all day long.” Then, there was the classic, “100 bottles of beer on the wall, 100 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 99 bottles of beer on the wall.” Ah, yes. Singing together can definitely help pass the time when you are going down the road.

I thought about traveling songs when I first turned to this passage in Paul’s letter where he encourages us to sing. The more I have reflected on this passage, the more it is becoming one of my favorites. I love how Paul names and encourages us to fill our lives with singing. Whether it’s singing in the shower, humming or whistling a tune while you are out for a walk or listening to music while cleaning the house, music throughout the day really helps get through the day, doesn’t it? Music is such a gift. It can lift our spirits, make the drudgery of the day not so tedious and can bring people together. For me, that might be the most important thing music can do and one reason why I think Paul lifts it up. Music brings people together who otherwise can be divided in so many different ways. Music has the capacity to unite. That’s what we are going to reflect on today, both how music brings us together and how music can help us do the other thing Paul teaches in this passage, which is to give thanks to God in every situation and for everything. We are going to need to talk about that one.

First, let’s talk about singing. Paul invites us to have the Holy Spirit fill us as we sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs among ourselves. As United Methodists, that’s right down our alley! The Wesleyan tradition of which we are a part has always had an emphasis on the singing of hymns. Hymn singing has been and remains a vital tool, not just to express our hearts to God but also to teach what we believe. If you want to study the theology of John and Charles Wesley, you go to John’s sermons and letters and you go to Charles’ hymns. Charles Wesley published over 6,000 hymns. He wrote around 600 hymns just on the topic of Holy Communion.

Wesley’s hymns are a great tool to teach theology, without the use of technical words but with the rich language of poetry. Hymn singing is also a powerful group experience. It is something our tradition has always treasured. Any of us who have gone to a hymn sing know what I mean. In fact, we have talked now and then about having a hymn sing and inviting our community. We need to get that scheduled. Whether it’s just a handful of people gathered around the piano or thousands of people gathered at Annual Conference, singing hymns, praise and worship songs together uplifts the soul.

Group singing is a great way to express unity. Each person participates with their own unique vocal sound. Some voices are deep, some high, some in between. Some are soft and some are strong. Some are right on pitch and others are a little off. And some aren’t even in the ballpark. But it’s ok because in the act of group singing, especially when the song is well known and loved, it all comes together. The other great thing about group singing is that there is always room for one more voice. As I’m sure any choir director will tell you, you never have too many singers. The singing circle can always be opened wider. In fact, the more people who sing, the easier it is for those who are less confident in their singing to join in. Their uncertain voices blend in with the stronger voices around them. One more thing about group singing as opposed to singing solos or smaller groups: there is a lot of grace. You can flub up the words, take a breath whenever you want, stop singing for a bit, it doesn’t matter because the whole group is carrying the song. Truly, group singing is a unifying and grace-filled experience. The Spirit does fill our hearts and fill the space when a group of people are singing together.

Think of the experiences you have had of group singing aside from church on Sunday morning. Maybe you were gathered around the campfire, or singing Happy Birthday to a friend, or participating in a community choir. I remember attending a Promise Keeper’s Convention in Dallas back in the ‘90s. Thousands of men were gathered at Dallas Stadium for worship and to hear speakers who challenged us to live lives that honored God and cared for our families and communities. I will never forget the experience of joining over 6,000 men singing with all our might. We would have lifted the roof off the stadium if it had one! I will also never forget seeing the Indigo Girls at the Newport. The place was packed. And the 400 or so of us gathered there knew all the songs. It became one big group singalong. It was so cool, one of the most fun concerts I have ever been to. The unity and good feeling in that space was palpable. What memories come to your mind of experiences of group singing that filled your heart with the spirit of unity? Paul tells us not to get drunk on wine but instead to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Wine can cheer your heart, but music does a much better job.

Now, let’s talk about that other thing Paul teaches us in this passage, to give thanks to God in every situation. There are some things that we go through in which there is nothing to be thankful for. I am thinking of health crises, the loss of someone too soon, a natural disaster, a freak accident, a vicious assault. I could go on and on. It seems Paul is asking us to do something that just can’t be done.

I wonder if this is not what Paul is teaching us to do. Maybe what he means to say is that we are to thank God in every situation. It’s not about thanking God for the situation but to thank God in the situation. Now this makes more sense to me. In any situation, even tragic ones, we can, by the Holy Spirit, give thanks to God.

But what are we thanking God for? We can thank God for a lot of things. We can be thankful that God is with us in the situation. We can be thankful that God has given us brothers and sisters in Christ who will support us, encourage us, help us through. We can thank God for grace. We can thank God for love. We can be thankful that God will never, ever abandon us.

This being thankful to God in hard situations is not being Pollyanna. Some things that happen are just plain ugly. There are times when grief and lament are necessary. What I am saying is that in some difficult situations, giving thanks to God is an act of resistance. It is resistance to despair. It is resistance to hopelessness. It is to affirm that God’s power is greater than anything that would stand against it.

There’s this song by Chris Tomlin which has a lyric that expresses what I’m trying to say. It goes, “Every blessing You pour out I’ll turn back to praise; and when the darkness closes in Lord, still I will say blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be Your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be Your glorious name.”

This is where music comes in. Music helps us give thanks to God, especially when facing difficult times when there’s not a lot to be thankful for. I have found that music lifts my soul when I am feeling down, frustrated, or anxious. Music puts me in a different frame of mind where I can see through the murkiness of whatever is going on and be able to affirm that I am still loved, that God is still with me, that I have a family and friends that love me and are there for me, that I am a part of the body of Christ, that I am not alone. And I can be thankful for all of this.

And this gets me to Aretha Franklin. The woman who has been named the queen of soul had a challenging life. She had a rough childhood. She became a mother at a young age. Being a black woman in the music business those days and not only survive but thrive brought with it indignities, betrayals, stuff that you and I can’t even imagine.

But that was the thing about her music. It has been said that you can sense her pain through her music. The collective pain of being black in America was something that infused her music but in a way that gives strength, fortitude, even a little joy. It wasn’t just her voice, but her very presence, that filled up the space she was in. She refused to be held back from being herself. Her music was the way she expressed the power of the Holy Spirit, I would say. And the Spirit that filled her blessed so many people, filling their hearts and lifting them up.

Here is a homework assignment for you. Go on YouTube and search Aretha Franklin Amazing Grace live 1972 https://youtu.be/CBKwV6oNYvw. Listen to her rendition of that hymn. The way Aretha sings that hymn is so powerful. Not only does she sing in a way that expresses her pain and her hope, but she takes the congregation with her, a congregation gathered together in California in 1972, a time of great unrest and hardship throughout the nation. I think it was the hardness of the times that provided the context for Aretha Franklin to take that pain and redeem it through the music. And that congregation was lifted up with gratitude and thanksgiving, not just to Aretha, but to God. Watching that performance, listening to the song, and imagining yourself there, you can’t help but have your soul stirred. That’s why she is the queen of soul. She demonstrates what Paul was saying when he told the church not to get drunk on wine but to be filled with the Spirit, as we sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, making melody in our hearts, and giving thanks to God at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thank God for Aretha Franklin. Thank God for the gift of music. May all of our days be filled with music until the day comes when we gather with the saints in heaven and join that unending hymn of praise.

Getting to the Nitty Gritty

Based on Ephesians 4:25-5:2

We are continuing our summer trip through the letter to the Ephesians. As I shared last week, Ephesians begins with expansive descriptions of the awesome reality that all of the universe is connected and held together by Christ, how God contains the whole universe and that the presence of God is everywhere and fills everything. Paul is describing this amazing reality so that the Ephesians become more clear about this reality and their privilege of living their lives with this understanding. It’s this understanding about what God has done through Christ that lays the foundation for the church to really be on the vanguard of living out this reality in daily life, to transform the vivid descriptions of what God has accomplished in Christ into actual lived experience. It’s no easy task since they, and us, live in communities that are so divided in so many ways. We all have to deal with the “what’s in it for me” attitude. And so often we don’t realize that decisions we make and the actions we take impact the community in ways we don’t even see. It is one thing to say we are all in this together and that we are all one body in Christ. It’s another thing to actually live that way and to treat every person we encounter as one of our own, so to speak. It’s easy for us to only be concerned about ourselves, or our family, or our church, or our neighborhood. Our lives are woven into the fabric of the universe whether we acknowledge it or not. We get that. We affirm that. We believe that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ and that everything and every person contains the presence of God. How do we live that way? How do these beliefs shape how we treat one another and the earth on which we live?

The second half of this letter is when Paul starts moving into the nitty gritty. Last week, we reflected on a few of the values that Paul lifts up which reflect the reality of our connectedness: values such as humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with one another in love. Paul talked about some of the roles people play to help build a framework that makes it possible to live out these values. He spoke of those who do the work of waking people up to this new reality of unity in Christ. Paul names apostles, prophets, and evangelists who do that outreach. Then there are pastors and teachers who assist with the work of getting people on board when they come to understand what God has done through Christ.

Now, Paul starts giving some practical examples that help clarify what is involved in living out of this understanding of our unity in Christ. That’s what we will do today, look at some of these examples to see what light they can give us in our own day to day living.

And as Paul has been doing consistently through his letter, I want to stress this again. You and I belong to the body of Christ, not by our own choosing but by what God did through Jesus. God has already unified us in Christ. This unity is not something we achieve by our own actions. The unity we have is not dependent on us, which is what makes the unity we have so precious and durable. Our intertwined lives are a given. This is where we have hope because it is our tendency to strain unity, break off into factions, do our own thing. Left to our own devices, there would be no unity at all. The only unity that we can depend on is the unity that God has provided. We can be assured that we are united to God and that we are united to each other, whether we acknowledge it or not.

Perhaps you have heard of the concept of Ubuntu. It is a Bantu word for humanity which can be translated “I am because we are.” If it was not for a community, I would not exist. My very existence depends on the existence of the community. The community we have is given to us by God. This community is the body of Christ. Because the body of Christ exists, you and I exist. Our connectivity to each other simply is, in spite of the fact that we are not always mindful of our connectivity or sometimes even try to rip ourselves apart from each other. As Paul did, I’m stressing this point because it is so important in making sense of what Paul teaches about how we are to live together. If we can grasp how we are bound together by God’s action, then it is only natural for us to love each other and to turn away from anything that would try to pull us apart.

So, by keeping this in mind, that we are united by the sheer will and grace of God, Paul challenges us this morning to live a life of love. By accepting that God has joined us together, loving each other becomes more of a natural action. We are joined together in the bond of peace so of course we love each other, build each other up, live a life of love together. Doing otherwise makes less sense if we accept that God has already bound us together.

So, what are the practical ways to live a life of love? Paul starts by telling us to put off falsehoods and speak truthfully to one another. People who love each other are honest with each other, even when it’s a hard truth. Now we know how challenging this can be. I remember this commercial a few years back that showed what appeared to be Honest Abe Lincoln with his wife who asks him, “Abe, does this dress make me look fat?” Abe didn’t answer right away, giving us the impression he was calculating the cost of being truthful with his wife! Yes, we need to be honest and truthful with each other. But we need to think about how we are truthful, or how fully honest we will be. There can be a cost. The truth needs told in a way that it can be understood and received. Maybe not the whole truth needs to be shared. There’s nothing wrong with using discretion when we tell the truth to each other. I remember one time when I was young, our youth group was having some kind of devotional. I can’t remember what we were asked but I said something to someone in the group in all honesty and with the best of intentions. But how I said it hurt her feelings. What I said was true, but I said it in an unintentionally hurtful way. So, telling the truth instead of lying to each other is the way to go. That’s what people who love each other do. But how we go about telling that truth needs to be considered so that our truth telling doesn’t do harm but can be heard and received. Another way of saying it is that we should aim to call people in and not call people out.

What next? Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, lest you make room for the devil. There’s that old truism for couples: never go to sleep mad at each other. It’s fine to be angry for a while. But it’s the holding on to the anger that becomes like a festering sore in our minds and hearts. Carrying a grudge is a real thing. I still carry a bit of a grudge with some experiences I had several years back. Holding on to anger from past slights, a misunderstanding, a poor choice of words, whatever it it…this really does harm the community. I see anger and truth telling going together. If someone makes you angry, tell them. Don’t stew about it. Don’t tell everyone else about it. Don’t suppress it. Tell it to the person that made you angry and do it quickly so that the anger doesn’t fester in your heart. Otherwise, it can just build up and build up until something happens that lights the fuse, and you have a big mess on your hands. So, it’s ok to be angry, but don’t stay angry for long. Talk it out with the person who has angered you. Say your peace and then let it go. Holding on to that grudge or plotting your revenge doesn’t do anyone any good.

The next thing Paul talks about is thievery. We are one community. But we also have to be responsible, not only in caring for our personal needs but also in contributing to the good of the whole. For example, if you have bills to pay you only have a few options: you can work and earn money, you may get government benefits that can help you, you could borrow money, you can beg for money, or you can steal money. In Paul’s day there were just three options: work, beg, or steal. Of these options, only stealing was the bad option. Begging is perfectly fine. But working is the preferred option. And not just working to care for your own needs but also so you have something extra to give to those who choose to beg. Working and begging are two acceptable ways to care for your needs. Only theft damages community. So, Paul tells us not to choose that option.

“Let 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.” This verse of Paul’s is like pure water in the swampy stench that is our body politic. From slimy political ads to the evening opinion shows on cable news we are awash in talk that tears down rather than builds up. It is so important for us to speak words of grace, words that build others up, that offer hope, encouragement, advice, whatever is needed. Along with that, we should also be discerning about who we listen to. If someone is always tearing you down with their words, just let the words go through one ear and out the other. No one is making you watch those opinion shows on the cable news. Try to eliminate as much of the negative talk as you can out of your life. Words are powerful. Words can tear down, and they can build up. Paul is telling us to use words that build up.

Paul sums up what he has been teaching so far with verses 31 and 32: put away bitterness, wrath, anger, wrangling, slander, and malice; be kind, tenderhearted, and forgive one another. Why? Because that’s how people who are united in one body love each other. People who love each other are kind to each other, are tenderhearted toward each other and forgive each other. I mean, it’s obvious right? So, if it’s obvious, why is it so hard?

The answer has to be sin. There is something let loose in the world that twists things up, that blocks us from being our best selves as God created us to be. I understand sin to be like a congenital disease, or like a virus, a parasite that is foreign to who we are as those who are made in the image of God. Sin is like a disease that we all have to overcome. And by God’s grace we can. This is the other thing Paul talks about, a word of encouragement for us, to build us up.

Paul tells us that we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit. We are marked with a seal for the day of redemption. As I thought about what this means, I thought of canning. My mother-in-law makes the absolute best canned peaches. It’s not anything fancy. No secret ingredients. She carefully peals and cores the peaches. She then cuts them into bite sized chunks. She puts them in a simple sugar syrup. She fills the mason jars, puts the seals on and then put the jars in boiling water, making sure to get a tight seal. Then those jars of peaches sit around waiting to be opened so those sweet, delicious peaches can get eaten. We always get to take a few home with us and they sit in one of our kitchen cupboards. Then, at some point, we take one of those jars, maybe wipe some dust off the top. Then we take a bottle opener and pry that seal until we hear “POP”. Then we dig in. A little taste of heaven.

It’s that tight seal that keeps those peaches fresh and tasty. It preserves them. In a way the seal of the Holy Spirit we have received is like seal on that mason jar of peaches. The Spirit preserves our souls. In spite of all around us, including sin, that seeks to corrupt and spoil us, deep inside, at the core of who we are, the Spirit of God preserves us until that day when we are set free, the day of our redemption.

This is all good news for us. The Spirit binds us together as the body of Christ. The Spirit seals and preserves our souls. God has done this for us, assuring us that we belong, that we have a community and are not cut loose to drift aimlessly in the world. Who we are in our essence, our core, it is protected and secure, all because of God’s love for us. We have nothing to fear. We have nothing to lose. We belong to God and each other and this will never change.

If we can trust this to be so, that our lives and our community are in the hands of God, safe and secure, then we can have the confidence to be imitators of God as Jesus demonstrated for us. We can take the risk to love one another. We can do all these things that Paul is teaching us to do. We can be resolved to make love a way of life, so that every thought, word and deed is shaped by love, just like what God does, the One who is love.