August 13, 2006 Sermon
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Proper 14 – B
August 13, 2006 Emmanuel, San Angelo
This week as I watched the drama unfold in England I remembered what it was like to travel by air as a child. I was not a frequent traveler to be sure but on a few occasions my folks took my sister and me to visit my grand parents in South Dakota. It was such a big deal! In those days you got dressed up to travel. Men wore suits, ladies wore dresses. Kids wore church clothes; blue jeans or tennis shoes, flip-flops, shorts or t-shirts would have never been considered. I remember that TWA and Eastern stewardesses were always better dressed than the ones on Braniff—who, when I was a kid had already started wearing go-go boots and mini skirts in pastel colors. No wonder they went out of business! Nowadays I hate to travel by plane. And last Wednesday’s actions made it even more sure that I will hate it even more next time I do. Knowing I can’t take water or a cup of coffee on board doesn’t make me feel any safer. It is just more of an aggravation.
These days in America, our eyes are open to harsh realities that the world is dangerous place. Less and less can we be protected from the violence that other countries regularly experience, or from those who wish to harm us. We will never again return to the day when the skies were friendly, when the worst thing we had to worry about was which slacks to wear, or whether we would be served shrimp or beef stroganoff. Life is different now.
If we could travel back in time to the first century of the common era, to the region of Palestine and Roman Empire we would see first hand how it really was to live in danger. Violence, oppression, constant warfare made life for many a joyless place. Death and suffering were constant companions, even among people of means. Threats loomed at every turn.
Christians, who had begun as a subgroup of Judaism, faced a particularly uphill battle. From the beginning, they struggled for their own identity and independence. Those who professed allegiance to Christ knew that at any moment they like Jesus could be rounded up and executed for being an enemy of the state. But even amidst this chaos and disorder, the first Christians sought to proclaim a different message. A message of hope, a message of love, charity, and a way of living that would stand out from the rest of the pagan world as life affirming and other serving, even in the midst of extreme hardship.
Whether it was written by Paul, or as some believe now, by a disciple of Paul, the letter to the Ephesians presents the characteristic marks of what it meant to live life as one who was hope-full and joyful in faith. “Be imitators of God,” Paul had told them. This wasn’t pie in the sky, syrupy piousness. People knew that life was hard and death could come at any time. When new believers and converts who had not personally known Jesus read that Jesus was “the bread of life,” they knew that this spiritual food was just as important, if not more so than the pursuit of worldly goods. Jesus said “Whoever eats of this bread will live forever.” What good news that was!
The letter to the Ephesians was for early Christians, a kind of “spirituality checklist” that is still valid for us today. In all things, Christians were to live life as if it were a gift, and treat others as being a gift of God. As imitators of the Light, their mission was two-fold: first, to grow daily in their faith, and secondly, to transform the world around them. Later writers would call this the Imago Dei, being made in the image of God. As God fashioned Creation and blessed it, so too do our words and actions create and build up God’s Kingdom.
In the same way, these readings can be for us a guide to spiritual health. They are what we would call “Heart Healthy”. Everyone knows that when you go the doctor, or read on the side of a cereal box you learn what you need to do to have a healthy heart: Eat right, exercise, and avoid stress, live well. Caring for our spiritual heart is just as important. So where do we begin?
First, eat right. We need to be fed and nourished by a steady diet of worship and sacrament, and feed upon Christ who is the living bread. Second, exercise. We need to exercise our spiritual muscles through trust in God, being faithful, and serving others. And finally, we need to live well. As Paul says, we need to “Put away bitterness, anger, malice and slander.” We are called to “be kind to one another, forgive one another, as Christ forgives us.” We say often at the offertory time, “Walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us an offering and sacrifice to God.” This isn’t just a handy saying, it can be our guide.
No, living life as Christian it doesn’t stop terrorism, or make the airport any safer. It doesn’t end the fighting in Lebanon or bring my daughter home from Iraq any sooner. I would like to think that if everyone took to heart the things that Paul advises, the problems in the world would be less, but I can’t make force anyone else to accept Paul’s words. At the end of the day I can only speak for myself. What I can do is decide to live “heart healthy.” I can strive to make this place a model for spiritual wellness. Doing so can help us all live in a way that helps discover the joy for living. Together we can show forth the grace of God to those around us. And perhaps in some very small way, that will help us be part of the solution.
Copyright © 2003 Emmanuel Episcopal Church. All rights reserved.
Revised: 08/27/06