Second reading

Ephesians 6:10-20

It’s time…The time has come when the sports fields around the church come alive with the noise and bustle of pre-game football practices. It made me smile, this past week, to see the cars line up about 5pm; dispense kids in squeaky clean uniforms carrying what looks like a boat-load of heavy body-armor. The smaller kids didn’t complain as they lumbered and dragged their gear onto the field, while the older, seasoned kids carried…no, proudly displayed their gear with a hint of a swagger as they swung their water coolers on their way to join the others. It’s time…time for rehearsals, practices for upcoming supervised battle in which, everyone hopes, no one is hurt.

The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians concludes with a similar tone of expectancy: But, the contest Paul has in mind is not a game for the sake and fun of it, but a battle of ultimate significance. By Paul’s reckoning,the enemies of God’s intensions are unseen, cosmic forces. It is those forces Christians are to take up arms against; forces like “selfishness,” “oppression”, “greed”, forces like embedded systemic injustice which scoff at surrender. It’s time…Like a good coach after laying out his or her expectations for the team and dreams for the team’s triumphs and future glory, Paul concludes his pep talk saying “Listen up, my teammates…” So, listen, now, for God’s word for you from the sixth chapter of the Letter to the Ephesians.

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. 15 As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. 16 With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18 Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. 19 Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.

Wauwatosa Presbyterian Church August 23, 2009

Arms of Witness

Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18; Ephesians 6:10-20

Today’s passages sure seem “shot through with memory and imagery and the language of battle!

But I don’t like war… actually; I’m allergic to it! I think its results are puny! It always fails to bring about a lasting peace. Yet, for eons battles have been part of humanity’s interactions. So, my pragmatic self has asked, “ Where is God in war?” And my best answer,, so far, is: God grieves when humans war against humans. And God keeps on dwelling among the suffering, those pleading, those worried, those struggling to find diplomatic avenues or reconciliation. God is there pestering those blind or indifferent to the call to stand and follow after Jesus for the sake of God’s redeeming, reconciling purposes in the world.

So, after the years-long conquest of the land of Canaan, Joshua and Israelites settled down among those whom they had defeated. In time, they became comfortable, less attentive, more casual about demonstrating their allegiance to God. In his elder-hood, Joshua sensed their compromising and gathered them together, as Kevin read, all “the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of all the tribes of Israel,” in order to call the question. Joshua sensed how pervasively ‘other gods’ had eroded Israel’s loyalty to God. Here’s how “other gods” work: They lure us is false confidence that things can be the way we want them to be, quite apart from the Lord God! Such false confidence, in the eyes of that great warrior Joshua, was treasonous. So Joshua hauled Israel into the proverbial principal’s office, grabbed Israel by the nape of their collective necks until they’re eye to eye, and said, essentially: Look at yourselves! Look at your behavior! Have you lost your mind?? Have you forgotten everything! Will you or will you not accept responsibility for your part of the covenant with God? Then, releasing his grip, causing them to fall in a heap, he added, “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua’s thousands of years old challenge effectively pierces the bull’s-eye within us as swiftly as it found its mark with the Israelites. Everything in me cries out, “I’m sorry…so sorry… Yes, I choose God this day and, will , battle against forces which oppose God’s purposes in this world! My guilt admitted, and receiving a fresh chance, it is, now, to the field - the world - mined with unseen, sometimes toxic forces, I go.

Paul, too, was aware of the perils and trusted the power of the armor. He relied on the protection his superior provided to be effective so he might carry his package of God’s love into the world. This armor - the armor of God - God’s truth, righteousness, love…Paul wore it night and day. And in adversity Paul found it effective in fending off powerful forces that threatened his spirit.

Unseen, powerful forces are very real to little kids. At least they admit them. While on vacation with our son and daughter-in-law and their kids earlier this summer we relearned this. We shared a well-equipped camp with Ted and his family in the Poconos. Just before arriving, we learned that the camp’s dryer was shot and its replacement could be expected in a few days. On delivery day, before the truck appeared, a very serious 8 year old asked me if I thought the dryer came in a box. “Yes, I believe so”, I said… and you can imagine the direction this conversation took.

In no time… that dryer’s box became not one, but two sets of hand made armor with which this eight year old and his five old sister took their stand. At the risk of bragging, I’ll let you judge the earnestness of these warriors for yourselves. (Show three pictures in succession. Please don’t linger. Thanks)

It’s good to see your smiles. But moving on… As the world understands it, Jesus’ way of living is about as effective a defense against oppressive force as cardboard is effective cover in a hurricane. Which accounts for a certain reluctance on my part to stand and withstand all that threatens to tear apart Jesus’ way of standing beside neighbor and the downtrodden, of working for justice was a way to peace, of reconciling the world to God.

Paul knows my shying at the cost of putting on the armor of God. He responds by stressing, here and elsewhere, that the substance of the armor of God is God’s love, not earthly metal; its metal the mighty power of God. Is that a lot to put on? Well, yes and no. It weighs about the same as when you or I choose to stand and do…the “right thing.” …When we push our self-interests and fears onto back burners and align our actions with God’s interests, justice, truth and compassion.

I’m grateful to a stranger’s recalling to my attention to a newspaper photo that is reporduced in Taylor Branch’s first volume of his history series documenting the American civil rights movement. This photo - which you will see in a minute – helps us see God armor’s clashing with cosmic, negative forces. The scene is a lunch counter in Nashville in the early 1960’s. There, a white man and woman sit with an African-American woman. Their backs are to an agitated mob, trying to crowd them out. Their waiter (who’s not shown) has just poured a bottle of ketchup over the white man’s head, but, in the black and white, it could as easily be blood dripping down his jacket. The man’s jaw set firm; his shoulders braced… By the world’s reckoning he’s weak. And, here’s the difficult reality about the armor of God: it lets more in that it keeps out. (Christian Century 8/11/09, p. 21)

The eyes of the mob seem lit up by a contagious, unseen, powerfully sinister spirit, capable of neutralizing good judgment, let alone kindness. One mob member has a sugar jar in his hand and glee in his eye as he pours its contents, first, over the African-American woman’s head, then the white woman’s. A middle-aged man two rows back looks on approvingly. … (Show image… )

Look and find the young man near the photo’s boundary, on your left hand side, just behind the catsup soaked protester. To me he seems to see what’s unseen to others. He looks like he’s on the threshold of a choice. Is he sad or shocked, inwardly in pain?

He’d come through the doors of that restaurant ready to attack, or at least, to cheer the mob on. If one of those ordering lunch had been armed with anything other than God’s armor, this young man would have been engaged, even fought him or her, with a sort of pleasure. But his armaments - his mind set and prejudices - proved no match for the armor of God. Indeed, the photo captures the precise instant when some part of this young man… was smitten– not just slain in the spirit (little s) but slain by the Spirit (capital S). (Remove image)

I doubt that the three seated at the counter felt triumphant as they unlocked their front doors that night and began to “...wash off the day’s trauma.” It is the case, not always…, but often, that God’s victories emerge only in time. Right then, though, and in the short-term aftermath, one lives on hope, constant prayer, and a mysterious consolation that comes from knowing “I could do no other.” Some forty plus years later…this image still exposes the battle of which Paul wrote. It shows us God’s armor in action. History suggest such armor is, indeed, strong, dependable, worthy of our calling as ambassadors, charged with putting God’s love into action, on the line

In our time, one such “battle” may well be that of national health care reform. Like you, I’m reading, listening, watching the unfolding of the debate and pondering:What must I withstand? Where do I stand so that God is glorified. As town hall meeting and op ed pages are shoing us multitudinous seen and unseen forces colliding in this debate. Some clergy and lay leaders in Milwaukee’s inner-city gathered last week to join, by web-cast a forum of faith leaders and President Barack Obama discussing health care reform. Afterward a spokesperson said, “This issue is not just a political issue, but a question of faith.’” (Journal 8/20/09) I share their perspective and, with them, can’t help but see the health care reform debate through the lens of Jesus’ healing stories and compassionate ministry. What we as a nation face is complicated, complex; more discussion is needed, but it’s time…this is our time, a time to stand…to bear arms of witness for the sake of God’s coming kingdom.

An image of arms of witness, could be this show slide. It lifts up the values and memorializes the life to Dag Hammarskjold, who died in a plane crash in 1961. As you may remember, Mr. Hammarskjold served as Secretary General of the UN, passionately committed to peace with justice. Before his death he wrote this in his journal “I don’t know who or what put the question. I don’t know when or where it was put. But somewhere and sometime, I said Yes to Someone, and ever since, my life in self surrender, had a goal.” To the glory of God…Amen. 1560