August 22, 2021
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois
Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18; Ephesians6:10-20[1]
Someone posted this message yesterday on the Crystal Lake
community Facebook group:
I would like to share this story
that my son told me when he came home from the Crystal Lake Jewels last nigh
(sic):
My son was helping out a neighbor
who is going thru a hard time, she received her SNAP money yesterday and was
going to walk to Jewel, it is over an hour walk, so my son offered to drive
her, well at the checkout she overspent and did not have enough money to pay
for all the items so my son helped her put a few things aside(he had no money
on him)and they left the store, a few seconds later a man walked out and called
to them and said he saw what happened and purchased those items for her. My son
said he literally cried because of this man's kindness and also knowing what
this poor women had been thru.
That is a beautiful story of kindness and how even a small
act can make a big impact, something any of us could do. It is good that we
can, at times, look to our neighbors for help. The kindness of strangers can be
a blessing. And yet, I wonder, wouldn’t it be great if we would create a
society in which no one goes hungry, no one comes up short at the grocery store.
Couldn’t we make a world in which no one has to choose between paying for
medicine, the electric bill, or gas for the car?
We have been at war for twenty years. Al-Qaeda was broken up
in Afghanistan, but that only took a couple of years. We did manage to find Bin
Laden, but that was ten years ago. As the Afghan Army melts away, and the
Taliban retake control, we’re left wondering, was it worth it? Are we safe from
terrorism? Will the Afghan people be better off this time, especially the women
and children?
I have great respect for those who have served, who have
fought to protect us and have tried to make the world a safer place in which to
live. But I wonder if a trillion dollars spent on the machinery of death in the
graveyard of empires could have been spent to end hunger here at home. As our
fear of foreign terrorists wanes, and our fear of home-grown violent extremism grows,
could we take our energy that has been for so long focused on war and turn it
toward building well-being?
We love to fight. Human history seems to be mostly a record
of battles won or lost; the fate of nations decided on the battlefield. The
imagery of war and warriors is infused into our cultures. Sports arenas resemble
the Roman colosseum and athletes resemble gladiators. Politicians fight for their
side and view the other party as enemies bent on destroying the republic. Even our
effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus is a battle pitting healthcare workers
like frontline soldiers against the scourge of COVID.
The Bible, too, is filled with violent imagery. Even when
the stories are not about actual battles, violence and death permeate the text.
A story about a vineyard turns on the violence of the workers who murder the
son of the landowner in hopes of inheriting the vineyard for themselves. Yet
the cry for peace and justice persists throughout the text as well. The ancient
concept of shalom, the world as God intends, with justice, righteousness,
peace, and harmony, green pastures, and a land flowing with milk and honey;
that imagery is there as well.
The passage we read from Ephesians deliberately employs the
language of the warrior with a fervent exhortation to be clothed and equipped
with the tools and armor used to wage war. This text evokes an epic battle
against spiritual forces bent on our destruction. Its purpose is to prepare us
to become active participants in the struggle against the rulers, authorities,
and cosmic powers of darkness. But, more importantly, it is not a sword and
shield made of steel that we are to wield in this battle. This battle is not with
flesh and blood, but with forces bigger than any human adversary.
We are living through and existential crisis, or really more
than one. An existential crisis is a moment when what is at stake is existence
itself. Will our republic survive the division between our political parties?
Will our society make it through multiple waves of coronavirus variants? Will
the planet warm and the climate change to the point that continued human
survival is threatened?
Though the crisis faced by the early Christians is not the
same that we face, we have some guidance from Paul and others that can help us
navigate our own struggles. And we must remember that this guidance was not for
personal spiritual growth. Some have interpreted Ephesians as an individual
expression of faith. Instead, as the Rev. Dr. Cheryl Lindsay writes, “this
letter was not originally written for personal devotion but for community
formation. This was a letter to a people not a person.”[2]
The Christian life is life in community and we are meant to work together, by
the power of the Holy Spirit at work within all of us, to bring about shalom,
the kin-dom of God.
We must fasten the belt of truth around our waist. Many of
our political disagreements come from a small group of people spreading
misinformation to a large audience. Entertainment and opinion packaged to look
like news poisons our discourse and leads us to think that our political
adversaries are not only wrong but evil. Yet the truth is out there to be
found. It might take some work to find it, however. Check your sources. Look
for more than one account of an event. Follow a story through to its
conclusion, particularly when something sensational seems to have evaporated.
“Put on the breastplate of righteousness.” Do what is right,
not only what is expedient. Work for right relationships between people. Show
kindness, in the grocery store and in the business negotiation. Even when
others “get away with it,” don’t. Do what is right, even when it costs you. Even
if no one is looking, God is watching, and “all that you have is your soul.”[3]
Worry as much about protecting others as you do about protecting yourself. Put
a mask on, even if you’re vaccinated, even if you don’t feel sick, because you
care about others and don’t want them to catch a deadly disease.
Wear the shoes of peace. Wear shoes that will allow you to stand
up for what is right without stomping on what is wrong. Walk away when you feel
the anger rising within. Walk quietly in tender moments. Walk in the shoes of
those who have to walk an hour to get to the store, and those who are going
through a hard time. Wear the shoes that will give you compassion for those in
need, and bring peace and the good news of forgiveness and love wherever you
go.
Take the shield of faith, the faith that we are not alone, that
Emmanuel is God-with-us. Trust in God to enter the struggle with you, and to
keep the mission going even when you cannot. Do what you can to make the world
better, and trust that we are with you, working alongside you. Have faith that
we can survive the crises we face if we work together to overcome the cosmic
forces of doom.
The helmet of salvation gives us the confidence that even if
we don’t get there, even if the vision of a better, safer, healthier world is
not achieved when we come to our end, all is not lost. We will never be given over
to the powers of evil, but will always be held close to the one who so loves
the world.
Finally, take the sword, the word of God, which is love, grace,
and hope. Use the sword of God’s shalom to cut down the barricades of fear,
bitterness, and resignation. Lay that sword across the chasm of division so
that we may join as one community, one family with others and together triumph over
the “the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness,
against the spiritual forces of evil.” Stand firm in prayer, in common cause,
and in faith. Amen.
[1] The
scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard
Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of
the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] The
Rev. Dr. Cheryl A. Lindsay, “Sermon Seeds: Prayer and Protection” online at: https://www.ucc.org/sermon-seeds/sermon-seeds-prayer-and-protection/.
[3]
Tracy Chapman, 1988.
