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The Mark of God Ephesians 4:25 – 5:2; Psalm 130 Since the increase of internet access and e-mail, the childhood practice of chain letters has spread to otherwise reasonable adults. This ridiculous exercise is annoying and aggravating, and I am fairly offended when my friends send me one of these e-mail chain letters. Amazing, therefore, that last week I succumbed to responding and sending on one of these notes. It wasn’t that this one was all that much better than others — although it was a simple prayer of St. Therese of Liseaux — it was more that one of my family members who is struggling with major life issues had sent it to me, and he clearly did not need to hear my diatribe in the midst of his angst. As I sent it on, however, I cautiously sent an apology accompanying the prayer, apologizing for sending a prayer — a new low! Chain letters are not new. The method of sending and receiving them are determined by the age in which they were written. This wonderful letter to the Ephesians — from which I read this morning — was a chain letter. Probably meant for the church at Ephesus, it undoubtedly traveled around the other fledgling churches of the area bringing instruction and encouraging words for the new Christians — prayers. Scholars believe the letter was written by a close colleague of Paul. It has much of the same emphases Paul would include in his letters, and it does carry his name. The instructions — although general — were specific to people of the time, and written from the perspective of one who knew what was occurring in the communities and these new churches. The two categories of behavior addressed in this short passage are:
The first issue is certainly one we can transfer to our day and will be the main thrust of my concern this morning. The second issue — an admonition about thievery — is perplexing. Evidently, thievery was — in ancient times — an ordinary means of livelihood. In the author’s mind, however, this was out-of-bounds for Christians. There was no wiggle room; it was wrong and in its place on should work to help others. Taking what is not ours (or trying to do so) is still a common fault. Whether it is assuming privilege and power — when actually we are all equal in the heritage and sight of God — or whether it is acting as if our opinion should be treated with more authority than anyone else’s, we are all in jeopardy of thievery (not necessarily in terms of money or material possessions). The kind of thievery to which we are prone does result in misappropriation of money and possessions when those of our community are not served and treated as equal participants in the health and well being of our world. But, unfortunately, we have developed more sophisticated ways to take more than our share. But now to the crux of the passage — speaking and dealing with one another. The author writes: put away anger, wrath, bitterness, wrangling, slander, malice, evil talk and falsehood. Put on kindness, tender-heartedness, forgiveness, truth. It takes energy to be angry and discontent. Bitterness, malice and slander eat away at the fabric of our being. Years ago, Norman Cousins — when he was diagnosed with a severe illness — wrote about laughter and the important therapeutic effect it had in illness. His point was that illness is exaggerated by bad attitudes and the fussing and fuming most of us get caught in doing. But anger, discontent and malice live on a slippery slope. Once we move into the mode of the disease (and it is a disease!) it is very, very difficult to turn and climb out of it. We get comfortable in incessant criticizing, and it often becomes the garb we wear. It seems to be fashionable in these post-modern times to be critical — to put spin and attack on everything rather than getting excited about someone else’s thoughts or ideas and amplifying on them. It seems to me that rather than looking for consensus we look for ways that our out-spoken critique can thrust us into a better leadership role. I have also come to believe that conflict seems to be more interesting or entertaining to people in our times and that winning-over, convincing or bullying others is a way-of-life. When we always see ourselves as adversaries — in opposition to someone else…in need of battling others…in frustration or conflict — we set ourselves outside God’s desire and hope for this creation. Peace is actually the state of being between people. It is not a goal, it is not a futuristic possibility, it is the reality that God created and wants right now. Even when we try to legitimately and rationally support ‘just war’ theories and even when we defend and protect ourselves from great enemies and terrorists of the world, the bottom line of the Christian faith is that peace is the actual state of being among all God’s children. That being so; every minute of every day should be spent in positive activity in living out that reality. And it begins today, now, right here. Wars are the outcome of individuals, families, communities, cities, states, nations not being able to live together — not choosing to believe in peace. We can write and speak to our president and government officials about war — and I believe we ought to — but our integrity demands that we begin with ourselves. It is not too simplistic to consider speaking to each other (as the author of Ephesians writes) ONLY when we can build up or give grace to those who will hear. It is not too ridiculous (as the author of Ephesians has written) to ALWAYS speak the truth — meaning never exaggerating to make an opinion inflame a conversation, or offering insinuations so as to create conspiracy thoughts — but always looking for ways to draw ourselves to each other rather than pitting ourselves against each other. Our aim should always be drawing a community together — respectful of variety and difference — rather than disrupting a community through anger and malice and wrangling. These are good instructions for any human community. We could be members of the Ethical Society and hear the same teaching. There is a difference, however. And that difference is the most important and underlying reason for these words to the Christian churches of ancient days and today. We are to live this way not because it makes for good and civil community life. We are to live this way not because it makes us healthier. Both are true. We are to live without anger, malice and wrangling because we know we are marked by God. We KNOW that the Spirit of God has given us life, has fed us from our birth, and teaches us of faith, hope and love, empowering us to serve, witness and proclaim. Knowing that the mark of God is upon us, we have no choice about how we live. Once we claim ourselves Christian, once we gather in a community of faith that celebrates that reality we take on the responsibility of acknowledging that:
And because we know this we are marked and expected to live with that marking. Markings are often done to identify a so-called enemy. The scarlet letter forced on adulterous women; the yellow star placed on Jews during World War II; the pink triangle on gay men during the same war; and certainly now the racial/cultural profiling that is supposedly illegal — but we know is rampant — are all ways to define and ostracize. Would that we could show our mark — not as an enemy — but as those with a mission. Besides wearing crosses (which has now become a fashion symbol rather than a faith symbol), how can we show the mark of God on us except in the way we act…the way we build up each other…the way we work toward peace-making in our families, our communities and in our world. That will be the mark of God that others can identify. That is the mark of God that will bring honor to God. That is the mark of faith that must define every moment of every day of our lives. May we be so bold as to begin this moment to always find ways to live in the peace that God desires. And may we also be so bold as to be done with maliciousness, anger, discontent and wrangling. May we be the ones we have been called and marked as being — true children of God — who know what God wants. THIS is a chain letter we can be proud to keep sending. SW |
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