Since
mid-July, we’ve been pondering the book of Ephesians, and we’ve framed our
reflections within “being in God’s family.” In chapter 1, we heard the beautiful, inclusive promise that
through God’s love and Christ’s grace, we are adopted into the God’s family. In chapter 2, we considered the
different ways we separate ourselves from God and from one another. Calling them walls, we recognized that
Christ’s peace tears down these “dividing walls of hostility” in order to draw
us closer together in God’s family.
Reading chapter 3, we focused on the image of a tree and considered what
it means to be rooted and grounded in God’s love. God’s family tree is our
family tree. Last week, we
considered how God’s love is the ligaments connecting all of us bones who make
up the body of Christ, the church.
We are one in Christ because God’s love holds us—God’s family—together. Today, we continue.
I
have found this study of Ephesians to be both refreshing and laborious. The language is rich, the theology is
reformed, and the subject—being the church—is relevant. Rich language is also condensed
language, and as I open Ephesians each week, it’s as if I am mixing water, and
egg, flour, yeast, salt, and a little sugar. As I read and study, I’m stirring and kneading thicker and
thicker dough—dough that will rise and bake into tasty, rich, filling
bread. But it’s a lot of work to
end up with that bread. I hope you’re
willing to knead another loaf with me today as we explore Ephesians chapter 5.
“Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making
the most of the time.”[1]
The Greek word translated here as time is kairos. In the New Testament, kairos
is used to talk about the time when God acts, the time appointed for God’s
purposes, not the time on a
clock. That’s a different Greek word. We readers of
Ephesians are urged to recognize the days we live in as God’s time, days when
God’s purpose can and will be fulfilled.
Making the most of the kairos time,
means making ourselves available—open—to whatever God may put before us. Making the most of the kairos time means opening our senses—sight,
sound, taste, touch, smell—opening our thoughts, and opening our lives to what
God sets before us. Making
the most of the kairos time, we
prepare ourselves to receive.
How
do we prepare ourselves to receive?
We give “thanks to God the Father at all times and
for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”[2]
We cultivate a life of gratitude
in ourselves, in our family, and in our community of faith. On Tuesday morning,
one of my conversations began with “I’m so glad to be alive on this beautiful
day. I’m looking forward to today.”
It wasn’t until later in the conversation that I learned my friend had
been ill and would be going to the doctor to find out what the problem might
be. I would have to say this
person is cultivating a life of gratitude. For the 1st words out of her mouth were words of
joy and thanks—beautiful day, glad to be alive, looking forward to. I have another friend here in Paola who
says she looks for “Thank you, God” moments. Every time we talk, she shares a “thank you, God” either
from her past or in the present. We
cultivate a life of gratitude by perceiving life as a gift and looking for God’s
blessings within this gift.
Another
way to cultivate a life of gratitude is through movement—using our bodies to
act out our thanks Dancing with
joy, clapping with excitement, stomping with energy—these are all postures of
gratitude. The term “postures” reminds me of yoga. I began practicing yoga to
relieve stress and heal from an injury.
Over the years I have found that clearing my mind of all distractions,
focusing on breath and movement, each time I plant my feet like roots, lift my
arms, raise my head—I am reminded of the God whose love sustains me. My yoga postures have become postures
of gratitude. My yoga practice has become a practice of thankfulness. When
we cultivate a life of gratitude, our minds, hearts, and bodies work together
to form us into thankful people.
We
cultivate a life of gratitude in our family. Just this week, one of our parents was sharing an evening
ritual with me. She said at the
dinner table, each person is allowed to share one disappointing experience from
the day. Then everyone is
encouraged to share as many positive experiences from the day as they want.
Their table fellowship acknowledges that “life is not fair” while encouraging
each other to persist in joyful, affirming, constructive activities and
relationships.
We
cultivate a life of gratitude in our community of faith. Our worship is our response to God’s love for us,
God’s grace given to us, and God’s power to re-deem, re-claim, and re-create
our lives for God’s good purposes.
Coming together to
read and proclaim God’s timeless truths and responding corporately with the
Apostles’ Creed or the Lord’s Prayer or some other unison response, our worship
taps into springs that run deep within our shared and individual histories. Extending
the peace of Christ softens our tough hides and allows us to feel the cool, soft,
slippery satin of forgiveness. Paul
says, “sing psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your
hearts.”[3]
Music
speaks to our hearts rather than our minds. Melody and tempo can energize and renew us. Melody and tempo
can calm and heal us.
Music reaches deep into the inarticulate
space where words cannot quite reach[4].
Participating in worship helps us
cultivate a life of gratitude.
“Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people
but as wise, 16 making the most of the time, because the days are evil.”[5] In his Bible paraphrase, The
Message, Eugene Peterson calls the days desperate. It is possible to cultivate a life of
gratitude even during desperate days, even in desperate situations. Each year our daughters were in high
school, members of our church—youth and adults—traveled to the border between
Texas and Mexico. Partnering
with Ministerio de Fey (Ministries of Faith), they built houses for people
living in Reynosa and Miguel Alemon.
Our “away” team—that’s what we called those who traveled to the border—worked
with the family receiving the house and with
other families who would receive houses later. Together they built a 12 by 24 concrete block house—which
was larger and sturdier and safer than the cardboard, tin, or scavenged wood
lean-tos that the families were currently living in. Each day families and away
teams would stop their work at noon and travel to the church—the “command” center
for all the house-building in the area.
There, away teams from all over the US—our church group was only one
among many serving with Ministerio de Fey—and the families involved in the
building would gather for a shared home-cooked meal and for worship. Regardless of the work yet to be done
on the house—the threat of rain when you needed to pour the concrete floor or
just being behind schedule—everyone stopped work each day at noon and gathered
at the church for a shared meal and for worship. Breaking language barriers using halting Spanish and English,
gesturing a lot, and infrequently relying on the few translators, people shared
stories and laughter. In worship,
the Mexican people offered exuberant singing, responsive prayers, and heartfelt
reflection on scripture. Every worship service began with “This is the Day,” Esta es el dia. Each year, our adults and youth would
return to Round Rock with this common reflection: “I left here thinking I was giving a gift to these people,
but I return recognizing I have received a gift—the gift of new eyes from which
to view the world. The people we
worked with have so much less than I have, yet they are thankful and joyful.” Each year, our adults and youth
returned telling us they had met people who cultivate a life of gratitude—even
in desperate situations.
As members of God’s family, we
are expected to live wisely—cultivating a life of gratitude. Seeking “thank you, God” moments, we
plant seeds of gratitude in our daily lives. Sharing those experiences with others, we water those
seeds. Participating in corporate
worship, we tend the shoots as they push through the soil of even desperate days. Cultivating a life of gratitude is more
than looking for the silver lining behind the cloud. It is living with the sure and certain knowledge that God is
ever present with us. It is living
with the strong and persistent hope that God will use us to achieve God’s good
purposes in God’s kairos—in God’s appointed
time. Amen.
[1] Ephesians 5: 15 – 16 (New
Revised Standard Version)
[2] Ephesians 5: 20
[3] Ephesians 5: 19 (New
Revised Standard Version)
[4] Jaime Clark-Soles, “Ephesians 5: 15 – 20: Exegetical Perspective,” in Feasting on the Word, Year B, vol.
3. Edited by David L. Bartlett and
Barbara Brown Taylor. Louisville:
Westminster John Knox Press, 2009, 353.
[5] Ephesisans 5: 15 – 16 (New
Revised Standard Version)
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