Under Orders and On Active Service
Reflections on Ephesians 6.10-20
RCL Proper 21B
26 August 2018
Holy Trinity Cathedral
New Westminster BC
Ephesians 6.10-20
6.10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For 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. 13Therefore take up the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. 15As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. 16With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18Pray 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. 19Pray 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, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.
Both Paula and I grew up as the children of serving members of the United States Air Force. We grew up knowing that we might find ourselves relocating to some new town or country at the pleasure of the President of the United States as expressed through the chain of command. Just as our fathers served the defence needs of the United States, so we served our fathers and our country by supporting our fathers and, especially, our mothers. We learned to adapt to new contexts and to understand the notion of ‘being under orders’.
My father was transferred to Germany in 1960 and we followed along. Those were particularly tense times with the building of the Berlin Wall and the Cuban missile crisis. Because of his security clearance there were several times my father disappeared without our knowing where he was or when he would return. We did know that, if the Warsaw Pact forces invaded what was then West Germany, we would find ourselves under their control. Risk was not limited to our fathers; we shared in it. We were as much on active duty as our fathers were.
Paula and I also grew up at a time when the military came under greater scrutiny and growing criticism, especially during and after the Vietnam War. Our fathers were lumped together with others as ‘war-mongers’ even though Paula and I knew our fathers as men who understood their role to be defensive and geared towards keeping the peace. I remember my father’s anger when Oliver North, dressed in his Marine officer’s uniform, testified before Congress and claimed what has been called the ‘Nuremberg defence’ --- ‘I broke the law but I was following orders.’ My father was proud of his oath to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and, in Oliver North, he saw a ‘domestic’ enemy of the Constitution.
Perhaps some of you have had similar experiences or share some of the views that Paula and I have encountered over the years when we tell people that we are ‘Air Force brats’. These experiences and feelings can make it difficult to hear today’s reading from Ephesians with its military imagery and say, ‘Thanks be to God.’
But the followers of Jesus had good reason to be concerned about their safety in early decades of the Christian movement. Those who were slaves risked physical violence and even death if their owners were hostile to the ‘new’ religion. Those who were Jewish faced opposition and exclusion from their families and possible death at the hands of local religious authorities. Those who were Gentiles but not slaves could lose their livelihoods and perhaps their lives if they did not participate in the non-Christian religious rites of their cities and of the Empire.
So should we be surprised that the writer of Ephesians turns to the image of a Roman soldier preparing for battle as an image for how Christians should live in difficult times? Not at all. To be a Christian is to be someone under orders and in active service of God in a world that is not always receptive to the good news of God in Christ. The good news, it has been said, always comes first as bad news to someone, especially those in power and those who feel threatened by the love of God in Christ.
And how shall we defend ourselves? Today we hear some familiar exhortations from earlier portions of Ephesians. We defend ourselves (i) by speaking the truth; (ii) by living lives of justice, kindness and humility; (iii) by working for peace, whether locally or globally; (iv) by having faith and confidence in God’s purposes for us and for the whole of creation.
And who shall we approach those who find us inconvenient or a threat, those whom the writer describes as the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers of this present darkness, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places? We approach them with the Word of God which is simply the story of God’s love for us and revealed in the creation of the universe, in the saving love of Jesus of Nazareth and in the power of the Spirit to do infinitely more in and through us than we can ask or imagine.
Friends, today’s reading is not about an aggressive assertiveness of the supremacy of our faith over any other. Nor is it an exhortation to build walls to keep ‘others’ out or to divide the world between what is ‘holy’ and what is ‘profane’. Today’s reading is a reminder that we, as disciples of Jesus, still have work to do and that we should not expect that the good news of God in Christ will always be greeted with cheers and with commitments to change. And so, as the writer tells us, we need to be prepared (i) to speak God’s truth in love, (ii) to resist anger and to live in peace with everyone, believer and non-believer, (iii) to work for the common good of all creation rather than for the advantage of one group over another, for ‘us’ over ‘them’.
We are, as the Book of Common Prayer says, ‘the Church militant on earth’, not ‘militant’ in aggressively asserting our privilege but ‘militant’ in our service to Christ who came to serve not to be served. It is what is means for us, as much as it means for those in the armed forces, to be under orders and on active duty for the One who calls us out of darkness into the glorious light of Christ.
O God,
the author of peace and lover of concord,
to know you is eternal life, to serve you is perfect freedom.
Defend us your servants form the assaults of our enemies,
that we may trust in your defence,
and not fear the power of any adversaries;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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