Ephesians 4:25--5:2
This seems like a list from Paul of do's and don'ts for the Christian life. Actually you need to look a little deeper at it. With phrases like put away and be imitators of God it is a listing of how we should be in our new life as Christians in community with one another. This is how we should act and love and live with one another. It is different then how the world is with each other. You have a disagreement with a neighbor and you may never speak again, which is not how we should be or act with one another. It is a tall order and yet it is one we say we are called to.
In Christ Church's mission statement we say "We are a community forgiven and loved by God, joyfully called to the work of reconciliation." Now I don't know about you, but joyfully called to reconciliation is a tall order as well. It means we want to dig into it. Just like Paul is asking us to put on a new way of interacting with one another.
Building up one another is hard work. I've been thinking a lot about this lately. What is it to build up and encourage one another. This doesn't mean when it is easy, or with the people I can always find myself being able to encourage. It means being a cheerleader when it isn't easy. With the people we don't naturally draw to. Now how in the world do we accomplish this? It is in finding the nugget and core within one another where we can encourage.
Everyone gets discouraged. Building one another up means we pay attention to each other, hear words or phrases which tip us off to where someone might need encouragement. It means listening. Now, listening to one another isn't the way the world works. We have an idea or a belief and we run with it. We don't slow down and listen to the other person. Think about how valuable this would be. We are really deeply hearing one another and each others concerns and cares. We then find the words to encourage one another.
This type of listening doesn't come easily. I've been in a coaching class where we had to practice listening. Some people catch right on and some people catch their own ideas instead. It is a practice though.
The spiritual life leads us into practices which we try and do to make ourselves aware of Christ's presence in every part of our lives. Not just on a Sunday morning. We take this practice into our daily walk so we learn more about ourselves and about Jesus. This is what Paul is proposing, practices to help us realize our walk with God in Jesus. This is where we get our offertory sentence of "Walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice unto God." Tall order again.
The thing is we don't have to tackle tall orders all at once. It is a walk, not a run. This means we get to try things and fail, and try again. Walking is not pressure, or fine tuning, or perfection, walking means we stop along the way and enjoy the sights, give time for the deep listening.
As I was coming home from Vermont, I found myself passing by a gorge I always have wanted to see. So I stopped and walked the path. During this walk I found a swamp/boggy place which I could only glimpse, so I turned onto the path on the way back and found a beautiful, richly green oasis in a pine wood which has been worn with so many feet coming and going. I would have missed it had I not slowed down and taken the side path.
This is the challenge of living and walking in the Christian life. We have to pick up practices different than the world. We have to slow down and take side paths in order to practice these new ways of being. We need to see when we are finding the verdant places and when we have sunk in the bog. It is never an easy walk, it is an intention and I encourage you to take the steps to walk on this path Jesus has led us on. We may find it bread for life. Amen.
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