| Finally, be strong in the Lord
and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor
of God, so that you may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil. For 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. Therefore take up the whole armor of
God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil
day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand
therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist,
and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes
for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to
proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take
the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench
all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet
of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the
word of God. Pray 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. Pray 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, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray
that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak. |
|
| Ephesians 6:10-20 |
| Growing up in Arizona in the public school system I was
able to dress how I wanted, within reason. We had no required
uniform and no dress code to speak of as they do today. Still,
I’ve worn plenty a uniform so far in life. Soccer, softball,
dance and cheerleading all required uniforms. One of my first
jobs was as a night receptionist in the service area of a large
car dealership. I had to wear the standard polo shirt and long
shorts provided by my employer. I found it personally stifling
to wear a light pink polo shirt and ill fitting khaki shorts
every evening. Then there was Salsa Brava, a delicious Mexican
food restaurant in Flagstaff, where I served up margaritas
and enchiladas during my undergraduate years. Required uniform:
red polo top with Salsa Brava embroidered in the upper left
corner; any black bottoms (shorts, pants, skirts); and black
shoes (preferably sneakers with a serious grip as you didn’t
want to skid and fall across the kitchen floor to the amusement
of the kitchen staff). That Salsa Brava uniform made the decision
of what to wear to work easy—it also took a beating of
spilled salsa very well. Of all the uniforms I’ve worn
in my life I like my Sunday clergy vestments best. Yet even
in the dead winter I’m sweating under them. Geneva robes
just don’t breathe! |
| At best I guess you could say I have a sort of love-hate
relationship with wearing required uniforms. Maybe you’ve
had to wear a uniform before and have a similar conflict between
its practical nature and confining features? Or maybe your
profession or life circumstances call upon you to dress in
a certain way each day. Comfy clothes for parents running after
young children on the weekend; business suits or business casual
for office workers; walking shoes and rain gear for students
in the South Campus Residence Halls of Geneseo; old sweats
and shoes for the gardener playing in the mud; cycling gear
for our own Dave Hurd’s long bicycling rides from Castile!
Sometimes we wear a uniform without realizing it, other times
we are well aware we’ve put on required attire. |
| There’s a uniform the Pauline school of theology was
pretty insistent Christians wear at all times. It’s called “the
whole armor of God” and it is somewhat invisible. Required
uniform: belt of truth; breastplate of righteousness; whatever
shoes will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace;
a shield of faith to ward off the flaming arrows of the evil
one; helmet of salvation; and lastly, the sword of the Spirit
which is the word of God. Thank goodness no one else sees this
uniform! Imagine walking around Geneseo with the word “truth” glowing
around your tummy and “righteousness” shining across
your chest. People might think we are a bit stuck up. No, the
strength of the “whole armor of God” is seen as
it shines through the way we live our lives. |
| Why do we need this armor endorsed so adamantly 2000 years
ago? A Theologian at Wabash College, Bill Placher wrote, “A
hundred and fifty years ago, Soren Kierkegaard faced a perplexing
problem in his native Denmark. How do you preach Christianity
to a country full of people who scarcely understand it at all,
but who think they are already Christians? In a non-Christian
land, one could say, ‘Here is something new-let me tell
you about Jesus Christ,’ but nearly all Danes would have
responded, ‘Yes, yes, we know all about it. You see,
our whole country is Christian.’ And yet, they hardly
grasped the Christianity of the New Testament at all.” Kierkegaard
knew that Christianity really involves suffering, sacrifice,
advocacy for the weakest, facing conflict with love for the
other because God loves them too. (1) Like the Danes 150 years
ago, we buy into a Christianity taught by society, without
studying the scriptures ourselves to hear Christ’s call
for reconciliation, God’s message of shalom. We need
the whole armor of God as our strength today and every day
of our lives. When we forget God is our strength, we resort
to using our own power and invoke God’s name as we do
so; we use means of force which God has rejected as displayed
though Jesus’ life and death and say we are doing God’s
work as we destroy instead of build community. We need this
uniform, but this uniform itches. |
| The writer of Ephesians gave early Christians a way to understand
the shift of the Christian life as they turned from placing
their security in the power structures of the time and instead
began to believe in the strength of God to make all things
new. People in Ancient Ephesus, a cosmopolitan city located
in modern day Turkey, were used to seeing helmets and breastplates,
swords and shields, the armor worn by their oppressors, Roman
soldiers. The Christian was given a radically different required
uniform! One preacher said about this text, “Apparently
Paul did not expect following Jesus to be easy. He talks about
the life of those in the church as if it’s going to be
a kind of war…. Paul tells everyone to gear up for battle,
but it is a different kind of battle. It is marked by truth
-- which is the first casualty of war. Its advance is marked
by salvation -- healing, wholeness, rather than body bags.
Its gospel -- its good news, the headlines of the PR department
-- is peace.” (2) |
| Armor is defensive; weapons are offensive. We are called
to put on the “armor of God.” The sword, the only
part that could be considered offensive, represents the word
of God, which leads to life, not death! This armor protects
us for “our struggle is not against enemies of flesh
and blood, but against the authorities, the rulers, the cosmic
powers of this present darkness.” (3) We know God’s
armor is powerful and dangerous to the authorities of this
world, because those who use other armors interpret truth telling
and the pursuit of peace and justice as weapons. Remember how
before the nonviolent civil rights movement was accepted for
what it was, nonviolence that shook up dark powers that used
violence to repress, many asked the Southern Christian Leadership
Coalition and Martin Luther King Jr. to tone it down, to let
up for a few years? Equality and justice could wait they said,
while injustice or the status quo was tolerated in the name
of peace. |
| The whole armor of God is the manifestation of the strength
of God’s power offered to us. God’s power has been
fully revealed and offered. Nothing has been withheld from
our aid. This doesn’t mean the journey will be comfortable.
As monotheists, we believe there are spiritual forces that
seek to have their way with our minds and hearts, bending them
to the use of destructive power instead of God’s power
of reconciliation. Instead of battling with might as the Roman
occupier did, Christians were to refuse to conform to any other
uniform than the teachings of Jesus Christ. It’s really
quite subversive! |
| Buying into the required uniform sets the wearer free to
stand firm in the midst of challenge. The battle Ephesians
speaks of is primarily within our own hearts. Will we claim
and wear the armor of God, or meet darkness with more darkness
multiplying devastation? |
| At the ecumenical peace picnic last Sunday I was reminded
through a speech of Mother Teresa’s that one of the best
ways to love God is to make peace with those closest to us. “What
can we do to help you?” an envoy from the West asked
Mother Teresa. “Go home and love your family, love your
neighbor, find peace at home and it will spread.” she
replied. God’s armor shields individuals fighting destructive
forces: those who have trouble loving themselves, those in
abusive situations; youth seeking to make it through the pitfalls
of adolescence; those fighting addictions, depression or loneliness;
those confronting their fear of death; those telling truths
to others who don’t want to hear. Putting on God’s
armor gives us the ability to flourish and live through any
circumstances in life! It allows us to love our neighbor as
God does. |
| Each of us has to come to an understanding of the difference
between the call of Christ and the rhetoric of whatever society
we live in, as a part of his or her spiritual journey. Douglas
John Hall a theologian says, “Every Christian must in
some sense become a theologian. … There can be no more
automatic Christianity” than there was in the early church.
(4) The early Christians knew being a believer in Christ would
have the consequence of setting one in opposition to all the
powers that thwart God’s purpose for the world. We are
mistaken if we believe that Christian faith means uncritical
acceptance of any particular form of government, society, ideology,
biblical interpretation and so on. |
| It matters whether you and I choose to buy into our required
uniform, the whole armor of God, or not. Something is at stake.
It is the mystery of the gospel and whether it is freely proclaimed.
The required uniform is standard issue, a necessity for engaging
the world in ways that seek life, wholeness and healing. We
are invited into the victory of God over the principalities
and powers of evil, to live according to Jesus’ teachings
because the Spirit empowers us to do so. If we cannot discern
ways in which the Word of God calls us to differ from the society
we live in, then we have chosen an alternative armor, human
made, instead of relying in the whole armor of God. |
| Be strong in the strength of God’s power! May our boldness,
like Paul’s, witness to the mystery of the Gospel through
the living of our lives. |
| Amen |
| Beth E. Godfrey - August 27, 2006 |
| Central Presbyterian Church, Geneseo, New
York |
| (1) William C. Placher, “Preaching the Gospel in Academy
and Society” intro and page 1. |
| (2) John Ortberg, “Roll Call” in The Christian
Century, August 9, 2003, p. 16. |
| (3) Ephesians 6:12. |
| (4) Douglas John Hall, Faith: Response in Relationship.
www.pulpit.org/articles/faith_response_in_relationship.asp. |
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