Ephesians 6: 10-20

In his Screwtape Letters C.S. Lewis talked about the “two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils: One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist and a magician with the same delight. “This is certainly true about Satan. Some people totally dismiss him as an impersonal force or somebody in a red suit with a pitchfork. On the other end of the spectrum, many people attribute too much power and importance to Lucifer. They feel he is God’s equal.” Paul, comments my colleague Stan Mast, “steers the true course down the middle.” So, we might add, do Ephesians 6:10-20’s wise proclaimers.

In his Screwtape Letters C.S. Lewis talked about the “two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils: One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist and a magician with the same delight. “This is certainly true about Satan. Some people totally dismiss him as an impersonal force or somebody in a red suit with a pitchfork. On the other end of the spectrum, many people attribute too much power and importance to Lucifer. They feel he is God’s equal.” Paul, comments my colleague Stan Mast, “steers the true course down the middle.”

As a native New Yorker, I remember the subways of the 1970s and 80s, which didn't always seem safe, especially later at night - and at that time, a group of martial arts trained volunteers began riding the subways, dressed in red berets and muscle shirts. They were called the "Guardian Angels." Now I was young, but to be honest, I was more scared of them than I was of anybody else I personally ever encountered on a New York subway. But I guess that for some, the only answer to fear is a show of toughness, a clear message that says, "Don't mess with me." And yet, that's not Paul's message to the church at Ephesus. Paul's message is to name where true strength and security are to be found...

Scene from the movie Gandhi (1983), a rally in South Africa (ca. 1910) to protest unjust laws against non-whites: Outcries from the crowd promising violent resistance, ending with: “For that cause I would be willing to die!” To which Gandhi responds: I praise such courage. I need such courage, because in this cause I, too, am prepared to die. But, my friend, there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill. Whatever they do to us, we will attack no one, kill no one. But we will not give our fingerprints, not one of us. They will imprison us, they will fine us, they will seize our possessions. But they cannot take away our self-respect if we do not give it to them. One from the crowd interjects: “Have you ever been to prison? They beat us and torture us….” Gandhi continues: I am asking you to fight. To fight against their anger, not to provoke it. We will not strike a blow. But we will receive them. And through our pain we will make them see their injustice. And it will hurt, as all fighting hurts. But we cannot lose. We cannot. They may torture my body, break my bones, even kill me. Then, they have my dead body. Not my obedience. We are Hindu and Muslim, children of God, each one of us. Let us take a solemn oath in His Name that, come what may, we will not submit to this law...

Rodolfo is a young man from Tenancingo, a small town in Mexico known as a breeding ground for sex traffickers. In the documentary Pimp City, he gives an interview from prison, where he is serving a sentence for sex trafficking. Rodolfo became a pimp when he was 15 years old. The interviewer asks him, “When is the first time you heard that a man can make money by selling the body of a woman?” “It is a family business,” Rodolfo answers. “Since the boys are ten or 11 years old, they say that they want to be like their fathers, pimps. . . . So, practically, you will end up doing what you know in Tenancingo. That’s what you would do, only what you know.” According to the film, in Tenancingo the whole family is involved in the sex-trafficking business: grandma, grandpa, mom, dad, everyone...

I close with a prayer by Leonard Cohen, a Jew who knows the poetics of the Christian faith better than many Christians that I know. Here he throws himself upon the mercy of God, as we all must if we are to find our way through the sufferings of this life to the life of resurrection that Christ promises. Show me the place, where you want your slave to go Show me the place, I've forgotten I don't know Show me the place where my head is bending low Show me the place, where you want your slave to go Show me the place, help me roll away the stone Show me the place, I can't move this thing alone Show me the place where the word became a man Show me the place where the suffering began.

("A group of friends is talking about the weekend just gone by and how they made the most of the fantastic weather on Sunday. As they related stories about fishing and how the kids really got the hang of it, and picnics and lazing in the sun at the beach or playing in the park with the kids, or just an easy morning in backyard with brunch and bit of gardening before lunch, you reflect on your Sunday. You think, 'It was a real effort to get the kids up, dressed, fed and into the car with a minimal amount of shouting. We finally got to church...")

Scroll down the page for this resource.

Scroll down the page for this resource.

Do you remember John Steinbeck’s Dust Bowl classic, The Grapes of Wrath? The farmer wanted to know who had foreclosed on his land. The local banker said he was just doing the bidding of the home office. The home office was beholden to its Board of Directors, who weren’t at fault because they had to answer to their stock holders. The conclusion, of course, is that the system is at fault, so no one is to blame. Still, a family had lost their farm, was left alone to battle the powers...

There are sometimes movies released that, for one reason or another, do not receive a great deal of advanced publicity or many reviews–good or bad. But when one of these films, against all odds, proves to capture the attention and admiration of audiences who spread the word about its charms, it is called a “sleeper.” A recent sleeper that has come to my attention is a wonderful film called The War of the Buttons. It is a British film, set in the English countryside, and it is the story of two sets of ten- to twelve year-old boys in rival, neighboring towns. The drama begins with one group defacing a sign at the school in the rival village. In retaliation, the boys of the offended town, capture one of the intruders and humiliate him by cutting all the buttons off his clothing, His friends then mount a rather unorthodox campaign to gain revenge. They use a girl from their town to lure the other boys into an ambush. Then they emerge from hiding behind boulders, swooping down on them, completely naked, scaring them senseless and chasing them into a nearby lake. Some authorities report that the Picts of ancient Britain sometimes fought without clothing to prevent their garments from becoming entangled in the brush and as a way of intimidating the enemy. The naked fighting scene in the movie may indeed be, for the British, an obvious reference to Pictish warfare. One wonders, however, if going into battle without clothing is a really such good idea. One tee-shirt manufacturer has suggested otherwise. This manufacturer sold shirts emblazoned on the front with the words: DON’T FIGHT NAKED. This is not a reference to the movie The War of the Buttons, nor was it designed for students of the ancient Picts. Rather the words DON’T FIGHT NAKED on the front were designed to give the words on the back a more profound impact. On the back was a quotation from today’s Epistle reading from Ephesians:...

Clarence Jordan tells the story of visiting an integrated church in the Deep South. He was surprised to find a relatively large church so thoroughly integrated, not only Black and White but also rich and poor. Jordan ask the old hillbilly preacher, "How did you get the church this way?" "What way?" the preacher asked. Jordon went on to explain his suprise at finding a church so integrated, and in the South, too. The preacher said, "Well, when our preacher left our small church, I went to the Deacons and said, 'I'll be the preacher.' The first Sunday as preacher, I opened the book and read, 'As many of you as has been baptized into Jesus has put on Jesus and there is no longer any Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, males or females, because you is all one in Jesus.' "Then I closed the book and said, 'If you one with Jesus, you one with all kind of folks. And if you ain't, you ain't.'" Jordan asked what happened after that...

("In their recent book Resident Aliens, Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon tell the story of the rabbi in Greenville, South Carolina, a friend, who used to challenge the values of the society around him by telling his children, 'That's fine for everyone else, but it's not fine for you. You are special. You are different. You are a Jew. You have a different story. A different set of values.'...")

Scroll down the page for this resource.

Scroll down the page for this resource.

(Royalty Required for use)

Scroll down the page for this video.