Looking into the lectionary — Ephesians 4

SUBSCRIBE \ ABOUT \ DONATE \ CONTACT Ephesians 4:1-16 — August 1, 2021 10th Sunday after Pentecost “I’m baffled,” one of my pastor friends recently wrote on Facebook. “Worship attendance and church engagement are nowhere near pre-COVID-19 levels. Maybe people are not reengaging because they have established new rhythms and patterns while exiled from their sanctuaries?”  This feels true. But I also wonder if people are hesitant to return because they are leery (or weary) of the divisiveness, debates and polarization that have seeped into every community gathering and invaded every dinner table.  I’ll be honest. Engaging with others in community, even a worshipping community, feels stressful right now. Reengaging means running into that woman who keeps peppering me with conspiracy theories, or that man who talks at me and never takes the cue from my annoyed expression, or the young adult I respect, but whose views constantly challenge me to rethink my own. I’m an introvert. People are exhausting. Disagreeing and debating is exhausting, even when it’s civil. Social isolation has its perks.  In his letter to the Ephesians, the author begs them to make every effort to maintain their unity, reminding them that this unity in faith is the calling to which they have been called. Considering our current divisiveness, it might be tempting for lectionary preachers to skip Ephesians this Sunday. I was tempted. Those other passages about God providing manna in the wilderness sounded a lot better to me, a lot easier, a lot less effort. But I know I can’t stay home forever. God’s calling. In a recent article for The Atlantic, Ibram X. Kendi mourns the current culture war about critical race theory where even basic facts are shared incorrectly. For instance, Kendi’s been referred to as the “father” of critical race theory. But he was born in 1982, and critical race theory was born in 1981. “How should thinkers respond?” Kendi asks. “Should we mostly ignore the critics? … Because restating facts over and over again gets old. Reciting your own work over and over again to critics who either haven’t read what they are criticizing or are purposefully distorting it gets old.” But then, Kendi, in a move I admire, restates his commitment to informed dialogue and critique. “As a scholar, I know that nothing is more useful than criticism to improve my scholarship. … Constructive criticism often hurts, but like painful medical treatments, it can be lifesaving.” The effort God calls us to, and reminds us of here in Ephesians, is constant and exhausting — the labor of living together, the labor of loving one another. But the effort leads to growth. The author of Ephesians outlines our maturation in Christ, a developmental process where we move beyond being “like children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.” Speaking the truth in love (and listening to the truth spoken in love) will lead us to growth, to faith development and maturity. But we must be engaged in community for this growth to occur. We must promote each other’s growth, engage in critical dialogue, build each other up in love. Again, in Ephesians, we read how love is key to this whole communal maturation process. We are to bear with one another in love, speak the truth in love, promote the body’s growth in love. We may be a community divided by disagreement, but if we are Christ’s community, we are bound together by our ethic of love. bell hooks writes beautifully about this ethic of love in her book, “All About Love: New Visions.” It’s refreshing to read hooks’ optimism, her hope in who and what we can become. Speaking to a university audience, hooks expressed her faith in the power of white people to speak out against racism, challenging and changing prejudice — emphatically stating, “I definitely believe we can all change our minds and our actions.” hooks stressed that this faith was not rooted in a utopian longing, but rather in our nation’s history of the many individuals who have offered their lives in the service of justice and freedom. Some folks in the audience challenged hooks, claiming those historic individuals were “exceptions.” But hooks writes about the necessity of changing our thinking to see ourselves as one who does change rather than among those who refuse to change: “What made these individuals exceptional was not that they were any smarter or kinder than their neighbors but that they were willing to live the truth of their values.” hooks diagnoses our national dilemma, the reason why living together in community feels so impossible: Even though the majority of Americans claim to believe in religion and the power of God's love we "remain unable to embrace a love ethic and allow it to guide behavior, especially if doing so would mean supporting radical change.” Perhaps this Sunday, guided by our love ethic, inspired by Ephesians, we can close the gap between what we believe and how we behave and build each other up in love. Questions for reflection: What feelings stir within you as you read this passage? What do you find most challenging about living in community? In what ways has your faith community changed and matured you?  A special kind of village In early 2020, Presbyterian Children’s Homes and Services transitioned their rural campus in Itasca, Texas, into a neighborhood for fostering families.  Read the full article by Noreen O'Brien Book review Morning and Evening Prayers Outlook feature The bind of courage: Family systems theory for church leaders Commentary Wanting to know  ‌  ‌  ‌  ‌

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The Lectionary Passages for Sunday, August 1, 2021 (10th Sunday after Pentecost)

Below are NRSV translations of the lessons from the Old Testament (2 Samuel 11:26 - 12:13a or Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15), Psalms (Psalm 51:1-12 or Psalm 78:23-29), the Letters (Ephesians 4:1-16), and the Gospels (John 6:24-35) Please make any comments concerning the passages you want. Together, let's discuss the Word of God.

2 Samuel 11:26 - 12:13a

When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead, she made lamentation for him. When the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord, and the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds; but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.” Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.” Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the Lord: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun. For you did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.” David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” 

Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15

The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not. Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, ‘Draw near to the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.’“ And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. The Lord spoke to Moses and said, “I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’“

In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.

Psalm 51:1-12

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.

Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.

You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.

Psalm 78:23-29

Yet he commanded the skies above,

   and opened the doors of heaven;

he rained down on them manna to eat,

   and gave them the grain of heaven.

Mortals ate of the bread of angels;

   he sent them food in abundance.

He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,

   and by his power he led out the south wind;

he rained flesh upon them like dust,

   winged birds like the sand of the seas;

he let them fall within their camp,

   all around their dwellings.

And they ate and were well filled,

   for he gave them what they craved.

Ephesians 4:1-16

I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it is said, “When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.” (When it says, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.

John 6:24-35

So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.”

Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.