After college, I joined Lutheran Volunteer and was excited to spend a year exploring intentional Christian community with four other recent college grads in Milwaukee. We were all Christians –the four women who had strong Lutheran backgrounds – one was the daughter of a missionary, another was the daughter of a pastor, one was applying to Seminary the next year and then there was me. Bob – the lone man in the house, was an easy-going Catholic man of strong faith. We had all committed ourselves to live simply, work for social justice and live in Christian community. Our jobs were social justice oriented – everything from working with Lutheran Social Services to working with an organization that helped people who had been in prison get a new start in life. And they didn’t pay us much – so we were forced to live simply. But…when our first meal together as a “Christian Community” ended with two of the women arm wrestling after a dispute – it turned out that living in Christian community – the piece that I thought would be the easiest – was going to be our biggest challenge.
And we are not the only ones. Scholars have argued that the letter to the Ephesians was written not only to the people in Ephesus, but as a word of encouragement to Christian communities everywhere on how to live together, as one community in Christ. Because… it isn’t always easy.
The people of Ephesus and other new Christian communities had heard the good news – Christ has risen! And they had joined in the proclamation, “Christ has risen indeed.” They had heard Jesus’ promise of everlasting life – but they needed to learn how to live into this life, a life imitating God’s way.. Some of the old rules that they had grown up with – including some cultural habits that had kept people apart -- didn’t apply anymore. Instead, in Christ, “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.” God’s people were now Jewish and Gentile people, Greeks and Romans, men and women and children too.
The challenge became how to live into that calling of life together, respecting, loving and caring for one another.
I’d love to be able to say that after receiving this letter, the church in Ephesus and everywhere else became an example for the world on how to live together as followers of Christ. But, unfortunately, the church is made up of flawed and broken people – people like me and you that aren’t perfect, who don’t always say the right things and who sometimes solve their squabbles with arm wrestling – or worse.
In Holy Rover, our book club book for this month, the author writes about that the Iona community first began in the year 563 after a monk, Columba, had a squabble with the established church over an unauthorized copy that he had made of the scriptures. It resulted in a civil war. He was banished from England and told to paddle until he could not see his homeland anymore. He landed on what is now the Scottish island of Iona. With the help of likeminded monks, he built a monastery in the midst of a community that had never heard about Jesus. But perhaps he learned something in his journey from his old home to this new place because instead of fighting against or preaching at their neighbors, Columba instructed his fellow monks to create “colonies of heaven,” realizing that other people would be drawn to their community more by how they lived than by what they preached.1
This letter to the Ephesians is, in part, meant to encourage new converts to change their lifestyle to reflect their newfound faith in Christ. But this encouragement to healthy living is not unique to Christianity. Other cultures and faiths also encourage people not to steal or to act in corrupt ways but instead to speak the truth and to let their actions speak louder than their words.
But what Ephesians reminds us is why we are to act differently than others. We are all one in Christ Jesus. Therefore, because we are part of one another, we are urged not to let the sun go down on our anger but instead to resolve or at least address issues of injustice or hurt or harm. As Cologna and his fellow monks learned, a dispute can lead quickly to violence. But because we are all one in Christ and bound together in Christ, we are encouraged to “speak the truth in love” – not to win an argument and not to score a point against another. Instead, we are to speak the truth in love for the sake of building up one another and building up the body of Christ. For, we are joined together as one – one in Christ.
Today we will be building up the body of Christ by welcoming Sutton Rose as a child of God, an heir with us of God’s kingdom. And we welcome her parents and godparents who will also be striving to build up the body of Christ as they promise Sutton that they will teach her about the love of God for her just as other people did for them.
One of those people who shared the love of God with them was Sutton Rose’s great grandmother, Diane Carlson – who has since joined the saints in heaven. Diane was a beloved member of this congregation for many years and a great example to me of someone who lived out her faith joyfully – whether as a Christian clown or as a Sunday School teacher or as witness of God’s love in her ordinary life.
Living as a witness of Christ’s love and building up the body of Christ is not always easy. Challenges come our way. Maybe it’s a health condition for you or someone you love. Add to that concerns about little ones or parents or your work or maybe just the challenges of living in our world today. On top of that, add the coronavirus and the ever changing news. It’s easy to get overwhelmed. But whatever challenges come your way, be reminded of this: you are God’s beloved child and together, we are the body of Christ. Together, we can seek to “be imitators of God, as beloved children and live in love as Christ loved us.” Ephesians 5:2 Thanks be to God!
Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran Church Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane
1Excerpt From: Lori Erickson. “Holy Rover.” Apple Books. https://books.apple.com/us/book/holy-rover/id1272912113