Strengthened and Equipped

This week we continue with Jesus’ teaching about himself as the “bread of life” – saying “those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them.” Undoubtedly many misunderstood and thought Jesus was referring to some cannibalistic pagan rite. We know that this is not what he meant at all.

As I said to you last week, we must read the books of our Christian Library (The Bible) in context. We understand that Jesus is speaking metaphorically.

But what do we do with the very militaristic metaphor that is offered by Paul in this weeks reading from the epistle to the Ephesians, and how do we make sense of it in a nation in which our young people know little of war, fear the possibility of war and pray for peace?

For some people today (Christian or otherwise) the very thought of involvement in war is abhorrent.

But Paul writes in a world where military might was the order of the day. In the face of such might, he was aware of the difficulty of maintaining a hold on faith and peace, so he wrote of the sorts of safeguards that were required in order that we might fight against that power and retain all that is important for eternal life.

“Roman armour and weaponry,” says Paul Turley in this week’s Seasons of the Spirit tip  “was the state of the art, the best in the world.” He then offers us something to ponder;

“…perhaps we must clothe ourselves in the best that our best minds can come up with. What if we embraced the best thinking on conflict resolution? The most forward thinking of international laws and courts of justice? The most technically sophisticated responses to the alleviation of poverty and hunger? The cleverest weapons to fight climate change? The most comprehensive and international resistance to evil regimes?”

My question for you is “how do you read Paul’s instructions in Ephesians 6:10-20? What does it mean to you? How do you protect yourself and prepare for life each and every day?

Blessings

Reverend Shan