Dear Friends in Christ –

The core of something may be defined as the central, most important part. Last week I gave an overview of Ephesians 6:10-19. The Apostle Paul makes it very clear that he feels the battle for the human soul– I would even say for the soul of humanity– is being waged on a cosmic scale. Not was waged, nor may be waged, but is being waged even in this moment. Can one doubt as each day we’re confronted with the real necessity of discerning what is real and what is fake?

In the aftermath of the shootings in Parkland, Florida, students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School vented their grief and outrage as they mourned their friends and teachers. They called for change and within hours a YouTube video appeared claiming that these weren’t students at all, but actors. The video was a fabrication.

Where are we to find our compass to navigate these waters?

Paul lists the pieces of armor in the order a Roman soldier would put them on for battle:

“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. 14Stand firm, therefore, and having girded your loins with truth...”

This is where we start– the core, central, most important part– God’s truth revealed in Jesus “so that you (we) will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, stand firm.”

I hope to see you in worship -

Dear Friends in Christ –

Words fail as yet another mass shooting claims the lives of innocents. Woe to us if we become inured, accustomed, accepting of continuing carnage. Yes, we will grieve with those who grieve. We will pray. We will search our hearts and question the resolve of ours and others as well as the children quite rightly state, “We are children, you are the adults...” Implicit in that statement is a plea that surely there is something that can be done, so that more and more children and teachers’ and sisters’ and brothers’ lives aren’t snuffed in fits of rage or madness.

Just because we don’t know the answer now, does not mean that there isn’t one.

As people of the Word and of faith, we look to and lean into scripture. It is neither our calling nor our task to be absent nor silent as violence becomes commonplace. Should we not speak we become complicit.

This Sunday, the first Sunday of Lent, we begin a series of sermons on Ephesians 6:10-19 – The Armor of God. In a different time one might have regarded this passage as archaic – “hopelessly first century, male-oriented, warrior mentality, apocalyptic hyperbole.” But in these times attention must be paid. Until we celebrate the victory of Christ’s resurrection, we will walk with him putting on the armor as it is offered.

This Sunday we fasten the Belt of Truth. Yours? Mine? The only one that matters – God’s Truth.

See you in worship -