First Congregational Church in Auburn UCC, August 25, 2024
Ephesians 6:10-20 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power; put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, for our struggle is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.,* Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on the evil day and, having prevailed against everything, to stand firm. Stand, therefore, and belt your waist with truth and put on the breastplate of righteousness and lace up your sandals in preparation for the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. Pray also for me, so that when I speak a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Nine years ago, in 2015, NESN fired Don Orsillo, one half of a very popular Red Sox broadcasting team… Don did the play-by-play while Jerry Remy did the commentary. They were a beloved team, and fans were really angry with the team’s move.
It’s 2024. Nine years later. And you still cannot have a conversation about the quality of present day Red Sox broadcasts on the Boston Globe’s web pages without it descending into an argument that the Sox shouldn’t have fired Orsillo, and that Dave O’Brien is evil for having taken Orsillo’s place.
Anger is powerful. Anger is persistent. Anger is destructive.
That kind of anger shuts down conversation, destroys friendships, or makes it almost impossible to build good relationships – and it’s not just about the Red Sox. In a world that is increasingly angry, more and more unwilling to trust anyone else on anything….how do we survive? How do we thrive? How do we follow the Christian way?
There is a power which is trying to convince us that it’s better to be mean than to be kind.
There’s a power out there that believes it is better to throw an insult than to take anyone else’s position seriously.
There’s a power out there that believes it’s better to poison the well for everyone else than to let anyone get ahead.
That power is out to destroy the community in which we live, to destroy the community that is the basis of our relationship with the whole world.
And it’s a power which can leave us feeling powerless, worthless, frustrated and angry ourselves. It leaves us feeling as though every good thing we’ve ever tried to do has disappeared, and that our beliefs, our practices, our way of caring for one another are increasingly irrelevant, worthless, and contemptible.
I want to make two things really clear as we think about this power. First, while you may see and hear people, maybe in your own families, who are captured by this power of hatred and anger – those people didn’t start this. They are captured by a force that is beyond belief. And if you find yourself under the influence of this stuff— getting angrier, responding more sharply than you used to, remember that it is not you who has changed, it is the world of acceptable behavior in which we live these days.
Second, this anger I speak of is not limited to one particular political party. It is something that has infected all our world. I’ve heard people from way left of the Democratic Party get really angry, and people from the far Right. Sometimes this kind of anger is about a political party, but sometimes it’s about the best beach in Rhode Island, or who should announce games for the Red Sox.
The good news for the days is that we do not have to live in anger. We can push back. We don’t have to start making mean remarks ourselves in order to make a difference. The way things are now is not the way God intends for life to be, and God has given us the strength, the wisdom and the practices to begin to make changes.
Today’s good news is simply this: in today’s lesson, St. Paul lines out for us a way to live in the midst of anger, a way to be a force for good in our homes, our work, our community, our world. God has not left us alone in this task. So, let’s look again at these words.
- Stand, therefore, and belt your waist with truth. Let your words be true.
- Put on the breastplate of righteousness. Do the right thing.
- Lace up your sandals in preparation for the gospel of peace. Act peaceably.
- With all of these, take the shield of faith. Remember, God acts for good.
- Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. Pray, be in daily touch with God.
Let your words be true. Be sure you know what’s really going on. God calls us to be agents of truth, so check out those rumors. If you don’t know, for instance, why the Red Sox fired Don Orsillo, don’t speculate. If you see a story on Facebook, remember that no one factchecks Facebook posts and check it out.
Do the right thing. America Magazine last week had an article about how to raise kids who continue to attend church after they grow up. Now America is a Catholic magazine, so they were thinking specifically about the kids staying Catholic, while we’d think about staying Protestant – but the idea is the same.
The mother whose children have stopped practicing their faith said: “I did all the things,” . . .“We went to church as a family. We sacrificed to send them to Catholic school. They went to youth group. We did everything we thought we were supposed to do. What happened?”
Well, here’s the answer: “While families who successfully raised all of their children to a faithful adulthood did have regular family prayer times (usually some kind of morning, mealtime, and/or bedtime prayers), that doesn’t appear to be the main factor responsible for their success. What mattered most was a family dynamic in which the family (especially the children) experienced their faith as the source of the warmth in their homes. Children raised in these households experienced their family’s faith as something that drew them together in good times and bad.”
Doing the right thing, living out our faith, changes lives. America applies that idea directly to raising children, but it applies all across the board. In this contentious time, be extra sure to live out the values of kindness, grace, mercy, justice and love, which exemplify the Christian faith. Let your faith allow others to see you as a trustworthy person, a kind oasis in an angry world.
Act peaceably. There are going to be a lot of time when we’ll be around someone or some situation where anger is in the air. Be the person who takes it down a notch. If you’re in line at the grocery, and the person in front of you is mean to the clerk, be the person who says something kind. If someone starts to tell a nasty joke or a mean story, if someone starts to make fun of a person, be the person who walks away, or who says that’s not acceptable (but not angrily). Build peace by helping people see the way of love.
Be in daily touch with God. You know this – daily conversations are a building block of good, solid relationships. So, talk with God every day. Tell God about the deeply annoying person you met, or whatever else has pushed your buttons, and doing so will help you keep your cool.
Our world is filled with anger and distrust. In the days to come, be the people who turn away from that path. Be the people who seek truth and practice what they preach. Stay in touch with God, and build God’s world, in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
© 2024, Virginia H. Child
To Believe is to Care. . . To Care is to Do 