Love and Hard Things

Truth, Righteousness, Peace, Faith, Salvation, Spirit. All these words are packed into these final verses of the book of Ephesians. These are among the most pious and abstract words in all Christian grammar. Truth like a belt, righteousness like a breastplate, peace like a pair of shoes, faith as a shield, salvation a helmet, and the spirit a sword. Together these theological words are according to this disciple of Paul (more on that to come in the sermon) the “…full armor of God.” And why do we need the full armor of God? That we might live in the power of God. And this word – power – is the most intriguing of them all. The church has a peculiar relationship to this word, power. We embrace power and we are embarrassed of power. We leverage power and we say that power is not Christlike. We claim power in our baptism, we confront power, we deny power. This book of the Church, the book of Ephesians concludes by imploring us to embrace the power of God. Your baptism asks if you accept the power of God. So what is this power? And to what, or where does it lead us?