Sermon
Growing up with real winters in the Midwest, winter weather never stopped us from going outside. Even though I couldn't live with it at this point in my life, it was a constant source of fun for part of the year while I was a kid. Driving, shoveling, not so much. But as a kid, you just wore the right outdoor gear and you were all set. My friend has a picture of herself at about 4 years old dressed in one of those puffy one piece snow suits that made one look like the Michelan Man from the tire commercial, standing, arms outstretched, unmoving, out in the snow. I can just picture her parents sending her out, all prepared for the cold, and saying go on now, it will be fun! And maybe her four year old self thinking – what?! I can't move! This is supposed to be fun? It's the kind of thing a comic might make a routine out of.
It seemed like the rules about going outside to have fun in the winter were the very things that prevented us from going outside and having fun in the winter.
At what point does what is supposed to protect us actually stand in the way of us doing what we are supposed to do? Well, all the time actually.
Today's text reminds me of the kind of paradox that we continually find in biblical texts. Here we are being asked to clothe ourselves in preparation for the fight: We should wear a breastplate, belt, and helmet, and carry a sword and shield. But for shoes, we wear whatever will help us proclaim peace. And yet in Luke 9, we read: “Then Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. He said to them, 'Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money—not even an extra tunic.” Reminding them also to shake the sand from their sandals and move on, if they are not welcomed.
So we get up in the morning, we want to live a life of faith, we go to our closet, which metaphorical outfit do we choose?
Like the 4-year-old in a snowsuit, we adults have grown into people who have learned to figure out for ourselves, what the conditions are, what we need to protect ourselves, and what we need in order to be effective in our lives.
The 4-year-old will grow into someone who knows she doesn't need that suit in the spring, who doesn't need that much protection later in life, who will learn how to balance protecting herself with living her life. If she doesn't, she will remain a metaphorical Michelen Man all of her life, and cold and snow piles will always frighten her.
We are all people who have grown and learn the same things for all of the different situations in our lives. By the time we are adults we have knowledge, skills, beliefs, things we know to be true and trust, and at the same time create our own ways of protecting ourselves from outside demons and inner demons. We have had to decide and will always need to evaluate which things that scare us are the “wiles of the devil” and are “shooting flaming arrows” that Paul is talking about and require us to reach for the armor; and which things don't quite reach that level of danger.
For those who have lived a life of constant vigilance in order to be safe, to eat, to live, the armor becomes a permanent part of who they are unless they have been able to overcome. People like this are stuck in a state of fight/flight/freeze/or fawn mindset when faced with any new information. They go through a long mental check list in a matter of milliseconds whenever any situation arises. For them danger is truly around every corner and trust never seems to be on the horizon. They cannot even afford to hope.
We may not think we have ever been or know anyone who has ever been at that state of fear of survival. We're not just talking about people who live on the street, who appear to be in a state of disarray physically or emotionally, who we make assumptions about. I think we all know people who look just fine, maybe we've known them a really long time and we think we know about their life circumstances. But every single one of us carries pain that no one or only the closest person to them knows about. These are not secrets necessarily, but they are extremely private because the journey out, if they're out, has been extensive.
These are heroic journeys, personal journeys, transformative journeys. I think Paul is speaking to people who are experiencing life's deepest pain when he tells us to put on all of that armor. Going through the door marked “exit” from a life of pain requires protection from all of the doubt, the naysayers, the people who are not as brave and want to keep us in that dark place with them, in order to keep walking through the exit. We require armor against “not enemies of 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.” We need the belt of truth, to help us stay the path; we need the shield of faith to believe that Jesus walked this path too and will not leave us; we need the sword of the Spirit to help us carry that power greater than ourselves that will create life out of darkness.
What are the cosmic powers that have hold of you and me today? What are the authorities that lay claim to us? Which rulers? What is a spiritual force of evil for you and me?
We could make a list. It would be a good exercise. The pandemic has shone a light on great disparities in our society and in communities and created so many new uneven paths. Our normal coping mechanisms, fighting tools, resources have all been changed. The isolation created by the pandemic and attempts to stay safe has brought horrible social dislocation. We have been forced to face the limits of our independence.
The goal of our lives is not to accomplish many tasks – it is to be people together. The goal of life is not to be correct – it is to be in conversation. The goal in life is to have a learners mindset, where life is messy because questions lead to more questions and answers lead to more questions, and being “finished” is not a clear ribbon across the path. A fear-based mindset both leads to, and comes from, being isolated.
Our usual social situations are not there to confirm our beliefs. We turn to inaccurate places in our isolation to get information that confirms our beliefs. Then we don't even notice that we are in a false world where everything we believe is absolute. The normal give and take that swims through our days that leads us to more than one point of view is not there. Suddenly there are not-funny memes on posters that say things like “Hospitals to hire less doctors and more parents who have done their research.”
I don't want to wear armor. It's too heavy. I don't want to enter the world needing so much protection that I don't feel anything, touch anybody, learn anything, or find love. And yet I also don't want to be the one who drowns in a flood because the protection God sent wasn't what I thought it would look like.
What Paul was trying to tell the Ephesians, and trying to tell us I believe, is that life has in the past and will in the future test us and try us, people will hurt us and love us. The rulers and authorities of that time were actively attempting to root out people who were a threat to them and those who followed Christ would, by definition, be a threat to them. The armor of God is not heavy, but it is strong. The armor of God does not kill but brings life. The belt and shield and helmet and sword are never for offense but only to bring life through the truth, righteousness, word, and Spirit of God.
This kind of armor is much better than a snowsuit.
Amen.
