Ephesians 1:3-14 (NRSV)
The theme of Ephesians 1:3-14 is the plan of God for the salvation of humanity. The point is the infinite value of the refreshing and renewing benefits of life in Christ. It contains a digest of the themes of the letter.[1]The primary actor throughout is God, who blesses, chooses, destines, adopts, bestows, and redeems.[2]
A common observation is that in the Greek text, verses 3-14 constitute one sentence. In style, it has similarities with the sermons in the Deuteronomic sermons, Qumran, and Asia. The eulogy feature of the epistolary setting is a uniquely Christian contribution. These lines are "the most monstrous sentence conglomeration that I have encountered in Greek" (E. Norden) and "the marvelous spiral of Ephesians 1:3-14 is probably without rival in Greek literature" (Danker). This diversity of interpretation and evaluation is somehow appropriate to an ecumenical letter that Paul addresses to the whole oikoumene -- the whole inhabited earth. Everything there is to love (or despise, depending on your tastes) about the literary quality of the letter to the Ephesians is on display to an almost exaggerated degree within these verses. The grammar is incredibly complex, the vocabulary quite advanced and theologically specialized, and the internal references often convoluted because they twist back on one another.
In this first unit of Ephesians, the text reveals itself to be both like and unlike other Pauline epistles. The opening greeting and declaration of blessedness are quite familiar. However, the text never takes on the personal, pointed trajectory common to other Pauline letters. Though debate continues, considerable consensus has developed that one should see the "letter" to the "Ephesians" as a kind of general sermon intended for reading during worship to any number of congregations, with the churches of Ephesus probably one of many. Thus, one may see the rather impersonal tenor and numerous liturgical and hymn-like qualities as part of this generalized function that the author intended the "letter" to serve. In fact, some scholars suggest that we should view this lengthy unit as a doxological hymn that may even have been a liturgical prayer. This portion of Ephesians is "the doxology of the divine plan of salvation" -- a summary statement of salvation, or what it means, "to be in Christ" as a "new humanity." It stands as a compendium and climax of Pauline theology and weds liturgy and theology in a uniquely compelling way. The blessings that God has for the cosmos, God's cosmic purposes, Paul spells out in verses 4-14. The exalted tone and vocabulary have led commentators to designate Ephesians "an epistle of ascension." From this lofty viewpoint, the epistle writer reveals what he has glimpsed the vision of God's purpose and plan for the church and for all the men and women who become his "adopted children" through the work of Christ.
Scholars recognize an identifiably Trinitarian focus in this text, with the work of the Father (vv.3-6), the work of the Son (vv.7-10 and 11-12), and the work of the Holy Spirit (vv.13-14). I will follow the suggestion that this one sentence has four points, marked by enw, with points two and three focused on the work of the Son.
We will consider the benefits that of life in Christ.
The first benefit of life in Christ is that God has chosen us by grace. Ephesians 1:3-6 is a call to praise or bless God, inviting us to reflect upon the work of the Father. Blessed be (Εὐλογητὸς) the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, followed by the prepositional phrase, repeated in verses 7, 11, and 13, ἐν ᾧ “in whom.” It could refer back to God in each case, although verse 7 does not seem to work. It could refer to Christ, the view taken by the NRSV. If so, God the Father has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing. The rest of the passage would enumerate these blessings. This interpretation makes sense to me. Christ becomes the model or means through whom the Father blesses. The determination of the Father to deal with humanity through Christ is the greatest of blessings to humanity and the greatest reason to offer praise to the Father. Such spiritual blessing is a divinely given and unified whole that affects real people in history. When the author identifies such blessing as in the heavenly places, found also in 1:20, 2:6, 3:10, 6:12 and nowhere else in the New Testament, he could refer to the place from which God blesses, the storehouse of the blessings of God. The Father 4chose (ἐξελέξατο) us in Christ (an example of the blessing in verse 3) before the foundation (part of the revealed mystery in verse 9) of the world, referring to a people rather than individuals. Such a statement rejects any Gnostic view. The act of election has a pretemporal aspect here. It suggests the notion that the origin of salvation in the eternity of God is prior to all the chances that we see in history.[3] The author is dealing with election, which in the Old Testament is largely an historical event. Here, election occurs before the foundation of the world.[4] Yet, the fact that belonging to Jesus Christ is the basis of the selection still takes an historical view of the manifestation of the elect as the end-time community. The election of a people is still the result of the historical event of Jesus Christ. Further, the eternal basis of election, Jesus Christ, has come into history, becoming the starting point of their calling.[5] Thus, as we continue reading, I hope we can see that election is a matter of the heart of God. Divine election is hardly deterministic or fatalistic when we view it this way, which would lead us toward an unfitting anthropomorphic view of God, as though from a standpoint before the beginning of the world, God were looking ahead to a different future. Such a God, after determining this future, could retire and die. Further, throughout this passage, we have an adoring tone. The passage is relational. This election arises out of the historical event of Christ in a way similar to Old Testament forms of election. We gladly share this election with others. God continues to elect people. This passage will bring election and forgiveness together. United with verse 10, the counsel of divine election has a link to salvation for all creation, including humanity. If it relates to the people of God as representing all humanity, then from the outset we must also view the election of Jesus and his historical mission as service to the future human fellowship of the rule of God. Divine election finds provisional manifestation in the people of God.[6] The thrust of the message here is not so much about the predestination of individual souls as it is about the plan of God for all of creation. God has established a plan of holiness for humanity and, indeed, all of the created order. Such election has the purpose of a people to be holy and blameless before the Father. We see here a gap between reality and the plan of God for humanity. Our individual salvation is part of the larger purposes of God. God did not choose us because we are so wonderful. Rather, God chose us because God wants to accomplish something through us. Further, in love, the Father 5destined (προορίσας) us for adoption (υἱοθεσίαν) as children, emphasizing the legal implication of the relationship. We see again the gap between the plan of God for humanity and our present condition. This destining occurs through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of the divine will. The author hints at the theological position of inclusive representation, Jesus Christ as the paradigm of all humanity in its relation to God.[7] Such a favorable decision always has warm and personal connotations. It communicates joy and happiness. The aim of such divine election is the manifestation of the love of God toward creatures who may then participate in the fellowship of the Son with the Father. The act of election aims at integration into the filial relation of Jesus Christ to the Father. All of this is 6to the praise of the glorious grace, offered as an abundant demonstration, of God that God freely bestowed now (or poured out before creation, with the enthronement of Christ, or Jesus,) on us in the Beloved. It combines realized and futurist eschatology at this point, for the glorious present, the now, is much like we find in the writings of John, continuing to have openness due to the unfulfilled hopes and promises that remain. This opening, with its focus on divine choice, destining for adoption, in accord with divine will, and freely bestowing grace, is an occasion for praise and wonderment. It shows God as actively engaged and intimately involved in all aspects of life. The sending of the Son into the world serves the divine decision to have this fellowship with humanity but achieves its actualization only at the final consummation.[8]
We now come to the second benefit of life in Christ. Paul is dealing with the menace or threat to our receiving the benefit of life in Christ. Before the foundation of the world, God saw this threat. The question is whether we face the threat seriously enough. Let us call this treat sin.
I came across a story that seems to me a little gross and even scary. "The most beautiful creature in the ocean," the nudibranch is a sea slug or naked snail. Making its home in the Bay of Naples, Italy, the medusa jellyfish sometimes swallows this snail when it is small. The jellyfish draws it into its digestive tract. Yet, the shell protects the snail from the jellyfish digesting it. Nudibranches are hermaphroditic, containing within themselves all they need for reproduction. The snail fastens itself to the inside of the jellyfish and slowly begins to eat it. By the time the animal has matured and starts reproducing, it has consumed the entire jellyfish.
If the image is not too disgusting, I hope it helps us see what sin do. We feast on what appears to be beautiful, attractive snails. However, these snails, once they lodge in our system, eventually consume us.
Our culture has a bug. It is moral and spiritual. We seem to have little on which to depend when it comes to our moral and spiritual life. We have tried materialism, gathering all the stuff around us that we can. It is not enough. We have tried a moral environment in which everything is permissible, and no one has the right to judge. We have re-defined economic boundaries so that even the poor in this country have benefits that the rich could only dream about at the beginning of this century. We have re-defined morality so that we as individuals get to decide on whatever we want to do, without accountability to anyone else. We have re-defined freedom of speech as in such a way that our main concern is whether someone offends our sensibilities.
Rather than re-defining morality, I would like to take as a jumping off place a traditional account of the human predicament that the church has called the seven deadly sins.
Some of you will remember Gilligan’s Island. One theory out there is that each of the seven persons stranded on the island represents one of the seven deadly sins.
7. Gluttony: Skipper is large enough to qualify him here. In the fall of 1997, the Wing Ding Chicken Wing Eating Contest concluded at the Celebration (Central Louisiana) festival in Alexandria, Louisiana. The undisputed champion in devouring chicken wings was Kevin Porter, who gobbled up 104 wings in 15 minutes. Gluttony means more than sneaking off too often to visit those 11 secret herbs and spices, or running out of money before running out of month, or sitting down to too many all-you-can-eat buffets. Gluttony at base is doing anything to excess. Gluttony is an orientation to life that knows no bounds and honors no limits. Gluttony turns appetites from savoring to devouring. There is an old admonition: "Everything in moderation, including moderation." Gluttony knows no moderation.
6. Greed: In Gilligan’s Island, this would be Mr. Howell, who took a trunk full of money on a three-hour cruise. One could also call it coveting and "avarice." Other synonyms for greed include acquisitiveness, bottom-lining, affluenza, etc. "Avarice is not so much the love of possessions, as the love merely of possessing."[9]
5. Envy: In Gilligan’s Island, Maryann had envy, always jealous of the glamour of Ginger. Envy is the crusade that comes from the constant comparison of oneself with others. The parson in The Canterbury Tales calls it "that foul sin . . . the worst sin there is," because it pits itself "against all virtues and goodness." Backbiting, gossiping, negativity, bigotry, even vanity (at the court of Napoleon III, a lady of style would need seven or eight changes of clothing a day to be appropriately attired) can be traced back to the fount of envy.
4. Idleness: In Gilligan’s Island, Mrs. Howell represents sloth. Also known as sloth, idleness is the sluggishness of spirit that "believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and remains alive because there is nothing for which it will die."[10] Praised by a BBC interviewer for his marvelous voice, Luciano Pavarotti gave the following compelling response: "Don't praise me for the instrument. God made it. All I did was to have the discipline to learn how to play it."[11]
3. Lust: In Gilligan’s Island, Ginger represents lust. An imperial tombstone placed this vice within the perspective of the eternal moral dilemma. The tombstone read: "Baths, wine and sex corrupt our bodies; but baths, wine and sex keep us alive." God gave us baths, wine and sex for our enjoyment and pleasure. Lust is the poisoning of desire from glory to shame, from liberty to licentiousness, from honoring God to honoring self.
2. Anger: In Gilligan’s Island, the skipper comes in again. He hit Gilligan at least once an episode. "I am free of all prejudice," W. C. Fields used to say. "I hate everyone equally." Anger is the harboring of grievances that demand revenge and develop into hatred. Time made the group “Rage Against the Machine” one of its top groups of the year. I have read their lyrics. They appear to have anger just beneath surface. The seething rage that circulates throughout postmodern culture is an expression of the hopelessness of despair, as expressed in the Smashing Pumpkins' song "Bullet," where Billy Corgan sings -- "Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage I still believe that I cannot be saved."
1. Pride: In Gilligan’s Island, the professor represents pride. We can commit the sin of pride in multiple ways. There is the false modesty where pride keeps leeching out. Wide receiver Jerry Rice once told a reporter, "I feel like I'm the best, but you're not going to get me to say that." There is the classic kind of pride called hubris that we see reflected in James Joyce's response to the outbreak of World War II. Safely ensconced in Zurich, Joyce was convinced that the outbreak of the Second World War was a plot to distract attention from the publication of Finnegan's Wake. There is the pride that comes from people getting drugged on the fumes of our their own ego, as reflected in such comments as "I know a lot of people don't agree with me. And they could be wrong;" or, "Enough about me. Let us talk about you. What do you think of me?" Check the Internet for the "Egotistical Site of the Week" (www.bibiana.com/ego.html), which targets the egomaniacs that are out there. The word "ego," writes business consultant Ken Blanchard, is an acronym for "edging God out."
The Bible clearly teaches that pride comes before a fall. Why has Billy Graham been such a consistently powerful voice for God? He has repeatedly prayed, in the words of that great hymn, "bend our pride to thy control" ("God of Grace and God of Glory"). God opposes "proud people" (I Peter 5:5). Religious pride is the worst kind of pride. In the words of one theologian, "Have you ever seen a prodigal come home to a Pharisee? Religious pride turns away the very people that God is calling home."
I have not yet mentioned Gilligan. One possibility is that he represents Satan. Whenever they got close to rescue, who did something to make sure that they stayed on the island? Gilligan.
Whatever you want to call it, we face a menace. We allow the menace to the fullness of our lives to become part of us. The menace will come with beautiful little enticements that invite you to stoop down and gobble them up. However, before you do, remember this: The wages of sin is death. In other words, sin pays its own wages. No one is going to get away with sin. You either let Jesus pay for it on the cross, or crosses of your own making pay for it. Our sins will crucify us. "Be sure your sins will find you out." "What goes around comes around." Jesus died on the cross for your sins and mine. You will die for your sins on crosses your sins have constructed. Blessed are they who never get used to it! Whether it is lice, worms, or snails, never get used to it. Get liberated. Moreover, liberate others. Get deliverance. Moreover, deliver others from those things that are eating away at the very innards of their being.
These seven deadly sins are enticements that keep us from experiencing the holiness and love that Ephesians 1:3-14 promises to those “in Christ.” Harbor gluttony, no matter how small the "g," and it eats away at us. Harbor lust, no matter how small the "l," and it eats away at us. Harbor greed, harbor envy, harbor idleness, harbor anger, harbor pride, and it eats away at us until it consumes us from the inside out.
Thus, Ephesians 1:7-10, the second point, praises God for redemption. It will begin reflection upon the work of the Son. The author reminds us that the new status and salvation with which God has blessed us has cost the giver, God, plenty. Yet, it was all part of the divine plan of redemption. The first great gift we have through Christ is that 7In Christ (ἐν ᾧ) we have redemption (ἀπολύτρωσιν) through his blood. Through perishability and death, salvation will come to creatures. All the goodness, all the excitement, all the joy depends primarily on the centrality of faith in Christ. Without that faith, we stand outside God's plan and remain estranged from belonging to this adoptive family. The second great gift we have through Christ is that in Christ, we have forgiveness of our trespasses. The point is that no guilt, no past events, may stand between our full acceptance and us as adopted children of God. We have release from the bondage of guilt and shame we carry with us from our pasts. The past can be such a heavy weight for some. For some, they need to become aware of how much a weight they are carrying. Mark Twain may have an element of truth in suggesting that we not hold out much hope for humanity. God made humanity at the end of the week and God was tired. We need to be honest about the human condition. Yet, far from giving up on us, God has acted on our behalf. God has already released us from that which binds us to the past. God offers us a clean slate made possible through Christ. On our own, we would have spiritual poverty, and likely not be aware of how poor we were. God did not allow us to wallow around in the poverty. Thus, all of this is according to the riches of the grace that the Father 8lavished on us with all wisdom and insight, indicating how the Father lavished grace. If we accept in our hearts this offering of God's forgiveness, this gift, no matter our personal history of damaged relationships. No matter deeds done, or deeds left undone. No matter words said or left unsaid. We have probably received wounds. We have probably wounded others. We have this promise of forgiveness. Thus, “wisdom and insight”qualify and characterize the action of the Father, for the Father does not squander grace, offers revelation as well as the gift of salvation, and leads to proper behavior. Here is a little story that reminds me that for some people, the transition from the weight of guilt to the freedom of grace is a difficult one.
"There's this ... it's kind of hard to explain," [Ian said, feeling guilty over the death of his
brother]. "This church sort of place on York Road, see, that believes you have to really
do something practical to atone for your, shall we call them, sins. And if you agree to
that, they'll pitch in. You can sign up on a bulletin board - the hours you need help, the
hours you've got free to help others ..."
"What in the name of God ... ?" [his mother] Bee asked.
"Well, that's just it," Ian said. "I mean, I don't want to sound corny or anything, but it IS in the name of God. 'Let us not love in -' what - 'in just words or in tongue, but in -
'"
"Ian, have you fallen into the hands of some SECT?" his father asked.
"No, I haven't," Ian said. "I have merely discovered a church that makes sense to me, the
same as Dober Street Presbyterian makes sense to you and Mom."
"Dober Street didn't ask us to abandon our educations," his mother told him. "Of course
we have nothing against religion; we raised all of you children to be Christians. But OUR
church never asked us to abandon our entire way of life."
"Well, maybe it should have," Ian said.[12]
Wisdom and insight are the source, mode, and result of the outpouring of the grace and revelation of God, delivering us from ignorance and hopelessness. The Father 9has made known to us, a knowledge that comes through wisdom and insight. God has given such knowledge to Paul, the congregation, and the Messiah. Ephesians emphasizes the continuous receiving and spreading of this knowledge. Such knowledge is inseparable from salvation because knowledge is awareness of the covenant established in Christ. Further, in the third great gift the Father has given us through Christ, what the Father has made known to us is the mystery (or secret). The secret is knowable through wisdom and insight. Unlike mystery religions, Qumran, and Gnostics of the time, Paul did not claim his sect claimed possession of some secret key or knowledge that would open the door to eternal life for a select group. Rather, believers are to shout this mystery from the housetops. Such gnosis or knowledge becomes common knowledge through Christ, and is thus inclusive, becoming a recurring theme of this letter. This knowledge enables us finally to begin to understand the plan of salvation God has designed. Further, the Father has made known this mystery according to the good pleasure that the Father set forth in Christ. This could refer to the publication of the love God in the ministry of Jesus. More likely, it refers to the 10plan (οἰκονομίαν, or administration) of the Father for the fullness of time (καιρῶν),which suggests consecutive periods of history that find completion. This plan is to gather up all things in Christ,things in heaven and things on earth. Thus, the act of election (verses 5-6) relates to the eschatological future of consummation that the goal of the eternal counsel of the divine plan for history. The election of the people of God relates to this consummation. The Father will sum up all things in the Son. Their election now is a matter of taking part proleptically in the consummation of creation that God will effect in the future.[13] History is not a meaningless cycle of events. History makes sense because it has already moved toward its apex. Christ reveals the goal of the divine counsel.[14] The goal, the summation of all things in Christ, has a connection with Christ as the one through whom the Father created.[15] Christ gathers the creatures into the order that respects their distinctions and relations even while bringing the different aspects of creation together.[16] As created things participate in the filial relation of Christ to the Father, in their fellowship with the Father they participate in the self-distinction of the Son from the Father.[17] The participation of creatures in the Trinitarian fellowship of the Son with the Father is the goal of creation.[18] Christ becomes the creative, concrete, historically unfolded principle of the cosmic order and the principle of the unity of its history.[19] All through this passage, Paul has been assuming that God is the creator of the world and that God has no desire to abandon that creation. Instead, God’s purpose is to redeem the world and renew it, which is the whole reason Christ came into the world in the first place.
We now come to the third benefit of life in Christ. Ephesians 1:11-12 praises God for a redemption that brings with it an inheritance, continuing a reflection on the work of the Son. 11In Christ (ἐν ᾧ), we have also obtained an inheritance (ἐκληρώθημεν), suggesting a special status. These days we think of an inheritance as simply money we unexpectedly receive or some property that one can turn into money. We could talk about the Christian hope of heaven at this point. God has no desire to spend eternity without us. Yet, the vision Paul has at this point is more than simply our personal destiny. Our inheritance is the renewed heaven and earth promised in Christ in verse 10. The moment will come when earth will do the will of God even as heaven already does it. We are to act now as those who possess the inheritance.
All of this may seem like too much. G. K. Chesterton, with a wisdom contrary that of Mark Twain offered above, said, “If seeds in the black earth can turn into such beautiful roses, what might the heart of man become in its long journey toward the stars?” In Christ, Paul sides with Chesterton. The finitude and temporality of a human life has its pain. It also has its hope.
To live in this world,
you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it
against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.[20]
Billy Graham once said that if we could see what heaven is like, we would all fall on our knees right now and pray to get in. Preacher-writer Frederick Buechner made a similar point. Seeing beyond the “earnest money” or first installment is not easy. “This side of paradise,” Buechner wrote, “people are with God in such a remote and spotty way that their experience of Eternal Life is at best like the experience you get of a place approaching it at night in a fast train. Even the saints see only an occasional light go whipping by, hear only a sound or two over the clatter of the rails. The rest of us aren’t usually awake enough to see as much as that.” “But,” he adds, “the day will break and the train will pull into the station, and the ones who have managed to stay with it will finally alight.” That’s the arrival at the station we call eternal life. Buechner reminds us that if we think of eternal life at all, we picture it as beginning when life ends, but he says that we would “do better to think of it as what happens when life begins.”[21]
Having been destined (προορισθέντες) according to the purpose of him whom accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, stressing that God is the one who destines. 12 So that who were first to set our hope on Christ, which seems to refer to the Jewish origin of the church, and thus, to those Jews who saw their long-expected dream of a Messiah fulfilled in Jesus. If such hope depends upon our vitality or ability, it is perishable. Christian hope has its source, not within us, but outside us, in Christ.[22] The point is that all of us, Jew and Gentile alike, might live for the praise of the glory we find in Christ.
We come to the fourth and final benefit of life in Christ. Ephesians 1:13-14 praises God for a redemption that the Holy Spirit seals or assures to us. He shifts his attention to the work of the Spirit. The point is the imparted Spirit guarantees believers a share in the future consummation.[23] Participation in this redemption is not dependent on genealogy but rather on a series of three steps. Thus, 13 in him (ἐν ᾧ) you Gentiles also, when you, first, had heard the word of truth, identifying word and truth. Paul valued the word of the messengers of Christ more than speculation. “Truth” (Hebrew 'emeth) is also the root for faithfulness. Hosea will take his wife “in faithfulness” (Hosea 2:20). God is faithful and without deceit (Deuteronomy 32:4). Truth is a way of living. Something is true when someone enacts it in life. Philosophy in Greece developed an abstract and intellectual concept of truth. Walking in Christ is the way Christians enact the truth. Such faithful living began in the Jewish community, embraced the Gentile world, and eventually embraced creation. He further defines the word of truth as the gospel of your salvation. Thus, we learn that participation in this redemption depends upon hearing the word of truth, the gospel of salvation. Further, second, they believed in Christ. Participation in this redemption involves, after hearing, a response of believing the message. The third step says Christ is the one who marked them with the seal (ἐσφραγίσθητε) of the promised Holy Spirit, probably a reference to baptism. It refers to the gift of the Spirit at baptism, meaning an opening of hearts and lips of the saints to render testimony. The sealing begin in baptism but it still continues. As a third step in participating in this redemption, all believers enjoy the full of measure of the gifts of the Spirit. He furthers identifies the Spirit as 14 the pledge of our inheritance. The Spirit must be a pledge, for all of us have felt separation and estrangement. Have you not had the experience of being lonely during a social event? Surrounded by noise and talk, we realize how strange we are to each other. We realize how estranged life is from life. Technical progress keeps removing the physical distance between us, but the walls of distance and estrangements remain in our hearts.[24] Yet, the presence of this Spirit is a sure sign of the full inheritance of redemption that all who live within the faith community share in common. Such a pledge is a promise, but one that one already receives a tangible down payment. The Spirit is part of our reality. A portion of the plan of God for cosmic unity resides in our lives. We are to bring that plan into the world that so desperately needs a vision of unity. The pledge of our inheritance is toward redemption as the people of God, to the praise of his glory. All peoples can now celebrate their common redemption as the people of God. Beginning in verse 3 with offering a blessing to God, Paul ends the segment with saying all of this action of God is to our praise of divine glory. Prosperity causes amnesia. Great blessings of God tend to cause forgetting. Present benefits of faith appear self-generated, making gratitude rare. Having no one to thank for our lives, there is no one to whom we must hold accountable our lives. Poor thankfulness, bad doxology, leads to bad living and poor ethics.
I think it fitting to offer a brief reflection on praise. Like the truths of music and art, we apprehend religious truths at a deeper level than we comprehend them. Feelings being treacherous, the mind must play a critical role in the religious life, but the mind alone cannot discover God. It may well be, then, that God is not too hard to believe in, simply too good to believe in, we being strangers to such truth, goodness, and beauty.[25]
Often, we link praise with music. I am not a singer or musician. We often feel like the praise we offer is weak, hesitant, and sporadic. Yet, we have the faith that God can take our feeble response of praise and turn it into beautiful music. I share a well-known story I have shared often in my ministry. A mother wished to encourage her young son's progress in playing the piano. She bought tickets for a concert by Ignace Paderewski. The seats were near the front. It was not long until the mother was talking with a friend. The boy slipped away. At 8:00 pm the lights went out and the spotlight shown on the stage where the Steinway piano was. It was only then that people noticed the boy on the bench, innocently picking out, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." The mother was embarrassed. She started up to the stage to get him. Just then, the master pianist appeared on stage. "Do not quit, keep playing,” he whispered to the boy. Leaning over, Mr. Paderewski reached down with his left hand and began filling in a bass part. Soon his right arm reached around the other side, encircling the child, to add a running obbligato. Together, the old master and the young novice held the crowd mesmerized.[26]
Praise is the main business of Christians, both in church on Sunday morning and through the week in our words and deeds. Think of our lives as Christians as thanksgiving to God. We are the only song to God that many may ever hear. Make it a good song, a song worth singing, a song with so catchy a tune that others may pick up the beat and sing it as well. At some point, I hope we hear the question. We may not even know who put it or when we heard it. We may not remember answering. Yet, at some moment, we say Yes to the meaningful quality of our lives. Our lives have a goal. We do not look back. We are not overly anxious about tomorrow. We have the assurance of that our lives are part of something grand.[27] For people of Christian faith, Jesus belongs to no age, race, or creed. When we look into his face, we see in it the glory of our possibilities as individuals and as the human race. We utter a heart-felt “Thank you” to God.[28] We are mortal, and we desire to praise. We are only a small part of creation. Yet, God prompts us to praise and delight in offering praise, for God has made us for this relationship with the one who has made us, and we are restless until we find our rest in that relationship.[29] We offer our praise with our whole lives, with attitude and action, word and deed.
[1] Markus Barth
[2] St. John Chrysostom
[3] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 143.
[4] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 447.
[5] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 456. Barth famously has a Christocentric doctrine of election, in which the man Jesus Christ is the all-embracing object of divine election in the sense that we are also elect in Christ. He went to this verse for his support. Church Dogmatics II.2, 106-111
[6] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 459-61.
[7] Pannenberg Systematic Theology Volume 2, 430.
[8] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 449-50.
[9] - Henry Fairlie
[10] (Dorothy Sayers)
[11] (Tim Dearborn, Taste & See; Awakening Our Spiritual Senses [Downers Grove: Ill.: Intervarsity Press, 1996], 56).
[12] -Anne Tyler, Saint Maybe (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991), 127.
[13] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 453-4.
[14] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 414, 441.
[15] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 24-5.
[16] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 32.
[17] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 58.
[18] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 58.
[19] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 63.
[20] Mary Oliver
[21] Buechner, Frederick. “Eternal life,” Wishful Thinking. New York: Harper & Row, 1973, 21-23.
[22] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 174.
[23] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 98.
[24] --Paul Tillich, "You are accepted," The Shaking of the Foundations (Scribner, 1948). Who has not, at some time, been lonely in the midst of a social event? The feeling of our separation from the rest of life is most acute when we are surrounded by it in noise and talk. We realize then much more than in moments of solitude how strange we are to each other, how estranged life is from life. ... The walls of distance, in time and space, have been removed by technical progress; but the walls of estrangement between heart and heart have been incredibly strengthened.
[25] --William Sloane Coffin, interviewed in Tikkun magazine, March 2006, shortly before his death.
[26] (Leadership, Spring 1983, 92).
[27] The Oxford Book of Prayer, 1987, 265. Dag Hammarskjold I don't know who--or what--put the question. I don't know when it was put. I don't even remember answering. But at some moment I did answer Yes to Someone--or Something--and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore, my life in self-surrender, had a goal. From that moment I have known what it means 'not to look back' and 'to take no thought for the morrow.'
[28] Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited, 112 Jesus belongs to no age, no race, no creed. When we look into his face, we see etched the glory of our own possibilities, and our hearts whisper, "Thank you and thank God.
[29] Augustine, in Confessions, has the prayer that in spite of our mortality, we desire to praise,
"Still the desires to praise thee, this man who is only a small part of thy creation. Thou has prompted him, that he should delight to praise thee, for thou has made us for thyself and restless is our heart until it come to rest in thee."
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