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Foundry United Rev. |
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Meditation: The Melody
of Life Sunday, December 11,
2005 |
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Ephesians 5: 15-20 |
“The
days are evil,” Ephesians says. Ephesians is not a Pollyanna book. Yes, the
writers of Ephesians believe that Christ is present and powerful in the
cosmos and in our daily lives, but so are the principalities and powers, and spiritual
forces in high places. Life can be hard. “The days are evil.” And the
days refer especially to our life in the world – our work, our daily
activities, that which we do to survive and hopefully to make a contribution
to the greater good, other people. The
days can be hard: “The days are evil.”
So how
do we handle the hard days? Well, first
of all, Ephesians says what not to do. Do not get drunk with wine. This
was a particular problem for the early church. Wine was such a central part
of the church’s worship. Communion was a meal. Wine was a big part of the
meal. It helped to loosen the spirits. But when the days were hard, it was
tempting to anesthetize oneself with the communion wine, to escape, as it
still is. And, of
course, wine is only one for-instance of the many ways, the cookies we use to
make ourselves feel better when the days are evil, as they are. Ephesians
proposes an alternative to getting drunk on wine or power or sex or attention:
music – psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody to the Lord in
our hearts. Here is
the difference between wine – all the ways we try to anesthetize ourselves,
really, to escape – and psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Music
takes us more deeply into life and captures all the pain and joy, evil and
good, and transforms it into beauty, into life. This is
what Handel has done in the Messiah – plunged himself into the pain and
longing, disappointment and pathos of life, taken us into the depth of the
evil of the days, so that we might rise to the beauty and glory and joy of a
God who is born to us in the midst of all this. So, as
Ephesians says, let us not get drunk on wine or power, but let us be filled
with the spirit as we sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, and make
melody to the Lord in our hearts. www.foundryumc.org |
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