Rev. George Miller
August 25, 2024
Ephesians 6:10-20
Everyone has a gift. At least 1 gift. A gift that they can do better, brighter,
more beautiful than anyone else.
Some are ballerinas, dancing so elegant,
so demure.
Some are computer programmers, their
brains seeing patterns, understanding codes.
Some are great at oral history, knowing
how to share the chisme that lets the new Pastor know who is related to who and
how and when this was built and why.
Some are great at maintenace, knowing how
to hang photos in the office, fixing locks, making sure the water leak in the
bathroom stops leaking water.
Arts, science, storytelling,
infrastructure are all great, important skills…but not everyone is meant to
have them all at all times.
You can’t be upset if your best computer
programmer puts on a stinky SWAN LAKE.
Or mad if your prima donna is a prima-don’t
when it comes to spreadsheets and Google Docs.
Don’t put a monkey wrench in the hands of a
person who’s easily distracted by watching people walk by.
Don’t expect the one who knows how build
the porch to be sitting on the porch sharing gossip.
And yes- we have ballerinas who are
excellent on the keyboards, and historians who know how to fix things.
But the thing is- it is OK if each of us
have 1 gift, and that gift we have we do really, really well.
The world needs dancers and project
managers, storytellers, and architects…we just don’t need everyone to be
everything.
This is something that I feel is missing
from today’s Scripture.
In today’s reading the author poetically states
ways a Christian can be attired.
It sounds like Etsy and Amazon Prime have
come together with a list of items one can wear.
A belt of truth, a breastplate of
righteousness.
Shoes so you can go proclaim the
Gospel. A shield to protect yourself
from evil and injustice.
A helmet for mindfulness. God’s Word as a tool of protection.
The Whole Armor of God that we are
encouraged to take up so that we can live in this world with faith and
conviction.
I don’t know about you…but all of that
sounds like a lot.
Belt, breastplate, shoes, shield, helmet,
sword…I’d be falling over, uncoordinated, and unsure what to do with half those
items.
Shoes to proclaim the gospel- I get
that. Can do that. Love to talk; and talking about God- yes!
Breastplate of righteousness? Got a
loonnnggg way to go with that one, especially depending on who and how one
describes that word, and if I’ve had my nap.
The shield to fight off all the injustice
in the world…that is exhausting.
If being an active, faithful Christian in
today’s world means wearing all that Armor all the time and wearing it well…is
there anyone who can do that?
BUT, but as a unified Body Of Christ, as a
church that has been transforming lives since 1880-
Well, then it is safe to say that we do have
within our midst all kinds of folk who wear at least one of those articles of
armor.
No doubt at St. Lucas we got folk who wear
a belt of wisdom. We see this on our
Tuesday ZOOM and Sunday Bible Study.
No doubt we got folk here who by their
very nature live as righteous as they can.
Think of our elders who have given what
they can and done what they could so we can gather here today.
The choir last week, without a doubt, sung
with shoes that shared the Gospel.
We have Ministry Teams like Mission,
Social Justice, ONA that are holding shields addressing issues of justice, be
it in the form of poverty, hunger, or discrimination.
The items collected by Women With a
Mission are a shield, empowering refugee and immigrant women to thrive amidst
the threat of scarcity.
We see that helmet of salvation being
shaped around the heads of our youth as they stand before us to read scripture
and plan their next mission trip.
And there is no doubt that our kids are
being empowered to study the Word of God so they know how to be Caring Christians
in our community.
It is fascinating to note that as of now,
we have at least 18 Ministry Teams here at St. Lucas.
AND, we have at least 15 Missions we fund in
addition to our Backpack Program and our covenanted ministries with Missouri
and St. Louis.
Holy Schmoly! That’s a lot of ministries, and that’s a lot
of armor.
But it’s not armor that we are all wearing
individually, but-
armor that we share, support, cheer on,
provide for, dream about and nurture.
Today’s reading encourages us to put on
the full Armor of God.
And God bless anyone who can.
But perhaps the true victory, the true
wonder, the healthiest way of being is if each of us put on what we can.
And what we do for the Lord, we do very
very well.
Perhaps the true victory, the true wonder,
the healthiest way of being is that we each
encourage, cheer on, and support those who
do what they do, and do really well.
That way, together, as St. Lucas UCC, we
know that someone, somewhere is wearing what we ourselves may lack.
In doing so, we can continue to be the
church that is transforming lives as the hands and feet of Christ since 1880.
For that, we can say “Amen.”
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