Christian MDRs

prelude

Prayer of Preparation    That we first respect each other’s separateness before unifying in oneness.  “You are not me, and I am not you, but together we will live, work and love as the Lord allows and guides us.”

welcome, announcements, joys and concerns

*Hymn #         # 80    There's a Spirit in the Air

*Call to Worship

LEADER: If I look at myself I am nothing.
PEOPLE: But if I look at us all I am hopeful.
LEADER: For I see the unity of love among all my fellow Christians.
PEOPLE: In this unity lies our salvation.
-Julian of Norwich

*Invocation / Lord’s Prayer    Almighty God, Redeemer:  Even as with our bodies, so also with our souls, Redeemer, Christ: Sunshine and storm, mist and greyness eddy round our inner lives. But as we trace the pattern, looking back, we know that both darkness and light have been of your ordaining for our own soul's health. your constant care in all, and everywhere, is manifest. Amen.-excerpt from George F. MacLeod, The Whole Earth Shall Cry Glory (Isle of Iona: Wild Goose Publications, 1985),13

*Gloria Patri
Young’s Peoples Moment    

Call to Prayer

Prayer Hymn    # 182               Spirit of God, Descend upon My Heart  verse 3

Pastoral Prayer                      How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty.  We long, yes, we faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord. With our whole being, body and soul, we shout joyfully to the living God. O Lord Almighty, our King and our God! How happy are those who can live in your house, always singing your praises.    Happy are those who are strong in the Lord, who set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs, where pools of blessing collect after the rains!  They will continue to grow stronger, and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem. O Lord God Almighty, hear our prayer. Listen, O God of Israel. O God, look with favor our protector! Have mercy on the one you have anointed.  A single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else!  We would rather be gatekeepers in the house of our God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked.   For you, Lord God, are our light and protector. You give us grace and glory. No good thing will the Lord withhold from those who do what is right. O Lord Almighty, happy are those who trust in you.

Musical response

Offertory sentence                 Deuteronomy 15:10  give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account God will bless you in all your work and in all you undertake.

offering           Doxology

offertory prayer                     Be pleased, O God, to accept this offering of our money as a symbol of our love and devotion to you.  Give to those who expend it grace to use it wisely for the extension of your kingdom in this place and throughout the world.  Amen

Hymn #           446                  God of Grace and God of Glory

Scripture Text                        Ephesians 6:10-20

Sermon                                   Christian MDRs

The second in a two-part series on how to keep your church (last week) and each individual person in it (this week) in prime spiritual shape.

Last week, the Ephesians text focused on spiritual concerns for the gathered community of faith. As a communal event, worship and praise are the mainstay of a church's health and vigor. This week the epistle focuses on the protective armaments that shield and strengthen every individual believer, as a community of faith draws its vitality from the health of each and every soul present.
Today when we read about the "armor of God" we find it hard to envision all those ancient means of military protection, much less actually climbing into all that stuff ourselves. But it was not that author's intention to make God's protective nature appear foreign or exotic to the community of faith. The soldier's apparel he describes was something familiar and easily understandable to his audience. Perhaps if we translated this illustration into something more familiar and easily comprehendible today, we too could sense the security and power the whole armor of God offers to each and every believer.///
For years children have been taught about our body's "minimum daily requirements." Remember the "four food groups?" Dieticians drilled into us how many servings of meat, dairy, fruits and vegetables, bread and grains we should consume every day. Now after several decades what we believed to be our "minimum daily requirements" have turned out to be far more minimal and not even daily. Suddenly we are informed we no longer need all that meat, or all that milk. Fat is out; fiber is in. The pasta lovers of the world can rejoice, as the daily demand for carbohydrates climbs and proteins plummets or as Atkins taught proteins are in and carbohydrates take a back seat. Even if we are no longer sure what exactly our "minimum daily requirements" should be, we do recognize that our bodies need certain things everyday to maintain health and strength. ///
Just as we all have physical "minimum daily requirements," so our own spiritual body must be constantly nourished with a carefully balanced diet of prayer and praise, worship and work. For too long our spiritual health has been ignored or taken for granted, as though it were an aspect of our lives that would simply take care of itself. Not true. Unlike the still new and rapidly increasing field of nutritional science, Christians have a long tradition of those elements necessary to meet our spiritual MDRs. The prophets, the saints and Jesus himself demonstrated how a vital life of faith is dependent on the presence of certain spiritual One-A-Days.
MDR#1. Communal Rituals -- This was the requirement stressed so strongly by the Ephesians' writer last week. Christians are not found in singles. Christians grow like grapes - in clusters. Participating in a community of faith is not an elective. Daily communal rituals must be a part of any healthy spiritual regime. Whether family devotions, prayer breakfasts, study circles, Bible studies, we need each other to practice love, keep the faith and have hope.
MDR#2. Spiritual Exercises -- Each person must flex his or her spiritual muscles on a daily basis if he or she is to keep them fit and flexible. The exhortation to "be strong" carries with it in English a fairly active connotation, inferring a "shape up" or even "get strong" admonition. The Greek, however, is definitely the passive form, carrying the sense of "be strengthened." This understanding of "be strong" clearly connects this demand with how we may attain this strength, i.e., "in the Lord and in the strength of his might." Strength, then, is not something we bring with us into the conflict; it is a quality that comes as a gift from God.  A gift that is received through our spiritual exercises.
Do you make room in your morning or evening schedule for a time of prayer and devotions? Do you regularly sing out to the Lord - even if it's in the shower or in the car? Our faith must find words, and the words of praise and adoration that come out in song and prayer should be a part of our daily spiritual regime. Prayer is especially crucial to spiritual health. It keeps us in close personal contact with the One whose love draws us together in the first place. Prayer is not just an excuse for giving God a long list of requests. ("I'm gonna say my prayers now," a six-year-old yelled from up in his bedroom. "Anyone want anything?") Prayer is the act of opening our spirit to a two-way street of communication. Like breathing, prayer involves both exhaling our needs, our love, our praise, and inhaling God's peace and power and presence. Think of prayer as a kind of spiritual aerobics, exercise that forces your spirit to breathe deeply and fully oxygenate the soul.
MDR#3. Mission - A refreshed and strengthened spirit will naturally flow out and over others. No matter how "busy" our lives become, our spiritual energy and health will suffer if it is hoarded, not shared in service. Being ministers of the gospel to others is what it means to be a Christian. We become ministers through the acts of love, the works of faith, that we offer to the world.
MDR#4. Intermission -- Keeping spiritually fit doesn't mean having to run a decathlon of events every day until you drop. A wiped-out spirit leaves us feeling exhausted and wrung out. Taking "down-time" to rest and regroup is an important part of maintaining spiritual health. No one can give of themselves to others when their spiritual cupboard is bare. Take time to be silent - to read, to meditate, to walk quietly in the world with open eyes and closed mouth. Only by taking this kind of "intermission" are we equipped for "mission."
MDR#5. The Word of God - Thankfully our spiritual strength is not dependent on our own abilities, our own insights, our own wisdom. Christians have a record of God's continuing activity in the world, God's words of love and guidance and judgment to all creation. But do you actually immerse yourself in the Word everyday? All Christians need a dose of Bible as part of their minimum daily requirements for spiritual health. Strangely, what seems like such an obvious additive is the one we are most likely to slough off. Too often we think of "Bible study" as something required of kids, but optional for adults. Others of us have never read whole portions of the Bible, and have no idea what these texts can contribute to our growth and development. Scripture is the most vital part of spiritual health.

Christians are made strong, then, by putting on the "whole armor" of God or minimum daily requirements to protect and prepare them for their encounter with "the charm of the devil" that will assault them. The whole armor refers to the entire stock of protective apparatus available to soldiers going into combat - a wholeness that is necessary so that no unprotected surfaces are open to harm. That Christians "stand" against these forces reasserts the simple foot-soldier image of the Christian - those who may expect to combat the enemy at close quarters, hand-to-hand and face-to-face.
This battle requires God's strength because the opponents facing believers are not other human beings ("flesh and blood") but "cosmic powers of this present darkness." The battle that confronts Christians is in the here and now, the "present darkness" and not some distant future. Yet this encounter is not with human beings, for even the world rulers mentioned here should be understood as dark spirits who have made both this world and the "heavenly places" potential regions for their dominion. /// Take full advantage of the protection God offers, the "armor" that is our only hope to withstand evil in our day.

Hymn # 448                Lead On, O King Eternal

Benediction    Blessed are the eyes, O Jesu, that see you in these holy signs; blessed is the mouth that reverently receives you; blessed are the feet of those that bring the Good News. Blessed even is the heart that desires your coming.
-John Wesley, [1703-1791], adapted

Commentary
The next section of exhortations begins with more military language, encouraging the Christian "soldier" to "stand." We are able to stand only by wearing this promised armor that God provides. The items the author describes are all part of a standard armored soldier's wardrobe, and each piece protects and prepares the soldier for combat in a particular way. The "belt" or "girdle" of truth plays a dual function. First, its complete encircling of the faithful supports the Christian wholly, leaving no part unprotected. Second, the soldier's belt was also a place to store other weapons, showing that the truth of God's love through Christ also provides Christians with a grounding for other convictions -- salvation, deliverance, adoption, inheritance.
The "breastplate" of the soldier protects the most vital and vulnerable places, i.e., the throat, heart and lungs. God's righteousness functions similarly for Christians confronting evil. Without the unyielding righteousness of God, we, too, would never be free from the threat of some mortal blow. God's protective righteousness is also described in Isaiah 11:4-5 and 59:17 with the same type of military image and offering the same symbolic shielding.
The "shoes" with which believers must be shod are surprisingly less clearly defined than the other armored accoutrements. Traditionally soldiers wore sturdy sandals or even boots that had nails driven through the soles. These could then act as cleats, helping the battling soldier to "dig in" effectively against an opponent. But this author doesn't stipulate a particular style of shoes; instead, he leaves open the question of what "will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace." Mentioning "peace" in the midst of these images of war and conflict is startling. It highlights the radical difference between the gospel Jesus offers and the violent discord the "spiritual forces of evil" pour out upon the world. For those "in Christ," however, no matter how much chaos swirls about them, they can stand firm within a calming peace -- for Christ is our peace (Ephesians 2:14).
While vague about the foot covering, the description of the "shield of faith" is quite detailed. The image described here refers to the ancient tradition of taking the heavy wood, cloth and hide-covered shields of the front-line soldiers and dipping them into water just before the battle. The shield soaked up this water and retained its wetness for quite some time. In this way when the enemy rained down flaming, pitch-covered arrows on the advancing troops, the arrows that embedded themselves in the wet shields harmlessly fizzled out, instead of engulfing the shield and its soldier in flames.
The "helmet of salvation" is another military image borrowed from Isaiah 59:17. But what is part of God's own armament against injustice and evil is now given over to protect those standing faithfully in the fight. By being given God's own "helmet," this author demonstrates just how directly and personally our salvation comes from God.
The final piece of equipment itemized here is the only potentially offensive one -- the "sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Note that though the Spirit is mentioned, the Spirit itself is not a sword, but the Spirit works through the word of God. It is the Spirit's vitality and strength which lends the sharp cutting edge to the sword which every believer can wield: God's holy word.
But Christians have yet another piece of armament on which they may rely, another positive, indeed aggressive power that gives added protection -- prayer. The "war" Ephesians envisions is fought with both the power of prayer and the sword-like word of God. The final exhortation to pray may initially seem like an unusual demand in the midst of all this military imagery, but for this author it is yet another weapon in the Christian's arsenal. Verses 18b-20 outline how this state of constant prayer is to be attained -- we must "keep alert" and "persevere."
The final exhortation to pray is prayer for this author -- who is identified as the apostle Paul. The plea here is for the right words, a faithful message, so that his gospel message might "speak"(or perhaps better, "make known") coherently about "the mystery of his will" (see Ephesians 1:9).
Animating Illustrations

Healthy spirits require daily belly laughs: "After God created the world, God made man and woman. Then, to keep the whole thing from collapsing, God invented humor."
--Spotted on a church bulletin board

A healthy spirit is so rare, that it is almost always noticed and admired. Consider this poem by James Whitcomb Riley in which he tells of the death of a worker in a shop. He pictures his fellow workers standing around on the day of his funeral talking about him. One man, after muttering some usual things, with tears in his eyes added this: "When God made Jim, I bet you/He didn't do anything else that day/But jes' set around and feel good!"
--Riley, "Jim," The Complete Poetical Works of James Whitcomb Riley (Garden City, N.Y.: Garden City Publishing Co., 1941), 388.

The best three minutes on television pay tribute to our spirit's desperate need for down-time and intermission.
Charles Kuralt, who has spent his life banging around the back roads and small towns of America, ends his award-winning "Sunday Morning" show with three minutes in which no one says anything. There are instead images from nature designed to touch our hearts and calm our souls -- an Adirondack stream making its way down white birch-guarded mountain slopes, undulating wheat in the plains of Kansas, ....

Is Your Personality Bad for Your Heart? The physician who first identified the "Type-A Personality" with high-risk physical and behavioral characteristics has recently updated the list in the American Heart Journal. Here are some traits that indicate increased risk of heart disease:
Time Urgency
- Being warned by others to slow down
- Haste in walking, eating or leaving the table after a meal
- Obsessive punctuality
- Frequently doing several things at once -- watching TV, eating and reading
- Intense dislike of waiting in lines
- Rapid speech -- speaking at 140 or more words a minute
- Hastening the speech of others, interrupting or answering questions before they have been completely presented
Hostility
- Frequent loss of temper while driving
- Disbelief in altruism
- Chronic difficulty in relationships
- Teeth grinding
- Excessive irritation at the trivial mistakes of others
- Harsh, irritating or loud voice
- Hostile laugh -- very loud, explosive, jarring outburst of sound
--UT Lifetime Health Letter, 5 (December 1993), 2.

Men who kiss their wives daily live an average of 5 years longer than married men who do not regularly kiss their wives.
--From The Wisdom of Amish Folk Medicine, ed. Patrick Quillin (North Canton, Ohio:
The Leader Company, 1993), 94.

The Lectionary Texts
Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost,
Cycle B
1 Kings 8: (1,6,10-11), 22-30, 41-43
Ephesians 6:10-20
John 6:56-69
Psalm 84