Sermon: “God's Armor”

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“God's Armor”

By Ellen Witko

August 24, 2003

is rather astonishing how difficult it has been throughout history for a person or a people to worship only one unseen God. To worship only the Lord God. I suspect that beginning before history began to be written down, humankind has been awestruck and, at times, overwhelmed and overcome, by the forces of nature bearing down upon them. Earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, hail, locusts, famine, drought, sandstorms, snowstorms, mudslides, lightning strikes, tidal waves, wild & hungry animals, poisonous snakes, fish with teeth, insect bites. Upon each other, people waged War, committed murder, theft and rape, instituted slavery. Then there were dreams and nightmares, illness, disease and deformities. How to explain everything that could happen to a person or a people? And then there is goodness and love, sharing and joy, sunshine and cool breezes, sunrises and sunsets, peace and contentment, celebrations, cold drink and hot meals. Could one God possibly be big enough to be responsible for so much? How could one God be in charge and direct the positive and negative powers that often seemed to strike arbitrarily and randomly from within and without each person's life? How could one God be the God of the good-hearted as well as the God of the cold-hearted?

Humankind has been forever wrestling with the realities of living on this earth, in the midst of creation, with each other. It is not surprising that with all we have always had to deal with, that gods--plural, were devised, and each assigned their realm of joy or pain to bless or inflict upon their people. From a human perspective, it does seem to make sense that there would be various gods in charge of various activities, rather than one God speaking forth creation as we know it, wonder, warts and all.

Therefore, it is so truly wondrous that we are members of a faith heritage that has worshipped and adored one God throughout its history. However, that did not come about easily. Jews and then later, the early Christians, did not live segregated from other people's religions. As a matter of fact, the people of Israel got in trouble with God a few times for worshipping images of other Gods. I think it's easy to understand how that could happen. After all, when my mother went to work for an Italian family and our family became friends with that family, my mother's lasagna began to taste more like theirs because they shared recipes. It's not hard then, to imagine the influence of one's neighbor's religious practices on one's own spirituality. And having something you can touch, like a small statue of a god, can be reassuring. Right?

You know, I've been, and maybe you have been too, following the events taking place in Montgomery, Alabama, surrounding the monument of the Ten Commandments installed in the rotunda of the State Supreme Court building by Chief Justice Roy Moore. Judge Moore believes that he was called by God to have this monument set into place as a reminder of the principles of faith upon which this country was founded. The placement of the monument right smack in public view has been deemed unconstitutional.

For over two years, the judge refused to have the monument moved to a less public location. According to the front page article in Friday's New York Times, the monument cannot be moved into the judges private chambers, therefore out of public view, because it would be too heavy for the support beams in the floor. It's also way too heavy for a forklift to pick up and bring inside, anyway. I guess they had a crane put it in place in the rotunda, I don't know. And the judge keeps trying to appeal the order to remove the monument. Our nation's supreme court has refused to hear the case or issue a stay against the order to move the monument. And now the judge has been suspended by his fellow judges because he has refused to follow the laws which he himself swore to uphold. The judge says this is all about God and not about him. Really?

During the past week, Christians from all over the country have gathered around the monument in support of it and of the judge. Some have been arrested. I have visions of what might happen when the day comes and the crane arrives again to take the monument to a new location. It won't be pretty.

Now, if you sniff very carefully while reading or hearing about this situation, you might catch a whiff of idolatry in the hot air. Why a monument? What does a monument, a stone copy, of the ten commandments have to do with living a life based on the ten commandments? Why must there be a monument? Didn't God already put the ten commandments in stone? Twice, if I recall correctly. Is it the monument that is sacred? Putting aside the constitutional aspects of the monument, somehow, I think Judge Moore and his followers are forgetting that the God who gave us the ten commandments also admonished us to welcome and offer hospitality to the stranger and the alien, feed the hungry and take care of the widows and the orphans. Wouldn't it be something really wonderful if Judge Moore and his supporters spent their time and efforts doing those things, instead of erecting stone monuments and protesting to protect them? “I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before me.” “You shall not make a graven image.” Judge Moore seems to know the letters of the law, but not the spirit. The problem with monuments is that we tend to begin to revere the visible rather than the invisible truth that is being represented.

He's got lots of company. As human beings, we tend to feel more comfortable about things visible rather than invisible. God, however, is like the wind—you can feel God, but you cannot see God so much as you see what God has done and is doing.

In the times of the writer of Ephesians, sometime in the second half of the 1st century CE, Christians in Ephesus and surrounding areas lived within the Roman Empire. The Romans were pagans, they had statues of their gods, and as their policy of hellenization, they were relatively tolerant about including statues of other peoples gods in their temples. But what about those people, such as Christians and Jews who did not welcome statues of other peoples gods in their places of worship? Christians and Jews also would not recognize the roman emperor as a god, therefore they were sometimes punished as traitors to the emperor. Roman soldiers often handed out cruel and swift punishments to those who opposed them.

In the century before and the century after the birth of Christ, there were Jews who believed that rather than waiting for God to restore Israel as a free nation of peace and justice, it was necessary for them to fight the Romans and their program of religious syncretism and bring about this restoration themselves. The results were disastrous. In the century before the birth of Christ, 2000 Jews were crucified in a mass crucifixion as a result of one uprising against the Romans. Then around 67 CE, another uprising resulted in many deaths, and in the destruction by the Romans of the temple in Jerusalem.

The writer of the letter to the Ephesians has good reason to want to put on armor. However, it is not the armor of a Roman soldier that God would have us wear. War just leads to more war, to pain, punishment and revenge and retribution. The battle that God means for us to wage is spiritual rather than worldly, yet this spiritual battle must be waged in the world, in our workplace, in our home, in our neighborhood. And first of all, this spiritual battle must be confronted within ourselves.

The belt of truth. The breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, shoes that will make you ready to proclaim the gospel, the sword of the spirit, the Word of God.

We all have this spiritual armor ready to wear during times when we must remain steadfast against whatever may come between God and ourselves. Whatever separates us from God. For those early Christians, the armor of their faith, by the grace of God, allowed them to be steadfast unto death before the Romans.

Most of us will not be required to die for God, but we may find ourselves having to take unpopular positions with our friends, neighbors, co-workers or our government because of our faith. We may become outcasts from people we thought cared about us. We may find that we have to change jobs because we cannot abide by the oppression or criminal behavior of our co-workers or employers. We may find that we pay the price economically or socially or in some other way for refusing to lie. We may even find ourselves in jail.

Also, because of people such of Judge Moore, people who have confused righteousness with self-righteousness, many of us have probably, at one time or another, been in a conversation where the content and meaning of our faith has been misinterpreted. For instance, recently, I had lunch with a friend and her friend. Once my friend's friend found out that I was attending the theological school at drew and planned to be a minister, his attitude toward me changed. “So, are you going to try to convert me now?” he sneered, already on the defensive against any talk of salvation on my part. And I can understand that. I've been in conversations with Christians who cannot talk about anything but being saved. It's annoying, and I think that what makes it annoying is that there is no depth to their meaning of salvation. Heaven sounds great, but what about while I'm still here on earth? What about loving my neighbor? What about peace instead of war? Can we talk about the idea of atonement? Those are the questions I want to ask as they rattle on quoting scripture. I wish my friend's friend had left room in his verbal attack on my faith for some real conversation about Christianity.

And here's the thing. Does Christianity really mean that unless I'm “saved” in a certain way, I'll be tossed into the fires of hell? That sounds too much like the ancient religions with many gods, where faith in those gods is an “if you appease me, then I will protect you kind of faith”. Where disaster or illness are attributed to some kind of misbehavior on the part of human beings, or to people being caught in the crossfire of battles between gods, or where people feel they have either made the gods jealous and the gods are punishing them for it, or people have not given their gods the proper respect.

Therefore, I think it's time to for us to rummage through the closet of our hearts, to find, and put on the shoes that will make us ready to proclaim the gospel. The gospel does not need to be legislated by politicians or judges or school boards. The gospel does not need our protection by being encased in stone or fought for in battle with other human beings who are loved by God just as we are. The gospel does not need to be wrapped up in a layer of patriotism.

The gospel works differently, within each one of us and between each one of us. The gospel creates ties that bind between God and ourselves and each other. The gospel works in our lives, in our thoughts, our ideas, our actions. The gospel builds up, rather than tears down. The gospel tells us that no matter what happens to us, no matter what nature or humanity may do to us, God is always with us, rejoicing with us, suffering with us, even unto death. Put on your shoes. Spread the good news.

Amen.