Jay Rowland
“In All Circumstances”
Ephesians 6:10-20
August 22, 2021
We’ve been walking along with Ephesians in recent weeks, and today we reach the conclusion. Today we just heard (most of) the closing words of the Apostle’s letter to the church in Ephesus. It is perhaps best remembered for the vivid imagery of the “armor of God” which the Apostle urges the faithful to recognize and employ. I’ve always been rather intrigued by this passage because of that, I suppose, but this time I find myself intrigued for other reasons.
First, I’m intrigued by the urgency on display in this passage. The imagery, the tone, the language, the terminology all add up to an intensity suggestive of being under attack or at war. There are unspecified threats to community and to individual well-being. The intensity is a reflection of the conviction that the people are under attack not by a particular army or country or leader, but by the invisible forces of spiritual darkness and evil (v12). The thing about evil is it never introduces itself to anyone as evil. Instead, what makes evil so evil is that it comes to us disguised as something very attractive and appealing to distract us from its deceptive, clever, and manipulative ways. And so we are all vulnerable to evil.
That’s intriguing.
Because our modern society clearly sees such ideas as outdated. It’s very easy to dismiss references to spiritual forces of evil as a relic of ancient society which is no longer relevant. Modern society as well as our personal intellect have become so sophisticated, rational, and analytic-minded that such notions of spiritual darkness and evil forces aren’t taken seriously now compared to ancient times. We’ve clearly evolved to a higher level of consciousness and understanding.
Except for the stubborn fact of evil in the world. Some things happen in life and in the world which certainly seems like evil forces at work behind the scenes.
These ten verses in Ephesians 6 also make an urgent reference to another spiritual force or power at work in the world with its own unique sense of urgency and intensity. And that power at work in the world is the presence of Jesus. Jesus empowers his people to resist or recover from evil.
Jesus does not give us power over or against whatever circumstances or obstacles are creating havoc or harm in our lives. He did not use force or coercion against the forces that had him arrested, beaten and crucified. So Jesus doesn’t offer us any sort of personal or individual power over our enemies or circumstances. The empowerment Jesus gives is located in Jesus himself, inhabited in him and exerted by him on our behalf.
But empowerment for what exactly?
The intensity and urgency evident in Ephesians 6 speak directly to our life and circumstances today. For more than a year we’ve seen covid19 wreak havoc on human health, life and community. What’s worse, it has also triggered alarming rips/tears in the social fabric of our nation and world which once furnished some stability and order for previous generations during national and international crises. All of which renders the concurrent crises of climate change and racial disharmony all the more discouraging.
As we have slowly come to accept that none of these crises will be resolved soon enough nor without more sacrifice and struggle we have somehow adjusted by necessity to the accompanying mental, spiritual and emotional exhaustion. And our faith and trust in the Lord and in our fellow human beings is in many ways under attack.
I’m not saying anything we don’t already know on some level. I find myself worrying about the cumulative toll all of this is taking on all of us. Day after day the everpresent intensity hums in the background, then suddenly flares up and captures our full attention, then settles into the background again. This pattern has been going on for so long that it is straining our everyday decisions and efforts, interests and responsibilities and our relationships.
I apologize for the reality bite. But I’m convinced that the Good News of God’s commitment to us is only as real as the reality we are willing to acknowledge. I believe it’s important to say this stuff out loud to each other, in our prayers, and even to ourselves, and on a regular basis. … important to acknowledge the difficulty and the ongoing intensity of life at this moment in history in order to keep open the well of compassion for ourselves and each other that we are in danger of losing. It isn’t helpful to run from the truth or to sugar-coat our common distress. When we can stay present in the midst of all this difficulty, we are fastening the belt of truth around our waist, standing firm with Jesus Christ amid the raging forces of chaos or denial.
In my experience, acknowledging reality need not be discouraging, it can actually help relieve pressure--the invisible build-up of the cumulative pressure and strain. It’s important to our sanity and our energy and our faith in God that we understand that we are up against far more than we can handle on our own (v.13 MSG). We are doing the best we can each day to live firmly grounded in reality while also living firmly with hope and trust in God and with compassion for one another.
I read an essay this week that offers some insight into this tension between reality and hope. It’s written by Rick Lawrence who credits another writer Jim Collins. The essay is entitled “The Stockdale Paradox '' [1] The Stockdale Paradox is named after a man named Jim Stockdale, a naval fighter pilot in the Viet Nam war. In 1965, his fighter plane was hit by enemy fire... He parachuted into an enemy village where he was captured and severely beaten. Dragging a shattered leg from the beating, he was taken to the infamous "Hanoi Hilton," where he was imprisoned for nearly eight years. Stockdale was relentlessly and ruthlessly tortured. Eventually, he and nearly a dozen other prisoners were taken to a nearby holding facility dubbed "Alcatraz," where he lived in a 3-foot-by-9-foot cell with a light bulb that burned around the clock.
Somehow Stockdale survived. He was released in February 1973—his body so broken that he could barely walk. After a lengthy recovery he managed to live an active life … and a distinguished career in public service … Collins asked Stockdale how he managed to not only make it out of the Hanoi Hilton but how he’d been able to live a vibrant, engaged, public life after experiencing so much trauma. Stockdale’s answers led Collins to coin the phrase "The Stockdale Paradox" which Collins distilled into the following phrase:
"You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be."
Collins also asked Stockdale what he thought was different about those who survived compared to those who didn’t. Stockdale’s answer was startling, "Those who didn’t make it were optimists,” he said. “They were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, ‘We're going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart."
To experience true empowerment while suffering life-shattering trauma, Stockdale discovered how to embrace both the brutal realities of his circumstances and a prevailing hope at the same time.
In a crisis situation, especially a long-term crisis, optimism is difficult if not impossible to sustain--and is perhaps even inappropriate. Sooner or later in life, our capacity to help ourselves fails or is exhausted. But if we don’t accept our human limitations we don’t and won’t seek the empowerment Jesus offers. The amplified bible translation says when we learn to “draw our strength from [Jesus] we are empowered through our union with him” (Ephesians 6:10, AMP). Put another way, “we’re empowered by our union with Jesus when our intimate attachment to him releases his core strength to flow into and through us.” (Rick Lawrence)
Most of us know very well how to muscle through hardships and make the most of what we have. And that’s fine. But it’s only a matter of time before we reach the bottom of our own well—when our personal determination to “hang in there” and “keep fighting” flounders. Each of us has some natural ability to persevere through great challenges, but eventually, each person confronts or is confronted by circumstances that leave us in desperate need of a well with deeper resources than our “try harder” determination.
This reminds me of something Walter Brueggemann describes in one of his books. Brueggemann identifies a pattern experienced by God’s people throughout scripture--which is also our experience too. Brueggemann applies the terms “orientation, disorientation, re-orientation” to this pattern. Most of the time we are humming along in life, able to deal with the normal ups and downs of life for the most part--that’s orientation. But there are times when we are overtaken by circumstances beyond our control--and that leads to disorientation. Don’t let that simple word fool you, disorientation is devastating. And when we’re thrown into disorientation it’s extremely difficult, even impossible to reorient by our own power. Whenever this happens to us (not if but when) only a power greater than ourselves can bring about reorientation.
Lawrence writes, “It’s not Christian principles or even the best qualities of Christian character that empower us, it’s the way we are captured by the heart of Jesus. Relational intimacy with God generates the inner resolve and perseverance we cannot summon on our own power alone.” Psychologist and spiritual director David Benner shared his experience with Lawrence,
“After decades of Bible reading, I realized that my relationship with God was based more on what I [understood] than on what I experienced. I had lots of information about God but longed to deepen my personal knowing. Getting to know Jesus better seemed like the right place to start. It was.”
Lawrence writes, when we learn to pursue the heart of Jesus, rather than try harder to apply everything he says and does to our life and experience, we find the “something higher” that leads us into reorientation to reality and a hope for the future. Our journey from naked belief to “personal knowing” shows that reorientation comes about through our experience of Jesus’ heart, his presence, not simply the information we collect about him.
As we continue to plod our way through this time of extended disorientation, we are confronted by our limited capacity to persevere by our own strength alone. Sheer personal determination eventually wears out during long-term crises as we are discovering. Empowerment from Jesus provides us an orientation toward the Divine. The creative love of God that made the heavens and the earth, and which beats in the heart of Jesus, beats in our hearts too. When we discover the heart of Jesus beating in ours, we discover empowerment that surpasses our understanding and even our imagination. Ephesians 6 reminds us that we all have equal access to Jesus’ empowerment. We are called to pray in the spirit in all circumstances, by which we learn to face disorientation and discover the heart of Jesus empowering our reorientation in these circumstances and in all circumstances.
[1] Rick Lawrence, The Stockdale Paradox, in “Friday Thoughts” an on-line blog published/emailed weekly by vibrantfaith.org. Some of Lawrence’s essay is included verbatim.
