Aug. 26 sermon notes Eph. 6:10-20, I Kings 8

Eph 6 draws images from Isaiah and non-violent spiritual struggle.Instead of weapons, the writer of ephesians uses the prophet of the distant past as a resource to examine the present-day work of god. In this sermon, in this place, we continue that holy work. Weapons of virtue. With one set of eyes we walk into a fight naked, unarmed, defenseless. How many divisions has the Pope, Stalin famously asked. With the eyes of faith, we are bristling with weapons, offensive and defensive, suited for the battle we wage.These are the weapons of a militant non-violence. We have seen examples of this arrayed against real power, satyagraha of Gandhi and the King civil rights approach of facing down dogs with the security of prayer, of Le Chambon in France where a pastor, Trocme urged them to resist the violence being waged against their conscience. The people of Le Chambon saved between 3 to 5 thousand people. They hid folks in houses and convents and schools, faked ID cards, even smuggled people in Switzerland.. When the Gestapo came looking, they had secure places in the forest for people to hide. Others in the resistance attacked them for being non-violent, but they persisted. Solomon’s offers a great prayer for the new temple.I still think it is a template for a dedication of some great deed, such as when this sanctuary was dedicated after years of labor to rebuild after a fire.Its emphasis is on the presence of God in this center of worship, center of the life of the people. Will God indeed dwell on earth? Even the highest heaven cannot contain God, he prays. The temple is a place of God’s relentless focus. It is a place of forgivenss for a whole people.It is a place ot plead for deliverance against natural forces. It is an open place for all. Certainly God saw Le Chambon as a sanctuary. For Christians, God indeed dwells on earth in the person of Jesus Christ. God indeed dwells on earth through the church, body of Christ. As we used to say the church provides hands and feet for the work of God in Jesus Christ. The good Huguenots, Reformed French Christians, the heirs of Calvin prayed and heard the word of God in their small sanctuaries. the walls of the sanctuary expanded out into the hamlet, into the farms and huts of people who saved the lives of strangers.Surely God was present with those villagers who risked their lives, to act as Good Samaritans. Surely they created a place of deliverance from the unnatural forces of nazi hatred and Vichy acquiescence. Solomon’s prayer was answered not only for the temple in jerusalem for the his children’s children when the Temple was again destroyed. Notice that Ephesians is clear that our enemies are less physical than manifestations of powers behind evil actions:the force of beliefs, ideologies, the powers that can capture a mind, heart, and spirit.Look at these weapons of virtues:truth fights falsehood, righteousness fights any bad relationship, anything that makes someone a thing, an object; mwe walk on shoes of peace not combat boots; faith is not a hammer here to beat someone into submission but a shield of protection against evil’s taunts, weapons, and lures. Salvation is a helmet not a weapon to protect against the blows that hit us all.The only weapon mentioned here is the sword of the word of god, of scripture, of preaching and prophecy, of the living Word, the message of God Incarnate Jesus Christ.He turned his back on violence and lent it to the violence of his killers. Yet, when all of their weapons of war lie rusting or on display in museums, his message of non-violent weapons of love lives still.