Weekly Meditation for August 2nd

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Weekly Meditation
by Ron White

Ephesians 4:1-16

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called with all humility and gentleness, wit patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and parent of all who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says 'When He ascended on high, he led captive a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.' (Now the expression 'He ascended,' what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fulfill all things.) The gifts Christ gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature person, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be tossed about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into the One who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love."

How blessed I am to believe that we can all dwell together in unity as Christ and God mean us to, and to think about what that can mean for our lives. We are to walk as Jesus walked, talk as Jesus talked, following closely in His spiritual footsteps. The Apostle says in this passage that we are to do that until we all attain the unity of the faith, until we attain the stature of the Christ, until we speak the truth in love, humbly, showing patience with each other as we all grow, diligently preserving the bonds of unity which hold us together. How's that for an assignment? When I look around, I see a world being destroyed by its disunity. How, then, do we attain "bonds of unity?" Through some form of mystical Christ-experience? Well, no. Paul tells us that we have to do the work of conforming to God's ways, preserving unity in the bond of peace. We are to take responsibility for unifying all of humanity. We are to supply our gifts, our courage, our strength - all given to us abundantly by God for only that purpose. Paul says that if we won't do that work, if we can't consistently and unconditionally do whatever it takes to love our fellow human beings, we are without excuse. No one pretends that task is always easy. Just ask a soldier who has served in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Unconditionally loving all other human beings certainly requires intention and work. Tessa Greenspan, former owner of Sappington Foods, a highly spiritual woman and a friend, offers this approach for approaching seemingly impossible hard work: use positive afformations, words which literally create our world around us. She teaches what Christ taught, that we are formed and our world, our reality, is formed by our thoughts and words. Tessa writes down in short statements what she wants her world to become, puts the statements in a place where she will consistently interact with them, and repeats them aloud when she first awakens and again whenever she encounters them throughout the day. If you think that sounds a bit optimistic, consider that the relatively new science of quantum physics not only teaches that we create our reality with our thoughts and words, but quite possibly affirms a story we are all familiar with: creation. Oh, by the way, Tessa recently walked on 1700 degree coals and bent rebar steel with a partner, using only her thoughts, while attending a spiritual retreat out West. If you know Tessa, you know she is a very credible woman, highly respected for her involvement in the halls of power in this city...and I'll cheerfully introduce you to her!

We really can all dwell together in unity. It begins with us. We have to believe it. God has given you and me our own unique gifts to do this and an unending supply every day of people to give it to - doing everything from dusting the floors of the sanctuary to making quiet conversation in a coffee shop. That simple truth thrills me. How about you?