A note to Ephesus

Listen folks, I need you to let you know how I come to scripture.
Scripture does not come to me in a vacuum. I bring baggage to the scriptures and I try to drop my baggage at the door. However, I cannot get rid of all of it. So, sometimes I must remember that I am a Middle Class American with education...that is sure different from a pastor in cite soleile in Port Au Prince. We all do.

Some days we bring a great amount of baggage to the scriptures. Family is sick, those who are supposed to be helpful are not that helpful, work has piled up, computers break down, phone calls interrupt life, and all of that comes when the scripture is open. Sometimes it is such an awful noise for me that i can't get beyond it. I need to recognize that and work through it. Sometimes I can and sometimes it is foolish.

Now John in Patmos was in jail, friends had suffered, and he has this vision. God spoke to John where he was at. He spoke in language that John and his friends could understand. It is unintelligible at times to me, but to John it was clear and powerful.

Here is the first letter to the first church/lampstand. Ephesus. We know Ephesus from Paul's work but John knows it as well.

Christ through John says, "I know your works, yoru toil and your patient endurance."

This is a group of folks, a church, that gets things done. They have stamina but they are so caught up in doing that they have forgotten something. They are strident against heresy and false teaching, but they are missing something in their life.

I think Jesus lays the harshest of accusations against them.

2:4 "But I have this agianst you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

The church had become so got up in doing the right thing, thinking the right thing, that they forgot how to feel. They forgot what it meant to be in love with Christ and with one another. They were doing things out of obligation. It is a painful thing when this happens. That teaching a Sunday School class becomes a chore, instead of a delight. That singing in a choir with folks who love music becomes rote. When folks forget how to love it is painful, but nobody notices because efficiency which Americans love is gained. Sometimes, I get efficient. Alright, I have three minutes to talk with this person and then I need to move on. However, it is good at times just to linger and learn to love somebody. Remember Jesus was at times very inefficient, but the world changed through his actions.

2:7 To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life tha tis in the paradise of God.

The writer of Genesis tells the story that Adam and Eve could have had any fruit in the garden and which tree did they eat from. The tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. They could have eaten from the tree of life, but knowledge of good and evil was more tempting to them. In the end, Adam and Eve took knowing as more essential than life. In the hospital, I journey with folks who wait to know what is going on with their bodies. The not knowing is what consumes folks. Death can be handled when they know what is wrong. Dragnet, "Just the facts, Ma'am" That incessant need to know. It was curiosity that killed Great GrandParents Adam and Eve. They could have had life and chose knowledge.

Jesus says that we will be given permission again to choose. We will be able to have the opportunity to reverse Adam and Eve's decision. We will be able to rise above all of this and choose life.

I like that image.

Keep Faith and Touch somebody today

RevGuid