Ephesians 5:5-12 (lectionary reading for January 8) says:
15 So be careful to live your life wisely, not foolishly. 16 Take advantage of every opportunity because these are evil times. 17 Because of this, don’t be ignorant, but understand the Lord’s will. 18 Don’t get drunk on wine, which produces depravity. Instead, be filled with the Spirit in the following ways: 19 speak to each other with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; sing and make music to the Lord in your hearts; 20 always give thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Common English Bible)
These words written sometime around 2,000 years ago to a community of faith, located some 6,000 miles from Montana by an unknown author are a bit of a mixed bag for today’s needs. (Note about the author…. Tradition claims that the Apostle Paul wrote the letter but scholarship points instead to someone who was highly influenced by Paul and wrote in his name. This was a very common practice of the time.) The church in Ephesus was dealing with some of their own issues unique to their place and time. Yet, the message can, with limitations, be meaningful for today.
I like the instruction to “live wisely….” Whatever that means. I tend to think of things like thoughtful, informed, sensible, and something about integrity. Who can go wrong with living with those things?
Some would think that we are indeed in evil times for a number of reasons and not all the same reasons. Some point to the inclusion of women, people of color and the LGBTQ+ community as hallmarks of evil times. Some think they are indicators that the world is becoming more just and equitable. We’ve had feedback from our message board from someone who clearly believes that this time is particularly evil and we are headed to the apocalypse any day now. They apparently also believe that our commitment to inclusion is an indication of just how evil the times are. (Evil, apparently, is in the mind of the beholder.) No time is exempt from evil things happening (think war, slavery, genocide, racism, classism, sexism… you get the idea). Advice about wine…. having experienced a bit too much wine (on rare occasions), I’m not so much concerned of the depravity of which I would be guilty as I am the headache that is sure to follow.
The Lord’s will…. you just can’t go wrong with understanding the Lord’s will. The challenge comes because folks can’t agree on just what God’s will is (Hmm… same issue as with determining evil times). Proclaiming God’s will usually involves cherry-picking some scripture texts that tend to back up that person’s opinions and expectations of just what God’s will is.
So, what’s a Christian to do? Someone who is wiser than I has said that if there’s any question about God’s will you’re pretty good to go with what expresses the deepest love. It ties back to the great commandment of loving God with all you’ve got and loving your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37-39) And, in the midst of doing all of that, you also can’t go wrong with keeping some good churchy music in your heart while you’re going about loving yourself and others.
The times are what they are and there’s evil and goodness in them. Lean into the goodness and watch what happens to the evil stuff. Have a blessed week.
