Open to Ephesians Chapter 2
Pray!
Feel Out of Place?
Have you ever felt out of place, out of whack, out of joint? I think we all have. Let me tell you a little story that literally had me out of whack!
I was twelve. It was a hot mid-July day on the sandlot. I was catching. The ball came sizzling in from right field. I had a spilt second to turn - POW! Visualize Charlie Brown getting pulverized at the pitcher’s mound - socks, glove, shirt and shoes flying in all directions, but in this case it was a charging base runner coming hard from third base, and instead of Charlie it was me standing in front of home plate (Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. My glove crumpled under the full force of the runner and so did my thumb.
A day later my thumb limped into the Doc’s office three times too big, and the doctor confirmed my worst nightmare. “The X-ray shows a clean break.” The cast went on immediately, thus proclaiming to my world that my summer was over.
School began, and off came my cast and there was my thumb permanently pointing in the wrong direction. Apparently, once the swelling went down three times to my normal thumb size, the cast was like a huge cavern for my thumb to play around in, and so it did for awhile eventually sliding into the wrong place.
On the outside my cast looked cool. All my friends signed it. It was slick and it really could clobber my little brother when I accidentally whacked him with it. But on the inside my thumb was healing in wrong the wrong place.
Dr. Frankle, the orthopedic surgeon, made a large incision deep into my thumb; then he broke my thumb for the second time, drilled a hole through it, and inserted a metal pin into it to keep my thumb in the right place and pointing in the right direction. Thank God I was out when all this happened, but when it came to take the pin out. Oh the pain, pain, pain, pain!
When you are in the wrong place at the wrong time (like in the way of a charging base runner), or when a part of your body is in the wrong place (like your thumb is pointing in the wrong direction) you can often experience excruciating, mind numbing pain. I’ve found this to be true in all aspects of my life. I think we all want to be in the right place at the right time, but often times we aren’t. There is a little proverb that goes, “Everything has a place and everything in it’s place.” I think this is true about people too.
The second chapter of Ephesians has a lot to say about this idea of NOT being in the right place at the right time. “It wasn’t long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin.” And later it says, “…remember at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel… without hope and without God in the world… you … once were far away.” In other words you really were in a bad place. Fortunately Ephesians chapter two has a lot to say about being in the right place at the right time too.
The following is an adaptation from the Message’s introduction to the Letter of Ephesians.
“What we know about God and what we do for God have a way of getting broken apart in our lives. The moment the connection between what we believe and what we do is damaged in any way, we find ourselves living lives that are far less than what God originally intended.
God’s word to the people at Ephesus and to us joins together what has been torn apart in our sin-wrecked world. Paul begins with a dynamic study of what Christians believe about God, and then, like a surgeon skillfully setting broken bones, ‘sets’ this belief in God into our behavior before God so that the bones –belief and behavior — knit together and heal.
Once you start looking, you notice broken bones in every relationship of our lives–at work, at home, at school, in church, in our family, and throughout our culture. There isn’t a single relationship that has escaped injury, that isn’t out of joint or limping in pain. There is much work to be done.
Paul shows how Jesus has tried to bring everything and everyone together. Not only is Jesus the ‘mender of relationships’; WE–because of our relationship with him–are menders as well, and what we and Jesus are doing by trying to bring relationships together is urgently needed.
Now that we know that the healing of relationships with is the dynamo at the heart of the universe, we support God’s plan with every ounce of energy and endurance we can come up with. All at once we see that we are part of God’s ultimate plan for everything, ‘everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth’–to be brought together in relationship with him.”
That is the ultimate place to be! To be in and with Christ is the place to be. To have Christ in and with you is the place to be. Everything has a place and everything in its place. Our place is in and with Christ. Richard Rohr calls it sacred space. Sacred space has only one point of reference - Christ. There are no other choices in sacred space. John Eldridge talks about the three Eternal Truths — that we have all fallen into a story where we discover, one: we are not what we seem, two: we are in a battle, and three: our heart bears a glory and our glory is needed … now. This is our desparte hour. There are broken folk all around you who despartely need “to be brought together in relationship with him.”
You not only mend bones–you mend relationships, because people matter to God. Because ministry is your highest calling. Because Service is your priority, and community is your distinctive.
So how do we bring people into relationship with Chrsit? How do we mend relationships? How do we love our neighbor? How do we love our patients? The very first step is to realize we are all broken, out of whack and out of place. We need to stop just putting on casts and look deeply into the out of whack, out of joint, and out of place twelve year old boys’ eyes and see that their broken thumbs are not the only things that are broken and out of place. We need to realize that every one who walks into our office feels a bit lost and out of place. We need to realize that doctor, nurse, intern, office manager, filers, phone answerers, UPS delivery folk, scanner dudes and dudettes are all a bit out of whack. A bit out of place and we need to stop pretending we don’t see them for the 21st time.
Play song — “21st time”
“I say I’m the body and drink of the wine. I pretend I don’t see him for the 21st time. This is a call for a change in my heart. I realize that I haven’t been doin’ my part. When I needed a Savior I found it in Him. He gave to me, now I’ll give back to them.”
I have a confession to make. I watch the Sitcom SRUBS. Last night Dr. Cox and J.D. the main characters were treating this woman who was very sick, but they couldn’t figure out why. Everytime they went into her room to talk to her and diagnose her a little 15 second timer came up on the bottom left hand side of the screen and as they talked to her it counted down, and at percisely 15 seconds they would end the conversation and exit. Finally they found that she had somehow (accidently they assumed) ingested pesticides. They treated her, patted themselves on the back and exited her room precisely at 15 seconds.
Later that evening they were eating together and Dr. Cox’s ex-wife was explaining to her sister, who was dating J.D., that doctors never listen to anyone. And as she was giving an example, both J.D. and Dr. Cox flashed back to all their conversations with the poisoned woman and at the same moment realized how she had ingested the pesticides.
They excused themselves quickly and made a mad rush back to the hospital where they met the woman exiting the hospital. They asked how she was doing, and she said she was fine. They pressed her; she broke down, and that evening both Dr. Cox and J.D. stayed with her a bit longer than 15 seconds.
I think we all want to be in the right place at the right time doing the right thing bringing everyone into a relationship with Christ. “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” Now, let us draw near to Christ. Let us celebrate His communion.
Before we partake of this communion let us examine ourselves. Take a moment to see where you stand with Christ. Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.
Reflect a minute or two
Confession:
All: Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.
Communion
One of the most used liturgies for the communion is found in the context of being out of joint and out of whack and out of place. Paul is in the midst of rebuking the Corinthians. “In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval.” Paul goes on, but right in the middle of all this he says, “For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread…”
This context of this communion litergy use to bother me. But now that I I’m trying to find my place in and with Christ I see that this is exactly where the Lord’s supper should be. It should be right smack dab in the middle of brokeness — healing and mending that brokeness. The breaking of the bread is always in the midst of those who feel far away and out of place. I think that is why we need to celebrate Communion often, because we are so prone to loosing our place. So let us celebrate and BREAK bread together, shall we.
“The Master, Jesus, on the night of his betrayal, took bread. Having given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, broken for you. Do this to remember me.”
(Pray and pass out the bread)
“After supper, he did the same thing with the cup:
‘This cup is my blood, my new covenant with you. Each time you drink this cup, remember me.’”
(Pray and pass out the juice)
Thoughts on being OUT of Place
Thoughts on — A place for everything and everything in its place
Feng Shu — harmony in a room because everything is in the right place
Sports - position is key
Being in the right place at the right time is key
Conflict arises when people are in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Grammar is all about words and punctuation being in the right place
Order vs. randomness — If the earth had been positioned just a few feet closer to the sun — Too hot for our kind of life.
Finding your place in the world
Note also from Experiencing God — One of the 7 realities is “To discover where God is working and join Him!”
