27th Sunday after Pentecost and the start of Pilipivka, the Nativity Fast
Picture: The armor of the weekend warrior?
Lesson:
Ephesians 6:11. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Review of last week.
Angels are powerful and awesome, but do not cling to the glory due them. Their glory is trumped by their humility. Their humility is not a consequence of weakness, but flows from the never-ending source of their strength: the love of the Lord. In fact, it was Christ Himself that demonstrated the ultimate combination of power (omnipotence!) and humility (complete kenosis).
Angels are powerful and awesome, but do not cling to the glory due them. Their glory is trumped by their humility. Their humility is not a consequence of weakness, but flows from the never-ending source of their strength: the love of the Lord. In fact, it was Christ Himself that demonstrated the ultimate combination of power (omnipotence!) and humility (complete kenosis).
We are called to this same combination of power and humility. Not to be humble out of weakness, a victim who suffers, stumbling from one distress to another. This is not the “meekness” Christ exhibits, and it is not the meekness we are called to live. No: we are called to be strong. But we are not to rejoice in this strength, but rather in the ability it gives us to love without restraint.
[Consider using the tremendous difference between the fall of Satan and the condescension of Christ to elucidate the difference between pride and humility]
But this combination is REALLY HARD. How do we get the power we need to make it happen? How do we acquire a love so strong that it remains constant even in the face of humiliation? An answer to this question comes from today’s epistle: you get that power by putting on the whole armor of God: the girding of the loins, the breastplate, the boots, the helmet, the shield. And don’t forget the sword!
You need the complete package in order to benefit. Picking and choosing will leave you weak and vulnerable. Without the entire kit, you will not be able to sustain love against the principalities and demons of the air (probably not even against the first hint of a slight offered to you by a colleague or the first inconvenience of traffic). In fact, not only won’t you be able to continue to wield love amongst the throngs of apathy and hatred the world sends against you; not only won’t you be able to defeat the enemy in spiritual combat: to paraphrase the vernacular, you will get your rear-end handed to you. You will get rrrrnnt. You will get yourself hurt. You may even get yourself killed.
It is, of course, true that the Church is a hospital as much as it is an armory and training center, but perhaps it might be useful to think less of Landmark Hospital in well-to-do-Woonsocket (much less of the posh ones in Providence, Worcester, and Boston) and more of a MASH unit during the Korean War (speaking of which, I wonder if Hawkeye and Honeycutt will need to be called back to service pretty soon!). We certainly will stitch you up so you can get back into the fight, but if you don’t put on all your armor and use your sword, you’ll just end up right back here, again and again, until you eventually put yourself in the wrong third of the triage room (if you make it back to the hospital at all).
This is why it worries me that so many Christians pick and choose what pieces of the armor to wear and whether or not to even carry the sword.
As you probably know, I spend twenty years as what is sometimes referred to as a “weekend warrior.” I was a part-time soldier. But the thing about it was that while I only drilled a few days a month, I was expected to keep myself prepared for combat all the time. So while I only got paid part-time, I had to be battle-ready around the clock (and calendar). Not everyone saw the need. There were strong temptations for us skip some of the things we were supposed to do. Let me give you some examples. Such a soldier might say things like this:
• “Conditioning is hard. I hate calisthenics and running. As a soldier, all I really need to be able to do is shoot. I’ll just skip all that exercise, spend a little time on the firing range each week, and I’ll be fine.” Really?! No, you won’t. You’ll get hurt. You may even get killed.
• “Battle armor is heavy. I’ll just ditch it and make sure I maneuver well. I’ll move fast, be really brave, smart fight, and I’ll be fine.” Really?! No, you won’t. You’ll get hurt. You may even get killed.
• “Squad training, unit drills, and tactics are a waste of my time – it’s boring, it doesn’t focus on what I need, and I have other things to do. Plus no one listens to me or carries their own weight. I’ll just skip it and focus on my own skills and I’ll be fine.” No, you won’t. You’ll get hurt. You may even get killed.
An unconditioned soldier can’t hang and ends up as a casualty. A soldier without body armor, no matter how brave or how fast, gets taken out by mortars, stray shrapnel, and snipers. Battles and wars are not won by heroes – no matter how honed their individual skills – but by units. Teams that have not leaned how to work together will be the weak link in any defense and ineffective in any offensive action. The “Army of One” is an oxymoron. There is no such thing as an independent soldier; you cannot be a good soldier unless you are part of a healthy team.
To summarize: a soldier cannot pick and choose from the armor he is given to wear: the whole package is required.
The armor of God for the Christian is the same: the entire kit is designed to work together. Skip one piece and you will end up getting hurt. As Christians who do not live full-time at the Church, your situation is similar in some ways to that of the “weekend warrior’s:” you really need to be battle-ready all the time, but you are tempted to cut corners. As such, you might want to say things like this:
• “Spiritual conditioning (asceticism) is hard. I hate fasting, tithing/sacrificial giving, and saying my daily prayers. As a Christian, all I really need to be able to do is serve others. I’ll skip the conditioning and spend a little extra time each week helping someone who needs me – an invalid parent, children, the homeless, whatever – and I’ll be fine.” Really? No, you won’t. You’ll get hurt. You may even get killed.
• “This armor is heavy. Letting go of grudges, loving my enemies, and going to Confession weighs too much. I’ll skip all that, be brave and fast, avoid bad people, and keep from doing anything wrong and I’ll be fine.” Really? No, you won’t. You’ll get hurt. You may even get killed.
• “Coming to church is a waste of my time. The services are boring, they don’t meet my needs, and I have other things to do. Plus no one listens to me or carries their own weight. I’ll just skip it, keep God in my heart, focus on being good and I’ll be fine.” Really? No, you won’t. You’ll get hurt. You may even get killed.
Just as with soldiers, an unconditioned Christian cannot hang and quickly ends up as a casualty. As for the weight of our armor, there are mean people everywhere and no one can be so fast and smart as to completely avoid mistakes: you have learn to let go of grudges, love your enemies, and repent of your sins in order to survive. And just as the “Army of One” is an oxymoron, there is no such thing as an Christian apart from the Church – you cannot be good unless you are part of a community.
These things may be hard, they may be heavy, and they may seem dull, but you need them all. And it’s not because if you skip this that or the other thing you no longer be in good standing with God’s Holy Church: it is because if you skip anything there is absolutely no doubt … you will end up getting hurt.
As I said, this is a hospital and we will be happy to stitch you up (once again, this is assuming that you make it back to Church at all… many casualties never do), but we’d rather use more of the time we have together making you even stronger, not just repairing the damage caused by your hard-headed stupidity.
Have no doubt about it: this is a time of war, and you must prepare yourself accordingly. You must be strong in order to be humble. You must be strong in order to love. You must be strong in order to survive.
So stop complaining and looking for excuses and get serious. Put on the whole armor of God.
