The Joy of Life in Christ

Psalm 89: 1-18 • Psalm 89: 19-52
Josh. 1:1-9 • Eph. 1:1-13 • Matt. 8:5-17

I usually gravitate towards the gospel reading when writing reflections, but today's Epistle really grabbed me. It is like a bucket of positive Christian information being dumped on your head. If you read it out loud quickly, it sounds like the frantic pitch of someone who is trying to explain Christianity before you close the door in their face.

However, if you read it slowly, it is an exaltation of the joy of life in Christ. It is a very rare simple and clear voicing of the structure of God's work through Christ. It contains God's grace and love for us, Christ's sacrifice, the Holy Spirit, salvation, redemption, and unity under heaven and earth. It's the whole package.

In a way, it struck me like our Apostle's Creed. It encapsulates the core essence of the good news, with the big picture in perspective. Verses 9 and 10 struck me the hardest, because it says "he made known to us the mystery of his will" with the caveat that it is "To be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment." This sounds to me like the current status of our Country in these pandemic times, the hope of looking to what we can do when the time is right. "Knowing God's will" is a call to faith with the knowledge that since God put things into motion with Jesus, we can have the faith that our sacrificial work is part of God completing the task.

It seems to me we are constantly trying to understand God's will, especially in difficult times. The exercise in faith is living in the peace that even in the hardest times, we are given boundless grace and love, and we are serving God as part of the larger plan.

Written by Dan Robinson

Dan Robinson is St. Paul's Media Specialist, streaming the services online.