As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace… ~ Ephesians 4:1-3
In class one day a young boy looked up from his work, and whispered to one of his classmates; “psst, what’s the difference between ignorance and apathy?” The classmate responded, “I don’t know, I don’t care.” Confused, the young lad went back to what he was doing.
Sometimes, the answers are right in front of us. They are given so directly and distinctly, yet they fly right over our head. Even when the answers are right in front of us, we still can’t quite understand how to get it right, and by “it”, I mean life. When do we start to get right in life?
Paul, in his many epistles, teaches a great deal of theology, and the theology that Paul teaches is based on his understanding of God, and his relationship with Christ, who he fully believes and was witness that Christ died and was raised again to bring all people into relationship together.
This is a big deal for someone like Paul, who would have believed that his people (the Jewish people) are the only people that mattered to God. But something changed in Paul, something happened. No longer was he apathetic towards the Gentiles, or the nations of other peoples’ different from him. Part of his change comes the revelation of Jesus Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Paul was never an ignorant person, in fact, he was very well educated. More so than many of the disciples who followed Jesus. Paul was ignorant, however, of the resurrection, as in, until Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus, he did not believe it to be true.
I don’t know how each of you came to faith, but sometimes it isn’t through the “bright-light” experience. Sometimes ignorance is cured through meticulous study. Apathy, on the other hand, is only cured by one thing; love. We need a love that causes us to care for one another, and with such care we can begin to love beyond ourselves and our close acquaintances. In many instances in our world, we might say “I don’t know what’s right, so I don’t care what you think;” however the better response might be “I don’t know what’s right, could you help me understand.”
I believe the Christ-centered life happens when we begin to care so deeply for one another, that it is for the glory of God that we work together, that we reconcile, that we listen to one another, that we love and serve one another. Paul says, “bear one another in love.” And this is the start to keeping the unity, to getting past the “I don’t cares,” and learning to overcome the “I don’t knows.” Then we might start getting life right, together.
As we begin to explore how we might re-open church for in-person worship services, we are have to learn through many of the “I don’t knows." But please know we care deeply for everyone who might want to attend, and want to make worship at St. Mark a safe place for all to come and experience the overwhelming love of God.
Grace & Peace,
Sam