Week 11:Ephesians

Before we dive into our reflection this week I want to note two things, the first that Ephesians was likely not written by Paul and the second that parts of Ephesians have been used to cause a great deal of pain and damage throughout history and in many traditions they are still used to cause a great deal of pain and damage.

Initially, I was going to talk about the strict tradition in which I was raised, mostly by maternal grandmother. As I sat writing those words this morning I realized that there was a much better way to talk about what it means to “lead a life worthy of the calling.” One of the next door neighbors that I had growing up was more like a grandmother to me than my own grandmother ever was. We lived next door to her from when I was about three years old until we moved when I was in third grade. Even then we were always at her house. We would go there after school, on the weekends, and for holidays.

We would even go over to her house when she wasn’t home. We never had a key for the front door, we didn’t need one, the door was always unlocked. She and her husband didn’t have much, but what they had she was determined to share with others. She always said that if someone stole from their house, they must really have needed whatever they took. No one ever stole from them.

She loved bingo, church bazaars, dancing, NCIS, CSI, Bones, Grease, cheese dogs, Pepsi, Weis potato chips, and her family, She faithfully attended mass at the parish a few blocks away from where she lived. She was the first person you went to when you needed someone to pray for you. She was practically lighting candles at the church before she had even hung up the phone. A practice she continued even as she was dying from lung cancer. 

She never talked about her faith. I never once heard her tell someone she was a Christian. She let her actions speak for her. She was always buying groceries for those who needed them-no questions asked. She wasn’t the world’s greatest cook, but if you  had even the slightest case of the sniffles she would make sure that you had chicken noodle soup. I swear that soup was magic.

She knew what her call was and she lived it, without fuss, without pretention. I truly think that if there were more people in the world like Grandma Maureen the world would be a better place. Gram loved everyone, welcomed everyone, took the little money she had and spent on others, worshiped faithfully, and lived fully and authentically.

I think that living authentically is the most best honest way to lead a life worthy of the calling to which we have been called. To live your life so fully and wonderfully that if we do have to give an account of our life, we can do so without guilt and shame. Beloved  children, let us live in love, living lives worthy of our calling, loving as Christ loves us. Amen.

1) Think about someone in your life that you think is living out their calling. Why do you think that this person is living a life worthy of that to which they have been called?

2) How are you living out your calling? If you don’t feel like you are living out your calling what can you do differently? Can the person you reflected on in the first question be a source of guidance for you?

3) What do you think it means for the church to live out her calling? Are we worthy to that which we have been called or do we need to correct our path?

4) Where do you see Grace living out our calling? Are we worthy to that which we have been called or do we need to correct our path?