Morning Devotion for the Season of Eastertide
May 28, 2022
Invitatory
On this day the Lord has acted; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
Alleluia. The Lord is risen indeed: Come let us adore him.
Reading: Ephesians 2:1-10
And you he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Among these we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of body and mind, and so we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God— not because of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Meditation – Peter Vanderveen
What we seek more than all else is explanations, because explanations are our best and closest form of salvation.
This is especially evident whenever tragedies occur. Immediately we turn to the process of problem solving. How could something have been prevented? If we can identify a reliable explanation for what happened, if we can point to a direct line of causes and effects, then we’ll have a way to prevent similar tragedies from happening again. It’s important work. But often it descends quickly into controversy. People draw up competing explanations. Or they assume that the explanations they’ve produced are comprehensive, when they are partial at best. Or we’re deeply surprised when the explanations that have long proved effective suddenly fail… So it goes. Nonetheless, we insistently hold to the hope that, in the long run, explanation will get us nearer and nearer to the perfect management of our lives. At very least, we trust that it’s the best tool we have.
The excerpt above from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is descriptive of the troubles we face, but it is strikingly lacking in any attempt at explanation. In fact, it offers a completely different geography for the travails of our world. We simply don’t use Paul’s language any more. What would someone think if you made serious reference to the “prince of the power of the air?”
In my Bible, a footnote makes a passing attempt at explanation for this line, stating that this is really Paul’s way of referring to Satan. But this doesn’t get us any further or shed much light. “Satan” is understood to be a proper name – as if there’s a distinct location or source for the eruption of all evil – but providing a name doesn’t make evil any less mysterious. Evil remains stubbornly inexplicable. And isn’t this exactly the point? And isn’t this exactly the point Paul wanted to make – and the one we need to hear. If evil doesn’t submit to explanation, then neither does life. And neither do love or grace. And neither does God. And salvation, then, is something wholly distinct from the goal of the perfect management of our lives.
Paul’s reference to “the prince of the power of the air” serves to humanize us. It humbles us by reminding us that we are not the masters of neither our time nor our context. Making room for the inexplicable can relieve us of our impulse toward self-righteousness, and it can direct us toward responding to tragedies, first, by voicing our collective dependence on a grace “not of our own doing.” And, then, perhaps, we can move forward without accusations, to do what can be done, not for our salvation but for our good.
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
