Leaning Into Lent | Week 3 | New Testament (3-11-26)

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:07

Hey everybody. It is Wednesday morning. Welcome back. Or Wednesday day or whenever you're listening to this. We are recording this, not on Wednesday morning. So we hope though that you are having a great time as you begin this uh halfway through the fourth week of Lent. Uh we're once again joined by the Reverend Dr. Kristen Curtis Wright and uh the associate pastor at Fair Hope United Methodist Church, just down the street. Thankful for her being here with us today. Um and as we dive into our New Testament passage, as we have been doing Old Testament on Monday, New Testament on Wednesday, gospel on Friday. Um, this is one of our shortest selections, um, really of all all the ones we're gonna do. Um, but there there's a lot of theology in here, but it probably uh uh if I had a guess one of our shorter episodes. So yeah, go ahead, um, if you don't mind, Christian, and reading for us Ephesians.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

This is Ephesians chapter five, verses eight through fourteen. For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, sleeper awake, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

SPEAKER_03 1:38

My first inclination whenever I read this in you know, preparing our notes for today was dark, bad, light, good.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Right. Pretty straightforward. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:48

Um, but one of the things is we do our first pass and and just kind of talk about the the text uh before we go too in depth. For you were once darkness. I've always read it or thought of as you were in darkness. Me too. Okay, so this idea you were darkness, what does that even mean? Like, I I don't it changes the meaning for sure. Yeah, yeah, it's not so much even like that you the in the product of your circumstances because you were shrouded by whatever's going on around you. It's like you were doing bad things, you were dark, and now that you've been exposed to Jesus, now you've become into it. It reinforces this idea of dying with Christ, dying in Christ, becoming one with Christ, is that we are more than just kind of the the sum of our parts and that we are these uh um you know uh our individual selves. We are part of something bigger. So once the bigger thing we're part of was darkness, now the eater thing we're part of is light.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Yeah, because it doesn't say now you are in light, it's now you are light. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:49

You are light in the Lord. What else? First pass, anything else was kind of a stand out. I'll say because Advent is so close to Lent this year, it's hard to read this without thinking John won. Like my whole Christmas Eve sermon was all about light and darkness.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

That's it, yeah. That was my thing too, was thinking about the light of Christ and the candles and the yeah, that was my first thought too.

SPEAKER_03 3:15

Yep. I because I mean it's still so fresh in the brain, like Christmas just happened. And this John passage of the the sorry, this John passage of uh when God moved the how does how does the message say it? God put on flesh and moved into the neighborhood.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 3:36

Yeah, that I love that kind of uh physical imagery of it. And so uh by God putting on flesh, the light comes into the world, the light, the darkness can overcome it. We are now part of that light. So I yeah, I think there's a lot of advent connection to your two. Anything else? Just kind of uh first reading, first thoughts before we kind of dive in a little bit deeper.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

When I first read through it, it kind of almost feels like a message that's like calling people out. Um which I thought was just kind of funny because I love it when passages do that. But it's it's saying what I got from it at first read through was like, what are you doing? Like you're not that anymore. Stop acting like that, kind of a thing.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 4:16

Word.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:18

Um, as we kind of uh dive deeper into the deeper exploration, context-wise, in Paul's letters, uh, there are often these patterns, right? It opens with some sort of like flowery, dearly beloved, you know, kind of language. Um, and uh it unfolds though, in a lot of the typically this the same most of Paul's letters unfold in the same way. And so this is the practical ethical section that follows this theological opening, and it brings us into like this practical is this theological introduction into this practical section, right? Because this whole part about Christian living, um, to be honest, I love the book of Ephesians, I don't love this chapter. Like chapter five of Ephesians is uh sometimes is convicting, yes, um, but it is often where we get some of the problematic language about um how we understand our roles and marriages and stuff like that. And so, like this is a practical section that Paul is trying to get to his church that's trying to be the best Christians they can get you to come back tomorrow with this immediate eschatology. But we get this kind of uh ethereal light, dark language kind of thrown into it.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

Yeah. Well, I think the context that helps is if you read right before, because verse eight starts in the middle of a sentence. Right before that, he lists all these things not to do, you know, the pagan ways and says, don't live like this anymore. So I guess that's the the darkness is when you act in those sort of ways. Um, and then to go on and say that imitating God entails avoiding those certain behaviors. Um, so I think that context is helpful because it does feel really ethereal and abstract, but Paul does always have this pattern of like, this is what not to do.

SPEAKER_03 6:01

Um in that same vein, this is the only section in the entire season of Lent that comes from Ephesians. You know, our gospel lessons they are sequential. They, you know, typically they go this part of the and they kind of follow. And so when we go through year A of the lectionary which we're in, we go through John and during Lent, we kind of follow it sequentially for the most part. Um, and that that typically happens. But the epistle lessons and the Old Testament lessons are always kind of picks to supplement or to add to the gospel lesson, because that's typically the preaching part is the part that kind of drives our attention because we're Christians, we follow Jesus. I I really like how this particular selection connects us to the Old Testament and the gospel lesson. We talk about this a bit on Monday, but this idea that light leads to sight, that when you cannot see, you are in darkness, when you can't see the light God sees. And and I think it's helpful as it sets up this this person who's sitting by the pool that we'll talk about on Friday, that um there's this idea that when something is done in darkness, it has consequences. And that is true, and Paul kind of speaks to that, but also like when you live in the light of Jesus, when you know the light of Christ, there's actually more to it than that. It's not always dependent on our own actions. So I kind of feel like this epistle lesson really kind of sets up the gospel lesson to you.

SPEAKER_02 7:24

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 7:26

What were some of the tensions when you read this that uh some things that you know resonated with your soul that are convicting, encouraging, intertextual tension, light and dark, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Yeah. Well, Woods knows this about me, but Sarah may not. I am a plant killer. I am terrible with plants, unlike Brianna. Um, but what struck me is thinking about the light imagery with fruit and how you need light to grow fruit, and talking about how, you know, unfruitful works are we can use our light to expose this unfruitfulness in the darkness or whatever. But just thinking about how light is what produces fruit and water produces fruit, thinking about the John passage for later this week. Um, I don't know, it's just an interesting layer to add on to this, thinking about fruit, like fruit of the spirit or the good things that can come out of a life imitating Christ.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

I also couldn't help but think about event in the in the passage and um thinking about being the light and being the light to others and bringing the light to others. And um I thought in verse 11 um where it says and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. To me, that's saying obviously don't don't have like don't get involved with things that are of the darkness or that made you the darkness, but it's not saying that you can't involve yourself with people who are in that now and people who are still darkness themselves. Um, rather a call for you to just stay away from it, but not not in any way is it urging you to stay away from people who are. Um, and that's that's what made me think of you know, you are the light now, so share that light with others.

SPEAKER_02 9:15

That's good. That's good.

SPEAKER_03 9:17

Well, as we bridge this to our own worlds and to our own lives, um, you know, I think there's the easy connection to make dark things, things on the dark are bad. God will expose those with light to have integrity and and take what is the phrase goes, integrity is not uh is doing the right thing when no one's looking, right? Something like that. So this idea of doing the things that are right, even when no one's around, um, not doing bad things is good. But I I feel like sometimes that conversation needs a little nuance. And I don't want to get on some like uh uh too far of a side tangent here, but but I'll say when I read this, I first felt like the the conviction of the middle school boy who was still growing up in dozen and afraid to do anything wrong is to get in trouble, right? If you do things in the dark, the devil's gonna get you. You know, that that kind of vibe.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:08

And and I think um one of the things might be helpful for us to offer as United Methodist pastors is to remind people um that there are things that we should not do, right? But I think sometimes too, we let standards of right and wrong um get dictated by culture and other people, other things other than our scriptures and our church tradition make us feel shame or guilt for doing things that might not be shameful or guilty or that make us should make us feel guilty. Um, I think of I think there was a movie, I think it's called Detroit Rock City or something. I didn't see the movie. So if it was a bad movie, don't don't blame me for it. Don't go watch it. Um, but I do remember the concept was these kids really love kiss and rock and roll. And their parents were like evangelical Christians, or they had these picket signs like rock and roll is the devil, right?

SPEAKER_02 10:54

Like footlies.

SPEAKER_03 10:54

Yeah, it's like footlies, exactly. Same kind of concept. And I think um when I read this as a middle school or as a teenager, that kind of image was in my mind of don't do the things that everybody says don't do, or else God's gonna you know smite you or you're gonna be in trouble. And I think it's important for us to take a step back and ask the shame that we feel for something that we're doing. Is it justified? Now, I don't want anybody to feel shame because I want us to all live in a world and be things that, but I do think shame sometimes guilt is a uh internal conviction, is misconstrued internal conviction about something we're doing that we don't feel right about. Now, is that rightness defined by God, by the Bible, what is true, what is not true, or is it defined by other people telling us that you're a bad person and not being able to feel free? And when I was reading this passage and meditating on like, how do we have a little bit more of a conversation than like don't do bad, do good things? I think it's helpful for us to remind people that the church and our tradition gets to decide what is right and what is wrong. And it's not um the rest of the world and other traditions that we're not a part of that should make you feel guilty andor ashamed for being who God has called you to be or doing what God has called you to do. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_01 12:12

Yeah, yeah. And I I think another part of this that stood out to me is thinking about, you know, my passage says, take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, rather expose them. It reminded me of our baptismal vows. And you know, when we are born in the spirit, when we are made a child of God, um, we're supposed to live differently. And we take these vows that we will resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves. Well, to reject those things, you have to see them. And if you see them, then you can help expose them and say, you know, this is not of God. This is not what we believe leads to life and to fruit and to, you know, more love of God and love of neighbor. So I think that that um that's what it reminded me too is of those vows that we make when we become light, is that we will live differently and help expose things that are still in darkness. Like you said, it's not that you never encounter the darkness anymore, but you're different because you are now light.

SPEAKER_02 13:16

That's good. That's good. What else?

SPEAKER_03 13:24

So I guess to land the plane, uh, what are we doing that is shadowed in darkness that you know is problematic? So this is my my my my way I would preach this attacks or take it like I would take away. It would be something the effect of are there things in your life that you feel guilty about that you feel and and is that guilt justified? And that that sounds terrible to say it that way. Like um, I don't think that a good Christian outcome is for you to feel guilty. I do think though, those internal feelings are indicators.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

Yeah, conviction. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:57

And so I I think is there a conviction in your soul about a thing or things that you're doing, right? Are you uh sending text messages to somebody pretending they're innocuous when really don't think they are, right? Are you skimming off the top at your business and taking money when you shouldn't? Uh are you physically or emotionally harming people in a way that is uh detrimental to them as human beings? Those are bad things. You should not do those things. Those are things our church tradition, the Bible, you know, says don't these are the things of the darkness. Um but if you are doing things um like going to a rock and roll concert and everybody makes you feel bad about it, um, are you maybe in the wrong place or the wrong people? Do you do you maybe there's a new life or tradition for you? So I think it's important to maybe find people in your life, um, pastors, youth pastors, spiritual mentors, friends to help you process this or counselors, um, this thing that I'm feeling. I don't know if it's something I should feel or not, but I do feel it. And I just come on if I should let it go or change a lifestyle or habit.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

Mm-hmm. And that means that makes me think of the the last bit where it's basically just saying, hey, wake up, like stop being so lazy. And whereas, you know, when I was younger, I would have read that and it would have made me feel guilty because like, oh, I'm asleep, I'm not working, I'm not paying attention. But I I see it more so as like a almost like an encouragement, a call to action. Like you have the ability and the power, because you are the light now, to like to get up and actually you can do something about it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

Cool.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

All right.

SPEAKER_02 15:34

Well, that sounds like a good place to set this plan down. Uh, Pastor Sarah, would you mind play praying for us?

SPEAKER_00 15:38

No, not at all. Let's pray. Loving God, I thank you for your word. And I thank you that we have the ability to come together and learn more about your word and discuss it together through a bunch of different mediums. And God, I just thank you for the opportunity that we have, not only to have the light shine through us, but to be the light and to be a part of the light. And God, I ask that you equip us and give us strength and confidence to be that light to those who might still be in the darkness. And um, I just ask that you encourage us to do that as well. And we thank you. We love you. In your son's name we pray. Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_03 16:16

Amen. Thank you all. We'll uh see you on Friday with a gospel lesson.