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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion Tuesday, June 10, 2003 LAUGHING SAINTS |
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Frontline Devotion for Tuesday, June 10, 2003 By Penny Risen
Text for today: Ephesians 4:22-32
When writers or composers get it right, you know immediately.
Their truth put down in a few lines or phrases have a permanence and weight. Words cling together with power in their hopeful turn of phrase:
--- "I have a dream ..." (Martin Luther King Jr.).
Notes as few as three or four will linger in your mind with extraordinary strength to let you reflect on their beauty:
--- "Da - da - da, daaaaaaaa." (Beethoven's opening to the Fifth Symphony).
Like his master Jesus, Paul got it right using eloquently simple words. This good advice in his letter to the Ephesians is repeated as everyday wisdom, often by people who have never even picked up a Bible:
--- "Do not let the sun go down on your anger." (Verse 26).
Didn't Paul have every reason to be angry? He was an Apostle -- sent forth by Jesus himself to spread the Good News -- and it landed him in prison, caused him to be persecuted and scorned. I've been there, he tells us and these early Christians. Anger equals damage and sin.
We see examples of this damage in our world everyday. Anger is destructive: It erodes friendships. It chips away at self esteem and shatters relationships. It pushes up walls between parents and children. And surely we all can recall words said in anger, that we wish we could shove right back into our mouths.
Get over it! Paul warns. Don't let the day pass by before patching up whatever damage anger has caused between you and others. Speak and act in ways that build up each other, not tear down.
In our busy world, simple song lyrics often reach us more immediately than Bible passages. Some singer-songwriters get it right, their stories set to music lingering in our minds. But I contend that this time one of my favorites, Billy Joel, got it wrong:
--- "I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints. The sinners are much more fun.
(Only the Good Die Young, 1977, The Stranger.)
To me, Paul is a "Laughing Saint." He realizes that being a Christian is a tall order in a world that tempts us daily to be sinners, but he pleads with us not to take the easy way out.
He was in prison, but he asked for reconciliation.
He was condemned, yet he asked followers of Christ to take pride in their beliefs.
He forgave, instead of holding his captors in contempt.
And in his letter he lovingly asks us to turn from sin and put away anger -- before another day dawns.
Prayer for the day: Dear Lord, let us strive to be Laughing Saints instead of sinners. Help us to live with peace in our hearts, from daybreak to sunset as Paul reminds us: Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven us. Amen.
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