Who do we believe?

We live in a world which frequently denies spiritual life.  But many of us are aware of a transcendent dimension to life and seek to live this out.  Especially on a day like today - the great festival of one of the world religions, one of the annual commercial jamborees, or (for a few) a moment of great spiritual depth - we become aware of the dissonance between different approaches to life.   

However, there is a huge variety of “spiritualties” claiming to lead us into the way to live.  There are multiple portrayals of the invisible facet of the world, each declaring itself to be the truth.  There is a great attraction in the idea that in this aspect of life there is no true way. 

When our letter was written it was much the same.  There were many options out there for dealing with an awareness of the transcendent.  Most people did not accept that there was a single truth that mattered for spiritual life.  But our writer does think so. 

He has been writing about life which adequately reflects the spiritual dimension.  He spoke of the power needed to live this way.  Now he tells us where this power lies; in doing so he describes for us more fully who he means when he talks about “God”. 

The One who gives us the power to live this way is intimately connected to Jesus, whose life is recorded for us elsewhere.  Here the letter-writer highlights the fact that God exerted “mighty strength … when he raised Christ from the dead”.  This much is part of the visible experience of the first followers of Jesus.  (Read one of the four full records here: http://www.biblica.com/en-us/bible/online-bible/?translation=niv&book=luke&chapter=24)  There is more though.  God seats Jesus “at his right hand in the heavenly realms” which means that he is “far above” every other possible manifestation of power in the spiritual space.  In fact, it places him “over everything”, making Jesus more important even than the things we normally think of as being outside of the “”spiritual”; Jesus for our writer at least is more than relevant in every aspect of life.

Maybe that is a big ask to believe, but perhaps it is worth accepting the possibility as we continue to listen to the invitation to urban spiritual life contained in this letter.

The Bible: Ephesians 1:19-23

http://www.biblica.com/en-us/bible/online-bible/?translation=niv&book=ephesians&chapter=1