MADE ALIVE, AMIDST ANGELS & DEMONS
(Monday, September 25)
“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh…” (Eph 2:1-3a)
Today’s Epistle-reading reminds us of what it means, in spiritual terms, to be dead, and what it means to be *made alive*, as are we, again and again, whenever we let ourselves choose life over death, faith over fear, and God’s good will over the many other “wills” that may be floating about in the air on any given day, trying to drag us down.
Is this crazy talk, what St. Paul says about “the prince of the power of the air,” and are we to believe there are invisible bad guys in “the air” that we breathe? No, it’s not crazy talk, and yes, if we’re paying attention, we might notice that all sorts of negativity sometimes enters our minds as if from nowhere, or “out of thin air,” as they say. Just as good thoughts and inspiration might, at times, enter our minds as if from nowhere. St. Paul’s way of describing that, based on rabbinic traditions, is to locate the invisible spirits in “the air,” which includes the firmament or sky above us, known as “the second heaven” that God created on Day Two of creation. Many Jewish and ancient Christian biblical commentators believed that God created the angels on Day Two of creation, (although their creation is not explicitly mentioned at the beginning of the Bible), and that their dwelling-place is in this “second heaven,” between the “first heaven” above it and earth. Fun fact: this is why we celebrate the angels every Monday, called The Second Day both in Hebrew and in Greek (Yom sheni, Devtera).
Be that as it may, let’s be reminded this morning that *we* are dignified with a choice, to step into communion with our life-creating and loving God, or not. He can and does “make us alive,” whenever we get “busy being born” and not “busy dying,” as Bob Dylan put it. Our Father! – let’s say together, this Monday, “Thy kingdom come and Thy will be done!” with all of us today. For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory that we choose to belong to, now on this Monday, and forever. Amen!
