Done on my Behalf

23Jan
Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
-Ephesians 5:15-33


In his letter to the Ephesians Paul exhorts us to be wise, to make the most of the time, because these are evil days. It is striking to me how these words ring true even 2,000 years after they were written. Being an optimistic person it is difficult for me to think that the days are evil. And yet, the year 2025 began with the most evil of actions- the deliberate and calculated massacre and injury of so many lives on Bourbon Street. Evil such as this is easy to see, easy to condemn, and difficult to ignore. It is even more difficult to understand how a person’s life can become so twisted that the deliberate taking of the life of another is considered justified. At what point does someone go from being a loving family member to a cold blooded murderer? I have no answer here except to know that such an evil turn is a turn away from our Lord Jesus Christ and anathema to our loving God. 


The book “Enriching Our Worship” provides supplemental materials to our Book of Common Prayer. Sometimes in our service we use the Confession from that book as we pray forgiveness for the “…evil we have done, and the evil done on our behalf”. I notice that it is that last part which gives me pause. For surely I know when I have perpetrated a wrong on another, but do I always know when there has been evil done on my behalf? What does this encompass? If I really think about it likely there are many evil things that have been and even now are being done on my behalf. Are the workers making my clothes, harvesting my food, and providing the energy to run it all treated well, paid well, or discriminated against? Are any of them de facto slaves? What is my ability to know all these things? Even If I don’t know the answers it is true that these injustices (where they occur) are evil done on my behalf. But I must take this further if I am to repent of the evil done on my behalf. I do have an obligation to be informed, and wherever possible to pay attention to how the life I live is sustained by acts of injustice unknown to me. 


Personally, I would rather sing and give thanks to the Lord than contemplate injustice and evil days. But Paul’s words prod me to be careful in how I live because God wants me to ask more questions about evil. God wants me to seek wisdom because as a member of God’s community I have a role to play in mitigating evil. By research and education I may be able to minimize those broader acts which are indeed evil done on my behalf. As Paul advises, wisdom, which is not always so easily discerned, must be sought even as we continue to sing and give thanks. Without such wisdom our thanks and singing, while indeed welcomed at all times by Our Lord, may ring a bit hollow in my life.


Musical Reflection - Have Mercy on Me - Porter's Gate

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