I pray that the eyes of your heart will have enough light to see what is the hope of God’s call, what is the richness of God’s glorious inheritance among believers, and what is the overwhelming greatness of God’s power that is working among us…

Paul, Ephesians 1

Wednesday I finally started to believe that autumn is well and truly setting in as a possibility. I wore a light jacket taking Max out at sunrise, the expected high temperature for the day looked to be around 70 and Rebekah walked over to the church after breakfast to lead the women’s Bible study as they get underway for their fall semester.

I captured this photograph of Rebekah prepping in her study. I love the composition because it speaks to the uniqueness and quirks of this house and also the thoroughness and sense of thoughtful intention Rebekah always brings to leadership.

Diving into Ephesians:

The men’s group, of course, has been back together since the middle of August and we only took six weeks off for the summer break. I’m not sure it means we are any more faithful so much as in need of the extra help 🙂 It turns out that most of us are those kids who had to go to summer school every year and we’re not ashamed of it one bit!

This week the guys started getting into the meat of Ephesians. My friend Brookes did a wonderful job laying the groundwork when Rebekah and I were in Pensacola and we were ready to talk about the deep truths in the epistle and the beautiful language Paul uses to describe the unfathomable riches of God’s goodness and grace.

For me, I was taken by this idea that we as the church are charged with the responsibility to “be the fullness of Christ.”

Paul talks about this “incomparably great power for us who believe.” He points out that “this power is the same as the mighty strength God exerted when he raised Christ from the dead….” And we are supposed to utilize this power for the purpose of being the presence of Jesus in and for this world.

That is an amazing privilege!

My friend Mark – the local Methodist pastor – pointed out that Paul’s prose, the famous “run-on sentences” that irk some grammarians, turns out to be the perfect vehicle for carrying the passion for the good news that animates him, and that Paul is almost gushing these ideas and observations about Jesus. The plethora of commas and semi-colons clearly communicate this free-flowing urgency.

I like that. Good writers tend to develop a recognizable “voice” in how they communicate. Paul’s voice is one of wonder and gratitude and unrestrained enthusiasm.

Would that our witness to Jesus – spoken or unspoken – speaks so clearly of the beautiful truth that not even the “rules of grammar” can dampen.

Praying that all of our eyes will have enough light to see, and to share, the hope and the richness and the grace – DEREK