The Belt of Truth and the Pants of Patience
This past Sunday, the Epistle reading in the Revised Common Lectionary was from the book of Ephesians, Ephesians 6:10-20. Since this passage is paired with the Bread of Life discourse from the gospel of John, the number of times one preaches on it is few and far between. This passage is rather well known for a passage from Ephesians, because it talks about putting on the armor of God. The author of the passage outlines some items of clothing which followers of Jesus should put on in order to fight against the spiritual forces of evil in this world. Belt of Truth Breastplate of Righteousness Shoes of Peace Shield of Faith Helmet of Salvation Sword of the Spirit It sounds lovely. But there are a few things I noticed about this passage this past week. While there are some very good reasons for the pieces of clothing mentioned, I realized that if I drew a diagram of the armor of God, it leaves some portions of my body rather uncovered. It also leaves out a few aspects of the fait...