The "captivity letters" (Colossians, Philemon, Philippians, Ephesians) have a different feel to them. Calmer, more measured and focused than Paul's earlier epistles, they come at the end of a long life of serving and suffering, and reflect the time for reflection that years of prison provided. As Nelson Mandela said, "In prison, everything stands still." Scholar Luke Timothy Johnson summarizes these epistles thus:
"Taken as a group, the letters are connected thematically by a concern for fellowship in communities, especially when disparities in social standing or human competitiveness threaten to destroy an ideal of equality and unity in Christ. The Letter to the Ephesians stands as the best expression of these concerns and the most mature reflection in the Pauline tradition on the meaning of the church." (The Apostle Paul," The Great Courses, Outline p. 42)
Some of the most familiar passages in these epistles have to do with the potential of the church to become, in microcosm, what the world will become during Christ's millennial reign. "Now therefore," Paul asserts, "ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;" (Ephesians 2:19) Dealing with the mind-boggling challenge of uniting Orthodox Jews with converted Gentiles and several disparate groups in-between, Paul simply chooses to create a larger nation, "the household of God," to which we all owe first allegiance. If the church is not a model of unity in diversity, it fails in its central mission, namely, the perfecting of the saints.
Refusing to be drawn into debates about the finer points of the law, Paul appeals to our finer natures, encouraging us to adopt the "mind of Christ," rather than just try to tally up a list of do's and don'ts in defining the Christian life. He warns us to avoid corrupt communications, which are defined by one commentator to include criticism, blaming, anger and lying. There is hardly a day, (perhaps hardly an hour) when most of us do not fall into at least one of these communication traps. How do we raise our level of discourse to more Christlike communication, particularly with loved ones who are most vulnerable to being harmed by harsh words, and also most likely to set them off?
M. Catherine Thomas reminds us that Christlike communication is not a matter of "assuming a virtue though we have it not," but is instead an exercise in making contact with our divine center:
“We do not have to make ourselves feel
love or think happy thoughts; we do not have to pretend love. Rather, we find
that quiet, neutral place in our mind, our state of simple being, and there we
set up our gentle intentions to be compassionate to all – even when our
expectations are not met.” (Light in the Wilderness: Explorations in the Spiritual Life)
So, how are we doing in our daily communication? Are we able to respond to malice with mercy, to criticism with curiosity and a willingness to change, and do we curb our natural defensiveness in the moments that matter most? Paul (a bit of a firecracker himself) seems to understand how difficult this can be, and ends by assuring us that whatever we can do is enough, as Christ's boundless grace will come in and take up the slack, healing and helping in every situation,
"Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." (Ephesians 4:13)
On a lighter note, I invited our class to wear stripes in honor of our discussion of Paul in prison, and here is a sampling of how stylishly we would approach incarceration!
On a lighter note, I invited our class to wear stripes in honor of our discussion of Paul in prison, and here is a sampling of how stylishly we would approach incarceration!
