Living by God’s Strength

Ephesians 6:10c

Sermon Transcript by Reverend Ernest O’Neill

Will you turn to the lesson we were reading last time? It’s Luke 2:22-40. “When the time came for
the purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to
the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, ‘Every male that opens the womb shall be called
holy to the Lord.’) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “a
pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” Now there was a man named Simeon, and this man was
righteous and devout, looking for consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it
had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the
Lord’s Christ. And inspired by the Spirit he came into the temple; and when the parents brought in
the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and
blessed God and said, ‘Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word;
for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou has prepared in the presence of all peoples, a
light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel.’ And his father and his
mother marveled at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother,
‘Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken
against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many heart may be
revealed.’ And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher; she was
of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years from her virginity and as a widow till she
was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and
day. And coming up to that very hour she gave thanks to God, and spoke of him to all who were
looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. And when they had performed everything according to the law
of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. And the child grew and became
strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.” Amen.
Let’s pray especially for our Moms and Dads that this will be a time of revelation for them this
Christmas. Let’s ask God for that. Let us pray.
Please turn to Ephesians 6:10c to see what we have been studying over the past couple of Sundays.
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God,
that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” It’s the armor of God and it’s about
eight pieces we are talking about as the weeks go by.

But Roger Cohen is one of the writers in the New York Times newspaper. I thought I would read this
to you because often I am very negative of society, as my wife points out sometimes to me. Sometimes
you listen to me and you may think it’s our particular view as Christians. But in fact, you’ll see
here many people feel the same way about it.
Of course, you’ll see he has a funny article on the social media. He himself is a pretty down to
earth, sensible guy, born in 1955 apparently so he is not that old. Still he is mature enough to be
regarded as a stable writer in the New York Times. He begins, “Let us absorb the mass of unwanted,
shared personal information and images that wash over one like some great viscous tide full of stuff
one would rather not think about— other people’s need for Icelandic lumpfish caviar, their numb
faces at the dentist, their waffles and sausage, their appointments with their therapists, their
personal hygiene, their pimples and pets, their late babysitters, their grumpy starts to the day,
their rude exchanges, their leaking roofs, their faith in homeopathy, their stressing out, and all
the rest.”
“Please, O wired humanity, spare me, and not only the details.”

“It is tempting to call this unctuous ooze of status updates and vacation snaps seeping across
Facebook and Twitter and the rest information overload. But that would be to debase the word
“information.”
Then he goes on about how he wanted to get through 2012 without writing a peevish column. He talks
about Claire tweeting, “Have such a volcanically deep zit laying roots in my chin that it feels like
someone hit me with a right cross.”
“Good to know, Claire.”
“I was just recovering from that when I found Deanna tweeting that she had “picked up pet food” and
was heading to “the dreaded consult on colon stuff. The joys of turning 50.” As for Kate she let the
world know the status of her labor: “Contractions 3 minutes apart and dilated at 2 cm.”
“Social media does not mean that you have to be that social.”

“And then there was a Facebook post from Scott telling Addie how she is “my lover, my heart” and —
my own heart sank — his “best friend.” It is very fashionable these days to call the love of one’s
life one’s best friend. I cannot imagine why. Surely one has best friends in part in order to be
able to talk to them about the problems with one’s loves.”
“What is this compulsion to share? Sometimes, of course, it is just a mistake, the wrong button hit,
or mishandling of privacy settings on Facebook. But there is a new urge to behave as if life were
some global high-school reunion at which everyone has taken some horrific tell-all drug.” I thought
this last bit was right — so many of us are unreal. We aren’t talking as real people about real
things. We are dealing with it as if it is a whole play we are involved in. That’s the deadly part
of it.
“My theory is this. Humanity has always been hardwired to fear. That is how we survived. But the
fear used to be of wild beasts prowling, the encroaching Visigoths, plague, world war. Now, in the
pampered present, all that anxiety has to find a new focus. So, having searched long and hard, and
helped by technology, we have come up with being anxious that our status might be falling or — the
horror, the horror! — disintegrating.”
“Number of Twitter followers shrinking or not growing as fast as your friends’? Status anxiety
attack begins. No e-mails or texts received in the past 78 minutes? Status anxiety attack
accelerates. Got unfriended or discover by chance on LinkedIn that your 29-year-old college roommate
is now running an agribusiness fund out of St. Louis that has assets of $47 billion and owns half of
Madagascar? Status meltdown kicks in.”
“The only antidote, the only means to push that status up again, it seems, is to keep sharing more
and more. Here I am — the posts and tweets and pix say — a being not anonymous but alive. I over
share therefore I am.
“The only antidote is to keep sharing more and more. Here I am — the posts and tweets and pix say —
a being not anonymous but alive. I over share therefore I am.”
“As you have seen, dear reader, over sharing and status anxiety are twinned phenomena turning
humanity into crazed dogs chasing their tails.”
“I thought reading snail mail might provide some relief only to open a letter today from my dentist
reminding me that I am due for a visit to the hygienist (I know, I am over sharing here.) The letter
went on: “Surveys have shown that the first thing people notice when they meet is a smile. If you
would like some advice on how we can help you improve your smile then please ask at your next visit
and we’d be happy to advise you on the best solution.”
“Being in a dark mood, I imagined some advice like: ‘After long reflection, sir, we are sorry to
inform you that the best solution would be to change your face.'”
“Ah, well, I decided to go up and see my 15-year-old daughter who, astonishingly, had her laptop
open and was on Facebook.’I can’t believe this girl from camp,’ she said.’She’s so in love she
shares everything.'”

“‘Like what?’”
“Adele read a couple of Amanda’s recent posts: ‘Lying in bed wearing my boyfriend’s sweatshirt
wishing I could be with him.’ And: ‘If I could reach up and hold a star for every time you’ve made
me smile the entire evening sky would be in the palm of my hand.'”
“We laughed. You have to.” [ Excerpt from Roger Cohen, December 6, 2012, NEW YORK TIMES ]
I have four copies up here so you can read it. It seemed to bring home to us a strange atmosphere
of lostness and obviously of great loneliness. But also it shows a lack of good sense and value. You
might think that’s just America but it’s Britain and China too and sooner or later India! What came
home to me was the truth about putting on the armor of God. It’s Ephesians 6:12-16. It’s not those
people you dislike, it’s not them. “For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against
the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against
the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take the whole armor of God,
that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore
having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having
shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; besides all these, taking the shield of
faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one.” We will deal a little bit
with truth today from these verses.