kick at the darkness...

Ephesians 5:8-20

Paul changes his metaphor from clothes or uniforms to darkness and light and contrasts what it means to live as a child of the light with living as a child of darkness. He includes a quote that could be part of an early hymn. The thesis statement for this section is: "live as children of the light". A child of light has nothing to do with the darkness except to expose with the light of Christ to bring life to it. A child of light is wise in the way she lives. A child of light makes the most of every opportunity. A child of light avoids drunkeness, submits to the Spirit and has a thankful attitude.
The first thing that really stands out to me is that we are not just supposed to remain pure but we are also supposed to expose the evil in our world. We've developed the monastic type of Christanity without actually building monastaries because we've focused so much on the remaining pure. So we send our kids to Christian schools, publish a directory of Christian businesses, only develop friendships with other Christians, etc. Part of our role is to shine the light of Christ into the darkness so that it can also become light. It reminds me of the Barenaked Ladies' cover of Bruce Cockburn's "Lovers in a Dangerous Time" (I could have just said Bruce Cockburn but then I wouldn't have been able to have the words barenaked ladies in my blevo!): You've got to kick at the darkness till it bleeds daylight. Our job is not just to be pure but to shine the light of Christ into the darkness to create life and light where there was once only darkness. I think if Paul were alive today he would have used a nuclear analogy: we are radioactive and part of our job is to maintain the glow in our selves but the other part of our job is to "contaminate" the darkness so it begins to glow as well.
Ok, this is getting long but I'm pretty passionate about this. We can't just hide out in our bomb shelters and admire each other's light. We need to take that light back into the darkness! However, there is a time for us to shine our lights for each other in order to encourage each other. Paul says that children of light sing to one another in hymns, etc. Our worship today is individualistic even when it is corporate: we close our eyes and shut out everyone else because I am worshiping God. Paul has a different idea - that my worship encourages others to worship and their's encourages mine. Instead of shutting our eyes and closing everyone out, I should be worshiping in community for the glory of God and the edification of my fellow disciples.