We Are Flailing
Barefoot, I walked down the street alongside my brothers. Excited to swim in a neighbor’s pool, I hurried along. Soon, I was bobbing in the deep end wearing inflatable arm floaties. You know the ones: so tight on your arms that they barely slid on or off. At six, with a few weeks of swimming lessons under my belt, the arm floaties saved my life that day. I was buoyed up by the inflatables as I vigorously kicked my legs. Had an adult been watching, he would have witnessed me gulping chlorinated water and coughing. In over my head, I tried desperately to reach the edge of the pool. My nose burned as I made my way to the pool ladder and awkwardly lifted myself up to stand on the concrete.
St. Paul sparked this memory for me. Speaking to Christian Gentiles in Ephesus, Paul emphasized that if they heard and believed the words of Jesus and were baptized in the name of Jesus, then they needed to stop living their lives as if they were not! They were like infants tossed about by waves, hit on all sides by the world’s ideas, pleasures, ideologies, and thirst for power (Ephesians 4:7-16).
Does this sound familiar? Today, we consume an inordinate amount of information without time to process any of it: truth (facts) and a constant stream of misinformation and outright lies. It’s difficult to know what is important, true and meaningful. Yet, Paul believes that we can know the truth. It begins with the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus did not preach an ideology, but the words of life that transcended all the cultural and political realities of his day. These words of Jesus and his acts of healing and mercy speak to us today if we hear it. While floaties gave me the false sense that I could swim in the deep end, I quickly realized I was overcome with the pure volume of water. Jesus’ words of truth can keep us from flailing in the water.
Advent is just around the corner. Let us enter into the season by returning to the incarnation of a loving God. How can we do this more deeply? Turn off social media and all the voices that clamor for your attention, promote fear, and spread hatred. These are the waves that can toss us about. Jesus didn’t specifically address every issue we face, but the more we stand on this solid ground, the more we can decipher truth and what only looks like truth. Don’t be afraid to step into the water, but don’t forget your floaties.
