Day Four in the Wilderness- Put on the Armor of God

When Joan and I presented the Renaissance Faire VBS Curriculum at this year's Association of Presbyterian Church Educators (APCE) Conference we had the whole group sing a song Joan had adapted to describe the whole armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-13 "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you will be able to stand agaist the wiles of the devil. For our struggle in not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, agaist the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm." When we were singing the song in Nashville: "Salvation- Goodness- Truth and Peace- Truth and Peace" to the tune of "Heads-Shoulders-Knees and Toes"; I didn't imagine that just weeks later I would be trying on armor in Germany. It was however, a good exercise in learning what that verse of Ephesians really meant.

While we were visiting Stuart and Megan and the grandkids in Germany, we went to the town of Kaiserslautern to see the Cathedral. Right outside the Cathedral was an impromptu Medieval Festival to raise money for Haiti Relief. One of the characters, Thies the Wildhunter, invited me to try on the chain mail and armor. It was hard to get on and took three of us (I now know why knights have helpers). It was heavy, but it was distributed over the whole body and didn't feel as heavy on the body as it did off. And when you had the armor on, you did need to stand firm with you feet apart to keep your balance. And it did protect the body.

It was fun to be dressed as a knight after reading about knights my whole life. It was especially fun to see my grandsons looking up to me with amazement and even a little pride. Then it was fun to share the armor with them and let them try it on for size. So it is with the Armor of God. One does need help putting on the full armor of God. Those are our mentors and teachers along the way. The armor seems heavy when you are young in the faith, but as you live into the faith, it starts to feel like outer skin. It becomes part of you. And it does protect you on the outside and give you courage on the inside. Such is faith. I thank God for the impromptu opportunity to try on armor and to understand just a little better the imagery Paul uses in Ephesians to describe the whole armor of God: belt of truth; breastplate of righteousness; shoes of the gospel of peace; shield of faith; helmet of salvation; sword of the Spirit- which is the word of God.