After a beautiful recitation of the Ephesian letter last week by Eric, it falls on me this week to begin an almost six month study of the book of Ephesians.
Six months is a long time, but here are a few reasons that I’m excited about the next six months.
Slowing Down
I like being forced to slow down in my study and contemplation of Scripture. The ancient rabbis believed that meditating on Scripture was like turning a diamond in the light; the longer you patiently turned it, the more facets you’d see. In our hurried world, it’s tempting to rush through our readings and mediations of Scripture. Six months in one book forces me to read more deeply than I often read.
Lost in Translation
Sometimes we underestimate the difficulties in moving from one language to another. We forget that cultures, values, traditions and whole world-views are drastically different over time and space. When we study Ephesians, we are studying a letter that was written nearly 2,000 years ago to people very different than us. Six months affords us the time to appreciate those differences and understand the letter in it’s context.
Relevant
As I’ve begun studying, I’ve been excited about the issues that Ephesians will force us to wrestle with: spiritual warfare, marital relationships, grace and our position in Christ, just to name a few.
Two Selfish Reasons
First, I’m a nerd, and I love the excuse to really pour my time, energy & focus on studying, so it jacks me up to get to study Ephesians in-depth. Secondly, as a teacher, the most angst-filled part of the speaking task is to land on a text. With a six month series, those decisions have been made for a good long time, which affords our teaching team the time to be creative instead of just planning out talks.
