The anonymous group of people who have decided which portions of Scripture would be put before us each Sunday did not intend that there should be any particular relationship between the Second Lesson and the other two. Sometimes, though, it happens serendipitously—so it does today. The First Lesson on a given Sunday, usually from the Hebrew Bible, and the Gospel for that Day generally fit together quite nicely—as they do today . . . stories of bread: manna in the desert and a follow-up discussion in the wake of a miraculous feeding and Jesus' teaching about the "Bread of Life."

The Second Lesson, from "Ephesians," seems to hang out there all alone—until we have a closer look. At least when I did that, it appeared that the Letter to the Church at Ephesus provides an overarching theme drawing together the Exodus account and the snippet from the Epistle to the Church at Ephesus. Let's give it a try . . . and see if we can benefit from it,

The key section from Ephesians begins in verse 14 of chapter 4:

We must no longer be children tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine (then skip just a little bit for this purpose) But, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head—into Christ.

Okay, I will give you that the Israelites of the Exodus had little in the way of conflicting doctrines blowing them about in the wind . . . they didn't yet have much doctrine—the Law hadn't yet been given; But they certainly were being swayed this way and that by conflicting desires . . . Should they go back into slavery and be well-fed? Or, shall they follow Moses into the freedom and promise of a land of their own—but with little to eat.

We've all had someone take on a superior attitude with us and issue the supreme put-down:

"Oh grow up!"

And that, in effect, is what Moses said . . . "C'mon, don't be childish; the choice is clear! Grow up, hang in there, trust God—you'll see!"

The need for increased maturity in the faith was prompted by different issues for the newly-freed Israelites and the Christians of Ephesus; but the process the two groups had to undergo was the same: Grow up in the faith! Trust God—not your own wits or the most popular new religious fad to hit town.

One of the first things that had to be learned by both the ancient Israelites and the folk of the Ephesian church was that growth occurs incrementally—step by step.

Both groups of people—separated by over a thousand years—found themselves in new and challenging situations. Ideally, growth—that is, change—would happen overnight. After all, borh groups were faced with some urgency. But that's not way human development works—not in the spiritual realm any more than in the physical or intellectual.

Apparently that's the way the Creator—God designed us. Significant change comes about in God's time—on God's schedule; and by our view of things that's generally a very studied pace.

The Ephesian Christians were facing probable persecution . . . the agencies of law and order had them in their sights.

Their time was about 90 A.D., and Paul was already in prison. They had side-stepped two near-misses. By being far from Palestine they had not had to contend with the fury of the Jewish establishment. And, in Ephesus—out in the provinces, they had avoided Nero's vengeance pretty much concentrated in Rome. But, now there was Emperor Domitian to contend with—and he thought that he was divinity, and he was extending Emperor-worship to places like Ephesus. The penalty for not paying homage to his statue was imprisonment—often death.

"Right now" is when this small community of Believers had to grow up in the faith, But they—and Paul—had to be satisfied that trust in God would have to carry them through the urgent moment and bring them—and the Church—out the other side.

Step-by-step growth and formation of a mature faith was the literal situation of the Exodus community as they tramped this way and that, camped here and there all over Sinai for forty years! That's more than a generation!

Those who finally entered the land promised them were, by-and-large, the children and grandchildren of the Israelites who had fled Egypt.

Those who had grumbled about the manna . . . Those who thought that slavery to the state and the wealthy was a better deal . . . Those most backward-looking and set in their ways (unhappily, most but not all were older people)—these had to be allowed to complete their lives in the desert. They simply wouldn't allow change—even if it's called step-by-step growth—to alter their longtime reliance on their own cleverness and insight.

They could not imagine trusting God with their lives! But, that is the sign of mature faith.

Many things have not much changed over the millenia . . . Urgency and immediacy are still what move us through the days and years. Given this, many would say that trusting God is just a religious thing; it hasn't much to do with the pressures of "real life."

Even in the church we rely mainly on what human minds can imagine and design when they're gathered into task groups and official assemblies.

I recall that a few years back the word went out that the emphasis was to be on tithing—giving the church—or at least some variety of charitable causes—ten per cent of family or personal income.

Not surprisingly, that was in a time of financial urgency for the denomination and many congregations!

Well, apparently a lot of church members took out their pencils and calculators to see what kind of dollars it would take to increase giving from, say, 2% to 10% of income. Needless to say, that programmatic emphasis didn't work very well!

But, what many church people will respond to is the challenge to increase their giving from its present level to one more percentage point of income—from 2 to 3, 7 to 8, 10 to 11 and so forth.

Most church people—being both human and Christian—are willing to experience growth in trusting God incrementally . . . one step at a time.

I don't know if this is a "cop out"—a way to make the faith palatable, but it does seem to be the way we are built—and the One who caused us to be built this way is the One we honor and are learning to trust.

So, take a private moment at the end of the day to applaud and thank God for the step you have taken.

"Growing together" — That's a second thing that both the wandering—seeking Israelites and the Ephesian church people had to learn.

We've probably never had a reason to consider what a diverse aggregation it was that headed out on the Exodus. But, the only thing they all held in common was their ethnic identity and some small remnant of the faith of their Palestinian forebears.

Some were "Hebrews"—slaves and members of the lower economic class.

("Hebrew" is the term the Egyptians gave to field-workers and house-servants.)

At the other extreme were Israelites who knew, or had known, wealth and comfort . . .

Moses, you will recall was raised in the royal household—as were his brother and sister, Aaron and Miriam.

Others had known social and economic status of one sort or another . . . that's why the "Hebrew class" of slaves had been created . . . Pharaoh had decided that there were just too many Israelites and they had gotten too successful.

So, there were these two kinds of people—and all in-between . . . and they were not, in fact, "a people"—not one people, not yet . . . that would take forty years of shaping and molding under the Grace of God given political and religious form by Mosaic Law.

As for the Ephesian Christians, there were other gaps and divisions that kept them squabbling and that shunted their growth in the faith.

Some counted themselves as Jews—sectarian Jews, and others thought of themselves as "former Jews."

And all these were called to live lives of faith alongside the newcomers—the Gentile converts who cared little if at all for the Jewish heritage . . . They very simply were Christians—followers of the Christ proclaimed to them by Paul or one of his key disciples.

And so, to the Church at Ephesus and, in a sense, to those anywhere of the Exodus tradition, this is written in chapter 4, verse 1:

Lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience-bearing with one another in love (then leap-frogging down to verse 15 . . . ) We must grow up in every way into him who is the head-into Christ-by whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped . . . promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love.

There is a wonderful diversity in the Church of Christ-and in our congregation. Beyond the obvious differences among us; there are varieties of faith-experiences, differing levels on the scale of belief/unbelief, a wide range of commitment to the truth and practicality of the Gospel of Jesus, and some disagreement about what things are urgent and what are not . . .

And all that's why we need to hear again and—by grace—heed Ephesians' advice to grow together! In harmony . . . patiently and with humility. (Are there any virtues more difficult than these?!)

The worthy life—the life of mature faith, that is capable of joy-filled mission—is one that trusts God so much that it allows growth at God's pace—step by step . . . and it is one that works at humility and patience so that the growth of the whole community develops harmoniously . . . In this way we are led to and equipped for corporate and personal mission for the sake of the world that God loves.