The first reading today is taken from St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. Ephesians is a letter about the church – not necessarily just the congregation in the city of Ephesus but rather with the worldwide church. While in other letters Paul describes the church as the Body of Christ, here Christ is referred to as the head of the Church (Eph 4:15), directing the church as the instrument for making God’s plan of salvation known throughout the universe (Eph 3:9-10). Yet this ecclesiology is anchored in God’s saving love, shown in Jesus Christ (Eph 2:4-10), and the whole of redemption is rooted in the plan and accomplishment of the triune God (Eph 1:3-14). In its own way, Ephesians might well have opened with the words “in the beginning” to describe the new age of the Church.

But unlike the creation story in Genesis, our story begins in the midst of the “age of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the disobedient.” (Eph 2:2). That description might strike you as odd, but it is a reference that would have been understood by the listeners of the age. The literal Greek describes the believer’s journey as “walking” in a time when there is something “in the air” that which people breathe – a word quite different from our understanding of sky or atmosphere. The manner in which Paul uses the word personifies “air” adding to the expression, ruler of the power of the air.” Paul paints a vivid picture: the Church is being born into a time when there is “something in the air” and its intent is of evil. Continue reading →