What is the protection God offers us, as described in Ephesians 6:10-20? The next episode of our “Letter to the Ephesians” series continues with the discussion of the “shield of faith” as protection against the flaming arrows of the adversary. Jonah and Patrick share examples out of their own experience, pointing to a protection that is established when we turn towards him and begin to sense our true self in Christ Jesus. In Him, our true self lives protected.

Many thanks to Camilla Lake for show notes and Podcast/Patreon production and communications. Thanks also to Elliott Chamberlin who composed our theme music, “Seeking Together.”

The Light in Every Thing is a podcast of The Seminary of The Christian Community in North America. Learn more about the Seminary and its offerings at our website. This podcast is supported by our growing Patreon community. To learn more, go to www.patreon.com/ccseminary.

The next episode of our series “Letter to the Ephesians” focuses on the spiritual protection offered when we put on the “helmet of salvation” (Ephesians 6:17). Jonah and Patrick explore the nature of salvation, the protective aspects of a helmet, and how our thinking can reflect either the thoughts of God or the thoughts of the adversaries. The spiritual battle for control of human thinking wages on. When we open our minds, when we put on the helmet forged by Him and endeavor to think His thoughts as revealed in the Gospel, then we can enter into the redemptive realm of salvation, a realm that is available to us now.

Many thanks to Camilla Lake for show notes and Podcast/Patreon production and communications. Thanks also to Elliott Chamberlin who composed our theme music, “Seeking Together.”

The Light in Every Thing is a podcast of The Seminary of The Christian Community in North America. Learn more about the Seminary and its offerings at our website. This podcast is supported by our growing Patreon community. To learn more, go to www.patreon.com/ccseminary.

In this episode, Patrick and Jonah lead us into the next aspect of God’s armor (Ephesians 6:16) —“In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.” What are the characteristics of a faith that can offer us protection against the flaming darts of the adversary? Paul points towards this earlier in his Letter to the Ephesians (Ephesians 3:16-19). Rather than adherence to a set of beliefs, faith is a dynamic activity meant to be built upon over time. Our growing trust in Christ becomes a portal through which He can enter our hearts, receiving the fullness of His love and protection. When we put on the shield of faith, the flames of the adversary are extinguished, even as we are pierced. How far can our trust in God extend?

Many thanks to Camilla Lake for show notes and Podcast/Patreon production and communications. Thanks also to Elliott Chamberlin who composed our theme music, “Seeking Together.”

The Light in Every Thing is a podcast of The Seminary of The Christian Community in North America. Learn more about the Seminary and its offerings at our website. This podcast is supported by our growing Patreon community. To learn more, go to www.patreon.com/ccseminary.

The next episode of our “Letter to the Ephesians” series takes us a step further in the practice of putting on the armor of God. Jonah and Patrick delve deeply into Ephesians 6:15, “shoe your feet with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace” (translation by Patrick Kennedy). Jonah offers the picture that Christ forged these shoes of protection during his Temptation in the Wilderness (Luke 4:1-13). We can see how the Gospel oriented Christ Jesus to the will of the Father in each temptation and thus protected him as he battled the dark forces attempting to divert him from his mission. The Gospel’s power offers us protection as we walk in the realm of the adversaries, battling temptation both within and without, following the path Christ sets before us.

Many thanks to Camilla Lake for show notes and Podcast/Patreon production and communications. Thanks also to Elliott Chamberlin who composed our theme music, “Seeking Together.”

The Light in Every Thing is a podcast of The Seminary of The Christian Community in North America. Learn more about the Seminary and its offerings at our website. This podcast is supported by our growing Patreon community. To learn more, go to www.patreon.com/ccseminary.

In the next episode of our ”Letter to the Ephesians” series, Patrick and Jonah continue to help us understand what it means to put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-20). Through Christ, we are gifted a belt which separates truth from deception; a breastplate of radiant sun energy that puts us in right relationship with reality, with human beings, and with God, while offering protection despite our pain and suffering. Next, we are to put on shoes for the way—shoes that prepare us to stand and walk in the world, sharing His Gospel and Peace. 

Many thanks to Camilla Lake for show notes and Podcast/Patreon production and communications. Thanks also to Elliott Chamberlin who composed our theme music, “Seeking Together.”

The Light in Every Thing is a podcast of The Seminary of The Christian Community in North America. Learn more about the Seminary and its offerings at our website. This podcast is supported by our growing Patreon community. To learn more, go to www.patreon.com/ccseminary.

In the fourth episode of our ”The Letter to the Ephesians” series, Jonah and Patrick share with us their reflections on the next element of the “armor of God” from Ephesians 6:10-20. What does it mean to put on the breastplate of righteousness? First, they explore some regular-world usages of righteousness, the self-oriented, “self-righteous” kind, when we proudly stand our ground justifying, protecting and defending whatever image of self we are clinging to in the moment. Righteousness in the heavenly worlds, however, is permeated by the signature of relationship—most importantly, our heartfelt relationship with God. When we are in right relationship with God, His strength and protection flows towards us. Through Him, the arrows of this world can become, perhaps surprisingly, the gateway into God’s Love and Grace.

Many thanks to Camilla Lake for show notes and Podcast/Patreon production and communications. Thanks also to Elliott Chamberlin who composed our theme music, “Seeking Together.”

The Light in Every Thing is a podcast of The Seminary of The Christian Community in North America. Learn more about the Seminary and its offerings at our website. This podcast is supported by our growing Patreon community. To learn more, go to www.patreon.com/ccseminary.

We begin the next episode in the ”Letter to the Ephesians” series (Ephesians 6: 10 - 20) with Patrick and Jonah pointing out that the spiritual forces attacking humanity aim their blows at many different aspects of the human experience: our senses, minds, feelings, will, physical bodies, egos, life forces, etc. In this letter, Paul tells us that our hope against these evil forces, which outrank us mightily, can only be found in strength greater than our own: the strength of the Lord and the gifts He offers us through the Father. But our first act is to stand—an act that is easily taken for granted, but uniquely human. We are called to stand again and again. Through our uprightness we can then begin to “put on” the armor of God, each aspect offering a different quality of protection and strength, each aspect allowing us to withstand the presence of the adversaries, so that the Good may endure.

Many thanks to Camilla Lake for show notes and Podcast/Patreon production and communications. Thanks also to Elliott Chamberlin who composed our theme music, “Seeking Together.”

The Light in Every Thing is a podcast of The Seminary of The Christian Community in North America. Learn more about the Seminary and its offerings at our website. This podcast is supported by our growing Patreon community. To learn more, go to www.patreon.com/ccseminary.

The second episode in our “Letter to the Ephesians” series stays with Ephesians 6: 10-20, but takes a deeper look at Paul’s description of the true enemy of humankind. If we can expand our consciousness to perceive those beings who are truly against us, we will better understand the spiritual weaponry needed to stand against them. And, even more so, we might begin to sense the wisdom and love that allows us the opportunity to face powers far greater than ourselves. Can we put on the whole armor of God and take our place in the hierarchies?

Many thanks to Camilla Lake for show notes and Podcast/Patreon production and communications. Thanks also to Elliott Chamberlin who composed our theme music, “Seeking Together.”

The Light in Every Thing is a podcast of The Seminary of The Christian Community in North America. Learn more about the Seminary and its offerings at our website. This podcast is supported by our growing Patreon community. To learn more, go to www.patreon.com/ccseminary.

We begin with a new series this year that will take us into an entire book of the New Testament: The Letter to the Ephesians. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians has been a source of inspiration for both Patrick and Jonah, as it beautifully describes God’s vision of a new community, a community of human beings united in and through Christ Jesus. Our first episode delves into Ephesians 6: 10 -20, where Paul describes the spiritual forces of evil which threaten humanity with enmity and division. Paul goes on to reveal the armor of God that bestows his strength and power—truth, righteousness, peace, faith and salvation. These virtues act as living spiritual armor, transforming our souls through His power. When we “put on” these spiritual forces each day, we can begin the practice of recognizing the enemy within us, and by following Christ’s example, wage a different kind of battle—one that allows true healing and blessing to flow out into the world.

For more notes, suggested further reading band further resources, check out our patreon page for this series on the letter to the Ephesian.

Conversation Notes and References

~ for another perspective on how Alice in Wonderland is a story of redemption, read this article “Why Wonderland is a Parable for the Kingdom of God” on the website seekingwonderland.org. 

~ for an overview on leading psychologists’ thoughts on the value of healthy fighting and how it can foster love, click here. 

~ “Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words.”    St. Francis of Assisi

Key Points From This Episode:

• A brief recap of our previous series, “Sacred Scripture.”
• What led us to the letter St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians: In a crisis of terrible division, we are called to become builders of a Christ-community.
• We begin at the end, Ephesians chapter 6:10-2 — Who is our enemy and where is the battlefield?
• Scripture’s purpose of giving us new eyes to see and new ears to hear.
• How learning to properly engage in conflict leads towards deeper love.
• Looking to Jesus as the person who fulfilled the victory on the spiritual battlefield with the powers of darkness (we need what he has, and he can give it to us).
• The enemy is NOT other human beings
• The enemy is in us but other than us.
• Magical protection?
• Putting on the moral qualities of the whole armor of God for the inner battle so that from there will flow healing and blessing into the community and the world.

Many thanks to Camilla Lake for show notes and Podcast/Patreon production and communications. Thanks also to Elliott Chamberlin who composed our theme music, “Seeking Together.”

The Light in Every Thing is a podcast of The Seminary of The Christian Community in North America. Learn more about the Seminary and its offerings at our website. This podcast is supported by our growing Patreon community. To learn more, go to www.patreon.com/ccseminary.

In this 5th episode, Patrick asks Jonah to tell us how in the world he came to love sacred scripture or "the Bible." He shares how, despite his strong, direct experience of Christ's presence in his life, it was really hard to relate to the Bible, especially the Old Testament. This remains true until he found a key that unlocked the whole thing for him. At first, Jonah reached out for an understanding of God and Christ by reaching for Rudolf Steiner's work, and his students, known as Anthroposophy.  And there were prejudices about what was in the Bible that he had to shed and overcome. He himself had been deeply wounded by an overreach and misuse of scripture which kept it at arms length. Overtime, though, he found a key that opened "the window" of scripture. This key had to do with what it means to be a human being, to be on a path of becoming truly human and how this all is connected to the mysteries of Jesus Christ. The deep longing of Jonah's soul to understand who the divine creator word is, the one we know as "Christ," and who the human was/is into whom Christ incarnated - this pursuit unlocked the Bible for him. Tracking the mysteries of the being who calls himself most often, "The Son of Man" in scripture became the key that unlocked the whole story of the whole bible.

The story culminates in Jonah sharing his own wrestling with the more difficult elements in the Bible.  Jonah takes us into the challenging ideas of "guilt" and "sin" and, ultimately, the theme of "Divine Wrath." This theme appears in the Hebrew scripture (Old Testament), especially in the prophetic books, but is also very much present in the gospels, the letters of the apostles and the Book of Revelation. In other words, an honest engagement with scripture cannot avoid "God's wrath" ("Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.” Romans 12:19 BSB).  How can this element of wrath be united with this other truth: "God is love" (1John 4:8)? We get to hear how Jonah engaged this troubling and challenging element that Scripture presents and how it opened his mind and heart up to a much deeper understanding to who God is, how life works and the deeper nature of love.

Many thanks to Camilla Lake for show notes and Podcast/Patreon production and communications. Thanks also to Elliott Chamberlin who composed our theme music, “Seeking Together.”

The Light in Every Thing is a podcast of The Seminary of The Christian Community in North America. Learn more about the Seminary and its offerings at our website. This podcast is supported by our growing Patreon community. To learn more, go to www.patreon.com/ccseminary.

Notes

• An excellent source of the harmonization of biblical, spiritual-historical and anthroposophical Christology is Emil Bock's, The Three Years, and his book on The Childhood of Jesus explores in great detail the mysteries behind the two different genealogies in Matthew and Luke and their spiritual background.
• The "son of man" can be found in

Many thanks to Camilla Lake for show notes and Podcast/Patreon production and communications. Thanks also to Elliott Chamberlin who composed our theme music, “Seeking Together.”

The Light in Every Thing is a podcast of The Seminary of The Christian Community in North America. Learn more about the Seminary and its offerings at our website. This podcast is supported by our growing Patreon community. To learn more, go to www.patreon.com/ccseminary.