In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory. (Ephesians 3:12-13)

Today we come back to earth from the cosmic scope of the heavenly realms. We are to understand that God’s power is both displayed and is sovereign over the heavenly realms. That is enough. The rest of the story is here—in the manifold wisdom of God’s grace displayed in the church by the mystery of the cross. The church that God has made is not a flat uniformity where everyone is crushed into sameness, no—it is a manifold wisdom we see here: a unity in and of diversity. This is the “peace” that has been made through Christ in the Church. No one is flattened, everyone is reconciled.

Given all this—the fact of God’s Sovereign rule over everything, including the heavenly realms, the fact of the cross of Christ that breaks down dividing walls and reconciles a disparate and diverse humanity into a single, colourful church, and given the fact that in Christ there is now peace between God and humanity and the possibility of peace between people as well—given all this, we can pray.

That’s a lot of great and grand things to rattle off only to tell us that we can pray. Was it really worth all the fuss? That’s a lot of planning and heavy lifting on God’s part over thousands of years. Is the point of it all just to get a conversation going?

Maybe it is that way. In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, there was nothing—all was empty and formless. Then God spoke. And when God spoke—all of creation burst forth into life and colour, substance and form, noise and light. When God spoke: creation responded. A conversation began. The word of the King had its effect and did not return to him empty. At least, not until Adam and Eve broke the conversation.

Since that day—humanity has not always or even often responded to the words that God speaks. Creation likewise has become tongue-tied and no longer responds with the vitality and goodness that it once did.

But God was not content to leave the conversation broken nor the relationship forsaken. God spoke his clearest word in the conversation through Jesus—in human form. He took all our ill responses, barbs, criticisms, jeers, and violence on himself and put them to death. In his new life, a fresh start begins.

In our own experience we know that the simple everyday stuff of relationships and conversations can be the very hardest things to navigate. We respond with hurtful words and actions, or ingest hurtful words and actions from others. We puzzle about how to respond. Mistrust, bitterness, cynicism, distance, and even violence form. These are precisely the sorts of sins and breakings of shalom that Jesus took on himself and put to death so that forgiveness and reconciliation might result.

Paul, likewise as a minister of this good news of Jesus, takes these sins and sufferings on himself—putting them to death in the death of Christ he bears so that forgiveness, grace, and the good news of Christ might be seen and heard through him.

As recipients of this grace, we are called to the same. This is our glory: to enter the conversation with God in freedom and confidence because of Jesus, receiving the power of his death and life that reconciles us to him and others. When we give or receive hurts or barbs in our relationships and conversations with others, we put them to death in his death so that we might speak a word of confession or forgiveness in his name.

Slowly, the conversation begins afresh. Humanity and creation begin to respond to the Creator in freedom and confidence, and to one another again too. Prayer is that foundational to our reality. How will you respond today? God has spoken to you. Will you respond? Will you come before him in freedom and confidence today?

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)