Moving Beyond Awareness – Today’s scripture is a passage from the first chapter of the Letter to the Ephesians, and delivering the sermon is Rea Green, a student at Vanderbilt Divinity School and our Ministry Intern.   Rea begins by saying that she recently saw the moon and was struck by its stunning beauty, only to have a friend tell her that it wasn’t the moon at all but a streetlight.  In this way she introduces us to the fact that she is very much vision impaired.   She gives some background and different viewpoints of the author and setting for Ephesians, but says what is clear is that it is written to a people that need assurance and unity, and the letter describes God’s love for the “we” and “us” referred to in that letter, and it thus calls for unity under the love of God.  And unity does not mean “uniform,” but a coming together in the knowledge that all are loved by God, even through our diversity.  In that sense, the letter calls for awareness and recognition of our differences, but it then calls us to move beyond awareness to a call to action to embrace our differences and foster a deep love for all. 

(NOTE: This is Senior Sunday, and in the early service, we recognize those graduating from high school, while in the late service, we recognize those graduating from college.  NOTE:  Emphasizing the importance of the Word, the videos begin with the scripture reading, but if you want, you can scroll back to the beginning of the service in each video – the entire service is available.)