Servants and masters

After Ephesians 6:1-9 

He’s speaking to slaves 

and masters, but the ideas

apply to any relationship

involving service and

oversight, subordinate

and manager. The words

are underscored by 

understanding what slaves

and masters do when left 

to their own ideas:

people-pleasing hypocrisy

and threats of punishment.

 

Instead:

 

Serve with a sincere heart,

with a good will as to the Lord.

Manage and oversee the same,

remembering that in heaven

God is not partial

to earthly distinctions.

 

Photograph by Liane Metzler via Unsplash. Used with permission.

The one with a promise

After Ephesians 6:1-9

A history of covenants,

promises, with Adam,

with Noah, with Abraham,

promises made and

promises kept. And

a commandment, one

of ten, the first with

a promise attached,

not only do this,

be this, but do this

and here’s what happens.

Honor your father,

honor your mother

—and here it is—

a twofold promise—

that it may go well

with you

and you may live

long in the land.

It starts with 

the most basic 

of human conditions

and relationships –

child and parent –

with this addition,

a word of advice

to parents: 

don’t provoke

your children to anger,

but raise them in – not

yours – but the discipline

and instruction of the lord,

and that assumes that

parents themselves have

been taught what that is,

by their parents. 

 

Photograph by Sorasak via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Circular relationships

After Ephesians 6:1-9 

Read the words. Watch

the rounded movements, See

what he’s doing, pairing

theoretical opposites, 

turning our understanding

on its head.

 

Children and parents,

parents and children,

slaves and masters,

masters and slaves.

 

We think we know

what these are and

how they function,

but he says no,

responsibilities are

mutual, responsibilities

exist on both sides,

and they are transformed

by faith, shared.

 

Photograph by Yiranding via Unsplash. Used with permission.