You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God - not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

What? Are you kidding me? Dead? Hardly!

The fact is, I have never been more alive. Life in Gladstone is good. My work is stimulating, albeit a bit busy at times. Congregational life is rich and full of challenges (in a good sense). My wife is midway through her studies toward ordained ministry. And my 6-year-old is, as her teacher said, a "firecracker" (again, in a good sense). No death here - life is humming!

Yet beneath the bravado, the veneer of "everything is just fine," maybe there are some cracks. I'm getting older. No, I don't think I'm old. But I know I'm getting older. Wow - I'm just a few years from being "AARP eligible." And with older age my health is more of a concern. I'm healthy, but I don't bounce back as quickly from strenuous activity. And sometime soon I will pass the "half-way" mark between my ordination and when I think I will retire. Half way already! Where did the time go?

Of course, my aging has some benefits. I'm more mature, more insightful, and, I hope, a bit wiser than I was years ago. But there is no denying it. I will not last forever, and I am beginning to notice that.

So, I wasn't dead, but someday I will be…

The words from Ephesians talk about being "dead through the trespasses and sins in which (I) once lived." Is it a sin to grow older? No, but all the hurts, pains, fears, and challenges of older age go back to our sinful nature. I don't earn all that stuff - it simply is the reality of living human life in the midst of a sinful world. Life has its challenges, and the end of life is death.

That death can come when the body ceases to function, when I cease to be what God created.

It can also come in the midst of life, in the midst of vibrant, active life, when I cease to be what God created me to be. When I stray from God's calling, when I start to establish new priorities, the ones that focus on me, then enmeshed in myself, I delve once again into sin - and I die. Figuratively, perhaps, yet a still very real death.

Yet God has acted. In Jesus Christ God has acted to make me alive together with Christ, that I may be what God intended me to be. And when I am what God intended me to be, I discover what God's gift of life really is - life that takes me beyond myself, life that is filled with God's gifts, and life that transcends the limits of flesh and blood. I am made alive through Christ for this life - and beyond into eternal life at the side of Jesus.

And that changes my perspective. Yes, I'm getting older. Yes, my body won't last forever. Yes, I can't do what I did when I was a kid. But in the power of the Holy Spirit, filled with the gifts of grace through Jesus, I am what God created me to be. I am filled with life and new life!