I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people … Ephesians 1:18

Today's Scripture Reading (April 6, 2021): Ephesians 1

In 1967, Procul Harum released their first single and a song which is considered one of the best in rock history, "A Whiter Shade of Pale." With its Bach-inspired melody and almost incomprehensible lyrics, the song reached number 1 on the UK singles charts on June 8, 1967, and stayed there for a full six weeks. Outsiders have often charged that the Keith Reid lyrics are drug-induced and, therefore, not meant to be understood. The video to the song would seem to support that idea.  The lyrics are essentially a string of nonsensical words that are strung together. Starting with "We skipped the light Fandango, turned cartwheels cross the floor," musicians and fans have tried to puzzle out the meaning of the song for decades. But Reid argues that the song has nothing to do with drugs.

I was trying to conjure a mood as much as tell a straightforward, girl-leaves-boy story. With the ceiling flying away and room humming harder, I wanted to paint an image of a scene. I wasn't trying to be mysterious with those images, I was trying to be evocative. I suppose it seems like a decadent scene I'm describing. But I was too young to have experienced any decadence, then. I might have been smoking when I conceived it, but not when I wrote. It was influenced by books, not drugs (Keith Reid).

Maybe the most telling lines of the song occur at the end of the second verse. "And although my eyes were open, they might just as well be closed." The phrase would have been something that Jesus would have been very comfortable with, "Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear" (Mark 8:18)? 

The phrase is also something that Paul would echo. He feared that the church was missing the gospel message. They were looking but not seeing; their eyes were open, but they might as well be closed. So, Paul's prayer is that the eyes of their hearts might be opened so that they might know hope.

And we can understand Paul's concern. A glance at this world with just our physical eyes rarely delivers us hope. What we see are racial unrest and political division. We see people retreating into their echo chambers where they never hear an opposing opinion and never get to know people who are unlike them, let alone love them.

But that is not the world Jesus imagines, and it is not the world that Paul wants to see. Paul views the world with the eyes of his heart and sees a world where the offended speak the words of Jesus, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34) rather than planning their retribution. A world where we really ^"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" and "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:37,39). A world where we become a people of hope, all because we have decided that we will see with the eyes of our hearts.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Ephesians 2