The Waking Dreamer: Book of Colossians

Showing posts with label Book of Colossians. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 05, 2025

A Whole New Wardrobe

Colossians 3:1-17[1]

I usually learn a few things from teaching confirmation class. Not necessarily about faith, mind you, but about popular culture and where our young people are. A couple of years ago, one of our students told me that I dress in a manner he called “bougie.” I’d never heard of that word, so I didn’t know what it meant. One of the other students assured me that it’s a good thing. As I understand it, the idea is that he thought my wardrobe is stylish. That’s the way many young people use the word “bougie” these days. Well, as you may know, I’m interested in words, so I looked into it. As is often the case with “new” words in our language, others use it in a different way. To some “bougie” means “fancy,” or “flamboyant,” or even “overly pretentious.” I looked up “bougie” and discovered that it comes from the term “bourgeois.” That’s a philosophical word used to describe the “showy” behavior of middle-class people with recently acquired wealth. And, originally, when “bougie” became a slang word in American English in the 1970’s, it referred to people trying to “act rich.” But as words change, these days, “bougie” simply means “stylish.” What began as a rather sarcastic criticism has become a compliment.

In our lesson from Colossians for today, Paul talks about changing of clothes. In reality, what he’s really talking about is changing one’s life, which is a lot harder for us than changing clothes. Throughout his letters, Paul addresses the change of life that ought to accompany a person’s profession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. All the ways in which we can live that harm or diminish ourselves or others are like clothes that have been so stained as to become unwearable. Or they are like clothes that have become worn out or that simply don’t fit us anymore. When you have clothes that you can’t wear anymore, you get rid of them. Paul’s meaning is that in place of those harmful ways of living, we’re to “clothe” ourselves with the qualities that defined Jesus’ way of life.

In particular, Paul calls us to live with “compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline” (Col 3:12, MSG).[2] That in and of itself is a tall order, if you really think about what it means to make those qualities the defining marks of your life. Above all, he says that we’re to “wear love” like a “basic, all-purpose garment” (Col 3:14, MSG) That shouldn’t come as a surprise to us, since the whole Bible teaches us that God wants us to love our brothers and sisters—all our brothers and sisters. None of this is new to most of us. But I’m not sure whether we understand the motivation for it all. It’s not just that you’re supposed to be a good and kind and nice person. Since Christ died for us, we’re also called to die to all that characterizes a life that is selfish and harmful to others (Col 3:5-9). More than that, because Christ has been raised to new life, and we have been “raised with Christ” (Col 3:1), we have his new life within us.[3] What Paul is really asking us to do is to clothe ourselves with Jesus. His way of life, his love, his character, and all that goes with it, are to be the “new clothes” in our wardrobe.

That might sound easy enough for us. Changing clothes is something we do all the time. But what we have to remember is that most people in that day only had one set of clothes. Having more than one set of clothes was a sign of wealth. The wardrobe that many of us tend to keep in our closets would have been available only to the richest of the rich. Everyone else literally wore the same set of clothes day after day. So when Paul talked about a change of clothes, that would have been significant. Working-class people may have been able to replace their clothing more than once a year.[4] But most people simply wore their clothing until it was too stained or too threadbare to wear in public.

I think the point we should take away from this is that “changing clothes” wasn’t something that happened often for most people. It was a significant act. That’s why Paul could use it as an analogy for the difference our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord should make in our lives. It should be a big deal. In fact, it was such a big deal in that day that some people were shunned from their families, some were fired from their jobs, and some were even expelled from their communities as a result. Faith in Jesus Christ as Lord may have changed everything in their lives! In our day, I’m not sure that’s the case for us these days. Ironically, our faith in Jesus Christ may be just as insignificant as changing clothes is for us. We typically change clothes more than once a day, at least. We have work clothes, we have gym clothes, we have dress clothes, we have casual clothes, and we have comfortable clothes we only wear at home. Changing clothes for us is no big deal. I wonder whether professing our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord has become as insignificant to us as changing our clothes.

Lately I’ve been exploring some of the reasons why people outside the church don’t come to church. I think this may be another reason. Our faith just doesn’t seem to make much of a difference in the way we live. In fact, sociologists have documented that the lifestyles of those who are in the church aren’t much different from those who are outside the church. When we fail to demonstrate the difference our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord makes in our lives, we fail to give anyone a reason to be here. Participating in church is just another option for Sunday morning, like the varied options of clothing we have. To some people, it’s just a waste of time. If we don’t have anything better to do, we go to church. But who wants to waste their time with something that doesn’t really make a difference in their lives or in the lives of anybody else? I’m not sure I have the answer to that question, but that’s a question that I wonder about when I think about Paul comparing the difference our faith in Jesus Christ makes in our lives to changing clothes.

Going back to where we started, I personally don’t think the way I dress is all that special. I’ve had the suit I’m wearing today for twenty years! I try to keep my wardrobe fresh, but the way I do it is by shopping clearance sales. Sometimes that works out, and sometimes it doesn’t. My daughter assures me that I most definitely do not dress “bougie.” I’m okay with that. I want to look my best, but I also want my clothes to be practical. And by that I mean that I can get away with wearing them for a long time by just adding fresh touches here and there. I pay attention to my wardrobe, but I’m not much of a shopper, so I don’t make a big deal out of it.

As we reflect on our lesson for today, I think most of us would like to hope that our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord is far more important than the clothes we wear. Perhaps a better analogy for us would be a completely new wardrobe. Not many of us ever completely change our whole wardrobe at once. That’s what Paul is calling us to do. But I would say that for most of us it’s all too easy to get caught up in the push and pull of our lives. So much so that we really don’t pay that much attention to how we live. We don’t put much thought into what we say, and whether or not our words harm others or help them. We don’t put much thought into how we interact with people. Our own experiences, the stresses and the frustrations, the fears and the hardships, as well as the joys and celebrations of our lives just occupy us so much that we may forget to think about being intentional about “clothing” ourselves with Jesus Christ each day. Some of us may need to clear out a whole wardrobe that does not fit well with our faith. In place, we may need a whole new wardrobe. Paul calls us to put on the qualities that define Jesus’ life: his love, his compassion, his kindness, his humility. When we live this way, I believe that people will be drawn to join us. Not because of who we are, but because of the way we demonstrate the life of Jesus Christ in the way we live each and every day.

[2] Cf. E. Lohse, Colossians and Philemon: A commentary on the Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon, 147: “All of the five terms that describe the new man’s conduct are used in other passages to designate acts of God or of Christ.” (compassion: Rom 12:1; 2 Cor 1:3; kindness: Rom 2:4; 11:22; Eph 2:7; Tit 3:4; humility: Phil 2:8; 2 Cor 10:1; patience: Rom 2:4; 9:22).

[3] Cf. Michael Barram, “Colossians 3:1-17,” Interpretation, 59 (April 2005): 190, where he says that “the living Christ provides the basis for all Christian conduct”; and further, these behaviors become “the norm for believers because Christ is alive and reigning with God.”

[4] For a summary of research about this, see Dafna Shlezinger-Katsman, “Clothing,” in The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Daily Life in Roman Palestine, 362-81, and on the availability of clothing related to wealth and poverty see Gildas Hamel, “Poverty and Charity,” in ibid., 308-324, esp. 318-19.

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

The Great Mystery

Colossians 1:15-28[1]

One of the blessings and curses of our culture is the way we put everything in a “box.” That was how philosophers and scientists taught us to make sense out of the explosion of knowledge that began a couple of hundred years ago. We might not even be aware of the “categories” we use to understand our world, but of course it is the role of philosophers and scientists to point out these things to us. Some of us are familiar with the mail-order catalogues that used to come from department stores like Sears and Roebuck or J C Penney. I’m not talking about the flimsy little ones we get these days. These were catalogues that included “everything, including the kitchen sink”! They were the “Amazon” of their day. But unlike Amazon, where you can just start typing what you’re looking for into a search box, those massive catalogues had a huge index at the back. That’s how you found what you were looking for. The index was an alphabetical listing of all the items for sale with an indication of the page number where you could find what you wanted. But even the index was so big it was divided into categories.

I think most of us have just become used to looking that the world through the lens of a huge “catalogue.” It just seems “natural” to us to break things down into their parts and sort them into the “right” categories. But there are other cultures that emphasize the connections all things and all beings have with one another. It’s a different way of looking at the world. I would say the world into which Paul wrote the lesson from Colossians for today was more like that than like our world. I think that’s especially the case with the way Paul connects Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord with everything and everyone. Because he is the “is the visible image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15, NLT), he’s connected to all of creation. That includes not only the world and everything and everyone in it, but the entire universe. I know that’s hard for us to wrap our heads around, but Paul can say not only that “through him God created everything” but also that “he holds all creation together” (Col 1:17, NLT). Paul’s view of Jesus Christ goes far beyond the simple teacher from Nazareth who died on a Roman cross outside Jerusalem. He’s that, but he’s also so much more.

What makes the difference here is Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and his ascension to the right hand of God. That pointed the Apostles back to Jesus’ existence as God’s son from all eternity, and therefore his role in the work of creation. But it also convinced them that Jesus is the one who rules over all things in God’s name now, and who one day will bring all God’s plans to fulfillment. This is the “great mystery” that belongs to Jesus the Christ. We see this in our lesson from Colossians as well: the purpose of Jesus’ death and resurrection was for God to “reconcile everything to himself” (Col 1:20, NLT), or as version we read for today puts it, “so that all beings in heaven and on earth would be brought back to God” (Col 1:20, CEV). We might say, “all beings in the whole universe.”[2]

Again, that language might sound strange to us. There are some places in the New Testament where the language of the Gospel, including Paul’s preaching and teaching, seems to limit salvation to only a few. In the Jewish world, salvation was for Jewish people, and only for Jewish people. All the gentiles, or the “heathen,” were condemned for their ignorance. Unfortunately, there have been many theologians up to this day who have promoted that mindset. Tertullian, a Third-Century teacher said it first, “extra ecclesia nulla salus est.” That means “outside the church there is no salvation.” Only those in the church experience salvation, and no one else. That line of thinking was carried on by some of the most influential theologians in the history of our faith, and many believe it to be the “received truth” of the Christian faith to this day.

But there have always been other Christian scholars and teachers who have taken the language of our lesson for today more at face value. While we cannot ignore Jesus’ real humanity, there is much more to who Jesus Christ is. Paul alludes to this in our lesson for today when he tells gentile believers that God’s “wonderful and glorious mystery” is that “Christ lives in you, and he is your hope of sharing in God’s glory” (Col. 1:27, CEV). What we may have a hard time imagining is just how hard it would have been for any Jewish person living in the First Century to say that about any Gentile person. I agree with a number of others who think that the fact that people who would have been assumed to be permanent outsiders responded to the Gospel in faith made the Apostles rethink a lot about their faith, especially whom they included and whom they excluded.

For too many people, the church in our culture has been known primarily for whom we exclude, especially to those who are outside the church. I would say this is another reason why some people avoid church so much these days. But I believe that we can take seriously the hints that in Jesus Christ, God is up to something bigger than perhaps we’ve ever dared to imagine or dream. That “something bigger” is nothing less than fulfilling the promise of the resurrection that says that “In Adam all of us die. In the same way, in Christ all of us will be made alive again” (1 Cor 15:22, NCV). Paul says it a little differently elsewhere: “Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone” (Rom 5:18, NLT). And in our lesson from Colossians for today, we hear the astounding statement that the Gospel ultimately extends to everyone and everything in the whole universe! Paul calls this the “mystery of Christ.”[3]

What difference does this “great mystery” about God’s work through Jesus Christ make for us in our daily lives? Well, for one thing I think it calls us to be open to the fact that our faith contains more than we can put into our “boxes.” God is bigger than we can imagine or conceive. And in our lesson for today, we learn that so is Jesus Christ! Despite what the psalmsinger said, God does not resolve the problem of injustice in our world by “breaking down forever” the villains (Ps 52:5). In Jesus Christ, God resolves the problem of injustice by reconciling all things to God. God undoes the evil of those who arrogantly presume to abuse their power, as the prophet Amos describes. But he does so by “making peace” through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Essentially, he brings us all, oppressed and oppressors alike, back to God. That version of salvation is hard to put into any “box.”

I would say another important lesson for us is that that we, as members of Christ’s “body” on earth, all participate in this “great mystery” right now. And more than that, we all have a role in fulfilling God’s big plan to save the whole creation. If you doubt that, perhaps your Jesus is too small.[4] Part of this great mystery is that every time we act with integrity and kindness, every time we seek to make love for God and love for others the principle of our lives, everything we do in this world to spread just a little of the justice, freedom, and peace of God’s kingdom to someone who needs it, we’re contributing to the fulfillment of God’s big plan. That’s not because we’re anything special, but rather it’s because Jesus Christ who reigns over all things as Lord even now is working in and through us to fulfill God’s big plan to save the whole creation. It may be hard for us to wrap our heads around all this, but I think our Scripture lesson calls us to marvel at the wonder of it all, and to be grateful that we have the chance to participate in something so awe-inspiring!

[2] Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics 4.3:756 speaks of “the alteration of the whole situation of man and his cosmos as already accomplished in Jesus Christ” as he is in the process of fulfilling God’s determination ” to reconcile everything to himself” (Col. 1:20). Some would dispute this theme in Barth’s Dogmatics. It’s true that he takes a different approach in the earlier volumes. But it seems unavoidable to recognize it in volume 4. It would seem that Barth underwent a transition in his thinking about the extent of salvation during the twenty plus years of writing the Dogmatics.

[3] Jürgen Moltmann in Sun of Righteousness, Arise!: God’s Future for Humanity and the Earth, 140, quotes Christoph Blumhardt, a 19^th century German theologian who believed the impact of God’s redemption extended beyond individual salvation, as saying that this is his “confession of hope”: “That God might give up anything or anyone in the whole world—about that there can be no question, neither today nor in all eternity … The end has to be: Behold, everything is God’s!”

[4] Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, The Way of Jesus Christ: Christology in Messianic Dimensions, 276: “in personal faith a rebirth is experienced which will one day extend to heaven and earth; and the church prefigures and foreshadows the temple of the Holy Spirit which the whole cosmos is destined to become. It is only the cosmic dimension which gives the human, historical experiences of Christ their all-embracing meaning. We can only think of Christ inclusively. Anyone who thinks of Christ exclusively, not for other people but against them, has not understood the Reconciler of the world” (emphasis original). Cf. also ibid., 278: “Christology can only arrive at its completion at all in a cosmic christology. All other christologies fall short and do not provide an adequate content for the experiences of the Easter witnesses with the risen Christ. If Christ is the first-born from the dead, then he cannot be merely ‘the new Adam’ of a new humanity. He must also be understood as the first-born of the whole creation.” He continues to discuss Karl Barth’s “cautious consideration” of this “possibility” in the passage cited above and intentionally “develops” it. As a result, he concludes, ibid., 285: “the church must be seen as the beginning of the reconciled cosmos which has arrived at peace.”

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Simple Actions

Colossians 1:1-14, Luke 10:25-37[1]

My Grandmother’s sister, Ruth Jackson, was the first woman to become an orthopedic surgeon. Anywhere. In fact, the association of women Orthopedic Surgeons is called the “Ruth Jackson Society.” She was quite a gutsy lady—just becoming a doctor was hard enough for a woman in those days. Her passion combined with her compassion for people led her to break into one of the most elite “men’s only” clubs in that day. In fact, Orthopedic Surgery is still that way to this day, a century later! When my aunt Ruth was treated for a neck injury, she was unhappy that orthopedics in that day was a “hands-off” discipline. They took x-rays, used neck braces, and prescribed traction for patients without ever actually touching them. So she pioneered a “hands-on” approach to treating neck injuries. She literally wrote the book on the treatment of neck injuries—a book that went through 4 editions and was translated into various languages and was the standard text around the world for many years.

Growing up with Aunt Ruth was both wonderful and difficult. She taught me to shoot, to fish, and to drive, among many other things. She could be incredibly demanding of a boy who she wanted to follow in her footsteps. I still remember the time at her dining table when she insisted that any nephew of hers was going to learn proper table manners! I was 6 years old! Obviously, it stuck with me all these years. In fact, the whole family expected me—both implicitly and out loud—to do something “spectacular” just like Aunt Ruth. They didn’t insist that I go into medicine—though she applied a great deal of “arm twisting” to get me to do just that. But whatever field I went into, it was clear that I was expected to do something “spectacular.”

We live in a world where it seems more and more that you have to do something “spectacular” in order to make a difference. I think this is in part due to the fact that instant communications have made our world much bigger for all of us. With access to news about so many problems that are so widespread all over the world, it can be so easy for us to think, “I’m just one person,” and “I can’t really make a difference.” I think this is especially the case in our culture where we almost worship “celebrities.” How many of our kids at certain ages dream not of becoming doctors or lawyers or teachers, but rather famous actors or musicians or athletes? To some extent, that’s just youthful exuberance. But I think some of it comes from our near obsession with people who are “famous.” And for some, that notion that you have to do something spectacular or even become famous can be linked to feeling valued by those you love.

I think that our lesson from Paul’s letter to the Colossians this week gives us some help at this point. In his letters, Paul talks about the Christian life in a way that is pretty down to earth. It’s a matter of “bearing fruit” and doing “good work” (Col. 1:10). I would remind you that “bearing fruit” in the Bible is a metaphor for the quality of your character, not “getting results.” It’s about who we are, not what we accomplish. Here and elsewhere in his letters, Paul talks about the Christian life as a matter of simple actions, like “walking the walk,” and not just “talking the talk.” These and other incredibly ordinary activities are what it means to live in a such way as to “honor and please the Lord” who redeemed us (Col 1:10-14). It sounds like the life that Paul envisions for those of us who would follow Christ is really nothing spectacular at all. It’s a matter of focusing on simple actions in our daily living.

That might seem too cliché to merit our attention, until you think about the Parable of the Good Samaritan. After all, what did the Samaritan do that was so “spectacular”? All that kind soul did was to notice the one who was wounded, actually take time to stop, and care enough to bind up his wounds. And then he saw to it that this wounded man could have the time he needed to recuperate. It’s a story of simple actions: mercy put into practice, compassion that goes the second mile. Stopping, caring for him, putting him up at the inn, were all simple actions. Nothing spectacular. But they made all the difference in the world to “the one who fell among robbers.”

It seems to me, contrary to our culture that is obsessed with all things “spectacular,” it is when we are engaged in simple actions that we make the most difference in another person’s life. I’ve studied with world-renowned theologians and Bible scholars. But the most influential person in my life was my brother, Douglas, who was mentally and emotionally handicapped. It was just the gentleness of his soul that impacted me so deeply. To paraphrase one of my favorite spiritual writers, Henri Nouwen, the Christian life is “mostly hidden in the ordinariness of everyday living.”[2] It’s not something that makes headlines in the news.

When you get right down to it, that’s the only place we can really make much of a difference in the life of another human being. We mere mortals rarely achieve the level of influence that can truly make a difference for hundreds or thousands of people out there. For the most part, we can touch a life here, a life there. And we do that through the quality of our character as displayed in simple actions, not anything “spectacular” we might do. It’s through the way in which we actually relate to people, the way we actually treat other human beings, not through any great “achievement,” that we really have an effect on others. From that perspective, the Christian life is a matter of simple actions that constitute living out the grace and mercy and compassion of God. I see a lot of pain and suffering in this world. When we live in a world of hurt like that, it makes it all the more important for us to live out God’s grace and mercy and compassion in simple actions every day.

[2] Henri Nouwen, Here and Now:Living in the Spirit, 103: “The compassionate life is mostly hidden in the ordinariness of everyday living.”

Thursday, December 05, 2019

A Mighty Savior

Jeremiah 23:1-6; Luke 1:68-79; Colossians 2:11-20[1]

One of the age-old human desires is for someone to come and rescue us from the brokenness of our lives. At times have looked to our “God” to be the one to save us from the pain and suffering that seems to define our existence. At times that desire has been focused on a specific person—a “hero” who would throw off the yoke of oppressors, or a leader who would step up and set things right, or a spiritual figure who would come and save us. At times, the disappointments of life have driven us to look for our own solutions—some good, some not. But when push comes to shove, we tend to look to God to save us.

In ancient times, this desire was directed toward the promise of a Messiah. That idea originated because, as Jeremiah declares, those who were supposed to care for the people had failed to do so. More than that, they had taken advantage of the people, “destroying” and “scattering” God’s flock. In response, God promised to send one who would be a true shepherd. This one would enact true justice, rather than exploiting the people for the sake of power and wealth. This one would bring true peace that enabled them to thrive, not just the richest of the rich. This one would be called “The Lord is our righteousness” (Jer. 23:6, NRSV), or “God-Who-Puts-Everything-Right” (The Message)! Jeremiah was looking for a mighty savior!

So was Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist. In Luke’s Gospel we hear his song of praise at the birth of his son. He took that to be a sign that God was in the process of fulfilling ancient promises. Promises to save the people from their enemies and from the hand of those who oppressed them. Promises that God had made to Abraham and David about the days when the people would be able to serve God freely. Promises that light would come to those living in darkness, and peace would come to those who were troubled by violence, or cruelty, or want of common necessities, or simply a place to call home. And Zechariah believed God was going to do this by raising up “a mighty savior” (Lk. 1:69).

After raising their hopes through the many amazing things he did, Jesus dashed those hopes by going to the cross. “Mighty Saviors” don’t get publicly humiliated by a brutal execution. In the minds of the Jewish people that just couldn’t happen. A truly mighty savior would have the power to overthrow even the Roman Empire, who kept the Jewish people firmly under the heels of their army. A truly mighty savior would bring back the days when the Jewish people were a world power. When Jesus died on a Roman cross, the hopes of those who followed him died as well.

But that was not the end of the story. By raising Jesus from the dead, God demonstrated that he was indeed doing something “mighty” through Jesus. I think it took the first Christians a while to understand all that meant. It meant that God was doing something much bigger than just freeing the Jewish people. Through Jesus the mighty savior, God was going to free all people. And he was going to free us not just from the political and economic powers in this world, but from all the evil, hatred, injustice, and brokenness that burdens us in this life. Because he defeated death itself, the first Christians began to recognize that there was no victory that Jesus, our mighty savior, could not win.

As a result, they began to see Jesus’ work as something that would involve a much bigger picture that simply the fate of nations. In Colossians, Jesus’ work as our mighty savior includes nothing less than creating all things in the beginning and restoring all things in the end. Because of Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of God, Jesus’ role as our savior was much bigger than anyone had imagined. As the “firstborn of all creation,” he was the one “through whom and for whom” all things were created by God. We may not understand all that means, but as our mighty savior, Jesus participated with God in the creation of all things.

Beyond that, Jesus’ work as our mighty savior includes restoring “all things” in the end. Now, in the Greek language “all things” is worded in such a way as to point to the whole created order. It refers to “all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe” (Col. 1:20, The Message). I think that’s going way beyond what most of us can imagine, let alone understand. Somehow, the Scripture says that Jesus reigns as our mighty Savior over the whole universe. And he will carry out his reign “with wisdom, power, and love” by making all things right—throughout the whole cosmos!

I think our desire for a Savior tends to be focused on ourselves. We tend to want our Savior to help us out of our difficulties. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, of course. But we can’t stop there. According to the New Testament, our mighty savior is engaged in a work that will make all things right again, just the way they were at the very beginning. I don’t think, however, that because Jesus is the Savior of the universe that somehow means that our concerns are too small for him. Rather, I would say that when we turn to him with our burdens, we can do so in the confidence that our mighty savior is the one who is working to restore the whole universe and everyone in it! Surely that means not only that he can help us, but also that he will!

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

New Clothes

Colossians 3:12-17[1]

For those of you who may keep up with the latest styles, it’s pretty obvious that I’m no fashion guru. I do try to look my best, mind you, especially in professional situations. But I’m aware that my wardrobe wouldn’t make the cover of GQ magazine. I wear clothes that are functional more than trendy. Some of my clothes are 15 years old, which means they are long out of style. And I tend to go with a certain look and stay with it. It makes it easier that way. I don’t have to make too many decisions about what to wear. I like to keep things simple and functional when it comes to my wardrobe.

But then some of you may have also noticed that I’ve made a wardrobe change recently. This Fall, I’ve started wearing bow ties on special occasions. Now, I know that bow ties are the trademark of the Presbyterian pastor down the road. I must say I sort of fell into this trend by accident. My son and his fiancée are getting married this week, and the theme of their ceremony is art deco. So all the men in the wedding party are wearing bow ties—the real thing, not pre-tied clip-on’s. So I figured I’d buy a couple of bow ties and learn how to tie them before I get to the wedding. Well, I have to say, I had so much fun with it, that I decided to incorporate it into my wardrobe. I don’t know that it makes me look any more trendy or stylish, but I like my “new look.”

As I mentioned on Christmas Eve, this year’s Gospel readings during advent are all about the changes that Jesus’ birth brought to our lives. They change the very ground on which we build our lives. Jesus made it clear that what he had come to do was to make it possible for “the last to be first,” which also means that the “first shall be last.” It turns everything upside down. Or, maybe, as one contemporary prophet puts it, the world is flying upside down and Jesus comes along to turn things right-side-up.[2]

One of the metaphors for this kind of radical change of life in the New Testament has to do with clothes. St. Paul is particularly fond of talking about “taking off” behaviors that diminish and harm ourselves and others and “putting on” the qualities that defined Jesus’ life.[3] And so in our lesson for today, he calls us to change our wardrobe, so to speak. Paul goes through the closet of our lives and pulls out what is no longer beneficial, and sets us to the task of filling our wardrobe with a whole different set of clothes.

In particular, he calls us to “clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience” (Col. 3:12).[4] That in and of itself is a tall order, if you really think about what it means to make those qualities the defining marks of your life. To some extent, I think he summarizes all of the qualities that he wants to see in our lives when he tells us to “clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Col. 3:14).[5] In fact, he tells us to do this “above all.” That shouldn’t come as a surprise to us, since the whole Bible teaches us that what God wants from us is to love our brothers and sisters—all our brothers and sisters.

Now, we’re familiar with the fact that the Bible presents this kind of challenge to us—we are to leave behind the ways that belong to life apart from Christ, and we’re to put on our “new clothes” instead. But I’m not sure we get the motivation for all that. It’s not just that you’re supposed to be a good and kind and nice person. There’s much more behind it. One aspect is that since Christ died for us, we’re also called to die to all that characterizes a life that is motivated by selfish desires and is essentially harmful to others (Col. 3:5-9).

But there’s more: because Christ has been raised to new life, we too have a new life within us.[6] And the Scriptures call upon us to let the qualities of that new life be our new wardrobe. Because we have been “raised with Christ” (Col. 3:1), and “Christ is our life” (3:4), we are to let the life of the risen Christ shine through our character and actions. St. Paul depicts this in terms of a “renewal” that God has brought into our lives. But it goes beyond that—this renewal that is underway is changing everything for everyone, whether they know it or not. It is a transformation that means that “Christ is all in all” (Col. 3:11). That might not say it clearly enough: I like Gene Peterson’s translation of this phrase in The Message: “From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ.” Since we are all caught up in God’s work of making all things new through Jesus Christ, we are to let that newness shine in us and through us.

In a very real sense, I would say that our Scripture lesson for today is a call for us all to take a close look at the wardrobe that defines the way we live our lives. All that is selfish and harmful to others, all that diminishes us and others, has become like clothing that is out of date. And just as we sometimes have to go through our closets and clean out clothing that we no longer wear, so we’re to take all those ways of being and acting that are no longer useful or beneficial, and clear them out of the closet of our lives. And in the place of those old behaviors and actions we’re to fill our closet with a whole new set of clothes: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. In a word, whatever constitutes authentic, sincere, and truly loving ways of being and acting. After all, that’s the kind of life that Jesus embodied. What St. Paul is really asking us to do is to clothe ourselves with Jesus.[7] His way of life, his love, his character, and all that goes with it, are to be the “new clothes” in our wardrobe.

[2] Cf. Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, 88-89. He defines “flying upside-down” by saying (p. 10), “What is truly profound is thought to be stupid and trivial, or worse, boring, while what is actually stupid and trivial is thought to be profound.”

[3] Many scholars speak of this as the tension in Paul’s letters between the “indicative,” or the newness that becomes real in a person’s life when they are transformed by Christ, and the “imperative,” or the practical realization that this transformation does not take place overnight, but must be intentionally cultivated. Cf. Andrew T. Lincoln, “The Letter To The Colossians,” New Interpreters Bible XI:647: “although they have already put on the new person, they still need to clothe themselves with specific virtues.” Cf. also P. T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon, 213.

[4] Cf. E. Lohse, Colossians and Philemon: A commentary on the Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon, 147: “All of the five terms that describe the new man’s conduct are used in other passages to designate acts of God or of Christ.” (compassion: Rom 12:1; 2 Cor 1:3; kindness: Rom 2:4; 11:22; Eph 2:7; Tit 3:4; humility: Phil 2:8; 2 Cor 10:1; patience: Rom 2:4; 9:22).

[5] Cf. Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics 4.2:784: “love is the sum of all the mercy, goodness, humility, long-suffering and mutual forbearance and forgiveness that those who are chosen and sanctified and loved by God are to ‘put on’ as a garment which is prepared for them and suits them.”

[6] Cf. Michael Barram, “Colossians 3:1-17,” Interpretation, 59 (April 2005): 190, where he says that “the living Christ provides the basis for all Christian conduct”; and further, these behaviors become “the norm for believers because Christ is alive and reigning with God.”

[7] Of course, this is a process. The church is always made up of people who are simul justus et peccator (“at the same time both justified and a sinner”). Or as Jürgen Moltmann, The Church in the Power of the Spirit, 353, says it, “God sanctifies his church by calling the godless through Christ, by justifying sinners, and by accepting the lost. The communion or community of the saints—or the holy or sanctified—is therefore always at the same time the community of sinners; and the sanctified church is always at the same time the sinful church. Through its continual prayer ‘forgive us our trespasses,’ it recognizes itself as being in sin and at the same time as being holy in the divine forgiveness of sins. … In the confession of sin and faith in justification the church is simultaneously communio peccatorum and communio sanctorum.”

Thursday, August 05, 2010

Heavenly Minded

Col. 3:1-11; Lk. 12:13-21[1]

We’ve all heard the saying that someone is “too heavenly minded to do any earthly good.” When we say that, I think we have several things in mind. First, we tend to say that about a person whose “spirituality” is so excessive that they seem to have a hard time relating to real life. But I think there is also the notion lurking somewhere in there that, while it’s good to be a “little spiritual,” you really shouldn’t be too spiritual. There is a mystical element to spirituality that is difficult for us to get our heads around. In fact, it can seem so strange as to make us uncomfortable in the presence of an “overly spiritual” person.

So here we have a “myth” that would seem to be true. But I think it depends on what you mean by “heavenly minded.” If it refers to a person who has used spirituality to escape from life, then we could probably come up with lots of examples to prove the point that those who are too “heavenly minded” are not able to do much earthly good. But if being “heavenly minded” means that we like St. Paul see “the starting point and source” of our life in the resurrected Christ (Col. 3:1-4), then it seems to me we have it backwards. [2] It seems to me from this perspective that being “heavenly minded” means seeking to establish the peace and justice of God’s kingdom. It means striving to follow the example of Christ in every aspect of our daily lives. It means taking our cue regarding our attitudes and actions from the spiritual wisdom of the Scriptures. Notice how St. Paul moves from being “heavenly minded” to an all-encompassing concern with how you live your life here and now—including purity, respect, honesty, and compassion (Col. 3:5-11).[3]

From this perspective I would argue that those who are the most heavenly minded are those who are able to do the most earthly good.[4] We can all think of people who were both deeply spiritual and at the same time deeply involved in life. Christian history is filled with examples—we call them “saints,” and the Christian calendar is punctuated by remembering the lives of those who were both deeply spiritual and deeply involved in life.

By contrast, our gospel lesson shows us an example of the opposite: a person who is too earthly-minded to do any heavenly good! Here is a person who is convinced that his life consists of his possessions. The compulsion to acquire more “stuff” so consumes his life that it is impossible to imagine that he ever gives a second thought to “the peace and justice of God’s kingdom,” let alone lift a finger to do anything about it.[5] But the tragic lesson that the “Rich Fool” learns is that, if our lives consist only of what we have, then there really is nothing much more to it than death and taxes!

This story illustrates one aspect of the great folly in the myths that bind us—when we are stuck in the rut of looking at life through these myths, we are incapable of looking past what our eyes can see and our hands can touch to see that there is more to this life. Those who have bought into this way of looking at things really believe that winning is the only thing, that might makes right, that you only go around once, so you’d better eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow you may die! It is an outlook that is fatalistic—a tragic way of life resigned to a bleak and hopeless reality. It is pessimistic—essentially cynical, distrustful, and dispirited about life. It is nihilistic—from this perspective, there really is no meaning to this life. And it is narcissistic—all that really matters is satisfying my own pleasures. Life really is just one huge “rat race,” full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. It makes me want to ask, “if this really is as good as it gets, then what are we doing wasting our time here on Sunday morning?”

It seems to me that one of the many flaws in that outlook on life is that it leaves no room for there to be a reality that is beyond what we can see and hear and taste and touch. It leaves no room for serendipity—that mysterious coincidence in life that seems too perfect to be mere coincidence. And it seems to me that the equally tragic result is that this approach to life leaves no room for love or joy or kindness or community.[6]

We may all agree on that, but it would seem that the real question is how we cultivate a way of life that is heavenly minded. How do we orient our frantic lives so that our relationship with God becomes a resource for discipleship? The answer is simple: that is one of the major purposes of worship![7] Worship—both public and private—is where we are reminded that there is much, much more to life than death and taxes. That’s what we’re doing here on Sunday morning! Worship is where we are reoriented toward a way of life that seeks the peace and justice of God’s kingdom. Worship is where we find the inner resources to follow the example of Christ in our daily lives. Worship is where we become “heavenly minded” enough to be able to do some earthly good in this world.

[2] Cf. A. T. Lincoln, “The Letter to the Colossians,” New Interpreter’s Bible XI: 638.

[3] Cf. Lincoln, “Colossians,” 640: “heavenly mindedness is not to be understood as a form of absentmindedness about ordinary life or social and economic conditions. Having a heavenly reference point is, instead, the very thing that should drive believers on within their social situation to pursue justice and fairness.”

[4] Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, The Church in the Power of the Spirit, 281-82: “It is only self-forgetful trust in the faithfulness of God that creates freedom for selfless service for the world’s liberation.” He continues (282), “The hour in which the church prays for the kingdom … swears the church to faithfulness to the earth.” See further, Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics 2.2:580.

[5] Cf. R. Alan Culpepper, “The Gospel of Luke,” New Interpreter’s Bible IX:256.

[6] Cf. Culpepper, “Luke,” 257; Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke X-XXIV, 972. Cf. also Henri Nouwen, Here and Now, 42: “the underside of this self-reliance is loneliness, isolation and a constant fear of not making it in life.”

[7] Cf. The Book of Order 2010-2011, G-3.0200, 0300: the worshipping community is “a sign in and for the world of the new reality which God has made available to people in Jesus Christ”, a visible demonstration of the good news that “God who creates life, frees those in bondage, forgives sin, reconciles brokenness, makes all things new, is still at work in the world.” Cf. also Lincoln, “Colossians,” 639-40. See further, Robert McAfee Brown, The Bible Speaks to You, 202; cf. also ibid., 214-217.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Everything is Changing

Col. 2:6-15[1]

We are a people obsessed with securing ourselves in any and every possible way. We protect ourselves and our possessions in more ways than we can count—we have gated communities, alarms on everything from our cars to our laptops, and even software on our cell phones that if stolen can lead police to the thief! We really don’t like the notion that we human beings are vulnerable. We don’t want to be hurt; we want to fend off tragedy and pain and sorrow as long as we can. It seems to me that one of the things we fear the most is change. We live under the illusion that if we take the right steps, if we are careful enough, if we make a thorough plan, we can keep things pretty much just the way we want them.

But the idea of nothing changing is not a new one. It is a myth that’s been around for centuries. You can even cite chapter and verse from the Bible: “there’s nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:8). What we don’t realize in our techno-secured world is that living as if “nothing ever changes” is a way of life that keeps us from experiencing freedom, and joy, and love, and in a very real sense keeps us from living life to the fullest. I think that the people of St. Paul’s day understood that. The people he was addressing in the letter to the Colossians were living under the belief that the “spiritual powers” in the universe essentially controlled every aspect of their lives (Col. 2:8).[2] So they basically lived their lives “on eggshells,” trying to appease these “powers” with spells and rites, trying to predict where they might next strike down unsuspecting mortals.

But as we have seen, one of the major emphases in St. Paul’s letters is to show how the good news of Jesus the Christ explodes all the myths that have reigned supreme over our lives, keeping us bound to the same old chains and stuck in the same old ruts. One of the most important messages St. Paul had for the people of his day was that, contrary to popular belief, there was only one “power” in the cosmos, and that was the God “who bears a human face” in Jesus Christ![3] And rather than threaten us with pain and suffering if we step out of line in the least, this God is the one who in Jesus Christ has acted definitively to set us free from all that.[4]

On the basis of what God had done in Christ, in contrast to the myth that “nothing ever changes,” Paul proclaimed the good news that everything is changing! And he gets very specific about these changes: to those who felt empty and vulnerable, Paul said that in Christ the God who fills everything has filled you (Col. 2:9-10). To those who felt as if they were simply enduring a living death, Paul said that the God who raised Jesus from the dead has made you alive (Col. 2:12-13). To those who felt burdened with the guilt of a life that had gone astray, Paul said that the God who in Jesus canceled all debts on the cross has extended to you complete and total forgiveness (Col. 2:13-14). These are just the highlights—truly Paul was convinced that in and through our Savior Jesus the Christ God is in the process of changing everything![5]

For some of us, that is the best news anyone could ever give us. For others it sort of bounces off the layers of protection we have built up around our very souls to fend off the pain of this world. Many of us are so closed in on ourselves that we never experience the wonderful transformation St. Paul was talking about. The “down side” of the good news—if you want to call it that—is that you have to be vulnerable to experience the changes that God is in the process of making in this world. That’s why the most vulnerable people in our world seem to have a way of pointing us most clearly to what God is doing. They are the ones who are most open to the changes our God is in the process of making in this world.

I can think of no better example than the story of L’Arche—the movement founded by Jean Vanier that operates facilities for mentally handicapped people to live with their caregivers. What most people don’t realize is that this movement is based on the premise that mentally handicapped people are not “defective.” In fact, they are the ones who are not “encumbered” by all the defense mechanisms and facades that we use to “get around” in life. They are the ones who teach us what it means to be happy, to find joy in simple things, to love, to be present, to be human!

Those who have had the courage to take the step of helping the handicapped at L’Arche even for a short time bear witness almost unanimously to the life-changing experience they have. They almost unanimously report how the handicapped people they live with open them up in surprising ways to the presence of God’s Spirit.[6] And when God gives us the Spirit in that generous way that God does (Luke 11:13),[7] it is a gift that creates everything afresh and renews the whole world—it changes everything![8] And that includes you and me!

[2] A. T. Lincoln, “The Letter to the Colossians,” New Interpreter’s Bible XI:565-66, 627-28.

[3] Lincoln, “Colossians,” New Interpreter’s Bible XI:609.

[4] Cf. Holly Diane Hayes, “Colossians 2:6-19,” Interpretation 49 (July 1995): 287, “Those who respond to this grace through faith can now stand on their own two feet and live freely within the created order, rather than in subservience to it.”

[5] It is a change no less radical than the one promised by the prophet Hosea: those to whom it was said, “Not my people” will be changed into “Children of the living God” (Hos. 1:10). Cf. Gale A. Yee, “The Book of Hosea,” New Interpreter’s Bible VII:218-19.

[6] Cf. Krista Tippett, “L’Arche: A Community of Brokenness and Beauty,” on Speaking of Faith April 2, 2007: http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/ larche/index.shtml .

[7] On the Spirit as the greatest of gifts, cf. Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke X-XXIV, 914; John Nolland, Luke 9:21-18:34, 632.

[8] Ps. 104:30. See Jürgen Moltmann, The Spirit of Life: A Universal Affirmation, 41; cf. also ibid., 304-5 where he connects the outpouring of the life-giving Spirit with the experience of being “transformed into [Christ’s] likeness from one degree of glory to another” (2 Cor. 3:18). Cf. also Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics 1.1.489, where he stresses the connection between faith in the Spirit as creator and redeemer. Cf. further, James L. Mays, Psalms, 335, 337; and Virgil Howard, “Psalm 104,” Interpretation 46 (April 1992): 179, “Because it is God's spirit-breath that goes forth, there can be creation and re-creation …, new creation, transformed creation.”

Friday, July 23, 2010

It's (Not) My Life

It’s (Not) My Life

Col. 1:15-20[1]

I think perhaps one of the most destructive myths to define our lives is the notion that “it’s my life, I’ll live how I want.” Despite the fact that the vast majority of us live that way, it is a formula for life that pretty much completely undermines all chance of real happiness. When we live from the standpoint of “it’s my life,” we have to define who we are in competition with others. Our stubborn insistence on living as if “it’s my life” leads us to the foolish thinking that if I’m going to win somebody’s got to lose. And that kind of win-lose scenario means everybody loses.[2] The real truth of our existence is that we were made to live in community with God’s whole creation, which means we were made for a higher purpose than “it’s my life.”

If we have eyes to see them, we’re living with two very obvious demonstrations of the fact that “it’s my life” doesn’t work. The first is the global economic meltdown. It was triggered in part by the fact that banks gave mortgages to people who had no business buying their “dream house.” It was also caused by the fact that just about every bank out there was trying to “hedge” their loans by dumping some of the risk on somebody else. When the whole thing came crashing down, it was all too easy for us to point the accusing finger at the financial industry, but the reality is that we’re all responsible. As author Parker Palmer puts it, “Who doesn’t know that an economic system that encourages us to live beyond our means and refuses to regulate greed is one in which our avarice will come back to bite us?”[3] If you doubt that we’re all responsible for the collapse, take a look at your own spending habits. If you’re like me, unless you’re one of the people who have lost your home and livelihood, your spending habits haven’t changed much.

The other very obvious demonstration that “it’s my life” doesn’t word is the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe. Despite the fact that BP appears to have stopped the well, we still have thousands of barrels of oil poisoning the Gulf of Mexico and habitats from Texas to Florida. I don’t even like getting a few drops of gasoline on my hands when I fill up—think of having a coating of heavy crude over pretty much everything around you! We can point the finger at BP or at their partners in this country, or at the federal government, but once again the reality here is that we are all responsible. Again, if you doubt that, ask yourself whether this catastrophe has lessened your use of gasoline. Here is a disaster that has not only destroyed whole swaths of the natural environment, but also thousands of lives all up and down the Gulf Coast. And will continue to wreak havoc around the Gulf of Mexico in other countries for months if not years to come. Yet, as awful as it is, it hasn’t really lessened my consumption of the nasty stuff!

These are two very stark illustrations of what happens when we think we can just go on living as if “it’s my life.” In our lesson from Colossians for today, St. Paul reminds us that we were made for something different. He reminds us that we were literally made for Christ; we were made to live our lives in service to others. [4] The perspective St. Paul takes on human existence is one defined by the conviction that we are part of “the whole” (Col. 1:16, 17).[5] This implies that we were made to live our lives in loving relationship with God and others. We are part of a community that includes not only the whole human family, but also the whole of creation. And if we doubt that’s the case, then St. Paul also reminds us that we were restored to wholeness in Christ (Col. 1:20). So not only were we made for community, but we were also “re-made” through Jesus Christ for community with God’s whole creation.[6] In a very real sense, this means that “it’s not my life to do with as I please.”

This means that we can no longer do what the people of Israel did so long ago—enslaving the poor for silver and trading the needy for a pair of sandals (Amos 8:6). [7] If we take seriously the conviction that we were made—and “re-made”—to live in community with God’s whole creation, then we must always ask ourselves “what effect does my lifestyle have on others?” [8] For some this will be oppressive and confining. For others, it will be liberating. When we live out of the perspective that we are accepted by God—completely, unconditionally, irrevocably—then we can be freed from the need to find meaning and value to our lives by competing with others in a win-lose game. Then we can find true freedom though giving ourselves away in love; then we can find fulfillment through living in community with God’s whole creation.

[2] As sociologist Robert Wright observes, “the world seems to be set up in such a way that either humans make moral progress in the sense of expanding their conception of compassion and love more broadly or they pay the price of social chaos and collapse. Interview with Krista Tippet, “The Evolution of God,” broadcast on Speaking of Faith March 4, 2010; see http://speakingoffaith.public radio.org/programs/2010/evolution-of-god.

[3] Parker Palmer, “Trusting Our Deeper Knowing: On Cataclysms, Contemplation, and Circles of Trust,” accessed at http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/ 2009/rv-palmer/palmer-deeper_knowing.shtml; this essay was discussed in an Interview by Krista Tippett, “Repossessing Virtue: Parker Palmer on Economic Crisis, Morality and Meaning,” broadcast on Speaking of Faith July 23, 2009; see http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/2009/rv-palmer/index.shtml .

[4] Cf. A. T. Lincoln, “The Letter to the Colossians,” New Interpreter’s Bible XI:570: Christ “is the one to who all creation is directed, the very purpose of its existence”; of course, I think on one level we can take that at face value, but at another level we have to unpack what it means that Christ is the “very purpose” for the existence of all things.

[5] He uses the phrase ta panta, which in Greek literature referred to the whole cosmos; cf. Bo Reicke, “pas in the NT,” Theological Dictionary of the New Testament V:893-96; A. T. Lincoln, Ephesians, 34.

[6] Cf. Lincoln, “Colossians,” New Interpreter’s Bible XI:610-11: “If reconciliation of all things in Christ is at the center of God’s purposes, then the pursuit of peace and acts of reconciliation by Christians serve these purposes.” In fact, he says that this means that “the most urgent task of Christians is to play their part in making the church a place of healing for broken relationships, where divisions caused by class, race, wealth, education, age, gender, nationality, or religious tradition are overcome, and an agent of peace and justice in situations of conflict, whether in the home or the workplace, at the national or the international level.” Elsewhere Lincoln comments on a similar phrase in Eph. 1:10, God’s “ordering of history focuses on Christ and involves the bringing together of everything in the universe into a state of harmony in Christ.” See Lincoln, Ephesians, 42. Cf. similarly Jürgen Moltmann, The Way of Jesus Christ, 274-286: “the church prefigures and foreshadows the temple of the Holy Spirit which the whole cosmos is destined to become” (276). He says that the ultimate goal of NT Christology is “a reconciled, Christ-pervaded cosmos” (278).

[7] Cf. Terence E. Fretheim, “The Prophets and Social Justice: a ConservativeWord and World 28 (Spring 2008): 159-168. Agenda,” in

[8] Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, The Church in the Power of the Spirit, 85, 106-108, 164-74, where he discusses the idea that the church is to be the “social form of hope” and the initial demonstration of “the world as it is changed in the Kingdom of God,” (164) which includes how we live our lives in terms of economics, politics, and culture. Regarding the former, he says that a commitment to Christian faith “includes turning away from the lethal tendencies inherent in our present economy and towards a life which overcomes death” (173). Among other things, Moltmann suggests that this means Christians must “choose the path that leads away from the ruthless satisfaction of demands to community.”

The Waking Dreamer