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Sometimes sentimentality can go overboard… You come to learn this once you begin the arduous task of moving! Clothing can be the biggest culprit for we find ourselves saving clothes we can’t fit a quarter of ourselves into any more purely as both a reminder and guilt trip to lose weight or we keep them to keep ourselves into the past, a past we seemingly can’t let go of…
Moving is all about change and it requires our undivided
attention and obedience. It also requires a lot of spiritual and physical
discipline as well as, most importantly, HOPE! Hope can be so much of the discipleship
journey’s levee upon our calling but at times daunting to keep on, keeping
on! Another Christmas has past but is
its message opening up a new door in our hearts? Is the coming of Christ into
our world encouraging us to put something new on? Not just putting on new shoes to guide our
feet down a new path but donning a whole new wardrobe…
A wardrobe all about that great light breaking not only
into the darkness of the world but into that chasm of the soul needing the most
light! God will always be opening those doors; it is only Satan working through
our stumbling blocks that close them.
Someone was teasing me, the other day in a very dark and sarcastic way
by saying that the flooding and awful weather in Oregon was for my behalf…
Yikes! I certainly don’t believe that
yet alone want to join in the humor of that.
There have been many deaths and closed doors on my
spiritual formation journey as a disciple of Jesus. I, however am not unique for we all have our
challenges laid before us. We feel the
pain of it throughout our “being” BUT God sees and knows far greater and His
Saving Grace keeps that eternal flame of Hope going whether we can handle it or
not. The life given to us by God the
Father, is not at all to be of formalities and routines as we have
unfortunately burdened the original joyful purpose of life to be.
The original joyful purpose of life is that Word—Joy which
in the Biblical Greek as mentioned before shares the same or similar meaning to
Grace. Living into Grace requires us to put on that New Wardrobe… We are funny
about clothing though aren’t we? 98% of
my wardrobe is about comfort, I have far too many t-shirts and way too many
pairs of jeans and a slowly growing collection of vestments! Does that betray a one-track mind? Being
human, we find our niches but fight tooth and nail when we have to be pried out
of them!
And sometimes the prying bar God uses to help us
spiritually grow is painful! But think about how wonderful it can be when you
allow yourself to completely change!
What are you really missing from your past anyway? Of course it’s always
going to be stored somewhere… because we can’t let go of the Old Nature… It’s there as both the devil’s advocate as
well as God’s leverage for teaching us true wisdom. Speaking for myself, God is telling me over
and over to give Illinois another chance…. Which whether or not I am struggling
with that, I must open my heart to HEAR His Words.
Being children of Grace and promise challenges us to see
inward change as the beautiful redeeming light of God reaping that New Nature
so beautifully planted by Christ Jesus, the Lord. Who we are today and who we will become
tomorrow is how the Word lives on within us, through us and for His Gospel. For
as the Gospel writer John paints so powerfully: “1In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He
was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through
him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in
him was life, and the life was the light of all people.”
This Gospel snippet is not from today’s Gospel but says
something powerful about what words do shape us. Are we or should we still
claim to be a culture or society that is shaped by God’s Word? I don’t think that we are anymore. For the
many things we surround ourselves with feed everything but the soul to serve
God’s will. We were chosen but not in the way we assume being “chosen” to mean
in God’s plans for us.
Donning that New wardrobe is radical and beautiful. St. Paul uses such encouraging words to reach
out to the Colossians in this regard, he says: “12As God’s chosen
ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility,
meekness, and patience. 13Bear with one another and, if anyone has a
complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven
you, so you also must forgive. 14Above all, clothe yourselves with
love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15And let
the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the
one body. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you
richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in
your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. 17And
whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
What does compassion look like for you? Where does it take root in the story of your
journey to serving God & neighbor? Is
it serving at church or something as simple as emptying out an old closet of
clothes donating them as a belated Christmas gift to the needy? Well a lot of
those ‘80’s/ ‘90’s style mini skirt dresses as well as those numerous coats
went to the Salvation Army that ironically had dust atop the hangers in my
closet from not being worn just kept! This is trivial but life is not. Life is
what you make it to be and is even more promising when God’s voice is heard in
the heart & opens up those doors…
Compassion and Love are the light of God shining brightly
in this dark world. This light is strong
enough to shine over and above “Black Christmas” protestors, political circus debaters
and ISIS put together when we rebuild from within. The Peace of God that
surpasses all understanding will be something we WILL truly know once we are
intentionally obedient to allowing Christ to work within and through us.
Kindness will no longer be the stranger to our hearts
once we grow beyond ourselves and into God’s plans. How can we be kind if everything is about us
and what we want or need? This is from
the ruler of this world’s intentions for us.
No person is an island unto themselves whether we occasionally enjoy
that unholy gospel of “I, Me & Mine,” or not. It is in the little things we think are “trivial”
that reveal the beauty of God’s Grace active in our lives.
Humility and patience is something Satan greatly
challenges us to avoid for if we indulge in that world unto the self—why be
humble to anyone yet alone harbor and build understanding that requires time?
God has always challenged me to grow into patience for my sin is still seeing
the glass half-empty and wondering when it will be refilled. Instead of
wondering and waiting, BE and DO—this is the Heart knowledge wisdom Christ
Jesus is trying to teach me!
There’s a few more days left now that my husband & I
have to completely clear out of our old apartment. Each and every time we go back in there,
another memory floods in. You still see all the furniture where you had it even
pieces you’ve already given away. You see the areas on the carpet your cats
loved rolling on. You can’t seem to help
still seeing the stains and scars of a few years stay in a small, far northwest
suburban townhome in the Chicagoland area. They will always be with you but
they don’t have to rule you. We do move on as the days move forward, our years
collect and our days and seasons change.
But just like those clothes we wore as teenagers, they’re
out-grown, over-grown in fact when we realize, beautifully discover we are to
wear something truly New! The coming of Christ into our world and into our
lives isn’t something we should just say happened 2,000 something years ago but
something that continually renews daily in our lives as Grace.
Let us pray,
Gracious and Loving Father,
Help our hearts be shaped by Your Word
For Your Word brought us life and renews our lives daily
May we spiritually grow to don the wardrobe of
compassion, love, kindness, patience and humility
May we truly be and become a worthy priesthood
Living faithfully into each twist and turn
Our paths before us reveal—Your Gospel imperative, true
purpose for us all
For it is through Your saving Grace we have New life
Amen
December 27th,
2015; First Sunday of Christmas; Year C; SOLA Lectionary
Sermon by
Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins
Psalm 111;
Exodus 13:1-3, 11-15; Colossians 3:12-17 & Luke 2:22-40
Finally the link to the sermon being delivered at the 2nd Grace Hub house church service at its new location in Wheeling, Illinois! :
https://youtu.be/Hjj-gjCJfe0
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