Colossians 3:8-9 James 1:19 Colossians 3:12-13, 15b
Last Sunday we talked about the power of words to build up, and we specifically
struggled with the idea of speaking up for the needs of others without losing our
identity as God’s people and without forgetting that everyone is created in the image of
God. We also talked a little about the need for a witness that we can all agree on and
share that grows out of our love for God and gets expressed through our love for those
who are vulnerable.
We did not talk as much about our own vulnerability as we did about those who are
considered more at risk these days: the elderly, those who are in nursing homes or
homebound, those with disabilities, supply chain workers and those in crowded and
unsafe working conditions, our police and healthcare workers, and the African American
community. If this list describes you as you are watching, know that we are worshiping
online as a public witness of God’s love for you!
This is a public witness that requires all of us to become vulnerable, to some extent, or
at least to feel that we are. Some of you are more vulnerable than others. You may be
newly unemployed – perhaps for the first time ever. Marriages are being strained.
Children are bored out of their minds and are perhaps more at risk than usual to the
influences of the internet, unsafe home lives, and hunger.
I want you to know that if you or someone you know falls into any of these categories
there are resources for help in our community listed on our website (fpclafayette.org).
We are sharing these resources because we believe they are life-giving words! Of
course, as followers of the way of Jesus, we believe that the words that truly give life are
those that proclaim that Jesus is Lord and through him we find forgiveness and peace.
Those words are the ones that move us to speak and to share other words that pull
people out of the pits that we tend to fall into.
Those words – Jesus Christ is Lord and through him, we have forgiveness and salvation –
are the words that motivated the author of the letter to the church in Colossae. In that
letter we are encouraged, just as they were, with the language of removing old clothes
and putting on something fresh and new. Such a simple thing to do.
We do that a lot more often than we used to in my house. My wife works at a bookstore
and receives and processes boxes of books through the mail every day. There is no way
to know how many hands touch these books before they are safely shelved and sold.
The store isn’t currently open to the public, but they have a curbside pick up. Even so,
neither of us are directly interfacing with many people these days, but when we get
home from work, or the store, or any public place, it has become somewhat of a ritual
to wash up and change clothes.
We do not do this out of fear – and the same could be said of the masks we wear in
public – we do it out of hope and out of love and out of faith. We know that we are not as
much at risk as others, yet our faith compels us to love our neighbors as ourselves; to
understand that their risk is our risk; to understand that our fate is tangled with that of
people we will never see; to expect that we are not simply acting alone, but actually and
actively in partnership with God – and so we change clothes more often than before.
I wonder if we can do the same with all the things we cannot see that have the potential
to cause harm. Can we truly do that? Can we truly be rid of anger, wrath, malice,
slander, and abusive language as the church in Colossae was instructed? Perhaps this
goes in the category of “not by myself, but with God’s help I will.” Maybe these issues
aren’t your issues, but I think it is important to recognize our need, to be honest with
ourselves and with God about our feelings. Feeling angry is natural. What matters is
what you do with it. Wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language simply aren’t useful
tools for those who are called to speak life-giving words.
They only result in lies. We lie to ourselves when we justify putting our anger into action
when that action only serves to dehumanize or delegitimize the “other”. We lie to God
when we get confused between moving toward the “greater good” and deciding that
the ends justify the means without concern for the individuals we step on or over.
When called to an account we feel wounded, and we decide that our wounds matter
more than their wounds. Then the Word of God speaks those words we often don’t
want to hear, “my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to
anger.”
That does not mean that we can never get angry. It means that anger is not the path to
life-giving words.
In the midst of all the saber-rattling on the internet, in the midst of politicians making
claims that are more fit for securing their own legacy than they are for making
legitimate responses to human suffering, in the midst of those crying out for a “new
normal” and those who can’t understand why we can not get back to life as it used to
be, there is something in our souls that still longs for life-giving words.
We want to hear them, sing them, say them, shout them, scream them from the
rooftops and windows...and sometimes just want to scream!
I want you to know that it is just fine. A cathartic scream is good for the soul, in my
opinion. In fact, it can empty you out and leave you in a great place to hear the
life-giving word of God. Do you know what that word is? Forgiveness.
Forgiveness is the seed of love that grows into the tree of life and bears fruit in our
ability to care for one another. Forgiveness is not the same as permission, and it is not
easier to receive. Forgiveness does not bless the wrongs that have been done to you.
Forgiveness is the means by which the offense no longer has power. Forgiveness is the
way by which we are no longer oppressed or oppressor, but we are instead united in
God’s Spirit.
I may have told you this before, but it bears repeating. My daughter is the one who
showed me what this looks like in real life. I had said something thoughtless, with no
intention of hurting her, and she said, “That really hurt my feelings.” I said, “I’m sorry.”
Then she said, “It’s not OK, but I forgive you.” #proudpapamoment.
I bring that up because it’s good to practice the language and experience of forgiveness
with those you love. Those relationships are crucial and important because they support
you when others do not. You know that book store I mentioned earlier? Their
employees have been harassed and heckled – even called communists – for following
corporate policies. The mask that I mentioned wearing in public? Another Presbyterian
minister in Jackson, MS was spat on in the face by someone because he was wearing a
mask in public.
Now, you may be thinking, “I don’t really want to be united with that person.” Certainly,
if it is a relationship in which harm might continue, there needs to be some distance,
some holy space, between you both. Certainly, when harm might continue, it is best to
resolve the past and move into a new future. The point of forgiveness is not to be bound
by the past; it is to be freed from it. Forgiveness means that the next step can be
different for the offender and the offended, and in that way we all become as one.
The life-giving power of forgiveness is not limited to a single relationship, even if that is
where you’ve experienced it most clearly. Forgiveness is the new normal ushered in by
Christ some 2,000 years ago.
It is the thread that holds the fabric of our faith together. It is the life-giving word that
gives life to all of our words.
As God’s people, we are all moving toward the time in which we celebrate the gift of the
Holy Spirit that formed the church. As we wait for a time in which we can gather
publicly, I can’t help but think of the way the disciples were hiding out and waiting for
the movement of God. Beloved of God, as we wait, let us be mindful of the power of our
words.
Let us not forget that, as the body of Christ, we share a public witness that grows out of
our love for God and gets expressed through our love for those who are vulnerable. Let
us not forget that in our own vulnerability we still have the power to forgive and make
new. It’s as simple as changing out of our dirty old clothes, even that shirt we love, and
into something prepared for us by God, something that fits better than anything we can
imagine and offers more comfort and peace than we can create on our own.
“As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness,
humility, meekness, and patience. Bear 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. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called
in the one body. And be thankful.”
It’s just that simple, and it’s just that hard, and to God be the glory – now and always.
Amen!
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