What to Wear / Based on Colossians 3:12-17 / Delivered to CCH on December 30, 2018

What to Wear / Based on Colossians 3:12-17 / Delivered to CCH on December 30, 2018

Hymns: The Gift of Love, Spirit of the Living God, We Are Called to Be God’s People

Colossians 3:12-17

3:12 As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.

3:13 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.

3:14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

3:15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful.

3:16 Let 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.

3:17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Good morning and Happy Sunday to you on this first Sunday after Christmas!  My name is Darci Strutt McQuiston, and I am one of the Lay Servants of the United Methodist Church up on the hill from here.  It is my honor to be with you today.

The three thoughts I’m pulling from this scripture are:

Doing our part

The Spirit doing its part

The result

Doing our part

The first three verses are based on our decisions and actions.  They answer that age-old question many of us have in the morning as we look in our closet.  What to wear, what to wear, what to wear?

Starting with verse 12:  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.  Above all, clothe yourselves with love.

Mark Twain said, ‘Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.’ 

When I was in Corporate America, I was advised to dress in the manner of the position I desired to move into.  If I wanted to be treated as an upwardly moving professional, it was important to dress and act like one.  Clothing was an outward sign of an inward attitude.

We’ve just celebrated Jesus coming to Earth in human form.  He dwelt among us.  As a post Easter people, he now can dwell within us.  So how do we dress for becoming the dwelling place of Christ?  We dress ourselves in love, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience and have an attitude of forgiveness.  This is dressing for success if our goal is to be the people of God.

I think our final verse today is also part of our effort.

3:17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

I listened to a speaker recently that spoke about stress and anxiety being caused by not acting according to what you wanted to be as a person.  The speaker used the example of his desire to be a respected teacher on health and wellness, yet he would go drinking and partying late into the night with friends on weekends.  He was living two different life-styles.  He experienced anxiety until he chose what he wanted to be his future which was the health and wellness coach.  Once he lived his life consistently as that person his anxiety left him.

That speaker resonated with me.  If I want to strive to be God’s child and God’s dwelling place, then my actions need to come into alignment with that goal.  In word or deed I need to consider if my actions represent Jesus.  It reminds me of the slogan “What Would Jesus Do?”  If we want to become God’s hands in the world then that is exactly what our actions should align to.  We need to act in such  way that we are willing to associate Jesus name with it.

The Spirit doing its part

It’s winter time up here in the north.  Even though it’s been mild we still need to dress for the weather.  We make the decision which coat to put on and our bodies warm accordingly.  We choose the coat, but the warming part is just how the body works.  If you’ve taken the steps to work toward putting on the right “clothing” described in those first verses then what is the spirit’s work?

Verse 15 tells us: And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful.  16a Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.

The peace that Christ promised as he left his physical earthly ministry is the Spirit’s gift as a result of our choice of clothing.  Our choice also invites Christ to dwell within us.  You’ve heard me say before that we have free will.  The Spirit does not act without our invitation.  Jesus stands at the door of our hearts and knocks.  He doesn’t break the door down even though he knows what he offers is best for us.  He waits for our action first. 

If we choose to put on this Christian way of living, then the peace of Christ will rule our hearts.  That is the warmth we’re given.  It helps us to go out into this world that can be cold spiritually and still maintain that peace in our hearts.

The result

Clothing yourself with love 3:14b “binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

Having Christ dwelling within you lets you, 3:16b “teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.”

I am a musical person.  These verses make my singers’ heart happy.  There is power in singing together.  Singing in harmony requires a close listening to your fellow singers.  It also involves trusting you know your part. 

This Christmas Eve I sang a complex song with my family.  My sister-in-law and I had what I would call the percussion of the song.  We sang an “ooo” to the tune of “sweet silvers bells all seem to say throw cares away”.  We sang that one measure melody for six pages.  Other people were doing different supporting harmony on “ooo” or “doo”.  My son sang a melody line of “O Come O Come Emanuel” over all this crazy “ooo” and “doo” random sounding stuff. 

We rehearsed it in a line and sang standing in a line at my home Methodist church.  We sang it again at the Catholic church in town later that night but this time we were in a tight block of three rows in the choir section.  I was lucky enough to be in the front.  The harmony came together so powerfully that I nearly lost my part.  It took hearing it blended to understand how these odd parts all fit together in a lovely way.  Singing it without hearing the other parts well was OK, and I trusted it was right, but hearing it blended brought me to tears.

When we sing hymns together, we breath together.  You don’t even need to sing in tune for this to be true!  Singing together joins us as one voice.  Singing together even causes our hearts to beat in rhythm.  There was a study in 2013 that monitored the heart rates of a choir while they sang.  The singers' heart rates became synchronized very quickly after they started singing together. It’s no wonder our faith communities sing hymns together in worship.  It physically joins our hearts as one.  There is great wisdom in this scripture that advises us, “with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.”

There is a need to continually grow toward the goal of becoming the people of God.  That is the gift of being able to teach and admonish one another in all wisdom.  John Wesley called this work toward holiness in conduct, Sanctifying grace.  It is the inner change that brings us closer to becoming the loving people Jesus taught us to be by his example.  It makes this scripture circular in that our attempts to put on love bring in the working of the Holy Spirit which teaches us how to better put on love.

This message hits as just as we’re about to enter a new year.  This time of year, many of us make resolutions to live a better life.  We may write them down formally or just hold them in our hearts.  We may want to lose weight so our clothes fit better so diet and exercise is often on our lists.  

This scripture takes a different angle on that thought.  Perhaps this year you can resolve to instead change your clothing choices.  Chose to clothe yourselves first with love, then with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.  Your life will fit better with the goal to become the person God wants you to be. 

If we take those first small actions the Holy Spirit will meet us where we are and guide us to help each other grow in our faith.  Growing in holiness is a life-long process.  I believe we need each other as teachers.  We need to sing our songs together.  This scripture gives us the assurance that the word of Christ will dwell within us.  The Holy Spirit will guide our understanding.  What an amazing new year this could be!  It all depends on what we choose to wear.

Christmas blessings to you each, and I wish you a Happy New Year!

Amen