God, give us the grace to hear Your word—Your challenge—Your assurance. We are sitting here in Your presence—speak and we will hear. Touch us and we will be healed. In Your name we pray. Amen
| Let’s put this somewhat complex passage in context: This letter is addressed to a congregation at Colossae which was located east of Ephesus—the congregation that is mentioned in the Letter to the Ephesians. It is clear from later passages in this letter that Paul had never actually been to Colossae. As in many of the new congregations, trouble had popped up—in this case there were some who had unduly complicated the simple gospel message by bringing in ideas about angels and spiritual principalities. The founder of the church, sent for the expert. Paul was in prison so he wrote the letter from which our scripture passage comes. Paul does not enter into the debate about spiritual beings and neither will we. He simply says that Christ is all you need and that all other demands for specific behaviors are false. Spiritual renewal through baptism, personal discipleship, and the practice of love for neighbor is all that Christ commands. And we breathe a sigh of relief. Let’s look at the first paragraph of our text: Just go ahead with what you've been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Savior; now live him. You're deeply rooted in him. You're well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you've been taught. School's out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving. That’s it—that’s all we need to know. You’ve received, you’re deeply rooted—well-constructed—start living the blessing! And don’t forget to be thankful! Paul sums it up in words that all of us can hear. Let me tell you a story—you may have heard it—it hit the internet a while back—It seems that little Sarah had a cat. Now Sarah’s family was very religious—going to one of those churches that places great emphasis on joining the church and being baptized. Her mother looked out the kitchen window one day and smiled to see Sarah preaching to the cat, while the cat lay attentively beside her. About 10 minutes later, her mother, hearing cat screeches and great hissing, rushes to the window. She looks outside to see Sarah dunking the cat in the fish pond. “Sarah”, her mother screamed, “Stop dunking the cat, the cat doesn’t like water!” Sarah, barely missing a dunk, yells back, “well, he should have thought of that before he joined my church!” I think, for many of us, the same can be said of our past attempts at participating in traditional church. When it dawned on us that many churches didn’t “like” what we are (and I realize I’m putting it mildly), their response when we asked for acceptance was—you should have thought of that before you joined our church. And here is where Paul’s words bring such grace into our lives. Listen to this—I love these words—Paul, responding to the claim that there were certain human traditions or laws that the young Christians had to obey says this: “Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It's not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you're already in—insiders—“ And then, “Don't tolerate people who try to run your life, ordering you to bow and scrape, …They're a lot of hot air, that's all they are. They're completely out of touch with the source of life, Christ, who puts us together in one piece, whose very breath and blood flow through us. He is the Head and we are the body. We can grow up healthy in God only as we are nourished by God.” Paul is clear here as he is elsewhere—obeying laws and human traditions is not what makes us mature Christians—in fact, it’s not what makes us Christians at all! Through Christ, we are “put together in one piece…we can grow up healthy in God only as we are nourished by God” and we are put together in one piece as “insiders”. I suspect that many of us are far more experienced, when it comes to church with a capital “C” with feeling like outsiders—but Paul says that, indeed, “we are already in” through Christ. Even more importantly, we can grow up healthy in God only as we are nourished by God.” Being insiders gives us access, full access—to the fullness of God and we are fully loved and accepted. Now, I will tell you the truth, originally I thought that God would lead me to talk tonight about being released from all those old laws, throwing aside all those earthly expectations, and gathering as free people in this place to start living the blessing—a theme that we need to hear often—and, truly, I thought that was all God would lead me to talk about and then… I began to let God lead me to think about what it is we are doing here at Open Circle—what wildly new and wonderful ways God wants us to minister to all our communities and to the world…I began to think seriously about what it means to realize that God has made us insiders through Christ and given us a mission. And the connection became obvious—God is calling us to create a new church, not a carbon copy of the churches and laws we left behind. We are in bold new territory—a place where all churches were “once upon a time”, a place most older churches have forgotten—a place where we determine for ourselves what this church will be— a place where dos and don’ts will be replaced by “let’s give it a try”—a place where we can grow up healthy as a church when we are constantly nourished by God. And so, it will up to us to choose. Therefore, I ask you: Will this be a church where— ~Whether you lift your hands in praise or fold your arms in quiet meditation—you will know that we all rejoice with you? ~Whether you know the words to the songs or don’t—you will know that we are all learning to sing together, rejoicing in both new and familiar ways to sing praise? ~Whether you are wealthy and have much to contribute to the basket or whether there are weeks when you have nothing at all contribute—you will know that you are a valued, treasured member of this community? Will this be a church where— ~Whether you live in Belleview, Ocala, Lady Lake, The Villages, or someplace else—you will know that this community is home to you? ~Whether you are gay, lesbian, bi or trans or straight as can be—you will know that this is a church where you can be who you are with no judgment and no condemnation? ~Whether you sing high or low, fast or slow, clapping or not on your life—you will know that this is a place where all voices are welcome to sing glory to God? ~Whether you are black, white, Asian, Hispanic, Middle Eastern or somewhere in between—you will know that you are welcomed and appreciated? And, will this be a church where— ~We value the health of the community more than being comfortable 100% of the time? ~We treasure new ideas and trust ourselves to try things out even if there is no guarantee that the ideas will work? ~We embrace people from all generations and seek the opinions of every person who enters our community? And will this be a church where— ~We live up to our name and open the circle as wide as God calls us to go? ~We support the ministries of this church and MCC worldwide with our time, our talents, and our gifts? ~We extend the radical hospitality of Christ inviting all “outsiders” to hear and live the invitation to be “insiders”? If this is to be a church where some or all of these things come to pass, we will commit ourselves to hear again the gospel of Christ—to celebrate again God’s perfect creation of our world, our church, our very selves. We will push ourselves to be comfortable with fewer and fewer laws—those dos and don’ts that imprison our spirits and inhibit our praise. Putting love for our neighbor first, we will reach out to love and to care. And, we will focus on the simple gospel truth that God calls us to hear—that we receive Christ, that we are deeply rooted through discipleship and that we live Christ—letting our living become thanksgiving at every turn. We will start living the blessing! Are you in? Say amen and amen! |
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