That Which Binds Us
That Which Binds Us // Colossians 3:12-17 // 1st Sunday of Christmas 2024
Colossians 3:12-17 (NRSV):
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.
THE WORD OF GOD, FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD
Thanks be to God.
PRAYER: Let’s pray: Christ, our long-awaited hope. Be with us as we continue to listen for your peace this coming year. Be with us as we wait with your Holy Spirit and listen for your voice. May we be about your business of growing in love with each other and our neighbors, and whatever we do, may we continue to be thankful for your Son all year long. Amen.
SERMON:
This morning’s passage calls us to adopt Christmas attitudes all year long, attitudes of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, and to tie it all together with love. As a former language arts teacher, I love words and how people sculpt meaning and mystery with them. Words illuminate even the darkest moments and bring about hope simply through the written word.
This Advent season, like many before it, my family read one of our favorite Christmas stories, which communicates the hope of the season: Dr. Suess’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas. This story sees a miserly creature looking down on his neighbors in Whoville with ferocious passion and evil desires to stop Christmas from coming, to take the things that make the Whos jolly, their Christmas gifts, their food, and their noises, possibly perhaps the reason he wanted to take their merriment away was his heart was two sizes too small or maybe because his shoes were too tight. But whatever the reason, he was going to stop Christmas, to stop the joy, to stop the merriment, as Dr. Suess said, “He got an awful idea, the Grinch got a wonderful, awful idea.”
Spoiler alert: if you haven’t read the book or watched the three different movie iterations of the story after the Grinch stole Christmas and was about to dump all of the presents, the ribbons, the wrappings, and the tags, and the tinsel, the trimmings and the trappings, he paused in excitement to hear the Whos wailing, instead as the Grinch listened ever intently, he heard a sound that started low, and then the sound began to grow, it wasn’t the wailing and sadness he hoped for. Instead, the Whos gathered around, hand in hand, and sang. It hadn’t been the presents, the trimmings, or the trappings. Christmas still came in their togetherness and in their singing. In our house, each holiday season, we bring out this piece of Christmas art, and on it, it says the next part of the story, “Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before, ‘Maybe Christmas,’ he thought, ‘doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas… perhaps… means a little bit more!’” And in a flash, his life changed. He laid down his old self and picked up his new self, and his heart grew three sizes that day.
You see, our scripture passage today picks up at the last third of chapter 3 when we hear how our lives as Christians should be and how we should live. Metaphorically speaking, this is when our hearts grow three sizes. However, the part we didn’t read, verses 1-11, talks about seeking God, and in our seeking God, we lay down or put to death our old ways, those grinchy ways. Paul wrote this letter to a young church in [Col-loss-see-a] while he was in prison. He found this new church exciting, and according to New Testament scholar Tom Wright, he wanted to share how to begin and how to get going, how to put down roots that are firm in faith, hope, and love.
And If you don’t mind, I’m going to do a little bible study with you. As I mentioned earlier, I love language and how people use it to create meaning. Paul’s letter is no different. He uses a literary technique that is surprisingly all over the bible, called a Chiastic structure. This structure is based on the Greek letter Chi, which looks like an X, meaning they are mirror images of each other. Here’s a slide to show what I mean [Slide 1_That Which Binds Us]. It starts with an A section, then a B, and then what is at the Center of the structure is the central message the author is trying to communicate. Then, it reflects the passage, with a second restatement of the B and A sections. Let's see how Paul uses this structure to communicate what’s at the heart of being a Christian [Slide 2_That Which Binds Us]. In verse 5 of chapter 3, we see Paul calling us to put to death fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (a few of those sound like our friend the Grinch); you can see here I labeled that these are five virtues, and this will continue in each section until the last which has only one that is above all, and we’ll get to that. In verse 8, Paul calls this new church to eliminate all its anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language. At the center of Chapter 3, we are called to our new selves in Christ, who is our All in All, which means that Christ within us is perfect love, reconciliation, and hope. In our taking on this new self, Paul is asking the church to clothe itself in 5 new virtues: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. And concludes the structure by tying all of these new virtues together into one all-encompassing virtue: Love. That which binds us together in perfect harmony.
The next chapter continues to show how these early Christians are to live out their hope in their context.
Today’s passage is calling us to keep the Christmas spirit all year. And it gives explicit instructions on how to do that. By lifting each other up, forgiving one another, and letting the peace of Christ rule in our hearts. That spirit of community and love for our neighbors. Treating each other the very best we can. As Christ came in humility, so we can put away our old selves. We don’t have to live in those passions or evil desires, we don’t have to live in anger, wrath, or abusive language. We can seek forgiveness and hold each other accountable.
I don’t know about you all, But I struggle with this. When going through the lectionary and choosing today’s scripture lesson, I thought, wow, I get to teach on love that’s so easy, I’m so grateful! I didn’t realize that I would also be convicted of my anger and convicted of my unforgiveness. I had a family member I haven’t seen in years who was in the hospital this past week, seemingly on their deathbed, and I still harbor feelings of anger. And although I’ve been encouraged to go and visit, I haven’t. I don’t know if you know this, but going to a hospital visit is part of my job, it’s a joy to be able to be with you and to lift you up in prayer, but I couldn’t do that this week, for a family member. So when I say I hope that in the next year you will choose to lay down your old self and take on the clothes of Christ, I’m telling this deeply to myself as well.
One of my favorite parts of Methodism is how it calls us toward holiness, to grow in the complete love of Jesus, and by growing in complete love of Jesus, we then grow in love with each other. John Wesley said there is no holiness without social holiness. We can not grow in the love of Christ if we are not doing that together.
Are your roots growing deeply in faith, hope, and love? Are you in a Sunday school class, Wednesday Night Alive group, or any other small group of Christians that comes together and holds each accountable? Are you growing in love, this virtue that binds us all together?
I love how Paul gives us this road map for growing in love. He says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach each other about this great love, Sing the psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.” are you teaching anyone about this great love?
In the introduction of our hymnals, John Wesley has directions for singing, and I think he says it best, “Sing lustily and with a good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength, Be not more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard, than when you sung the songs of Satan.” He goes on to say to also sing modestly, as not to destroy the harmony, but strive to unite your voices together, so as to make one clear melodious sound.” I think that is ultimately what Paul is calling the new Colossian church to be bound in perfect harmony, in love. How then can we do the same? How can we grow in love with Jesus, How can we keep these attitudes all year? My prayer for you and for me, is that the peace of Christ dwells in us deeply, so that we can share the love of God to all we come in contact with.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.