Psalm 119:33-41; Romans 13:8-14
Do
you have a favorite old article of clothing?
Something you reach for and put on because it feels like a wonderful
homecoming every time you do? The
color, the well-worn material, the familiar though probably out of date
fashion, the memories it evokes…others may call it “ratty” and demand that you
toss it, but you hold on to it as if it’s a child. Some voice knows that if you donate it, love
of a neighbor in need will be done. But
you silence the voice because of the way that old thing continues to
comfortably dress your heart. I have an
old black Johnsonburg summer staff shirt that’s been my go to comfy T through
the years.
Perhaps
putting on brand new clothing gives you more of a charge. And I don’t just mean on a credit card! It can be very empowering to dress yourself
in something new … whether it’s a fresh style for you or just an updated replacement
of a classic. It can help you to exude
confidence in not only how you look but who you are.
This
morning, we read and heard the Apostle Paul instructing us to put on our Lord Jesus
Christ. This appears in the New Revised Standard
Version of the Bible under the heading, “An Urgent Appeal” which also kind of sounds
like “urgent apparel” don’t you think?
Putting on clothing, of course, is
not some strange or lofty concept. It’s
something we all know about and do every day.
It’s got practical purposes.
It’s something that is knit closely to our self-esteem and our social
identity.
So Paul doesn’t instruct us to “put
on Jesus” just to wax poetic. It’s
common sense instruction pertaining to how we present ourselves as the Body of
Christ. And by “putting on Jesus” each day, you
publically wear something that is at one and the same time as old as it is always
new. It’s dressing yourself in the
timeless story of God’s eternal love for all of humankind and this world.
The
Christians in Rome who first received this instruction understood that Paul
wasn’t just telling them to get neatly and nicely dressed up for church. The
verb he used that we translate as “put on” is not about carefully getting gussied
up for the Lord. It’s about waking up
each day and fully diving into and displaying Christ’s way, truth and
life. They understood this divinely
tailored gift of salvation to be as close to them as their clothing, and as
clear to them as if they were putting on an armor made of pure light. And there was a fierce urgency to being
dressed and ready to go, for they all lived each day believing the Second
Coming of Christ was going to happen at any moment.
So Paul didn’t want any of them to be found
wearing the wrong outfits.
He warned them not to be seen wearing their
quarrels on their sleeves.
Or their jealousies.
Or their lies.
Or any of the behaviors widely regarded
as pagan and immoral in their day.
And it wasn’t enough to just be
found wearing their comfy old t-shirts with the Ten Commandments screen-printed
on the front. That foundational law of
God was fine to keep, but as layering underneath the greater garb of God’s love
through Jesus Christ, which fulfills all holy law.
I
find that putting on Jesus every day is similar to the spiritual process of religious
conversion. By this I don’t mean the view
of conversion that identifies a single, powerful moment in a person’s life when
he or she came to faith and suddenly felt empowered to wearing tights and a
cape for Christ. I mean the understanding of conversion as it
comes to us through the monastic tradition.
I thank artist and author Jan
Richardson for helping me see it in this way.
In a 2005 issue of Weavings, a journal about Christian spiritual life,
she wrote that conversion is “entering the daily, ongoing work of allowing myself
to be transformed by love in the crucible of relationship that brings me deeper
into the heart of God.” This means
welcoming God to “wear away” whatever “insulates” us from the holy.[i] Last week, you might recall, I spoke about
how we all want to get close to God but can’t help but find ourselves wearing
hazmat suits. So to “wear” Jesus is not
only to display Jesus’ love to others, but is also as a way of constantly
recognizing the nakedness of our sin so as to keep inviting our Lord to redress
it. Perhaps think of it as taking off the hazmat
suit so you can wear your baptismal gown every day and age of your life.
Consciously
entering the daily, ongoing work of being transformed by Christ’s love,
especially as we are clothed by it us through the Holy Spirit at work in all
our relationships, will help us avoid being trendy Christians. I suppose there are a few different way to
interpret the phrase “trendy Christian.”
I mean it as in wanting people to know you are a Christian or that you
belong to this or that congregation while not realizing that the clothing of
Christ is active-wear instead of leisure-wear.
Think of it this way. An article in the Wall Street Journal last
month asked the question, “Why work out when you can just buy the clothes and
look like you did?” The article
explores a currently growing trend.[ii] More and more people are buying exercise
clothing without actually practicing the exercise. It points out that "the U.S. athletic
apparel market will increase by nearly 50 percent to more than $100 billion at
retail by 2020, driven in large part by consumers [who] will never see the
fluorescent lights of a gym.” Sales of
yoga apparel increased by 45 percent while yoga participation grew by less than
five percent. Men’s running shorts are
being sold for $90 to men who don’t and may never jog. The outdoor and camping retailers are also
really enjoying this trend … they keep selling new styles of boots and gear to people
folks who don’t really have any intention of hiking or camping.
Putting on Jesus Christ is always
about more than professing faith and having good intentions.
It’s not a certain look, it’s the
fabric of our lives.
It’s not about style, it’s about
being fashioned as saints.
It’s about turning away from
vanities and asking God each day to give us greater understanding of this soul
stirring and restorative love.
Every day we choose to wear Jesus, it
can be as comfortable as an old familiar outfit yet at the same time be an
exciting new design for our lives.
We find ourselves dressed in holy
purpose, fitting into God’s unbreakable promises.
We go out the door in every season
of our days to help all our neighbors experience the same.
We are blessed to know this well
here in our church family. FPC has been
helping to fulfill God’s love for a very long time. We are, after all, pretty well known for our
clothing drives! And the Community House was once again a divine
dressing room yesterday morning as most of our congregational leaders came
together for conversation and a continental breakfast. As it goes with true love, we talked
honestly and with mutual respect about this congregation’s current struggles. We talked about the shrinking outfit that is
our membership. We talked about the
frayed ends of finding fresh leadership.
We discussed the holes in the
pocket of the Session, its committees and our finances. But most importantly, we were gathered together
to try and see a vision for a future more fully clothed in Christ.
The Apostle’s Paul urgent appeal
really is about urgent apparel. Now is
the moment for all of us to wake from sleep, put on Jesus, fully love one
another, and to live honorably in this beautiful light. Amen.
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