Fashions for the New Year

Colossians 3:12-17

Rev. Steve Wilkins

Georgetown Presbyterian Church

December 31, 2006

A couple of years ago, there was an article that Billy Graham wrote in Decision Magazine. This is how he opens up his article: "As we look ahead with caution and uncertainty to the New Year, we may still be thinking of Christmas. We have just celebrated the birthday of the King, but the greatest fact is not that Christ was born (as great as that was) but that he lives every day, every hour, every minute, of the year in the hearts of His believers of all races throughout the world. But many of us, when we put away the tinsel, we also pack away the Christmas vision – the abiding truths of that Holy Day – to lie meaningless and dormant until next Christmas."

Here we are, during one of the two traditional low Sundays of the year (the other falling after Easter), and the question begs to be asked, "What do we do with the Jesus whose birth we just celebrated?" Do we simply remember fondly the event that happened some two thousand years ago, or do we affirm what Billy Graham said, that the greatest gift is the real way in which Jesus is born and lives in the hearts of his believers every day, every hour, every minute of the year?

How do we take the twelve days of Christmas, and transform them into the twelve months of Christmas?

I think that’s the issue that Paul addresses in his letter to the Colossian Christians. He doesn’t talk about Christmas, because the celebration of Christmas postdates Paul. But he is talking about whether or not Jesus is a living reality in your lives. And that, really, is the issue we’re talking about today: Is the birth of Jesus an annual flash-in-the-pan celebration to make us feel good, or is the birth of Jesus a reality that has transformed our hearts and therefore our lives?

In this morning’s text, Paul uses the language of clothing. He says, "Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience."

Clothing, probably more so today than when Paul wrote these words, is a statement of who we are. Clothing helps define the individual. When somebody goes to their closet in the morning and makes choices about what they will wear, the not-so-subtle question that they are trying to answer is, "What statement do I want to make about me?" Corporate recruiters will tell you that one of the things they observe when they interview people for a job is their appearance. Are their shoes polished? Do their shoes match their belt? Are their clothes neatly pressed?

Clothing says something about who we are. Most days, you will find me dressed somewhat conservatively. My wardrobe consists mainly of gray or navy suits, khakis, and plain white or blue shirts. The clothes I wear help express who I am.

Clothing is more than purely functional – it is a statement that we make about ourselves to the rest of the world. People who wear Hawaiian print shirts and Bermuda shorts to work are sending a message to this world about who they are. Do you remember when brown suits came back into fashion for men? It was when Ronald Reagan was President, and he wore brown suits. That gave the rest of us permission to wear brown suits after years of their being fashion taboo.

What you wear sends a message about who you are.

Paul understood fashion statements. That’s why he spoke in terms of putting on spiritual clothing. Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Wear forgiveness on your sleeves. And over everything, put on love, which is the thread that holds together all the other fabric woven into your clothing.

And if you look at the larger text in which we find today’s passage, you will see that Paul is calling for a complete fashion makeover. He’s not only telling us what to put on, but also what we must first take off. He says we have to rid ourselves of sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language. Such clothing is unfitting of those who profess a new life in Christ. Take off the old way of life, he says, and put on a new, infinitely better way.

It’s a familiar litany that Paul recites here. The words may vary a little, but the meaning is always the same: You are a new creation, called to a new way of life. Time and again, Paul calls us to live a new life in Christ. He calls us beyond the moment that Jesus is born in our hearts, calling us to live out our salvation every day of our lives. The goal of the Christian life is Christ himself – to be made more and more like Christ every day.

You see, what is on the outside is a reflection of what is within our hearts. If our hearts have been changed by Christ, then our lives will show it. You are a new creation – no longer does the old self live, but it is Christ in you who lives. And if Christ is alive in you, then your life is going to show it. A farmer once noted, "What comes up in the bucket is usually in the well."

"What comes up in the bucket is usually in the well." It works both ways – for good and for bad.

What’s in your well?

The clothing that Paul urges us to put on – it’s all well and good, as long as it reflects what is in our hearts. But you know and I know that if our hearts are not changed, then all the compassion, kindness, forgiveness, love and the rest are nothing more than costumes, disguising what is really in our hearts.

The things that Paul urges us to put on – they are not so much actions, as they are qualities from within. We can act compassionate, but to be compassionate is a matter of the heart. We can act forgiving, but to be forgiving is a matter of the heart. We can act loving, but to truly love is a matter of the heart.

There are some things that you really can’t avoid during the Christmas season. For instance, you’re going to come across "It’s a Wonderful Life" at least once during the season while you’re changing channels. You really can’t avoid it.

Neither can you avoid some rendition of the classic, A Christmas Carol. Whether it’s an animated version, a live stage production, or a full-length feature film, you’re going to run across it. Ebenezer Scrooge defined the term, Bah! Humbug! At the beginning of the work, Dickens describes Scrooge. He says,

"External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty. Foul weather didn’t know where to have him. The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet could boast of the advantage over him in only one respect. They often ‘came down’ handsomely, and Scrooge never did.

"Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, ‘My dear Scrooge, how are you? When will you come to see me?’ No beggars implored him to bestow a trifle, no children asked him what it was o’clock,… Even the blind men’s dogs appeared to know him; and, when they saw him coming on, would tug their owners into doorways and up side streets…"

Indeed, Ebenezer Scrooge was through and through a bitter, mean old man. It started in his heart, and it permeated every thought, word, and action of his life.

But then, he encountered Christmas past, present, and future. He saw where he had been, and he also saw what was to become of his pitiful existence. He was terrified at what he saw.

And his heart was changed.

After his visions, we find a new and transformed Ebenezer Scrooge. Jolly, laughing, joining with his nephew, raising the salary of Bob Cratchit, promising to help care for Tiny Tim…

And it was an enduring change, for Dickens writes:

"Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man as the good old City knew… Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh… His own heart laughed, and that was quite enough for him."

His heart was changed, and his life was changed. He had a new heart and a new life.

"Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them together in perfect unity."

Tomorrow marks the beginning of a new year. Yet another clean slate with which to start anew. Yet another day in which we set out to fulfill promises to ourselves and others – promises to be better about organizing our lives, promises to lose weight, promises to spend more time with our children.

New Year’s resolutions.

Tomorrow, you’ll get up. Many of you will eat black-eyed peas. Many of you will watch football.

Tomorrow will be the start of a new year.

Have you thought about what you’re going to wear?