Christmas Clothes

Christians have a very unique job to do. Before I say what our job is I want to say what is not our job. Praise God, the job of Christians is not to tell everyone what is wrong. That's not our job. It's not our job to criticize and complain and tell everybody what's wrong. Do you know why? The main reason is that everybody already knows what’s wrong. Do you know what's wrong with you? Of course you do! I know what's wrong with me. Do you need me to tell you what's wrong with you? Do you need someone you live with to point out all the things that are wrong with you? No, you know all too well what's wrong with you. Do you know what's wrong with this moment; do you know what's wrong with this room; do you know what's wrong with this city; do you know what's wrong with this country; do you know what's wrong with this world? Yes, you know what’s wrong and you do not need yet another person to point it out to you. You actually wish that people would stop pointing out what's wrong. Thank goodness, our job is not to point out what's wrong. 

Our job is to get dressed up in a Christmas suit of clothes and head out into the world to give the world a particular set of Christmas gifts. Our Christmas attire is described in detail in Colossians 3:12-17. 

“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 forgives you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in harmony.”

Isn’t that quite a suit of clothes! Now wear that outfit out into the street and see what happens. Before you put it on, let's talk about each article.

 First of all, clothe yourselves with compassion. Compassion is very simple and very beautiful. Compassion is joining in the suffering of another. The prefix  -com means ‘with’ and passion means suffering, so when I am compassionate towards my sister I join in her suffering. What are you going through? I’ll join you in it, so I am going through it too, I am with you in your suffering. That's compassion (it also happens to be the meaning of the Cross). First thing to put on as you get dressed in your new Christmas attire is compassion. 

The next thing to put on is kindness. Kindness is simple too. Christianity is not complicated. Kindness is accepting your neighbor just as she is, no need to change for someone who is kind. They welcome you, smile at you, tell you your hair looks nice no matter what’s happening or not happening with you. When you walk into a room the kind ones say, “Well, there she is! Here he is! Come on in here!” The kind ones don’t even see what’s wrong with you, and they darn sure don’t point it out. They want you in the room just as you are and all they are looking for is some way to tell you that they think you’re great. Put on kindness then go out in this world. Wouldn’t that be something?

The next one is humility. Humility is a good one. If I ever get the gift of humility, watch out. I don’t have it now but if I get the gift of humility one day I won’t know how to be around myself. Mother Teresa once said something close to this, The Humble know who they are and they know who they are not. They take neither fame, nor blame very seriously. They know they are God’s beloved. That’s humility, knowing in your bones that you are nothing more or less than God’s cherished child.

The next one is meekness. Meekness is this strange gift of not needing power or control in any moment. That's why “the meek will inherit the Earth” because they don't want to control it or run it. They're the ones who actually ought to have the power. In truth, they do have power, it's just that the power that runs through the meek is the power of God. The Meek have fully surrendered their will to God, thus their will and God’s will are joined as one.The Meek aren’t running around talking about themselves, the Meek are moving about wondering quietly and serenely how the power of God flowing through them can reach into the weakness in their neighbors as a healing balm. Clothe yourselves with meekness. 

Now patience. I don't have the gift of patience in my closet either, but one day if I put on the clothes of patience watch out. The Patient are the ones who are actually here, actually present in the present moment. The impatient are the ones who are not here because they are always running off into their past trying to make it better and understand it in a new way, and then they're running off into their future to try to make it better too, usually by worrying about it. All the while the Patient are right here in the only place it is actually possible to be - in the eternal now. They don't need to change anything about the moment or the people in it because everything is right on time and just as it should be to the patient. What’s wrong is not a relevant question to the Patient. 

So once you’ve got all those pieces of clothing laid out on the bed in your bedroom you're just about ready to get dressed, but you have one more thing to do. The text says forgive one another as God forgives you. Now do you know what forgiveness is? Putting on forgiveness can change your whole life and every relationship you have. Forgiveness means that when there's something between the two of us I do not consider that thing that you have done or said to be the totality of your identity. When there's something between us and you forgive me what you are saying is, “Hendree, that coarse thing you did or said towards me is not the totality of your identity. I forgive you. What you did is not who you are.” Forgiveness means that that thing that happened between us is not the totality of our relationship. Only love can define our relationship in a lasting way. By putting forgiveness on we are saying that the love of God is far bigger than that thing that happened between us. 

So that's the clothing, each article laid out neatly. But here’s the catch. You can't dress yourself. You can’t make that Christmas disposition be your natural disposition. Try to make yourself meek, patient, compassionate, humble, and kind. You can't do it. The Christmas clothes are a gift from God. We assume a stance that makes us vulnerable to receiving the gift of this Christmas attire. You assume a stance of receptivity that you might receive the gift of these things. Pray this prayer, God show me what I need to take off, put down, and let go of, so that you can dress me in this new suit of Christmas clothes. Amen.

There is a final piece of clothing. The overcoat of love. Love ties all these gifts together in harmony. God is love so really the the gift that threads it all together is a life surrendered to God who binds all things together in harmony with love.  

As we head into the new year let’s all pray that God will fit us for a new set of Christmas clothes sewn together with love so that we can do our job. Our gift to give to the world is ourselves all dressed up in our Christmas clothes.