NEW CLOTHES FOR THE NEW YEAR

(Preached on Sunday, December 31, 2006)

As God=s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothes yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience..            -Colossians 3:12

 

This is a great New Year=s Eve passage!

Paul is reminding these young Christians that what they wear is important because in their new lives they have taken on a new role.  No longer do they only represent themselves, now they also represent Christ to the world.

What we wear makes a statement to the world about who we are, what we believe, how we feel about ourselves.

Most employers understand this even better than we do.  They understand that what their employees wear, how they dress, reflects not just on the individual person but makes a statement about the employer, about that company or institution or business. 

The same is true about our lives as followers of Jesus, not so much with our physical clothing, but with our spiritual clothing, with our actions and our attitudes.

 

Let me give you just one example of why it is so very important for us to strive to be the best follower of Jesus as we can in our dealings with the world.  His name is Burl Cain and he is the warden at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, commonly known as Angola.  This institution used to be one of the nation=s bloodiest and most brutal prisons.  Then, in the early >80s, Burl Cain became the new warden.  Cain is a devout Christian; he put his beliefs into action in reforming the prison.  He established literacy classes throughout the prison, even on Death Row.  He increased the number of prison chaplains.  He also allowed a local seminary to teach Bible studies at Angola.  He insisted that the guards treat inmates with respect.  Consequently, incidents of violence have plummeted, and more prisoners are enrolling in education courses.

 

Warden Cain was particularly instrumental in the life of one inmate, Antonio James.  James was a convicted killer who spent about sixteen years on Death Row.  The night before his execution, Antonio James asked Cain to eat his last meal with him.  Cain had counseled James in the past and shared with him the teachings of Jesus about the love, forgiveness and grace of God.  Now James wanted to know what it would be like to die.  Cain assured him that angels would come to take him to heaven.  As Antonio James prepared for his lethal injection, Burl Cain held his hand and spoke to him about God.  James= last words to Cain were, ABless you.@  How we live our lives makes a real difference in the lives of others and can be the difference in whether they know the love and acceptance of God or not.

 

That is why this is such a great New Year=s Eve passage!

This is the season for resolutions.

This passage would make a great New Year=s resolution.  Just take it and re-write it in the first person: AAs God=s chosen one, holy and beloved, I will clothe myself in compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience...@

Of course, it also feels like a resolution that would be really hard to keep, especially that stuff about Aunconditional forgiveness@ and Adoing everything in the name of Jesus.@

It feels like the resolution Lucy suggested for Charlie Brown on Wednesday: ATo be perfect in the coming year.@  APerfect?@ Charlie Brown asked.  AGood grief nobody=s perfect!  What do you expect of me?@  But Lucy said, AI think you can be if you try.  I really do!@  This fired him up so that he announced, AAll right, Lucy, if you have that much faith in me, I=ll try!  I hereby resolve to be perfect during the next year!@  At which point Lucy howled with laughter, AYou?  Perfect?!@

 

But that is not really what Paul is suggesting for us. 

What he is calling forth from us is commitment C a reorientation of our lives C a way of being that becomes as much a part of us as breathing.

 

A big problem is that many of us make resolutions like one man, named George, I heard about recently.  He said to a friend: AThere=s nothing like getting up at six in the morning, going for run around the park, and taking a brisk shower before breakfast.@  His friend Bob asked, AHow long have you been doing this?@  George said: AI start tomorrow.@

 

There is a website featured in Oprah magazine, First30Days.com, that acknowledges the difficulty in encountering change.  It is designed to provide support and community to those going through the guaranteed changes of like, like losing a loved one or dealing with a difficult medical diagnosis.  Whenever we seek to make changes in our lives we are helped if we remember how difficult it is to change and how it must start with a first critical step.  That step can be helped by praying about it and then asking those around us for support. 

 

So this morning, let us pray about our first steps in putting on the clothing of Jesus.  Let us covenant together to be there to support each other through these first 30 days to achieve our goals and make our resolutions happen.  After all, if we can get through these first 30 days, we will be well on our way to Lent, when we can renew our resolutions in faith once again.