Br. James Koester

Canada Day

Colossians 3:12-17

Some of you will know that one of my favourite bits of Scriptures comes from II Peter: Thus he has given us…his precious and very great promises, so that through them you…become participants in the divine nature.[1] This theme is picked up in the wonderful collect for Second Sunday after Christmas: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity.[2] We Brothers pick it up again in our Rule of Life when we say that hope assures us that every act of witness, prayer, and service that draws others into the life of divine love builds up the eternal city of God.[3]

The question that is posed, however, regarding becoming participants in the divine nature is, what does that look like? How do I know it when I see it? How do I tell if I am participating in the life of God?

I think the letter to the Colossians gives us a hint as to how we might answer those questions. Colossians tells us that as God’s chosen ones, we are to clothe ourselves in: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness, and love. [4] We are to clothe ourselves in these, because they are the very attributes of God that we see in Jesus, who is himself the very reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being.[5]

In other words, when we participate in the divine nature, share in the divine life, and draw others into the life of divine love, we participate, share, and are drawn into the life of Jesus which is marked by compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness and love.

Oh great, you say. What a load of sentimental, pious, gobbledygook. But the call of God is not to a life of sentimentality. It is not to a life of niceness (although many Christians believe that). It is not gobbledygook. The call of God is to life through death. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.[6] No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you…that you may love one another.[7] The call of God is to life through dying to self and living for others. That dying and living happens when our lives are marked as was Jesus’, by compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness and love.

The problem is that loving like Jesus, is an invitation to die like him. Forgiving like Jesus, is a way of life that forgives not seven times, buy seventy times seven.[8] Being patient like Jesus, means standing at the gate day after day, scanning the horizon, waiting for the return of the prodigal.[9] Being meek like Jesus, means developing callouses on our knees, as we wash others’ feet.[10] Being humble like Jesus, means giving up our life on the cross for the sake of others.[11] Being kind like Jesus means a willingness to ask, ‘what do you want me to do for you?’[12] Being compassionate like Jesus, means to enter into the mystery of another’s suffering, in order to heal and be healed.[13]

Such a life as this, which shares the marks of Jesus, and participates in the divine nature is a life laid down, so that it may be given back. It is a life of dying, in order to rise and live. And that is no easy, pious, sentimental, nice, gobbledygook. It is hard, painful, and smelly work. Just as we should have the fragrance of new life filling the air we breathe, so too should we have the stink of death about us,

The problem is that people are not interested in dying, so that others may live. What people are interested in is killing. The world is on fire with killing. This country is on fire with killing. And we kill, not just with bombs, and guns, and knives. We kill with words, and deeds, and actions. We kill by what we say, and what we don’t say. We kill by deeds we do, and the deeds we don’t do. We kill by actions taken, and actions not taken. The world and this country are on fire, not with dying, but with killing.

And into this comes the message of the gospel: 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 has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.[14]

The world and this country are burning, because is it easier to kill another with bombs, and guns, and knives, with words, and deeds, and action, than it is to die with the marks of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness and love on our hearts, our knees, and our hands. It is however from those marks that we and others will know that we are participating, sharing and drawing others into the divine life of God and therefore building up the eternal city of God.

Let us love as Christ loved, and so be filled with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness and above all, love.

[1] II Peter 1: 4

[2] TEC, Book of Common Prayer, 1979, page 214

[3] SSJE, Rule of Life, The Hope of Glory, chapter 49, page 99

[4] Colossians 3: 12 – 17

[5] Hebrews 1: 3

[6] John 3: 16

[7] John 15: 14 – 16

[8] Matthew 18: 22

[9] Luke 15: 11 – 32

[10] John 13: 3 – 17

[11] Philippians 2: 8

[12] Mark 10: 51, Luke 18: 41

[13] See any of the healing stories in the gospels, as well as Matthew 9: 36 and Matthew 15: 32

[14] Colossians 3: 12 – 14