9 Because
of this, since the day we heard about you, we haven’t stopped praying for you
and asking for you to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, with all
wisdom and spiritual understanding. 10 We’re praying this so that
you can live lives that are worthy of the Lord and pleasing to him in every
way: by producing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God;
11 by being strengthened through his
glorious might so that you endure everything and have patience; 12 and by giving thanks with joy to the
Father. He made it so you could take part in the inheritance, in light granted
to God’s holy people. 13 He
rescued us from the control of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of
the Son he loves. 14 He set us
free through the Son and forgave our sins.
Colossians
1: 9-14
I will never forget the day that I found out that my older
sister was pregnant with my first niece.
September 6, 2008. I was cooped
up in my college dorm room and having a very rough day and was telling her
about it online. I don’t remember the
details but I know my parents would be there that evening for a concert that I
was playing in and for whatever reason I was not looking forward to it. After telling her about everything that was
going on she told me to hang on because she needed to talk to her husband real
quick. A few minutes later, my phone
rang. My sister and her husband were on
the other end and asked if I wanted to know a secret? Right away, I knew. I asked if she was pregnant and she tried to
deny it at first and come up with these other things like they were getting
another dog or they won the lottery, but her husband (who tires of our antics
after a while) finally told her to just tell me the truth- that they were in
fact pregnant. They had just found out
and hadn’t told anyone yet, but they figured that I needed something to make me
feel better (and they wanted to tell someone).
I can only imagine how much their life changed when they found out because
I felt my world flip upside down and right side up- I WAS GOING TO BE AN AUNT!!
I had no idea if the baby would be a boy or a girl, but I knew that I loved it
already and always would. It was a good
thing for my wallet that we didn’t find out that it was a girl until December
because that is when I went crazy and spent about $300 in one day buying baby
clothes, books, toys, and a diaper bag… and ate Ramen for the rest of the
month.
It is crazy what news of a baby can cause. In my case, finding out that I would be an
Aunt in 8 short months changed everything.
Who cared why I was upset? Obviously it wasn’t important if I can’t
remember today. I couldn’t pay attention
while I played in the concert that night.
I wanted to scream with excitement at dinner that night while my parents
(who did not know yet) looked around at the cute babies in the restaurant and
commented on how much they couldn’t wait to have a baby in the family
again. I prayed day and night for that
little baby. Without knowing anything
about this baby, I loved it more than anything in the world already.
Now, that little baby is 4 years old and causes more trouble
than I could have ever imagined. Addison
Riley. The cutest, sweetest little
girl. When I look at Addison and her
younger sister Emmalyn, I feel like I have a good idea of how Paul felt as he
wrote to the Colossians. Paul’s prayer
at the opening of this morning’s text is much like the prayer that I would pray
daily when I found out about both Addison and Emmalyn and still pray
today. This prayer is probably not
unlike the prayer that you might have prayed for your own children, nieces and
nephews, grand children, or even the children in our very own church-
especially on Rally Day or when someone is baptized or confirmed. Just as these new additions to our family
changed our lives from the very moment which we heard about them, the addition
of the church of Colossae changed Paul’s life and they were forever in his
thoughts and prayers.
Today we find ourselves in a fun place- we celebrated the
birth of Christ only four short days ago.
We waited and prepared for that day, beginning all the way back in
October when we started working on our Advent devotion book. December 1 we decorated this sanctuary and
the halls of our church building. We
have heard beautiful music by the Bethlehem Bronze and other musicians every
week of Advent. The youth performed in a
wonderful Christmas Pageant. Finally,
Christ came and we celebrated his birth and life as we worshiped together and
spent time with family. NOW, we begin to
look forward. Just as the first time
parent begins to think about all that will be needed as the child grows up, the
Grandparents begin to prepare their house for when that baby is no longer in
the Pack-and-Play, and the Aunt plans all of the wonderful ways in which to
spoil their niece or nephew- today we begin to think about how the life of this
little baby in the manger has changed our lives and how we are called to live
that out.
There is a quote from Presbyterian minister, Fred Rogers
(most of you know him simply as Mister Rogers), that I think is very
appropriate for a day like today- “Often when you think you are at the end of
something, you are at the beginning of something else.” I have always loved
that New Years Day is only a week after Christmas. Is there a better way to transition from the
celebration of the new baby into looking at the future? Many of us might be
making New Year’s Resolutions right now.
Some might be resolving to go on the yearly diet while others might
resolve to quit drinking so much. Maybe
our youth will resolve to spend more time studying or practicing their music
and sports. The kicker here is that this
text calls us to a different kind of resolution. This morning’s text is not unusual- Paul
opens all of his letter’s giving thanks for the community which he is writing
to; and most of his letters are directed toward a community having some kind of
struggle. This is not unlike where many
of us find ourselves today. Imagine that
Paul has written this letter to YOU-
Dearest
brother/ sister in Christ,
Since the day I heard about you, I haven’t
stopped praying for you and asking for you to be filled with the knowledge of
God’s will, with all wisdom and spiritual understanding. I
am praying this so that you can live a life that is worthy of the Lord and
pleasing to him in every way: by producing fruit in every good work and growing
in the knowledge of God; by
being strengthened through his glorious might so that you endure everything and
have patience; and by giving thanks with joy to
the Father.
Wow. How would you respond to that?? That is the question that we find ourselves
faced with today- 4 days after Christmas, and only 2 days before the new year.
How can WE, having heard and experienced the teachings and
the unending love of that little baby in the manger, respond to this prayer? We
pray it for everyone else, but have we ever taken the time to think about how
it can play out in our own lives?
Over the course of the last four months, the youth have focused
on the theme of “Gather Together”, discussing what it means to gather with
people on social media, at school, in our congregation, and we are beginning to
talk about gathering with people of other faiths and around the world. Maybe this prayer speaks to them through this
theme as they are filled with the knowledge and will of God to be part of the
one single body of Christ. In addition
to our discussions in youth group, in a period of 4 months I have witnessed
this congregation open it’s doors to the community through the Fall Festival in
September- you came out in droves to help set-up, sell things, visit with our
neighbors, and just show what it means to live as the body of Christ. In October we opened the doors to 300 members
of our Presbytery, rolling out the red carpet of hospitality and providing
sacred space for worship and fellowship.
Almost immediately we went to work on a playground for the children and
took 18 people to walk in the CROP Walk (only half of which were youth
participants). There is no question in
my mind that this congregation knows how to begin to live out and to continue
to learn the will of God.
As we start our new budget year, our different ministry
teams might embody this prayer in another way.
The missions team might step back to look at our current missions and
how we are responding to the will of God through those missions, and maybe
looking to see how else we can do that.
The Christian Education team might look at new curriculum, studies, or
formats that will help to move our congregation in a direction that is worthy
of and pleasing to the Lord.
This can be a very intimidating endeavor, though. How can we answer this powerful prayer? What
makes us so capable of something so big?
The second verse of this morning’s hymn responds to just that, and is
one that I regularly have stuck in my head-
Though
I am small, my God, my all, you work great things in me, and your mercy will
last from the depths of the past to the end of the age to be. Your very name puts the proud to shame, and
to those who would for you yearn, you will show your might, put the strong to
flight, for the world is about to turn.
I can’t help but think that if we say a prayer for our loved
ones, as powerful as Paul’s, we would not leave them hanging with no way to
respond. We pray that our children will
grow up and know the love of God- do we keep them away from Church? We pray that our children will be strong
leaders- do we keep them from experiencing life? We want to do all that we can
to help our children grow into our prayers- God has done nothing less. God gave us everything that we need when
God’s son was sent to us that Christmas night.
When we live our lives based on the teachings that child we will grow in
knowledge of the will of God and the world truly will turn.
As I continue to think about my two nieces, I don’t just
pray that they will grow in the love of God and know God’s will, but that they
will continue to dream of the day when all of us know just that. The way we choose to respond to Paul’s prayer
can do just that.
As we think about our resolutions for 2014, let’s move the
focus away from our weight or bad habits.
Yes, maybe things need to change in those areas, but we need to do so
much more. Let’s begin to think about how
we can live a life that is worthy of that little baby who came to us in a
stable full of animals. People waited
for him for years, unsure of what to expect- just as I remember waiting for my
first niece, having no clue what being an Aunt would bring me. People prayed for him before he came, people
were so excited that they traveled from all corners of the land to see him,
and they continued to pray for him.
Following his death, people lived out his teachings in new ways and that
is where we find this prayer. The church
was a baby and Paul, having changed his own life to begin to live and grow in
the knowledge of God, is praying for the young church. While the church may have been around for a
few years today, this prayer is still for us.
A prayer for the Church universal, and a prayer for every individual.
This coming year, I resolve to live a life more focused on
God. I resolve to spend more time in
personal devotion and study and I resolve to continue to reach out to my
brothers and sisters in Christ. I
resolve to know that I do not go at this alone, but that God and my church are
by my side all of the way. I resolve to
share my love and faith with all of those around me so that they and you can
also grow in the knowledge of love of God.
I resolve to continue to dream of the day when the whole world responds
to the Lord in a pleasing way and fulfills the Will of God.
What will WE resolve to do as a church and part of the body
of Christ, the one whom we have spent so much time preparing for and
celebrating?
What will you resolve to do individually?
