Text: Colossians 3:12-17
12
As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion,
kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. 13 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. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves
with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the
peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one
body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and
admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing
psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or
deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the
Father through him.
Prior
to my theological exposure, I had several questions in my mind, as to why God
created the LGBTQ people? Who are these homosexuals? Why they behave like that?
Will they enter heaven with me? Why are they indulging in such ‘unholy’
activities?
It
was in my third year of B.D. studies that I had encountered to learn more about
the people with homosexual orientation and on the whole the LGBT community. I
was so fascinated about the fact that God is indeed very creative in creating
all of creation in a unique manner. This encounter enhanced my theological
thinking and deliberations to broaden my perspective in this regard. This
provoked me further to post such thoughts on the social network. But these
posts were not well received by my friends. I was criticised for such posts. I wondered how intolerant the people can be towards
people who are different. But I failed to realise that I too was like that, at
one point of time, until I realised that God’s love transcends all human
understanding.
Today,
we see that there is a lot of discrimination within the church, like gender
inequality where women and children are treated with the patriarchal bias, the
people of the so called dominant caste ill-treating those of the oppressed
caste, oppression based on creed, race, and sexuality and so on. But still we
claim that we exemplify Christ in all possible ways – What hypocrisy? Is this what
Christ wanted from us, ‘the Church’? Does the love of God sanction such
atrocities within the body of Christ?
In
this letter the author addresses the issues of baptism and circumcision. He
responds to the issues by stating how the church ought to accept the people in
spite of their differences. The questions, who can be a part of the church, and
how the church needs to respond to the new believers? This is being addressed
in the read passage, which is a part of the larger pericope from 3:5 to 4:6. The
writer here places prominently before the readers, not only the Soteriological,
but also the cosmical significance of Christ. Here we see that Christ is the
Head both of the Church and of the new creation. All things created find
purpose of existence in him.
In
this congregation at Colossae, we can see there was a tension between the
dominant and the oppressed of the various strata of structures. It was in such
a context that the writer to the Colossians visualizes and urges an acceptance
beyond differences. But what can bring about unity? The answer unmistakably is
the divine love Agape.
The
author of the letter writes to the church at Colossae, teaching them what is
required by the people who have embraced Christianity, and lists the qualities
necessary for living in the new community. The believers have already stripped
off the old person, but still need to discard the vices, so now, as they have
already put on the new self, they still need to clothe themselves with specific
virtues like, compassion, humility, kindness, meekness and patience. It is the
ability not to become frustrated and angered but to make allowances for each other’s
shortcomings and to accept their differences, which is essential for harmonious
living as one community.
Bearing
with the others involves fully accepting them for who they are, with their
weaknesses and differences and leaving to them their space, which the writer
proposes as a possible solution. This must be a motivational ground for us to
understand the forgiveness, which results in knowing oneself to have been
forgiven by Christ, and to realise this generosity that requires to forgive
others. Further in the passage we see that clothing the self with love which
does not mean that you wear it on and remove it later, but wearing on the love
that dwells throughout. This is the love that can be described as a bond of
perfection. This we see in 1 Corinthians 13 of which love is the greatest
virtue, and that love functions in a perfect way, or in a way that will lead to
perfection. In the broader context of relationships, love acts as a bond not
only for the other’s virtue, but also for the community which they are to be
displayed. Perfection of this love is not some individually gained state but a
corporate one achieved in a relationship of love.
The
writer to Colossians, goes on to say that the peace of Christ is more
explicitly personified and is seen as ruling in the new order. God has brought
the believers into this new order of peace. Now they are to let this peace take
control over both, the centre of the individual’s life and in the one body that
they are called to be. The term ‘one body’ as mentioned in v15 refers to the
unity of the body of Christ. The ‘peace’ as mentioned is God’s initiative and
to respond to this peace is every believer’s responsibility. The initiative and
the responsibility go hand in hand. In being called into one unified body of
the corporate humanity we are called to live out its transcending the divisions
to appropriate Christ’s peace. This is what we see in the art work.
Verse
17’s language makes it amply clear that the scope of the strong urging
(paraenesis) is being extended from community life and worship life to
encompass all of life. To do ‘everything in the name of the lord Jesus’ is to recognize that Jesus’ lordship claims every part of the believer’s life. But it
is also clear that this obedience is not a burdensome duty but the
accompaniment and natural expression of thanksgiving offered to God through
Christ.
LGBT: Excuse us please, but we
would like to know why then have we been criminalised like this, when the ‘word
of God’ asks its believers to embrace us with love and accept us with the
differences?
Thank
you for initiating the dialogue. Yes dear friends, why then do we criminalize the sexual minority when they are to be accepted into the Christian fold as
they are? God has accepted them. Who are we to push them away? What then can we
do? What is it that the read passage urge us to do? How can we express God’s
love practically?
Well,
the answer to these questions would be the one inspirational line that was said
by one of our professor in class, “preach your conviction, and not your doubts”
Yes
we are good preachers. For most of us who would return back to the church, this
is our vocation. But how well do we use this opportunity of preaching to stand
up against the unjust structures within the church and in society? That still
remains a question. I would take it from here, this is my first point, “Preach your conviction”. Yes, we need to preach to the world our
conviction, the conviction that God is love and this very love of God
transcends all human made barriers, boundaries and understanding. Today I am
sure that we are convinced that God has loved us and wants us to love others
the same way, we are told to love our neighbors as ourselves, and I’m all the
more convinced that this very gospel of love has no contradictions.
Congregation: Iyah we can love and
accept them but for sure we cannot accept their sin they must repent for the
sin they have committed and become like us.
My
dear friend, if you say so then there is no use of the love that you show. For in
the v14 from the read passage says that we must clothe ourselves in love, a
love that binds us in perfect harmony, and this love when expressed means that,
we are to accept them as they are and with their differences. There is much in
the scripture about compassion for our fellow human beings, a call for empathy
and justice for the marginalized, and a standard of honesty, mutuality and love
in all relationships. Therefore, I say, preach your conviction that God is love
and has called us to express that very love of God.
LGBT: ha ha ha… you say love and
love and preach this love, what is the use of just preaching and not doing?
Hmmm…
that is true what is the use of just preaching and not doing? I’m sure when we
are convinced we surely want to do, as we preach. But a fear of being different
from others, the fear of being branded a heretic, the fear of being called a
sinner of the lowest order, sticks to our mind and dilutes our actions. This makes
us merely preachers and not doers.
For
this I would put forth another statement that caught my attention in class. That
is ‘Sin boldly’.
Yes
you heard me right, Sin boldly, that is my second point. In our Christian life,
we tend to be more worried about the possibility of committing sin, and hence
we prefer to stay detached from the sinful world to remain sinless and Godly.
Luther’s advice to Melanchthon to “sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in
Christ even more boldly” is very relevant to us. Since we are both saints and
sinners, sin is inevitable in our life; Justified by faith rather than by
“getting it right,” we are free to act, accepting the possibility of failure
while trusting in Christ’s victory over sin and death. But the ‘sin’, I intend
is not the sin in the literal sense. But it is in the sense of how people would
consider the act of standing up against injustices and the structures of the
society, like for example, speaking for the LGBT community will result in
branding you to be a “Sinner” but that is okay, we ought to sin boldly.
But
our problem here is, our reluctance to “sin boldly.” We do not want to get it
wrong. As a result we abstain from all social interventions and lead a pious
and spiritual life shielding ourselves from all the possibilities of getting
contaminated by the world. Let me identify a few things that would help us
explore possibilities to Sin Boldly. First of all we have failed in
understanding the structural and systemic nature of sin, and as a result we do
not perceive patriarchy, hunger, and casteism, as sin. We also tend to avoid
and deny our participation in these systemic sins that cause death and
destruction.
Secondly,
our reluctance to “sin boldly” is also due to our denial of recognizing
ourselves as God’s co-workers. As unified in the body of Christ, we are called
and empowered by God to receive God’s love, and to live out this Just love in
the world. We are here to let God work through us, in us and among us to bring
healing from all forms of sins that would destroy God’s gift of abundant life
for all. This is our vocation as Christ’s body on earth today.
Our
fear of “not being able to make a difference’’ is preventing us from this
engagement. We are too preoccupied with the success stories. Our sense of
powerlessness stems from our reluctance to recognize God as the pioneer and
perfecter of our faith. Shiphrah and Puah, the two midwives are examples for
the courage to “sin boldly.” They had to make a choice between the King’s order
and the Divine will. It was a morally ambiguous situation. They were not
absolutely clear about the consequences of their action. But they showed the
courage to act, trusting in God’s promise and ‘sinned boldly’.
So
let us then, defy the normalcy and other norms that are so called ‘normal’ and
confront the sins of the society and express love. We will be branded sinners,
but that should not hinder us from standing in solidarity with the oppressed in
own respective contexts. If the society brands us as sinners, it’s Ok. For that
is what we are called for, to be one unified body, in which Christ’s peace
shall rule. Therefore let us as a church strive to express this love of God
that binds us in perfect harmony.
So
let us preach our convictions, and Sin boldly… Amen.
