Sermon for the First Sunday after Christmas
December 27, 2015, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas
Sermon Text: Colossians 3:12-17
Sermon Theme: “Taking Back the Christmas Gift That Doesn’t Fit”
(Sources: Anderson’s Cycle C Preaching Workbook; Brokhoff Series C Preaching Workbook; Emphasis Online Illustrations; original ideas; Online Stories about Exchanging Christmas Gifs)
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
It may be too soon after Christmas for any of you to have to deal with exchanging Christmas gifts that don’t fit. It’s such a hassle that I’m inclined to want to give the oversized or undersized garment to Goodwill. And it’s probably a toss-up as to which is more difficult to exchange, that which was purchased at a shopping mall or that bought online.
My bad experiences have been mostly with those purchased online, including a belt from Amazon that would have fit my thigh rather than my waist. Eventually I was able to return it.
However, I read about a woman who bought a crocheted halter top for her daughter for Christmas from Amazon and had horrible time trying to exchange it. It was a one size fits all garment, but when she got it, it was too small to fit any human creature; she asked to return it, and they said, ‘No, one size fits anybody.’
Well it didn’t, so to prove her point she put the crocheted halter top on her cat, and took a picture of the cat wearing it. Then she sent a photo of the cat wearing it to Amazon with a note saying, “See, here’s my proof.” Amazon was convinced and said she could return it for a refund. However, the cat hated it and ripped it off.
Most of the time, one-size-fits-all does fit unless you’re excessively obese. And it is especially true that one size fits all if you are referring to the spiritual clothing Paul describes in today’s sermon text.
Paul says, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.” The NIV says, “Clothe yourselves,” a translation I like better, because the Greek verb rendered as “put on” can only refer to clothing (and not, for example, “put on a pot of soup”).
Mark Twain once quipped, “Clothes made the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.” If that is true, and I believe it is, just imagine the influence a person dressed in compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, and love would have on society!
The problem is today’s world, based on newspaper headlines, neither possesses nor values such qualities as compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, and love; if they did, the world would be transformed. Continue reading