Out of storage

James Cathcart December 28, 2021 0 0

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Listen to this daily worship

Colossians 3: 12-17 (NRSVA)

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.

Where are your ‘clothes of compassion’? Are they in storage? Are they folded in a box in the back of a wardrobe covered in mothballs? Are you worried they’re no longer in fashion? Or that maybe they won’t fit anymore?

But do clothes of compassion ever go out of style?

And as for the fit — surely clothes of compassion are compassionate enough to stretch and shift with us over the years…

PRAYER:

Wise and loving God,

When we would put on a crash helmet of wounded pride

help us to find something a little more comfortable.

When we would put on the mittens of resentment,

tug at a stitch so that they unravel.

When we would wraps our necks in a scratchy scarf of worldweary detachment

send a warm current that makes us take it off and laugh at ourselves.

And where did we put our shoes of impatience? They were just here a minute ago…

oh well, help us to let them go,

and find something more fun to wear.

And when we pull out the coat of many grievances,

that never really fit,

with the chips on the shoulders,

let us accept that it's had its day,

and the umbrella of cruelty that leaks and lurks and that always snags our fingers as we wrestle with it in a storm

let it be recycled

perhaps found by a gentle soul who can take the metal workings

and fashion a quirky lampshade or some other marvel to bring light to others.

Or something like that…

In one of the countless untold plot lines of your grace, that can repurpose meanness into beauty.

Wise and Loving God

we hand our resentments and shortcomings to you, to box up for us

as we look to you

to help us unbox a more compassionate wardrobe.

Amen.