If
you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are
above...Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that
are on earth
That
sounds like pretty clear advice – and indeed, Paul is a past-master
at viewing the world in black and white binary terms...As he
addresses the Colossians, he is asking them to draw a firm line
between their former selves and their true selves, those selves that
are hidden for now, only to be revealed when the Kingdom breaks in in
all its fullness.
The
only trouble is that, when I look at my own life, that opening “IF”
feels like quite a significant word.
Yes
– I was baptized as a baby, went through that symbolic drowning of
all the old order, the original sin, if you like...and what's more my
parents went on to honour the baptism promises, doing everything in
their power to help me realise that to be a Christian was to live a
different kind of life. And yes, of course I long to love God with
all my heart, soul, mind, strength and to love and serve my neighbour
selflessly...And I take the call of God on my life, and the joyful
obligations of priesthood very seriously indeed but (oh, goodness,
why is there ALWAYS a but?) that IF brings me up short every single
time.
IF
I have been raised with Christ – then surely my life should look
very very different.
If
the only evidence there is for a Christ-like transformation is the
way that I spend my Sundays and the institution that employs me, then
I rather think I'm doing it wrong. Please don't think that I'm
fishing for compliments if I say that I don't honestly think there is
very much that distinguishes me from my atheist friends, whose lives
are every bit as moral, every bit as free from Paul's catalogue of
evils as, on a good day, I aspire to be.
So
– if my transformed life is hidden like buried treasure, then
sometimes it feels as if it's buried rather too far down. And that
can feel discouraging, to put it mildly.
However,
Paul uses another picture too – something that sounds rather like a
kind of spiritual equivalent of a Trinny and Susannah style makeover.
Strip
off the old self – that's stage one. Let go of the past and its
failures if you can...
Let
go of those thoughts, words and deeds that point to an
uncompromisingly earth-bound way of being.
Give
yourself a long hard look and ask – is this what you'd expect to
see in someone who has been raised with Christ, who is striving to
live as a sign of the kingdom here and now? While you might not
choose, any more than he did, to join Pere Hamel in the ranks of the
martyrs, it's fair to say that being ready to lay down our lives is,
in all honesty, part of the deal.Are you up for that? If you feel
small and scared, as I do, then acknowledge itbut nonetheless, aspire
to choose a different way, “clothe yourself with the new self”.
It's unlikely to be easy or pain free but it really is the only way.
I'm
reminded of a passage in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, one of the
Narnia books by C.S. Lewis. Eustace, who has been living a far-from
transformed life,becomes so fixated upon the beauties of a dragon's
horde that he becomes a dragon himself. After some time he comes
before Aslan, the great lion who represents Christ, and discovers
that he can be restored to himself only if he trusts Aslan to strip
away layer after layer of dragon's skin
“The
very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right
into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse
than anything I’ve ever felt. ...he peeled the beastly stuff right
off – And there was I smooth and soft as a peeled switch and
smaller than I had been. Then he caught hold of me – I didn’t
like that much for I was very tender underneath now that I’d no
skin on — and threw me into the water. It smarted like anything but
only for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious and as
soon as I started swimming and splashing I found that all the pain
had gone. And then I saw why. I’d turned into a boy again. . . .”
It's
a process, becoming your new, true self. You won't manage it all in
one go, and you certainly won't manage it alone...but help is
available, if you're sincere in your commitment to a new way of
being..
So,
strip away the old self and then clothe yourself with the new, which
is BEING RENEWED according to the image of its creator.
In
other words, keep on trying on new outfits, new habits of mind and
patterns of life until you actually look and feel RIGHT...until what
you see in the mirror matches God's vision for you...your best
self...And know that this process of renewal and restoration will
take a life-time – but you really shouldn't settle for anything
less.
It
is a choice, though. IF you have been raised with Christ...live into
your new identity and adjust your priorities accordingly. Think, for
a moment. What are yours? There's a principle at work in business and
society that dictates that we count what is important, and then what
we count becomes important.
In
our gospel, Jesus makes it quite clear what it should mean to have
our minds set on things above. The rich farmer of his story isn't
altogether BAD. He hasn't accrued wealth by dubious means – but he
has failed to consider anyone but himself. There's no thought of a
staff bonus, or a community feast, still less any plan to share with
those who are struggling ..and there is something grotesque and
chilling in that little conversation “I will say to my soul, Soul
you have ample goods laid up for many years”. This is the voice of
a miser. There's simply nobody else to ripple the surface of his
unblemished self interest...
What
he counts is supremely important to him - and it's all completely
pointless.
All
his wealth cannot, will not, save him from the common fate of all
humanity.
THIS
VERY NIGHT he will die – and discover that while his material
wealth was vast, when it comes to the things of God, he's poor
indeed.
Rather
a contrast, there, with Pere Hamel, I think....
So,
what do we count?
Do
we count how much we earn? Or how much we save by way of bargains, or
put away for a rainy day? Do we count how many hours we enjoy with
family? How much we give away? Those moments of joy and blessing
which are pure gift?.
We
count what is important and then what we count becomes important.
I've
shared before that I'm prone to worrying that there won't be enough,
somehow...not enough money, not enough time, not enough security for
myself or those whom I love. It’s understandable when you think
about it, because every day we're assaulted with that message. TV
commercials, billboards, Facebook – everywhere we turn we get the
message that we are insufficient, incomplete, not quite good
enough. It's so easy to be seduced...to believe that money will
give us control of our lives, enable happiness and security...even
when experience and common sense tell us a very different story. If
only we had the money, we could buy more of the things that count and
that would make us happy.
But
you know, that doesn't sound much like a transformed life, does it?
IF
you've been raised with Christ, try another way...and don't be a
fool.
Perhaps
a couple of stories will help. One concerns the Wendel family, whose
wealth grew during the 19th century so that by 1900 it was
estimated at $50,000,000. To keep it intact, John G Wendel II, kept
five of his six sisters from marrying and the whole family dedicated
themselves to spending as little as possible of their huge fortune.
When the last sister died in 1931, her estate was valued at more than
$100 million. Her only dress was one she had made herself, and she
had worn it for 25 years. They were so attached to their riches that
they lived like paupers, imprisoned and possessed by the abundance of
their possessions.
In
contrast, another snapshot.
One
fall day I visited the Sheldons in the ramshackle rented house they
lived in at the edge of the woods. Despite a painful physical
handicap, Mr. Sheldon had shot and butchered a bear which strayed
into their yard once too often. The meat had been processed into all
the big canning jars they could find or swap for. There would be meat
in their diet even during the worst of the winter when their fuel
costs were high.
Mr.
Sheldon offered me a jar of bear meat. I hesitated to accept it, but
the giver met my unspoken resistance firmly. "Now you just have
to take this. We want you to have it. We don't have much, that's a
fact; but we ain't poor!"
I
couldn't resist asking, "What's the difference?"
His
answer proved unforgettable.
"When
you can give something away, even when you don't have much, then you
ain't poor. When you don't feel easy giving something away even if
you got more'n you need, then you're poor, whether you know it or
not.”
We
count what is important and then what we count becomes important. If
being able to give is what makes you rich, then you are already
living by the upside down values of the kingdom, where the last is
first and the meek inherit the earth. A life rich towards God is
a life that focuses on the things that are above, that trusts and
hopes and lives in the resurrection power and faithfulness of God’s
love here and now. “It is a kind of Christian defiance [of culture]
which sometimes sings, sometimes weeps, sometimes knows anguish,
sometimes does not have all the answers, but keeps believing....It
may be a life that doesn’t have much material wealth, but it won’t
be poor in what matters.
If
you have been raised with Christ – this is the life you can live,
beginning here and now with your own transformation, as a sign of
that day when everything – EVERYTHING – will be transformed.
