Living the Christmas Life

 Jesu Juva

Colossians 3:12-17                                    

December 29, 2024

Christmas 1C              

 Dear saints of our Savior,

        If you were here on Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day, then you experienced something wonderful.  It’s safe to say that when you departed from here, having celebrated the birth of Jesus, there was thankfulness in your heart.  And along with that thankfulness there was peace.  And along with peace there was joy.  And along with joy there was love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

        But after you left church, things probably became less harmonious.  You went home and had to face some kitchen calamity, or family conflict, or pets behaving badly. You went from Christmas joy to Christmas chaos.  Your carefully crafted Christmas peace came crashing down faster than you could say “Gloria in Excelsis Deo!”

        Each year’s Christmas celebration is wonderful and meaningful; but it’s impossible to keep those Christmas plates spinning for long.  Even twelve days seems like a stretch.  Eventually, peace and good will go by the wayside.  Somebody’s got to take out the garbage and wash the dishes and go to Costco.

        In today’s epistle reading St. Paul lays out the pattern for living the Christian life—a holy life for holy people.  But for our purposes on this 5^th Day of Christmas, let’s consider these words in a Christmas context.  In so doing, we might just find a way to sustain Christmas—a way to keep Christmas going long after the lights and ornaments have been boxed up.

        Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.  Some of you were given clothing for Christmas.  The question is:  Will you keep it and wear it?  Well, first you’ll have to put it on—try it on for size.  Does it fit?  Is the color right for you?  Can you make use of this clothing you have been gifted?

        St. Paul reminds us that all who are baptized have been gifted a kind of clothing.  He tells us to “put on” the clothing of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience.  We have to “put on” these things because we lack them by nature.  These must be given to us.  We can only be compassionate by first letting the compassion of Christ fill us, and then spill over from us to the person beside us.  It’s the same with kindness.  Our kindness—if it’s real—is the overflow of the kindness we have received from God in Christ.  We can only be humble, meek, and patient—we can only “put on” these qualities—because Jesus has lived that way before us; and because He lives in us and does His gracious work through us.  These things aren’t automatic; we must intentionally put them on—just like that snazzy new sweater you’re sporting today.

        But a word of warning about this Christmas clothing we “put on” as our daily dress:  It’s one thing to be compassionate and kind to people in general.  It’s one thing to be humble, meek, and patient with store clerks or the Amazon delivery person.  Loving “everybody” is easy—from a distance.  But our Christmas wardrobe is really put to the test when it comes to those with whom we live and work.

        What becomes of our compassion and kindness and love when we must apply these attitudes to the guy who thinks he’s always right, but is always wrong?  To the person who makes every meeting an intolerable agony?  To the person who knows just how to “press our buttons,” and raise our blood pressure, and get under our skin? 

        God uses these people to remind us of how bereft and bankrupt we are when it comes to kindness and patience.  These Christ-like qualities do not grow in our garden; they are never qualities we possess as our own.  They must be constantly given to us by God—and then they must be “put on” by us as our daily dress.

        You also must forgive.  You “must,” Paul writes.  Forgiveness isn’t a mere accessory, like a belt or a scarf or a tie, that you can wear or choose not to wear.  Forgiveness is the crucial article of Christian clothing.  Forgiveness is not optional.  It is the defining feature of the faith we confess.  Christmas is about Jesus, who was born to save His people from their sins.  You can’t continue living the Christmas life without giving to others the same forgiveness that you yourself have received from the Christ child.  The manger and the cross are hewn from the same wood.  But you can do it!  You can forgive—really forgive—because Jesus has forgiven you.  He takes all your sin—all your bad—and in exchange clothes you with His very self. 

        Unlike kindness and forgiveness which are seen and heard, St. Paul also tells the Colossians about a dimension of the Christmas life that is unseen:  Peace.  Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.  Peace is a relational word.  To have peace with God is to have a relationship with Him based on the forgiveness of sins.  And please note: it’s not just “peace,” but “the peace of Christ.”  Like all the other good qualities our Christmas wardrobe lacks, Christ Himself supplies you with this peace through faith. 

        We are to let this peace “rule” in our hearts.  This peace of Christ rules like a referee or umpire.  Because this peace is ruling in our hearts, it means that neither conflict nor crisis can send us spiraling out of control and off the rails. Like Simeon, we know that one day we shall depart this life in peace—trusting that the Christ of Christmas was born for us, lived for us, died for us, and was raised again that we may live together with Him forever.

        The Christmas life lives on in you when the word of Christ dwells in you richly.  Perhaps part of what gives Christmas such a powerful effect over us is how richly the Word of God fills this season—prophecy and fulfillment, Law and Gospel, joy and deliverance.  Is there any section of Scripture known better by more people than the Nativity of our Lord?  Paul tells the Colossians to let this word of Christ dwell in them richly.  Keep Christmas going by the power of the Word. 

        And, by the way, that phrase “word of Christ” doesn’t mean just those words of Scripture spoken by Christ Himself.  No, the “word of Christ” is the Word in which Christ Himself comes to us.  The words of Scripture bear Christ and carry Christ Himself into our hearts.  That’s why this “word of Christ” should dwell in us richly and daily.  Not just at Christmas.  Not just at Easter.

        Because Jesus Christ is present in His Holy Word, we give our hearing of the word our full and reverent attention.  We stand.  We sit.  We bow.  We kneel.  We make the sign of the cross.  And we sing—psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with thankfulness.  Where the word of Christ dwells in us richly, there will be singing.  The carols of Christmas are the most wonderful example of this.  But God’s Word strengthens us for singing in every season of the year.  When we Christians sing together we are singing with Mary.  We sing with Simeon and Zechariah.  We sing with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven:  Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace goodwill toward men.

        As surely as the sun rose this morning—and you woke up and put on your clothing—Christmas continues.  The same Jesus who was mangered for us—the same Jesus whom Simeon held in His arms—this Jesus comes to us in His Word and in His body and blood for the forgiveness of sins.  This is the Christmas life.  Our Lord’s good gifts live on in you.  As you put on this wonderful wardrobe, you look great!  In fact, you look a lot like Jesus.  This means you can face the New Year ahead full of faith and peace and joy. But whatever you do, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

        In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.