Today we continue our movement on through the third chapter of Colossians.
As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, (3:12) Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must forgive. (3:13) Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. (3:14)
As you can see, we are slowly moving through these verses. Each verse adds a new page to a book about who we are to be with one another. That may be one of the most important aspects about being a follower of Jesus - we are people involved with other people - we are called into community - we live as though the living dynamics of the community are as vital as the dynamic way our individual bodies work. Love is what brings unity to the whole. Love as one person notes re-unites the separated and brings back into living form relationships that once were dead or disabled. Once there is the miracle of forgiveness alive within the community, love presses on so that we now move closer to one another. Love makes us available even when we do not want to be. Love move us into a position of vulnerability because we risk opening up to the other as though the other will do the same. That isn't always the case. But when people who are separated are re-united, it makes for "beautiful music." Whenever two voices can come together to sing the same song - even though the voices differ and the parts differ also - we begin to hear how differences that risk to be together create a harmony that we may never have believed could exist. So, we are invited to put on this love - show it - have it be out there - let it be seen without partiality. When that happens, the great possibility of lives being bound to one another -re-united- becomes a reality and the community enters a newness of life.
Connection: We have to wear that love in order for people to see that we are open to new relationship or that we are open to new pathways within a relationship. This is not a simple smile. It is a willingness to risk ourselves in the relationships of our lives with such a commitment that the other can see our intentions and our hope.
Lord of Love, by your grace you show us love that is beyond us and love that is always for us. Though we have many ways of living outside of this realm of life, we all still long to find space within our lives to begin to love again and again. By the power of your Spirit, increase in us the courage to reach out to those around us and begin to overcome the powers that work so hard to keep us separated. Amen.
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