When opening the door to the girls’ closet, our eyes are
directed straight ahead. There, hanging on the shelving, is an organizing rack.
It could be used to organize any number of things from hats to hair-bows to
folded clothes. Ronna has chosen to use it to organize the closet in two ways.
The first way is it separates Annlyn’s dresses and hanging clothes from Eva’s.
Though this will one day be a problem, right now each of them receives half the
space in the closet. The other organizing use of the rack is for shoes. The
compartments on the rack are the perfect size to store shoes, boots, and
flip-flops.
There are an even number of “cubbies” in this organizer which
means each of the girls has their own space for their shoes. Again, this will
likely one day be a problem, but for now it works. At least it works most of
the time. It can be frustrating to open the door in the morning, after all we
are trying to get ready and out the door for the day, and the shoes that were
once nice and neat and organized are shuffled around. One of Annlyn’s tennis
shoes is sitting beside one of Eva’s red sparkly shoes. Eva’s boot is on top of
Annlyn’s flip-flop. You walk into the closet to get the pair of shoes you’re
looking for, and it is hard to find because it is all mixed together. Then,
when we get home for the day, Ronna or I will go to the shoe organizer and
separate the shoes out once again, making it easier to find what we’re looking
for. The funny thing about this is, though, the girls know exactly where their
shoes are. If we ask them to get a certain pair, they are able to go right to
them. The shoes are organized in such a way they know where everything is even
if they are not separated.
Our culture spends a lot of time, energy, and money on
keeping things organized. We buy file boxes for bills, shelving for tools in
the garage, and shoe organizers for our children’s closets. We download apps to
our phones, tablets, and computers and buy day planners to keep ourselves
organized. We live in a world where we like to put everything in it’s place and
keep things separated out the way we want them.
But what about in our Christian faith? Do we ever try to
keep things so separated and divided out that we do not like for things to
touch? Do we live in such a way that we compartmentalize our souls giving God
His room and asking God not to move over into other compartments? Do we allow
the truth of the gospel to permeate all areas of our lives, our hearts, and our
souls or do we wish to keep it in the “Sunday cubbie”? The temptation for us is
to carry the practice of closet organization into our Christian lives. But is
this the way God has called us to live? Is this what the gospel is meant for?
One of the great theological aspects of the gospel is
what we call “reconciliation.” Paul preaches, teaches, and writes to many of
the congregations in his ministry about the reconciliation with God that is
offered to us by the cross. The more I think about, study, and reflect on
Paul’s theology, I am convinced that reconciliation with God is central to his
understanding of the good news of Jesus. In the opening portion of his letter
to the Colossian congregation, Paul quotes an early Christian hymn:
“For in Him [Christ] all the
Fullness was glad to dwell and through him to reconcile all to Himself, making
peace through the blood of His cross, through Him – yes, things on earth, and
also the things in the heavens” (Colossians 1:19-20, Kingdom New Testament).
To be reconciled is to no longer be separated. To be
reconciled is to have two parties pulled into line with one another once again.
We can see that by the cross, God was pulling us to Himself. Once we were
distanced from God and in need of reconciliation, but through the blood of
Jesus, we have been brought near to God in the most real way (Ephesians 2:11-13).
This is all well and good and sound theology. But the
temptation is to make the reconciliation of the cross about something that
takes place between me and God. We keep it as something that is purely
spiritual and theological. Some will go so far as to say it is a legal,
justifying transaction. However, when we stop to think about what Paul says in
the passages referenced above, we come to see there is much more going on than
a spiritual reconciliation with God.
There is an earthly dimension to this as well. To the
Colossians, the message is about reconciling things in heaven AND things on
earth. To the Ephesians, the message is about reconciling Jew and Gentile to
birth one new man in Christ Jesus. Therefore, the good news of reconciliation
with God is transferred to the relationships we share on earth. The gospel not
only opens the door for us to be reconciled to God, but for us to be reconciled
with our fellow human beings.
March 5 is the first Sunday of Lent. During this 40-day
season, it is the practice of the church to focus on the cross. To meditate on
its power, to scorn its shame, to embrace its message. Therefore, beginning the
first Sunday of Lent, we are going to walk our way through Paul’s letter to
Philemon. This small letter tucked inside the New Testament is a powerful and
living example of the reconciliation of the cross being extended to personal
relationships. The title for the series is “Living the Cross.”
But, I warn you: reconciliation with other people is a
messy and risky endeavor. It mixes up the shoes and puts them in places we
might not want them to go. However, they go in places we need them to go to be fully given to the power of the gospel. When we open the door of our souls, we find
the gospel moves to all the “cubbies” inside. While we might like to keep
things organized through separation, the God has invaded our space to bring the
light of the cross into every aspect of who and what we are.
It is for this reason that Paul describes the work of the
church in terms of having the “ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18-21). This ministry of
reconciliation reorganizes our lives around the messiness of the gospel. After
all, wasn’t the cross a pretty messy and disruptive view of God’s saving grace?
Reconciliation is the reorganizing of our souls around the good news of Jesus’
work on the cross.
I encourage you to join us for this powerful series of
sermons through Lent on the subject of reconciliation. Maybe we all need to
check our organization skills at the door and let God do the organizing of our
souls. Things might end up in a much better place and we will really know where
things are.
SDG…
-Andrew
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