Sermon of the Week: Meanwhile...

(In this 85th installment of the UPI series of sermons, Dr. Gabriel Jay Rochelle, a subdeacon at St. Paul's Orthodox Church in Emmaus, Pa., and a former seminary professor, reflects on Christian life before the end of time.)

This sermon is based on Colossians 3:1-12.

In Orthodox churches, today is the Sunday of the Ancestors. We are to recall that the Christ, who stands hidden with the three young men in the lion's den, is now coming among us in the flesh.

The ancestors -- patriarchs and prophets -- proclaimed his coming. What does that coming mean? Let's look from the angle of the Apostle.

The forces of our culture are ambiguous. On one hand, they define us as Americans, patriots, members of the "free world." They propel the myth that we are open to strangers, inclusive, friendly, willing to be endlessly accommodating. "Give us your tired, your poor..."

These forces work in an opposite direction, however; we have become fearful of strangers, more closed off, hostile, and narrow, especially last year. As we imagine the rupture of an uneasy peace by an even more uneasy war, we circle the wagons about us. This, too, is a force of our culture.

We have to grant these forces their due, and their ambiguity. These forces are also among those that Jesus Christ overcame in his death and took captive in his resurrection. As we look forward to celebrating his birth again, which all people see as a sign of peace and love, let us contemplate his victory.

Saint Paul sees a way, through Christ our God, to enter that community beyond ethnic attraction and national pride. We are free to bond with people through the power of Christ. This power goes beyond blood ties, cultural boundaries, and political structures.

We plant communities where there "cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free" because Christ is all, and in all.

Christ overcame these powers that divide us. He took them captive on the cross in Paul's cosmic understanding (Colossians 1:12-14, 2:15). This is a practical vision, not a symbol, and Saint Paul wanted his readers to see that it was and is practical.

We are to "set our minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth." We are always called beyond the constraints and the limits that we know in our daily lives to a higher and broader enactment of the truth, which is in Christ.

Remember that God's secret plan is to unite the whole creation in Christ, but God is given to small beginnings. After all, Christ began with 12 - and not all of them remained to enter the new community founded on his resurrection.

We enter this community through baptism. Paul says "you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Baptism plunges us into that death which washes away the old forces that drag us down, make us less than fully human, render us incapable of true community and real love.

Our lives are "hidden" with Christ in God. We cannot know the fullness of what we shall become. We will not know ourselves completely; there will always be secret sides to ourselves, blind spots in our self-understanding.

But no matter! The annoying inability to see the impact of your behavior, the maddening contradiction between what you had in mind and what actually happened -- all this Christ will bring to light and heal in time.

This is a glorious vision. The hidden will be revealed and healed. In the end, God will wipe away every tear and cover the earth with a mantle of joy. But not yet.

Meanwhile... That's where we live, in the meanwhile.

Meanwhile, "put to death therefore what is earthly in you: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry." Notice that all these inner urgings separate us from others, and they destroy community.

Meanwhile, "put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and foul talk."

Meanwhile, we wait for God's finale, when He will overcome all hostilities and divisions and we will know the ultimate meaning of peace and harmony throughout the whole creation and in our human community. In the Gospel today Christ speaks of God's ingathering as a vast banquet.

Meanwhile, trust the promises given and the vows made at baptism and chrismation. Lean into the baptismal truth. Step out in grace. For you are a promise, because your life is hid with Christ in God.

Meanwhile, embrace and enter those attitudes and actions which are other-centered, graceful, empty of selfishness. Let us discover the ways Christ enables us to put on the self made in the Creator's image.

"You have put off the old nature with its practices and have put on the new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator." Christ makes us new not only in time but also in quality. We grow into Christ as we grow into the grace of the sacramental life.

In baptism and in the sharing of the Eucharist, Christ heals our inner divisions so that our world may be healed. We project outwardly those divisions that we feel within us. In the spiritual life, the outer person does as the inner person is: our world is a reflection of our souls, not merely an outer reality we inhabit.

We are bound to take the divisions that hound us inwardly into our daily lives. But those who are on the Way of Christ have the assurance that, over a lifetime, Christ will make us whole.

If you have not been opening the gifts Christ offers in the sacraments, it is never too late. They are always at work in you. If you have refused the invitation to put on the new self made in God's image, here's the opportunity to turn around and follow.

The joy of repentance is yours this Advent, and with it comes the liberating word of forgiveness. It's never too late to claim the promises of God. But we ought not delay. There's a whole new world waiting to be ushered in, and we are part of it.

The festive table is set; come in and be part of this banquet.