In the name of God ☩ Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Don’t you just hate it when you lose something? You can’t remember where you put your keys or an important document. It’s even worse when you can’t find someone you love. Several weeks ago, one of our dogs got out of the yard and was missing for a few hours. It was scary. I drove around the neighborhood calling his name to no avail. But then he showed up at our front door a few hours later. And he didn’t know he was lost, he just thought he was having an adventure. And that’s the thing about being lost, it all depends on your perspective. Often people who are lost don’t think they are lost. But when you can’t find them, the sense of panic can be overwhelming.
I can only imagine the panic felt by Mary and Joseph. It’s one thing to lose your sunglasses or to have your pet get out of the backyard. But losing the Son of God? That’s serious business. And it’s not that the Holy Family was negligent in caring for Jesus, they just assumed that when they left Jerusalem to return to Nazareth that he was in the caravan. But he wasn’t with them. Instead, Jesus was still in the Temple and he was listening to the elders and asking them questions.
I find this to be a great text for us to consider in the Christmas season. As you all know, the version of Christmas that our culture celebrates is not the same as what we celebrate in the Church. Cultural Christmas is over, it has been for a few days now. But we know that today is only the sixth day of Christmas, we’re only halfway through the season. And there is some tension between these two versions of Christmas. Now that all the signs of Christmas are gone, how do we keep celebrating the miracle of the Word made flesh? Have you already packed up the baby Jesus and put him away in the attic until next year? Or, even if your decorations are still out, where have you metaphorically put Jesus?
Today’s Collect is a wonderful one – “Almighty God, grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts may shine forth in our lives.” In Colossians, we heard the exhortation to “let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” Is that the place in our lives where we’ve put Jesus? Does Christ rule our hearts, or do our desires for prestige, power, success, and wealth rule us? Have we put Jesus within the confines of Sunday morning while we allow politics, the economy, and the pursuit of the American dream to govern how we live Monday through Saturday? Have you, through no fault of your own, been caught up in the caravan of our society and lost sight of Jesus? Even if your faith is strong, we all have those times where it seems that we’ve forgotten about Jesus and can’t seem to find him.
When Mary and Joseph finally realize that Jesus is not with them, they turn around and head back to Jerusalem, where they eventually find him in the Temple. And Jesus says to them “Where else did you think I’d be?” Obviously, Luke includes that statement because it says something about Jesus – namely that the purpose of the Incarnation, of God’s coming in the flesh of Jesus was to be doing the work of God. But this detail also tells us something in our own faith lives.
When it seems as if we’ve lost sight of Jesus, when our spiritual life seems dry, when we’re not sure what we believe, this story reminds us of where to find Jesus – doing God’s work and in God’s house. When people are struggling with doubt, they’ll often tell me that they don’t think it’s right for them to come to church. But that’s exactly when you should come to church. Bring your fears, bring your doubts, bring your questions. God is found here among God’s people. God is found when Scripture is read aloud. God is found when we break the bread and share the cup. God is found when we serve the poor and the sick in Jesus’ name. God is found when relationships are restored. God is found wherever true love is.
While God certainly will be found in some surprising places, just as it was a surprise when God showed up in a baby lying in a manger or when God was seen hanging on a cross, God is also reliably found in the expected places. Scripture, worship, and service – just as the boy Jesus was found doing his Father’s work, we will encounter Jesus when we engage in that same work.
There’s a healthy tension within Christianity between faith and works, between God’s grace and our actions. When I say that we will find God when we engage in reading Scripture, or coming to worship, or in serving others, it is not at all that our actions merit those things for us. It is not that once we do the right thing, that God shows up and decides to be with us. It is not as if we become saved through anything that we do or say or think. Instead, we get the image in both Isaiah and Colossians of faith as clothing.
Isaiah says that “God has clothed me with the garments of salvation, and has covered me with the robe of righteousness.” In Colossians, we heard that we are to “clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.” It further says “Above all, clothe yourselves with love.” Love is the sum of our acts of kindness, service, and faithfulness. Have you ever thought about faith as something that you wear?
This is a question that the author and priest Lauren Winner asks in her book Wearing God. It’s, perhaps, a metaphor that we don’t use very often, but it actually is quite helpful to think in terms of God as clothing. Winner notes that clothing not only shapes our identity, but it says something about the group that we belong to. What you wear not only says something about who you are, but it also says something about what you want others to think about you.
Clothing also transforms us – when we are dressed in our best clothing, it changes us, we actually feel more dignified. When we are dressed in our most comfortable sweatpants, we actually feel more relaxed. When we are dressed in our gym attire, we actually feel more athletic. And as someone who wears a religious uniform most days, I can tell you it absolutely changes me. When I’m wearing the collar, I am much more aware of how I interact with the people who cut me off in traffic or otherwise annoy me. Indeed, clothing not only tells the world what to think about us, but it is also a sign of who we want to be in the world.
What is so helpful about the image of clothing is that we are reminded that it’s all about God’s grace. It is not that we have to make our own clothing; instead, God gives us our garments of salvation. Just as God put on human flesh in Jesus, God gives our clothing of salvation. Julian of Norwich said, “God is our clothing that for love wrappeth us, claspeth us, and all encloseth us for tender love, that He may never leave us; being to us all-thing that is good.” And so it is not that we have to earn these clothes, rather we are given them to wear. God is not only the clothing itself, but the seamstress who fashioned it.
So as we think about encountering Jesus through worship, Scripture, and service, think of it in terms of clothing. God has given us the robe of worship. Worship is not something that we do for God because God needs our praise, rather God gives us worship because by praising God we are reminded of our place in the world and of God’s great love for us. God gives us Scripture to wrap ourselves up – both so that when we see ourselves we know that we are encircled with God’s loving presence, but also so that as others see us, they will see God’s light shining in us. And God clothes us with opportunities to serve. There’s a reason why when you go to a store or a restaurant that the employees are wearing uniforms – that way you know who to ask for help, you know who is there to serve you. In the same way, God has clothed us with the garment of salvation so that others might see us as servants of God. And in serving those in need, we serve God.
The invitation of these Scripture passages is to approach faith as clothing given to us by God. Faith is not about what you think, or how you pray, or even what you do. Faith is something you wear – it is your identity. It is that which enfolds you, keeps you warm, and gives you your dignity. Because, as we heard in Isaiah, God doesn’t give us rags to wear, but rather God makes a crown of beauty and a royal diadem. Like a bridegroom is decked with garland and a bride is adorned with jewels, so, too, does God clothe us with the best there is.
And this clothing is God’s gracious gift for you already. Don’t make any New Year’s resolutions. For one, most of us won’t keep them beyond a week or two. But you don’t need to do anything or be anything different for God to clothe you in the royal robes of salvation. Now, you might want to read more, or lose weight, or save more money for retirement – those things aren’t bad. But know that God already loves you more than you’ll ever know. Already, God has given you a splendid and regal garment of salvation. Already, God has wrapped you in holiness.
So you might do something like wearing a cross necklace or bracelet to remind you that you are wearing God. Or you might pretend to put on a jacket when you get dressed in the morning, and as you do so, you might say “I am putting on the garments of salvation.” You might put a label on the hangers in your closet or on your drawers that says “God,” reminding you that you are wearing God’s love.
When we are aware of the fact that we are always wearing God, then we remember that there is no such thing as losing Jesus. Jesus was never lost in the Temple, he was right where he was supposed to be – doing the work of God. When we stray away from worship, Scripture, and service, it may be that we lose sight of God and think that God is lost, when it is actually us who have become lost. And so faith is the gracious gift of God that clothes us. We wrap ourselves with Scripture, in worship, and in service and are reminded that we are the royal gems in God’s crown. This Christmastide, above all, just as Jesus came clothed in love for us, clothe yourselves with his love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
