{"id":1108,"date":"2011-03-06T22:26:24","date_gmt":"2011-03-07T05:26:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/?p=1108"},"modified":"2011-04-06T22:01:08","modified_gmt":"2011-04-07T05:01:08","slug":"pastors-pen-for-march-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/?p=1108","title":{"rendered":"Pastor’s Pen for March 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAs many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 Galatians 3:27<\/p>\n

Beloved of God,<\/p>\n

It\u2019s become a favorite of our children and their friends.\u00a0 Whenever they bring playmates over, they inevitably head for the basement.\u00a0 That\u2019s where all the cool stuff is: a growing Legos collection, an assortment of puppets, a wooden railroad set, a child\u2019s kitchen, and\u2014the best prize of all\u2014the dress up trunk.<\/p>\n

Chris and I acquired the trunk at a LATCH auction a couple years back.* A team of folks had taken it upon themselves to fill the trunk to the brim with dress up clothes designed to evoke imaginative play in young minds: high heeled shoes of great variety; party dresses, fancy hats, vests and ties, sequined blouses, even a feather boa.\u00a0 (Yes, it was weighted toward female tastes\u2026)\u00a0 It was the one thing that caught our<\/span><\/em> imaginations, so when its number came up, up went our bid card, and\u2014surprise\u2014we ended the evening shoe-horning a huge steamer trunk into the back seat of our compact!<\/p>\n

The thing about playing dress up is that when kids don new clothes, they not only try on a different look, they try on a different identity, too.\u00a0 They \u201cmake believe.\u201d\u00a0 We love this exercise because it allows us to glimpse areas of our kids\u2019 personalities that might otherwise be hidden.\u00a0 Whatever issues they may to be wrestling with at that moment in their lives come out in the ensuing dialog, and we learn something new about what\u2019s happening at their core.<\/p>\n

In the passage above from Galatians, Paul uses the term, \u201cclothing yourselves in Christ\u201d or \u201cputting on Christ\u201d as a metaphor for baptism.\u00a0 What does this mean? <\/strong> Brother Martin says PUTTING ON CHRIST has two meanings:\u00a0First, to \u201cput on Christ\u201d means to imitate the example of Christ\u2014to want to be like him.\u00a0 Second, to \u201cput on Christ\u201d means to cross the threshold to a whole new world where Christ becomes<\/em> our garment.<\/p>\n

In our worship life this month we make a turn from the season of Light to the season of Lent, and in that turning we mark a RE<\/span>-turn to the roots of our faith life, to our baptism. When we step forward to receive the ashen cross on our foreheads, we hear the words: \u201cRemember that you are dust and to dust you shall return<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 What kind of clothes do people who are made of dust wear?\u00a0 Adam\u2019s clothes…Eve\u2019s.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were dressed in the leather garment of Adam,\u201d<\/em> Luther wrote, \u201cwhich is a deadly garment and the clothing of sin\u2026.The \u201cold person\u201d\u2026must be put off with all his activities so that from [children] of Adam we may be changed into [children] of God.\u00a0 This does not happen by a change of clothing\u2026 but by the rebirth that takes place in baptism\u2026.<\/em>For in those who have been baptized a new light and flame arises; new and devout emotions come into being, such as fear and trust in God and hope, and a new will emerges.\u00a0 This is that it means to put on Christ properly, truly, and according to the Gospel.\u201d <\/em>[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

When we begin our life journey as human beings, our first clothing is that of Adam and Eve.\u00a0 But in the great Bath at the font that ragged outfit is exchanged for a completely new wardrobe!\u00a0 We \u201cput on Christ\u201d\u2014and that changes everything\u2014changes it for us, and it changes for God.\u00a0 When we look in the mirror we no longer see the old person, we see a new self.\u00a0 And not only do we<\/span><\/em> see a new person, God<\/span><\/em> does too.\u00a0\u00a0 When we \u201cput on Christ\u201d in baptism, we become\u2014in the eyes of God\u2014a beloved son or daughter through and through, the old Adam, the old Eve, are gone.<\/p>\n

Being clothed in Christ changes the way we see, too.\u00a0 God issues us new eyes.\u00a0 When we look at one another through those eyes, we see the Christ in each other.\u00a0 All the personality quirks and pet peeves that bother us move to the background.\u00a0 Even the old boundaries that used to define us: gender, race, ethnicity, define us no longer.\u00a0 Not that they disappear, but the envy, hate, prejudice, are put aside.<\/p>\n

When Kai and Naomi put on dress up clothes, they take on new identities.\u00a0 The process works its way in<\/span><\/em> from the outside<\/span><\/em>\u2026but it only lasts for a while before their attention turns to other things.\u00a0 When we are baptized, Christ works on us from the inside<\/span><\/em> out<\/span><\/em>, and we are gifted with an identity and equipped with a way to see the world that has staying power through all of life\u2019s stages.<\/p>\n

An invitation:<\/strong> as we make our turn into the season of Lent, spend some portion of these 40 days puzzling over what it means for you to \u201cput on Christ.\u201d\u00a0 Then, choose a practice that will remind you of that identity each day.<\/p>\n

Joy for the journey.<\/p>\n

Pastor Erik<\/p>\n

______________<\/p>\n

*<\/strong>LATCH stands for Lutheran Alliance to Create Housing<\/span>, a precursor to the Compass Housing Alliance<\/span>.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Luther\u2019s Works<\/em>, Volume 26: Lectures on Galatians.\u00a0 Pp. 352-353.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAs many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.\u201d \u2013 Galatians 3:27 Beloved of God, It\u2019s become a favorite of our children and their friends.\u00a0 Whenever they bring playmates over, they inevitably head for the basement.\u00a0 That\u2019s where all the cool stuff is: a growing Legos collection, an assortment of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-newsletter","category-pastors-pen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1108"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1124,"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1108\/revisions\/1124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}