The Perfect Time to Lose Your Luggage

Colossians 3:12-17

January 1, 2006

St. Paul United Methodist Church

Rev. John Andrew Fleming

It has been a while since I regularly flew on an airplane. When I was in seminary in Dallas and Susie was in college in Tennessee, every month or six weeks, I would fly from Love Field in Dallas to Adams Field in Little Rock and then drive to Conway where Susie and I would spend the weekend with my aunt, Julia Lee. This, obviously, was before we were married. I want you to know that we stayed in separate bedrooms.

After we were married and I was finished with school, I had a volunteer job whose one perk was a free trip to a conference every year. I went to some great places. I went to Philadelphia, San Diego, and Phoenix. The year that I went to Phoenix was eventful. There were four of us from Arkansas on that trip. At the end of the long conference, we went to the airport with the three hundred or so others from that conference who were trying to get home. There was a long line to check into. This was in the days before September 11^th, so security was not as tight as it now is. Still, getting from the check-in line through security to the gate took a lot of time. Then, when we boarded the plane, there were problems with it. We sat on the runway for the longest time and then the plane had to come back to the gate so that we could get on another plane. The end result was that we were late leaving Phoenix, very late. The longer it took to get there, the less likely it looked that we would make our connecting flight in Dallas. In the air, the pilot made great time.

When we got off of the plane, all four of us started sprinting towards the gate of our next flight. Now mind you, we are in the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport were the gates are not all right next to one another like they are here in Little Rock. We ran as fast as we could, but just missed our flight. The airline was as nice as they could be as we waited for the next flight to Arkansas, some three hours later. They apologized. They bought us dinner. By the time we arrived in Little Rock, it was almost midnight. I still had to drive to Camden and preach in eight hours. We were the last flight to come in that night. Hardly anyone was at Adams Field. We walked the long journey towards the baggage claim area with the other hundred or so people. We watched as the baggage claim carousel roared to life with the name of our airline and the flight number flashing above it. One by one, the people in our flight saw and reached for their bags. If you’ve looked at this morning’s worship bulletin and have noticed the sermon title, then you’ll know where this story is heading.

We watched and we waited and finally with only a few orphaned bags left, the carousel quieted and stopped. I wanted to shout out, “Wait a minute. My bag’s not out here! Turn that thing back on! I’m sure that my bag is back there somewhere!” I wanted to say, “Come on luggage! You had more than three hours to catch up with us in Dallas!” If it has happened to you, then you know the feeling. It had happened again. The airline had lost my luggage!

Losing your luggage can be one of the most frustrating, annoying, and discombobulating experiences that there is. But given the fact that today is New Year’s Day, a day of eating black eyed peas and making resolutions, it might be the perfect time to lose some of those bags, our luggage that we have been carrying around for the better part of a year (maybe even the better part of our lives!). After all, the number one resolution made this year and every year is to lose weight. What better way to do that than to lay down some of the things that we have been carrying around.

These bags, this luggage wasn’t something that you picked up in a baggage claim area. Maybe you loaded up on your way to the church this morning without really realizing it. Perhaps you grabbed a bag of burdens. Maybe you picked up a suitcase of discontent. There is a chance that you reached for your suitcase of guilt or your duffel bag of weariness. I don’t know about you, but this morning I reached again for my hanging bag of grief. Maybe you reached for your backpack of doubt or your overnight bag of loneliness or a trunk of fear. Maybe you reached for all of those things and if you did, then you are carrying around more luggage than a sky cap. If you are carrying around this load, then it is no wonder that you are so tired at the end of your day. You see, lugging luggage is exhausting! I love what Jesus says to his followers near the end of Matthew’s eleventh chapter. The King James Version of the Bible puts it best. There Jesus says, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest....learn from me and you will find rest for your souls.”

In our lesson for this morning, from the third chapter of Paul’s letter to the Colossian Christians, the apostle counsels that we should so thoroughly live in Christ that we can finally put down our luggage, or as the apostle puts it, to put to death old attitudes and agendas. This lesson appears in the lectionary near the end of December every three years. It is also often chosen as the lesson to be read at wedding ceremonies. It ranks right up there with Paul’s love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13.

I heard about a church who did a skit based on the Colossian scripture. The scene was a church’s altar. Those watching were able to see the bride and the groom and to hear their thoughts. The groom entered through a side door. Bags hung from just about every part of his body. All of the bags were labeled. There was once that read guilt, another said anger, still another arrogance and a final one that read insecurity. The fellow was laden with luggage. The crowd was able to hear his thoughts, “Finally, a woman who will help me carry my burdens. She is so strong. She is so stable.” Then the bride entered in her wedding gown, but instead of carrying flowers in her arms, she, too, carried bags. They, too, were labeled. There was one that said prejudice and another that said loneliness. One of them was labeled disappointment. She had expectations. Listen to her thoughts, “Just a few more minutes and I’ll be married. No more counselors or group sessions. So long discouragement and worry. He’s going to fix me!” The final scene shows the two unable to bless their marriage with a kiss because there are so many bags between them. For the sake of those that we love, we must put down these things!

Let me say some of the same things that I say to couples as they stand before me at wedding services. What Paul offers here is very practical. Paul begins this third chapter by letting us know that because we have been raised with Christ, we are to seek for higher things, heavenly things instead of earthly things. He lists the earthly things in verses 5-11 and they include things like impurity, passion, evil desires, and greed. Paul says that these are the things that we followed when we were living that life. I like that line, “...when we were living that life.” Are we living that life now? Then Paul includes more things that need to be put to death and buried. Things like anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive language from our mouths. He says that we are not to lie to one another.

The language here is baptismal language. In the days of Jesus and Paul, when you were baptized, you came up out of the waters and were immediately given a new garment, a white robe, that symbolized your new life. With that in mind, listen to the things that we wear in this new life. We wear a robe, we clothe ourselves with things like compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Because we now wear these things, how we act must be different. That is the reason that Paul writes that we are to bear with one another and if there is a complaint against another, we must forgive.

This, it seems to me, is the hardest part of this passage. I am wondering if any of you are carrying around a bag of un-forgiveness. This call to forgiveness, Paul says, is not optional. His advice is the same that Jesus gives in the seventeenth chapter of Luke’s gospel. There Jesus says, “As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” Forgiveness isn’t something that us Christians should extend because it is the nice thing to do. Forgiveness is not something that we owe to one another. Forgiveness is not something that we can truly offer one another. We have the capacity for forgiveness only because God has first forgiven us.

God knows that we’re not perfect! God knows that it is hard for us to let go of our carefully guarded grudges and hurts. All of us have names and faces that we cannot imagine forgiving. How can we forgive the one who cheated on us? How can we forgive the one who has taken memories from us? The answer is that we cannot. We cannot do those things. The old adage seems preferable, “Don’t get mad, get even!” Getting even is one of the responses when we have been hurt. I like what Ivana Trump said in her cameo appearance in the movie First Wives Club. She says, “Don’t get even, get it all!”

Well, I’ve said this to you before. Let me say it again. Forgiveness doesn’t mean forgetting, but it may mean choosing not to remember. Forgiveness doesn’t mean saying to someone, “You’re okay!” Rather, it may mean saying, “I’m okay and I am willing to let God deal with you to see if you are.” Forgiveness is not saying that there is no more pain. It may mean living with the pain in such a way that life is liveable. So you also must forgive. This is tough stuff!

For the sake of those that we do love, we have to learn to put down some of these bags that we are carrying around. And for the sake of the God that we serve, we must do the same. God wants to use us, but how can God do that if we are always exhausted and riled up? How can God do that if we’re carrying around so many things.

In his book Traveling Light Max Lucado tells a story that I think will be a good ending to our sermon this morning. He tells that one afternoon he decided to go jogging, but he could not decide what to wear. The sky was clear, but rain was in the forecast. He couldn’t decide if he should wear a sweatshirt or a jacket and so he wore both. He grabbed a tape player (this may be a dated story!), but he couldn’t decide if he should take a sermon to listen to or one of his favorite tapes, and so he took both of them. Needing to stay in touch with his kids or with the church if there was a crisis, he took a cell phone. Not wanting to be locked out of his house, he took his car keys. As a precaution against dehydration, he brought along a couple of bottles of water. Max says that he looked more like a mule than a jogger. He also says that within half a mile he was peeling off his jacket and throwing out the water. This kind of weight will slow you down!

Then says Max, that if it is true with jogging, it is also true with our faith. God has a great race for us to run. Under his care we will go to places we have never been before. With God’s guidance we will serve in ways that we never thought that we could. How can we share grace if we are full of guilt? How can we offer comfort if are hearts are heavy? How can we lift someone else’s load if our arms are full with our own. You see, friends, it just might be the perfect time to lose your luggage. Let us pray.