Rooted and Built Up and Established in Him

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

C Lectionary 17 – July 28, 2013

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

+ INJ +

Grace to you and peace from God our Father. Amen.

The other day, I was driving here from home, and I stopped at a light along 360. As I waited for the light to turn green, a young man rode up to the intersection on his bicycle. He punched the crosswalk button and, rather than waiting, assumed it was safe for him to cross in front of our line of traffic. He started to ride in front of us, but then changed his mind, quickly, as the light changed, and our line of traffic began to move forward. He pulled back quickly and got out of the way.

Lately, I’ve taken to walking in the evenings, criss-crossing my neighborhood and some of the other streets of Mansfield. Whenever I walk this one particular route, I have to pay attention to the traffic at one of the busier intersections in town. I, too, punch the crosswalk button, but I watch and wait, to make sure I’m crossing with traffic and not against it.

It takes patience. When moving around our cities and towns – whether we are walking or jogging, riding a bicycle, or driving or riding in a car, it takes patience to get around. To be safe, we must watch - and sometimes, we must wait.

This attitude of watchfulness and waiting is what we find in Scripture time and again, and we find it in today’s lesson from Colossians, too. It’s not obvious – unlike those other parts of Scripture, today’s lesson doesn’t overtly say anything about watching and waiting. But if we read closely, the message of being watchful and waiting patiently is there.

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving,” the letter reads in verses 6 and 7. “Continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith...”

So let’s take that apart a little…

First – “Continue to live your lives in him…” This sounds like something that takes some time, doesn’t it? If we continue to live our lives in God, we’re not talking about a one-day thing, or a two-day thing, or something we can do over a weeklong event. Continuing to live our lives in Christ is just that – living our lives in Christ – all of our lives: each day, every day, for all of our lives.

Second – “Rooted and built up in him and established in the faith…” What we have here are two images: one from agriculture (rooted) and one from construction (built up and established). I was watching one of those home improvement shows the other night and they were tackling the landscaping at a home that had been abandoned for years. Out by the lake beside the house was a huge tree that needed to come down. The contractors chopped the branches off, and then they dismantled the trunk well enough – but then, they got to the root ball. This root ball was huge – it was almost as big as the piece of equipment they ended up using to haul it out of the ground. That tree was rooted and established. And I would imagine it took some time to get that way.

If we think about the example from construction – being built up and established - I want you to think about the biggest building you’ve ever been in. Maybe it’s a skyscraper or a cathedral or an office building – whatever it is, think about the strength of that building – how it is grounded – how it is built up and established.

These images were given to the Colossians to remind them of the foundation of their faith – that, whatever is going on around them - if people are urging them to worship angels or condemning them for not doing enough to prove how religious they really are – whatever is going on around them – they can count on this: because of their baptisms, they have died with Christ, and they have risen with Christ. They are rooted and built up and established in Christ because of the greatest power that there is: the very power of God.

These images are good for us to reflect upon, too. Whatever is going on around us – if people are urging us to be unfaithful somehow or to do more to prove how religious we are – whatever is going on around us – we can count on this: because of our baptisms, we have died with Christ, and we have risen with Christ. We are rooted and built up and established in him because of the greatest power that there is: the very power of God.

But here’s the tricky part: it takes patience. And it takes patience because it takes time.

We live in the Age of the Quick Fix: Five Tips for Selling Your Home Fast! Just follow these three steps, and you’ll have a closer relationship with God…or your spouse…or your friends.

But the heart of this passage today proposes something the opposite of the Quick Fix. These images of trees and roots and firmly established buildings seem to suggest that moving through life takes great patience, especially when we are living our lives in Christ. It takes watching and waiting because it can take time to see where the hand of God might be working.

We talked about this some yesterday at our women’s retreat: that we don’t always see how God is working, but if we are patient, eventually, we can see God’s purpose. Sometimes it takes days, but more often, it can take weeks or months or even years for us to be able to look back and say, “Aha! Now I get it. Now I see, O God, your hand at work, in ways big and small. I see how you cared for me. I see how you helped me to be rooted in you, built up and established in your great love.”

Let us now read our psalm for today together…

I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;

before the gods I sing your praise;

I bow down toward your holy temple

and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness;

for you have exalted your name and your word

above everything.

On the day I called, you answered me,

you increased my strength of soul.

All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord,

for they have heard the words of your mouth.

They shall sing of the ways of the Lord,

for great is the glory of the Lord.

For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly;

but the haughty he perceives from far away.

Though I walk in the midst of trouble,

you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies;

you stretch out your hand,

and your right hand delivers me.

The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;

your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.

Do not forsake the work of your hands.

May we be patient, trusting in the grace of God that holds us, knowing that God will make good his purpose for us, and believing that his steadfast love endures forever.

Amen.

+ SDG +