[Pentecost+11] "And the Spirit immediately drove [person] out into the wilderness."

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with [Christ] in glory.

Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life.

But now you must get rid of all such things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!

Colossians 3:1-11 (NRSV)

At Bible study this Tuesday, one participant commented that this list was all about ridding ourselves of things -- rather than a list of things to do. The Epistle does continue in the next paragraph [Colossians 3:12-17] with a list of what we are TO clothe ourselves in, but it remains an interesting point.

In order to let new things in (and as Emily P. said in her liturgy, when nothing new can come in, that's death), we need to make space for them. And as Molly said in her sermon [link], that can sometimes feel like dying. At Bible study, people used the metaphors of a butterfly breaking out of its cocoon or a snake molting. Someone also used the gardening analogy -- you need to rip up all the weeds before you can plant. We also noted that a garden needs regular weeding -- you can't just stop after you've initially prepped the soil and planted what you want to grow there.

One of Paul's major themes is being a new creation in Christ, and he very emphatically uses the language that in that we have died to our old selves -- but even he acknowledges that sin still has power over us. Being reborn in Christ is not the end of the journey.

Paul had a radical, transformative, life-changing experience of Christ, but even he says, "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. [...] I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do" (Romans 7:15, 19).

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Someone commented on the Colossians passage that it's a lot about intention.

I shy away from that framing (the reminder that "Intent Is Not Magic" comes up a lot in social justice circles), but it's clear that the Biblical witness is concerned with our hearts and not just our actions.

(I might frame it more as "attitude.")

When Molly preached on Sunday about Cheryl Strayed's memoir, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, she quoted Strayed telling herself as she hiked, "Fear begets fear. Power begets power." Molly said, "She called down power from on high. [...] And she replaced her bad thoughts with better thoughts." To some extent, we do create reality by repetition.

For Christians, attitude and action need to be intimately connected. We are called to act out of love -- to *be* the Body of Christ, God incarnate in the world.

I commented that the exhortation in Colossians seems to be grounded in being in relationship (Christianity is something done in community).

In our conversations at Bible study about dying to old life, one person talked about people who leave abusive relationships -- and how important it is to have external support, to have somewhere to go.

As Christians, we are called not just to new life in ourselves but also to support our siblings and kindred in their journeys.

In "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."

No one is free until all of us are free.

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And the Spirit immediately drove [Jesus] out into the wilderness. [Jesus] was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and [Jesus] was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on [Jesus].

Mark 1:12-13 (NRSV, alt.)

Molly told us on Sunday that Cheryl Strayed didn't go [hike the Pacific Crest Trail, alone and inexperienced] because she was brave, she went because she was afraid -- and she wanted to stop being afraid. Molly talked about Jesus' time in the wilderness preparing Jesus for the public ministry and mission which was to come (a mission of itinerant preaching and teaching and healing, constantly sought after by people in need, frequently misunderstood by closest companions -- and eventually betrayed by one and abandoned by many, brutally murdered for threatening the Powers of this world).

A wilderness experience can strip away a lot from us, but it can also strengthen and renew us -- like a refiner's fire.

Paul says, "Set your minds on things that are above," and I'm uncomfortable with the "above" language (God is both transcendent AND immanent), so I might rephrase it as, "Set your mind on things that are of God."

It is sometimes in the very incarnational experience of the wilderness that we find that we are able to ground or root ourselves in God -- and here we are back to the gardening metaphor. (And how much do I want to invoke Paul Tillich's "the Ground of Being"?)

Irenaeus said, "The glory of God is [a human being] fully alive." How can we become fully alive to who God desires us to be?

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I invite your thoughts on these or other questions -- feel free to comment anonymously or pseudonymously if you prefer.

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I'll also reiterate/refine the questions I asked in my invitation email:

• What does it mean to be driven by the Spirit into a wilderness place?
• What does it mean to die to the things the writer to the Colossians lists?
• What does it mean to be made new in Christ?
• Are there places in your life where you feel trapped by fear (or other things)?
• Are there places you feel God is calling you but feel afraid to move into?
• What would you need in order to "feel the fear and do it anyway"?