Text: Colossians 4:2-6
This cartoon is actually part of an advertising campaign for professional resume reviewers. When I visited their site they had a list of hilarious mistakes and misprints that were on people’s resumes. But I laughed when I saw this cartoon – because there is an undercurrent of ignorance, an implied state of being out-of-touch with what’s going on in the world. Both the “boss” and the “blogger” are suspect here; but while the blogger may be careless in ways particularly damaging given his line of work, the boss just looks to be clueless – blissfully, benignly, blatantly clueless.
Whatever else we might say about St. Paul, he was never predictable…at least, not for long. I want to lift up three things from these several verses from Colossians.
- Paul asks for prayers for an “open door” for the message he wants to share. Without compromising the message, he is willing to be creative, to walk through a door he had not walked through before. He writes this letter from prison – an environment not known for “open doors”. While a portion of the letter is dealing with internal theological issues within the church at Colosse, Paul, ever the evangelist, doesn’t get so caught up in the problems there that he loses sight of his ministry here – in jail. If you have ever had a problem or challenge in life that seemed to box you in, perhaps you can relate to Paul’s situation. But he is not looking for a means of escape from the situation. Rather, he is looking for a way to witness to the reality of Christ.
I had a colleague in ministry for whom I was serving as a mentor. This individual had a life-threatening condition which, for a time, required that he undergo intensive treatment. Ultimately, the disease did take his life at a very young age. I recall him sharing with me once that on the days he had to go for treatments, he always prayed three prayers:
- That the technician would find a vein…That the needle would hit the mark.
- That the medicine would accomplish the work of healing in his body.
- That in the midst of it all, regardless of whatever happened, he would be a faithful witness for Christ.
Yes – he prayed for healing; but he also prayed that he would bear fruit for God’s kingdom in his current situation.
Paul covets prayers for himself that he would find some way to share his faith, in his current situation.
2. Once he finds that “open door”, Paul then covets prayers that he would “share the mystery of Christ clearly …” We have a tendency, don’t we, to put our treasurers in boxes. Nadia Bolz-Weber is a Lutheran pastor in Colorado who, in one of her recent sermons, referred to “churchy conventions”.[1] I think Bolz-Weber means by that phrase the religious habits we individually or collectively acquire which often can muffle and muddle the message. I want to share the mystery of Christ, says Paul, but I want to do it clearly . Clarity almost always implies simplicity. Keep the blog simple and succinct, advises social media guru Jeff Bullas.[2]
3. And then, Be wise in how you act to outsiders, says Paul. Let your conversation be always full of grace and seasoned with salt. – “Full of grace.” The message, like a good meal, begins with “presentation”. A good host or hostess doesn’t throw the food on the table. When you walk in to the dining room, the meal begins before the food is even there. How the table is set, the position of the candles, the intensity of the light. Paul encourages us to precede the sharing of the message with an attitude of grace and graciousness. Now, I’ve described a rather formal dining room. But for others, this atmosphere of grace and graciousness might be the informality of a coffee shop or local diner. For still others, it might be the boisterousness of a crowded bar. “Full of grace” means a kind of sensitivity to the surrounding that makes the most sense for the audience.
Then – Let your conversation be ‘seasoned with salt’. What you have to say – will it ‘taste good’? This doesn’t mean you never speak a hard word to someone who needs to hear it. But Paul is exhorting us to serve the message of Christ in such a way that it will accommodate the palate of the one to whom we are speaking.
The “open door” that more and more Christians are using is blogging. Jeff Bullas says the main aim of blogging – which, by the way, is a shortened way of saying two words – “web log” – used to be self-expression. More and more, however, it is also becoming a business and marketing tool.
Over 31 million people in the US blog. As is the case with other social media, blogging is not just a means of getting the word out. It is an environment in which people hang out – increasingly and affectionately known as the “blogosphere”!
Now, I am going to walk out on a limb just a bit. Our church, if we are going to walk faithfully and fruitfully through the doors of blogging and status updates on Facebook and a meaningful presence on Twitter and Instagram … if we are going to walk through the doors that, for many of us, our children, grandchildren, and in some instances great-grandchildren have already run through – and if we are going to share the message of Jesus, with its vision for justice, with its hope for joy in heaven and peace on earth, our staffing is going to have to reflect our commitment.
What a challenge it is for us – and what great joy there is in it – the work of letting the word of God become flesh. While we bumble, it beckons. While we blog, it reveals ilself to us and says: Behold!
[…] From Home – Mission, Ministry, Abundant Life Through the Open Door Mark […]