Prayer: Come Holy Spirit, come.  Take my lips and speak with them.  Take our minds and think with them.  Take our hearts and set them on fire with love for you.  In Christ’s name, we ask it.  Amen

Let me begin by saying what a gift it is to be with you this morning.  My name is Miles Brandon and I am the University Missioner (formally called Chaplain) serving college campuses in the Austin area, in particular, the Univeristy of Texas.  I always appreciate the opportunity to visit parishes in the diocese to tell the story of campus ministry happening throughout the diocese and specifically at UT Austin.  Campus ministry in the diocese of Texas and at UT is a vibrant and vital ministry.  Though it might sound trite, we truly are raising up tomorrow’s Church leaders today.  At the Episcopal Student Center at UT, we see well over 200 students regularly in our services and programs.  Moreover, we are committed to raising up ordained and lay leadership for the church.  Your very own Brad Sullivan was the first of 6 men and women that we have sponsored or continue to sponsor in the ordination process in recent years—more than any other parish or ministry in the diocese. 

And you, the people of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, and all the generous individuals and parishes of the diocese of Texas are a huge part of this effort.  First, it is from our parishes that many of our students come.  I hope you will always be in contact when sending your children to colleges in the diocese so that we can reach out to them when they arrive on campus.  And, second, our funding comes almost completely from the Missionary Budget of the diocese which is supported entirely by parishes responding to the Missionary asking portion of the diocesan budget.  Please continue to give generously to the mission of the diocese.  I assure you that when we fill the church on Sunday nights with students at UT, the future of our beloved Episcopal Church looks very, very bright.    

Now to the sermon, and I will begin with a confession—I watch a little reality TV.  In particular, I like reality shows about personal transformation—shows like ABC’s “Extreme Makeover” or Bravo’s “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” or the Entertainment Network’s “Fashion Police”.  Even Oprah will have an occasional episode where an individual man or woman’s life will be totally “made over”.  In fact, if you will just do a little channel surfing you will see that the airways are full of shows that take an average man or woman and totally change the way he or she dresses, cooks, decorates, and grooms.  Often these shows not only offer advice on appearance but actual suggestions on maintaining relationships and caring for people. 

Reflecting on these shows, I don’t think the helpful and inspiring tips on fashion/interior design/cooking/grooming/and relationship building are what I find so engaging—though I must admit some are quite useful—I particularly like the fashion tips (you know I got to stay hip working with young people).  Anyway, what truly moves me about these shows is the underlying story of transformation in many of the episodes.  You see the hosts of these shows take on some men and women whose lives and, at times, relationships, are really, really a wreck.  It’s inspiring to see how a new wardrobe, a little relationship advice, and some good old fashion TLC can have an enormous impact on a person’s life.  At times, these transformations are nothing short of amazing.  By the end of the show, these men and women walk a little taller.  They hold their heads a little higher.  And they are appreciating and caring for the people they love with renewed vigor. 

The question that programs like these raise for me in connection to today’s Gospel lesson is this: what are you and I individually and the church collectively called to clothe ourselves in?  When people outside the church look in what do they see?  Do they see a church whose collective life and relationships are a complete wreck or a church walking tall, full of people loving one another with renewed vigor?  I pose the same question for our lives individually.  When people look at your life or my life do they see a person who seems personally and professionally out of control or do they see a life that is full of valuable work and meaningful relationships?  How do we clothe ourselves? 

In Paul’s letter to the Colossians, he writes, “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved (that’s you), clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience…Above all clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”  Here is wardrobe fit for a king: Any person will look smashing wearing these qualities openly and in abundance.  Additionally, in this same passage, Paul gives us some fashion advice about what not to wear.  He writes, “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.”  Paul concludes, “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.”

Paul’s invitation is to imagine yourself standing in front of your closet surveying your wardrobe.  If you find there anything on this list—impurity, greed, anger, malice, abusive language, such as, lying to a friend or a spouse—you should throw them out—immediately.  Just like you have hopefully already done with your terry cloth leisure suits and acid wash jeans.   These negative traits that Paul lists are totally unsuitable for a follower of Christ.  They look hideous on us.  You might as well wear a sleeveless flannel shirt, jean cut-offs, and work boots.  You couldn’t look more ridiculous.                  

Paul’s letter to the Colossians echoes Jesus’ teaching in today’s gospel lesson.  Jesus tells his disicples that the foundational garment that Christians should robe themselves in is love.  He says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

You see Jesus understood that if his disciples did not love each other, it was not likely they could love others, and that—further—the observing world would have every right to draw the conclusion—even if erroneous—that the disciples, not loving each other, could not possibly have any knowledge of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  Jesus’ followers love for each other was the insignia that marked them as Christ’s own forever.  Without it, they were as ill dressed as everyone else in this world.  There is nothing that sets them apart in a crowd.

Vince Lombardi, for whom the Super Bowl trophy is named, was once asked what it took to make a winning team.  He said that there were three things vital to being winners: The first two, fundamentals and discipline, are not enough to win the game.  The third element has to be present as well.  He said, “If you’re going to play together as a team, you’ve got to care for one another.  You’ve got to love each other.  Each player has to be thinking about the next guy and saying to himself: If I don’t block that man, Paul is going to get his legs broken.  I have to do my job well in order that he can do his.  The difference between mediocrity and greatness is the feeling these guys have for each other.”

Now, granted, no one’s going to be secretly filming our ill-fitting life (or let’s hope not).  No one’s going to barge in on us on national TV to expose the tasteless aspects of our lives.  No one’s going to go traipsing through our bedrooms pulling out the skeletons in our moral closets.  Nonetheless, we have to understand that the world is watching the church and desperately hoping that the church will offer hope and direction for a broken world.  Our friends are observing us.  Our neighbors notice us.  Not to speak of the fact that there are no secrets hidden from God. 

In my work with young people, both college students and my contemporaries, who are outside the church, the one thing they all consistently point to, as a reason for rejecting the Christian faith is hypocrisy.  I am sure many of you have heard this charge levied against the church, as well.  In particular, the charge has little to do with individual Christian’s lifestyles.  Instead, it has everything to do with the fact that Christians claim love as the foundation of our lives and then we turn around and treat each other horribly.  We talk bad about our fellow Christians because they are too liberal or too conservative—or they are too evangelical or too catholic—or they are too pious or they are too wild…and on and on.  Why would anybody want to be a part of a community that talks about unconditional love and then demonizes their brothers and sisters?  I am sorry to say it but that question is fair and relevant. 

Mark Twain once said, “Clothes make the man.  Naked people have little influence in the world.”  What are we clothing ourselves in compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, and above all love, or are we all wrapped up in something else all together? 

Today’s Gospel lesson is fairly short.  It is very accessible.  And you certainly don’t need a person like me with a seminary education to unpack its meaning for you.  And, yet, this simple command with which Jesus leaves his followers is the essence of the Christian life.  It is the garment that we all should cloth ourselves in each moment of every day: “I give you a new commandment,” Jesus says, “that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  Amen.

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