Considered Clothing
"Therefore as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." Colossians 3:12–14
How much effort went into your outfit today? How much time did you spend thinking about what you were going to wear and preparing to wear it? My choice today was largely decided by what was already ironed and by the weather. It’s a nice, sunshiny day, but having got a little too much sunshine yesterday, I needed something that would protect me from the sun and be cool enough at the same time. So cool, comfortable, and wrinkle-free it was for me!
On Monday, we had our P–12 Parade of Nations at Indooroopilly and were treated to a visual feast as students and teachers donned traditional dress and paraded proudly with flags from over 50 nations. Students enjoyed swapping their formal uniforms for cultural dress, and 'wearing their culture', in a sense. The bright colours and extravagant outfits were stunning and highlighted the uniqueness of the many cultures that combine to make up our community. A lot of time was spent preparing for the day, and the result was spectacular. It was clear that a good deal of effort and energy had gone into ensuring everyone looked amazing and represented their nation honourably.
At St Peters, we have a uniform and a dress code, and students are expected to adhere to it. The uniform is distinct, with a chosen colour palette of maroon and white, and our school logo and name emblazoned proudly. There is a formal uniform and a sports uniform, with very clear rules around when they can be worn. The uniform is an obvious and quick way to identify that students belong to our community, and they are reminded regularly about the importance of wearing their uniform correctly and representing their College proudly in this way.
As a Christian community, we are also called to clothe ourselves in a particular way. Not in specific outfits or some universal Christian uniform, but in how we live our lives every day. In Colossians, it says to "…clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." These attributes, along with forgiveness and love, mentioned in the subsequent verses, help to identify that people are part of a Christian community. They are markers of who we are — forgiven and loved, looking out for those around us, loving our neighbours as ourselves, and humbly serving where we are.
Just as we give our students regular reminders of how to dress, Christians have the Bible to remind us how to live, the person of Jesus Christ, who shows us how to live, and the Spirit that enables us to. But just as students don’t always wear their uniforms correctly, you might also notice that Christians don’t always manage to clothe themselves in all those virtues! It is a daily decision to take up our cross and follow Jesus, or, to go with the clothing analogy, to put off our old clothes and clothe ourselves in Christ, who is our new life and is all of those things we wish to be — compassionate, kind, humble, gentle, patient, forgiving, and loving.
What a different world it would be if every morning, people gave as much thought to clothing themselves with the virtues of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love, as they did to their outfits! If, when you looked in the mirror, you could somehow see these virtues and check that they were there before you headed out the door.
As a Christian community, maybe that’s exactly what we need to do — to encourage each other to check our outfits and remind each other that we look best when we are clothed in Christ and his compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love.
Renata Rankin
Director of Identity, Formation and Service
