When I was at the beach a week or so ago I was able to do some people watching. One early morning I was sitting out on the deck of our hotel room and watched various people as they got ready for the day. The hotel employees were vacuuming all the sand out of the pool and hot tub. There were others who were picking up trash or mowing the lawn. But out in the distance, beyond the dunes, I saw one guy out on the beach setting up a tent. It was one of those canopies that have the four poles to form a square shelter.

As he walked out onto the beach and selected the perfect spot, I watched as the bulky bag he had been carrying turned into a shelter. First, he partially unfolded the metal structure. Then he draped and secured the canvas to the structure. Then, one corner at a time, he expanded the canopy to full size. I thought he was done but yet he kept on working. At each of the corners, he secured the four posts into the sand. Only when the tent was fully anchored into the sand did the man step back and admire his work.

It was a little windy that day on the beach. There’s usually a slight breeze by the sea but that day there was a little bit more than usual. Even though some other umbrellas were blown out of the sand by the wind the tent did not move. It was well anchored in the sand and could withstand the breeze.

The letter to the Colossians calls for them to be rooted and built up in Christ. I think it’s kind of like that tent on the beach. If the man had not properly anchored the tent in the sand, it would have surely blown over in the wind. Because he had the strong anchor or roots in the sand, the tent held strong.

But as I mentioned, not all of the umbrellas stayed rooted in the sand that day. One umbrella got swept up in the wind, was pulled out of the ground and went tumbling along the sand. But just as quick as it blew over, it was caught and re-planted in the sand.

Colossians is not necessarily the easiest letter to understand. The sentence structures are long and at times awkward. It would certainly take an advanced English major to diagram some of these sentences. We have to work to gain the sense of what the writer is saying at points. There are even some phrases that scholars aren’t really sure exactly how to translate.

But if we brave the complex sentence structures and sometimes confusing language and dig into this passage, we hear words of assurance. Apparently there was some concern within the community about people being lead away from following Christ. We aren’t exactly sure what was leading them astray. The source is only referred to as "philosophy and empty deceit." But what the content of the philosophy was or what was being misconstrued in the empty deceit is not really explored by the writer.

But no matter the exact content of what was leading or attempting to lead the people astray from following Christ, the assurance given is clear. The author writes, "When you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands."

While we were dead, God made us alive. While we were guilty, God forgave us. While the charges against us were true and immense, God simply erased the record as though it had never existed. The charges aren’t just dismissed or thrown out of the court but the charges against us are expunged from the record. It’s like they never even existed.

There is no list of the sins or trespasses that are forgiven by God but more importantly there is not a list of sins or trespasses that are not forgiven by God. There are no unforgivable sins for God. There are no trespasses that will not yield to God’s eraser. Through God all is forgiven.

Do you hear how amazing that sounds? The thought that nothing is unforgivable for God is simply amazing! I imagine that there are two main reactions to this. To those who believe themselves to be guilty of sin, any sin, this word of forgiveness is relief. It is cool water on a hot day. The weight of the sin is lifted off and the feeling of lightness and freedom takes over these people’s lives.

But the other reaction is one that perhaps we don’t talk about that much. Perhaps, we don’t even want to think that this reaction really happens. You see, for someone who believes themselves to be blameless, to hear that all sins are forgiven is not relief but annoyance or even anger.

Some will admit that they are not totally blameless but at least they haven’t committed any of the big sins. But then to hear that all sins are forgiven by God… To not have a list of small sins that are okay to do and are easily forgiven and another list of major sins that even God refuses to forgive. To hear that there is no such hierarchy for sin to those who consider themselves mostly blameless is galling. After all, they’re not like those other people who do (insert sin here). Shouldn’t they get credit for leading a halfway decent life?

These are those who take the time to anchor their tents firmly in the soil. They make sure that the tent is rooted deep within the sand so that no wind will uproot it and send it tumbling along the sand.

Then there are those umbrellas that get uprooted. As the umbrella goes tumbling end over end along the sand, there are two reactions that I observed down on the beach. The first reaction is to run after it, try to catch it, and get it planted firmly back in the ground. Now, the people who chase after the umbrella don’t look the coolest doing it. They can look kind of ridiculous as they prance across the hot sand after a tumbling mass of metal and canvas. But nevertheless the umbrella is caught and planted back in the sand, usually more firmly than it had been before. So the first reaction is to run after the umbrella.

The second reaction is to just look at the umbrella as it goes tumbling by and think, "Those people certainly didn’t know what they were doing when they planted their umbrella." Those with this reaction just sit back and do nothing to stop the tumbling umbrella. They just sit under their rooted umbrellas as they look at the tumbling umbrella and the ridiculous looking people chasing after it and huff as they pass judgment.

God forgave all of us all of our trespasses. God forgave the sins of those sitting under their umbrellas passing judgment and God forgave the sins of those chasing after the runaway umbrella. The passage today began with telling us what our reaction to this forgiveness, to this rootedness in Christ is to be. "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."

Our reaction is to be "abounding in thanksgiving." The reaction to grace is gratitude. The reaction to forgiveness is thankfulness.

Our reaction is not to sit back and pass judgment on those whose umbrellas have become uprooted. For indeed our umbrellas get uprooted at times too. We all have looked ridiculous at one time or another as we have chased down umbrellas tumbling away from us, leaving us exposed to everyone under the sun. Perhaps our reaction should be to run after tumbling umbrellas without worrying about how securely or poorly they may have been anchored before being uprooted.

When we feel that security of sitting beneath our own well-rooted umbrellas, we can react with gratitude. When we feel the lightness that comes from knowing that all our sins are forgiven, we can react with thankfulness. All of the sins: the ones we will publicly admit to and those that we fear to whisper even in silent prayer to God – all of them have been forgiven. The record has been deleted, the file erased.

Perhaps on those days when the umbrellas of our faith are feeling particularly strong in their rootedness, we can help those whose umbrellas get swept up in the winds of the day. Perhaps we will not be afraid to make fools out of ourselves by running after someone who needs a good strong rooting – someone whose foundation just crumbled like sand blowing in the wind.

Then perhaps on those days when it is our umbrella that is tumbling end over end in the wind, someone will come out from their shade and run after it with us. Or maybe even allow us to just cool our feet in the shade of their firmly rooted umbrella, before we venture out again.

May God’s Spirit anchor us with firm roots and may we remember you answer when we ask, you are found when we seek you out, and you open the door when we lift our hand to knock. For the grace extended we give you thanks. For the erasing of our sins we shout in joy. For the rootedness of your word we say Amen – may it be so.