Holding It Together

This Sunday's text is a doozy.  Suffice to say, I've had some less than pleasant words for the Apostle Paul's abysmal grammatical failings in my research & study of this text, quoted below:

21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

24 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

28 He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. 29 To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.

2 I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. 2 My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.4 I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. 5 For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.

Doesn't it feel like a slap-dash of everything thrown together all at once? What is a preacher to do? What is a student of the Biblical text (i.e. YOU) to do?  How would you hold together:

* alienation from God
* reconciliation through the physical body of Christ
* the continuance of faith as pre-condition for eternal salvation?
* rejoicing in suffering without being a loony or in denial.
* What in the world does Paul mean that something was lacking in Christ's affliction?
* What in the world is Paul thinking that he can somehow fill in the gaps? Has he never read Romans 1-3?
* What is all this mystery-talk/mumbo-jumbo?
* Why does Paul talk about himself so much.
* Paul states his goal but it hardly seems stream-lined.  What is he really trying to accomplish here?
* What fine-sounding arguments is Paul referring to?

So -- hypothetically -- if someone were tasked with answering all those questions in 20 minutes, how might she or he accomplish such a thing? What is the strand that holds it all together?

In Retrospect

This Sunday we read the ancient hymn-text recorded by Paul in Colossians 1:15-20, a text intended to remind the church at Colossae that they could not be in the business of worshiping Jesus a little bit, alongside other gods.  

It is either Christ alone or Christ not-at-all 

but never "Christ & ____".

What does that look like today? What are the "& _____"s that we add to the work of Christ?  If we are interested in claiming Christ's lordship over "every square inch in the whole domain of our human existence," we might do well to start in our own hearts, in our own lives.  There can be no "Christ & _____".

So we threw our "& ____"s in the trash and posted Christ on the cross to remind ourselves that there can only ever be one source of salvation.

After the fact, though, one of you thoughtful people pointed out, "But I'm not going to throw good things, the gifts of God, in the trash!"  And, you know what, thoughtful person? You are right!! I should have had a different option.  

Some of the things we hold on to (our idolatries) are junk and they deserve to be thrown out of our lives (I'd say, for me, this is an inappropriate attraction to a comfortable or safe life, guarding myself against vulnerability.)  But there are other things we hold on to (also idolatries if we hold onto them as though they can save us) that are good gifts and worthwhile endeavors.  (Again, for me, this would be a sense of vocation.  It is good to be a pastor.  But being a pastor won't save me or earn me extra credit/favor with God.)

So I should have asked you to rip the paper and post Christ on the wall.  He is our only legitimate Savior.  Then I should have told you to toss out the bad and hold onto the good.  But, dear ones, learn to hold even your good thing in such a way that 

a) you would sacrifice EVEN THAT for the sake of Christ and 

b) you are daily made aware that it will not save you.

You see, our daily lives are littered with "alternate liturgies." 

Jamie Smith on Colossians & Idolatry

We would do well to discern and reflect upon how our mundane routines demonstrate our allegiance to a certain perception of  "the good life."  What do the rhythms of work and play teach us about how we are broken and how we might be restored?  

The shopping mall is one such example. There we learn that we are broken because we do not wear the right clothes, have the right hair or body or shoes.  And we learn that we can be restored by one more hit on the old charge card. 

So, your challenge this week is to investigate the "alternate liturgies" of your life: 

- How you commute to work 

- What you listen to or watch on TV 

- How you do the work of running a household 

- Where you invest your families resources of time and money 

- Patterns of friendship and relationship

- Hobbies, leisure time and entertainment

What do these things teach you about how you are broken and how you might be redeemed/restored? Wonder deeply about these things because these are the habits that form your character and your life.

Do the liturgies of your life orient you toward 

"Christ in you, the hope of glory?"

(more on that this coming Sunday.)

I Probably Shouldn't Do This, But ...

I listened to this sermon by Craig Barnes yesterday.
(You can also download as a podcast at: http://www.fourthchurch.org/sermons/audio/index.html)

This Sunday, our text is quite different from Elijah and the prophets of Baal.  At the same time, the revelation of competing powers & loyalties is similarly found in Colossians 1:15-20. Properly understood this is both a hymn of praise to the One True God and an almost-school-yard-taunt toward all other gods, images and idols.

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

So what I find myself doing (even though perhaps I shouldn't) is encouraging you to listen to a different preacher tackle a different text because: 

a) the Gospel is not the sole property of your preacher.  And it just might be that God speaks the word you need through a different voice this week.  At the very least, we'll be thinking in the same direction for Sunday, which can't be a bad thing!

b) the Gospel is a holistic narrative, meaning that a narrative text from the history of Israel and early church hymnody, as quoted by the Apostle Paul, might not be that different after all. It all holds together ... in Christ (see what I did there? ;-)

Post-Game Analysis

(this was supposed to get published yesterday.  My apologies)

So ... Sunday was a little bit crazy at the DC CRC, huh?  I realized on Friday that God was not going to give me a "normal" sermon.  It was a full week.  I wouldn't have minded "normal."

But instead: outline and props and audience participation, oh my!

So I've been reflecting on the nature of preaching (as I do) and realizing a couple of things:

1) Generally, I am a narrative preacher.  I gravitate toward the narrative texts in the Bible (OT, Gospel, Acts.)

2) When preaching narrative texts, the story is the central image, metaphor, illustration.  The job of the preacher, then, it seems to me, is to re-tell the story, inserting textual insights along the way.  The raw materials are evocative and the preacher crafts a scaffolding of teaching and nuance around it (hopefully in a way that never obscures the original materials.)

3) Colossians is not a narrative text.  It is an epistle, written by the Apostle Paul, chock full of insights, teaching, nuance and concrete concepts.

4) Preaching epistles is proving to be an exercise in building scaffolding out of central images, metaphors, illustrations, etc.  I am required to re-insert the story (because Colossians is not a text written outside a context, which means that there is a story there somewhere.) And Paul, God love him (& God does), is full of passion but you have to pull a little harder on the threads of the text for the evocative language/metaphor to start unraveling.

5) Explanations & apologies in advance, then, for stranger than normal sermons.  Thanks & a request for patience as you have given me the opportunity to stretch and grow and learn with you.

The Good Life

Tonight we began our Summer Bible Study at The Parsonage (but don't worry, we haven't read the book yet so there is still time to join us.)

We will be discussing Jamie Smith's Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview and Cultural Formation.  Tonight we watched this video:

Cliff Notes to our Discussion:
1) What do you make of the claim that we are "not primarily thinkers"?  Rather, we are defined by our loves.  Agree/Disagree?
2) Loves are shaped by practices.  These practices can also be called "liturgies."  Where might we find liturgies -- in the church? In the world?

Another point Jamie makes elsewhere and in the book itself (which we haven't started reading yet so you are still welcome to join us!) is that liturgies/practices all have in mind to shape and form us into some particular version of "The Good Life."

The Good Life
What is the "The Good Life"? It is some ideal of human flourishing. Some people craft their liturgies around wealth-acquisition -- because the Good Life = the Affluent Life.  "The American Dream" is a rendering of the Good Life.  We agreed that there are multiple iterations of The Good Life, all of which can be demonstrated by the replacement of the word Good.

The __Adventurous__ Life
The __Comfortable__ Life
The __Do-Gooder__ Life
The ______________ Life

Colossians
And this brings us back to our text for Sunday: Colossians 1:9-14 (from Eugene Peterson's The Message Version.)  See if this doesn't sound like a version -- hopefully a compelling version -- of The Good Life.

9-12 Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven’t stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which God works. We pray that you’ll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.

13-14 God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He’s set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating.

More thoughts to come as our Summer Bible Study continues (cause we've barely even started.  You wouldn't be behind at all if you decided to join us next Thursday 7:30pm. Just read the introduction and you'll be good to go.)

Advanced Text Study

Yesterday I had the chance to sit with the text for Sunday, Colossians 1:9-14.  Taking smaller chunks in the New Testament means spending additional time in textual analysis.  And I will attempt to share some of that here with you early in the week so you, too, can be ruminating on God's Word in advance of our study together on Sunday.  So ...

Colossians 1:12-14 (TNIV)
"Giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

Colossians 1:12-14 (MegV)

With joy (gladness) thanking the Father

     Who qualified you (made you sufficient, made you adequate)

           for a portion (part, sharing)     of the ministry (lot, share, possession, responsibility)

                                                              of the holy ones (dedicated, consecrated) in the light

     And changes (causes us to move from one place to another) us into  

          the kingdom (sovereignty, royal power, reign) of the Son He loves.

               In whom we possess (have, hold, possess) 

                    our release (deliverance, redemption, ransom), 

                    the forgiveness (pardon, release, liberty) of sin.

So, with these alternate words & some semblance of a grammatical lay-out (keeping in mind that I'm pretty sure Paul flunked all his Greek grammar classes), what good news would YOU preach from this text?

Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places

Yesterday we began our summer series in the book of Colossians.  I am grateful already for the participation of so many and excited for the opportunities for discussion, interaction, worship and learning together.

The title of our series, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, comes from a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins, entitled:

As Kingfishers Catch Fire

As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;

     As tumbled over rim in roundy wells

     Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell's

Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;

Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:

     Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;

     Selves -- goes its self; myself it speaks and spells,

Crying What I do is me: for that I came.

I say more: the just man justices;

     Keeps grace: that keeps all his goings graces;

Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is --

     Christ. For Christ plays in ten thousand places,

Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his

     To the Father through the features of men's faces.

---

We want to LOOK for the challenge of proclaiming "Jesus is LORD."  We want to LOOK for God at work and we want to challenge our ordinary, everyday living to reflect Christ's work in our midst, which puts us in mind of a theme quotation by Abraham Kuyper:

“There is not a square inch 

in the whole domain of our human existence 

over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, 

does not cry, "Mine!”  

-Abraham Kuyper