Kingdom Builders

July 18, 2019

Scripture Reading: Colossians 1:15-28

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him— provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel. –Colossians 1:15-23

I know Paul’s letters were written to people who had little if any knowledge of Hebrew history and the life of Jesus when they first encounter Paul. Their values and behavior were driven by culture and perhaps the gods worshiped in that culture. Paul worked with them to separate out those things in their lives which were already good and pleasing to God, and those things that were not. He helped them understand how the good fits into God’s plans and how to vanquish the “evil deeds” from their lives so that they could be fully the people God created them to be established and steadfast in the faith.

I and many of you readers are people described as cradle Christians. We have never known any other way of being. As our culture has developed it seems more and more people are not being raised in the faith. Some of their parents experienced harm in their relationship with churches up to and including being sexually abused by clergy. Others found the church no longer meaningful in the world in which we now live and simply drifted away. A friend who is an active Christian told me that before her father’s funeral her sister asked her to explain what was going to happen at the funeral to her sister’s son because the seven-year-old had never been in church and she thought it might frighten him. As we share our faith with others, we must be considerate of their history in faith.

Probably just as importantly, we who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ must ascertain how much culture defines our faith practices rather than the teachings and example of Christ. We may need to cleanup our own evils and refresh our understanding of Christ before we try to persuade others to follow Christ.

Prayer: God of love, help us to have empathy for people who have not experienced your love and renewal of our spirits in practicing our faith. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.