god
My head is starting to hurt a little bit. I'm speaking this weekend on Colossians 1:15-20, and will be tackling the idea of empire and the Kingdom of God. Much of it will be based on the book Colossians Remixed by Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmat, but I'm also chewing through a bunch of books by N.T. Wright as well as The Message and The Kingdom by Richard Horsley. I think I'm going to have to turn this teaching into at least a two-part teaching or it's going to blow a few gaskets I think. I am really enjoying the perspective of these authors as they point out the brashness and the boldness with which Jesus and Paul both announced the "good news" of the Kingdom of God as it broke on the world. I am especially enjoying the discussion of captivated imagination by Walsh and Kessmat. Just yesterday I was having a discussion with someone about the Kingdom and they commented, that it was nice to talk about, but it could never happen. Isn't it sad that our imaginations have been so imprisoned that we can no longer even imagine a world lived according to the teachings of Jesus?
Perhaps today, you're feeling that things are beyond hope; that our world is beyond reconciling. Perhaps today Paul's words maybe as encouraging to you as they were to the believers in Colosse.
He is the image
Of the invisible God
The firstborn of all creation
For in him were created all things
In heaven and earth
Things visible and invisible
Whether thrones or dominions
Whether rulers or powers
All things have been created through him and for him
And he is before all things
And in him all things hold together
And 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
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.
Colossians 1:15-20
