Tag: Colossians 1

3 (Marks): Connecting Daily with Jesus: Refrigerator Hums, and the Christ of the Cosmos

gods-wrath-1235882On Sunday we looked at one of my favourite passages, Colossians 1:15-21. But before we read the passage we talked a lot about “hums”.

Have you ever noticed how – you don’t actually notice hum’s that are constantly happening around you? In your home you probably never notice your fridge humming away. In your home you might never hear your water softener, or the train outside. The only time you probably notice these sounds are when someone else points it out. That often happens to me, people notice the train that goes by every night. But I will go months without noticing it.

And here is why: because things that happen consistently we become accustomed to and acclimatized to. We don’t even notice them anymore.

And the same things happen, not with just the things around us but, also within us.

Paul shares this beautiful hymn in Colossians 1 and it says that every single thing is connected in Christ. That all of creation is not only made in and through Christ, but is being currently sustained and held together through Christ. We are all connected right now because of the sustaining power of Jesus Christ. Christ is holding the world together, sustaining it, and connecting us all through the power of his Spirit.

The point is that right now as you are, you are connected and being sustained by Jesus Christ. The problem is that we never notice it because it is always happening. There is never not a moment when you are not being sustained by God. There is never not a moment where Christ is not holding all of creation together. It’s so ubiquitous to us that we don’t notice it like the train that goes by every night.

So my whole goal on Sunday, and even in this short post, is to wake us up to something. The fact that we are connected to Christ, and sustained by Christ. Christ is all around you, and part of you. And we love to separate the areas where God moves (our spiritual life) and the places that are normal and not spiritual (regular life). But this is not the Bible, Christ is a part of all of life. Mondays matter just as much as Sundays. Our prayer life matters just as much as our work life to him because he is part of it all.

Christ is part of it all, that’s the main point.

So my challenge was really simple, but hard. My challenge was to pay attention, to wake up, and to watch for Jesus. If Jesus sustains everything and a part of everything, watch for him. Wake up to him. Just like the train can go by without us noticing, pay attention and find him because Christ is all around you, within you, and sustaining you. So why not wake up a bit, pay attention, and find him today.

Sermon Notes:

Big Idea: Christ is part of it all.

Teaching Points:

  • “I could feel reverence humming in me” – Jane Fonda
  • “The whole earthy is full of his glory, but we do not perceive it; it is within our reach but beyond our grasp.” Abraham Joshua Heschel
  • The entire cosmos is in a relationship to one another through Christ
  • Christ in everything, part of everything, and holding everything together
  • “Classical Hebrew has no word for spirituality” because it all spiritual. Rabbi Lawrence Kushner
  • Why didn’t Jesus use thirty years of his life to do spiritual things? He did. These were spiritual things. Sleeping, eating, working, talking, washing. It is we who have shrunk the sacred. It is we who have segregated life. Samir Selmanovic
  • All of creation is a deeply personal cosmos, all cohering and interconnected in Jesus. Brian Walsh, Sylvia Keesmaat

Adult Discussion Questions:

What stuck out to you from the sermon? What was challenging to you? What was new? Was this a new passage for you to think through? What “hums” do you not notice in your own home and life? What did you think of the way Jane Fonda expressed her reason for coming to Jesus? Have you ever seen your life as “spiritual” and “non-spiritual”? How can you “pay attention” for Jesus this week?

Discussion Questions for Young Families

Ask your kids two questions this week. Ask them to look for Jesus at the beginning of the day, and ask them where they saw him at the end. Develop a rhythm of paying attention.

Challenge for the Week: Pay attention for Christ this week.

by Andrew Mills

Old Hymns Are My Favourites, Like Really Old Ones

shape-notes-music-1310183On Sunday we are going to look at one of my favourite passages in the Bible.

Here is a little known fact about me, I love hymns – but they have to be like really old. Like…1900 years and older…

Two of my favourite passages that many scholars think are hymns are the Christ hymn in Philippians 2, and the hymn of the Christ of the Cosmos in Colossians 1. And on Sunday I want to open up the passage in Colossians 1. I want to talk about Jane Fonda, refrigerator hums, and how you are connected to everything that exists.

I know it sounds a little odd, but it’s all in that passage – well maybe not Jane Fonda.

But before we get there this is a passage that many people speed past, or honestly just aren’t familiar with. It has huge major themes of creation, redemption, and how the world exists. It’s mind-blowing in its implications, and all-encompassing in its scope.

So why not take a moment and read it a few times and just let this passage speak to you. Because Christ is part of every thing, and you right now as the passage says. So why not open yourself up to discovering and hearing from him as you listen and read this old hymn.

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rose from the dead. So he is first in everything. For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

by Andrew Mills