Pentecost +8 Sunday – C3

Pentecost +8 Sunday – C3

Years C
Colossians 1:15-28

From the Yakrider site -- So where, is God in all this? Different members of the Yakrider community will have different responses to this question. Let's look at this from the Christian perspective for a moment. One school of thought conceives God as always outside of the universe, as the "Wholly Other" who built it, set this mechanical model into motion and stepped back to let it run itself, and there is nothing divine in the material world of nature. That's God as carpenter or potter. Another school sees, as in The Letter of St. Paul to the Colossians that the eternal Christ is the "firstborn" or archetype of all creation -- in him were all things created, and "all things in him subsist" (Col. 1:16, 17). The Greek term "sunesteken" is translated variously, "subsist," "consist", or "are established." Eduard Lohse, in his commentary on Colossians notes: "In Platonic and Stoic philosophy the verb "sunestekenai" (to be established, to continue, to exist, to endure) was used to denote the wonderful unity of the entire world." It's little wonder that physicists, facing the unexplainable problem of why an atom's whizzing, orbiting electrons never spin off into randomness, call this phenomenon, simply, the Colossians Principle, referencing, though humorously, this verse – that all things are held together by "Christ." Though they don’t mean it literally or seriously, such might be close to what St. Paul had in mind.

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I was glad to hear of the "Colossians Principle". It gives a needed lightness to this passage that comes close to a Hindu appreciation of creation in all and all in creation. Otherwise we get pretty heavy handed about a uniqueness of Christ (perhaps Jesus, or you) and a too easy taking on of suffering that needs a Buddhist antidote.

All in all this passage ends up with the helpful and hopeful image of assisting everyone to mature (implicitly, after their own fashion, their own Christness).

= = = = = = =

the fullness of G*D
pleases to dwell
wherever it alights
from thence
it brings forth
an olive branch

the fullness of G*D
touches everything
from chaos
to this ego
birthing christ
and myself

the fullness of G*D
imparts fullness
develops wholeness
urges maturity
until all is known
beyond all that's known