He [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 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 and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 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.
Colossians 1: 15-20
This weblog is by us, but it’s not about us. It’s about the One celebrated in the words above. We may post many stories and pictures of our lives and ministries together, but those are presented as evidences of the One still living and walking and teaching and working among us: Jesus of Nazareth. We believe that we are experiencing such a wonderful quality of life under His guidance that we simply must share it with the world as an invitation to join Him and His kingdom. If you can do it with us, we’d be honored. But we’re only a little piece of His infinite and eternal kingdom.
Apart from Christ, we may have some notions of a Creator God from nature, philosophy and morality. Many people do and we affirm that. Many people do not, and we can understand why, with some sympathy, given all the evil and pain in the world. But there stands before us the Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, speaking from the Gospels as God’s answer to our deepest questions, and as God’s question posed to our most shallow answers.
Speaking personally, in Jesus I see the God in whom I would never have dared believe were I limited only to the hints that human philosophy, science and experience give about God. In Jesus I also see the humanity I would never have believed possible, if all I had to go by were human history and my own experience. And in Him I see possibilities for the present and the future—no, make that “promises”–promises which continue to deliver foretastes and down payments of a fulfillment to come.
As Son of God, Christ is “the image of the invisible God.” As Son of Man, He “is the head of the body, the church…the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.” Being both divine and human, then, Christ is the meeting place between divinity and humanity, heaven and earth, the God-human harmony for which we were created, and the heavenly wisdom by which all things were created.
“How do you know you’re right?” I have often been asked. I don’t “know” I’m right in the same way that I know I’m sitting at this desk in my office typing this on a gray, rainy September day. I am simply one of many, many people who are betting their everything on the belief that Christ is right, and it is working better than anything else I ever tried in my life. If ever Christ has to straighten me out and teach me more things, it would not be the first time, nor likely the last. With Peter, one of His first disciples, I simply ask: “Lord, to whom [else] shall we go? You have the words of eternal life (John. 6:68).” In that sense I could say I "know." But this knowledge comes from doing and daring, in relationship, rather than from figuring it all out alone, in safety. And it is about Christ being right, not always myself. He is what this weblog is about.
Mathew Swora, pastor
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