The Rev. Joseph Peters-Mathews is the vicar of St. Hilda St. Patrick. The sermon for Sunday, July 17 was in response to Colossians 1.15-28. It was based on the manuscript below.
In the folk opera Hadestown,
Anais Mitchell’s beautiful, creative intertwining
of the stories of Orpheus and Eurydice
with Hades and Persephone
Orpheus tells Eurydice that he’s working on a song.
“A song to fix what’s wrong
Take what’s broken, make it whole
A song so beautiful
It brings the world back into tune
Back into time
And all the flowers will bloom…”
That’s what our passage to the Colossians starts with today.
“Christ Jesus 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.”
This hymn to Jesus was apparently known
both to the church at Colossae
and somehow back to Paul.
It may have been –
as it is also a confession of faith –
a part of the baptismal liturgy for the Colossians.
As Paul writes to a church
that is starting to drift away from
the full goodness that comes to them and us through Jesus
Paul redirects them to the crucified and resurrected Christ
the firstborn from the dead
in whom all things in heaven and on earth were created.
The church at Colossae was not too different
from the church at 52nd and 152nd
or any other church
in any other place
in any other time.
While Paul is gravely concerned
with the theosophical systems they’re starting to embrace –
teaching that angels and intermediaries between God and humanity
are needing their own worship and supplication –
he truly loves them
and wants them to know freedom
not be encumbered by additional work and worship.
Paul’s polemic against this growth in the Colossian church
is what prompts certain traditions of Christianity
to be extremely wary of anything purporting to Also Know reality
like tarot, or palm reading, or other psychic engagements.
Their concern, and Paul’s,
is that by looking those places Christians
will turn their heads and miss the freedom of Jesus
through whom all things were made.
As I said last week,
Paul isn’t trying to be a killjoy.
Regular watchers of my Instagram story –
which I think is three of you –
know that I’m very into astrology…
for the memes.
Paul wants those who follow Jesus with him
to not worry about hidden truths
or worry that they themselves need to do more work
to find God’s plan for the universe or themselves.
While Paul was worried about teachings
that wanted to appease angels and other intermediaries
we don’t have those teachings
but we know the stresses of powers and principalities
cosmic forces outside our control
and seemingly outside anyone’s.
I haven’t read my King County voter pamphlet yet
but apparently the Snohomish County one is…
a lot.
As nationally we’re paying attention to the case
of the 10 year old girl who was raped and impregnated
and had to leave Ohio for her abortion
we’re not getting headlines about all the similar situations.
Jill Filipovic points out that
pregnancies resulting from rape
make up about 1% of all abortions.
In Ohio alone, an average of one girl aged 15 and under
has an abortion every week.
Many of these girls are likely rape survivors.
One in nine girls in the US
experiences rape or sexual assault
at the hands of an adult before she turns 18.
Pregnancy is the #1 killer of girls aged 15-19 worldwide. [1]
Our circumstances and specifics are different
but I bet the Colossians felt as despaired and hopeless
as I do at times.
That no matter how hard I try
nothing seems to change or worse
it changes and not for the better.
As someone who can get very wrapped up in
policy and court opinions and how are things going to work
I understand the Colossians’ look for secret truths
ways to appease the minor gods who may actually be in control.
Then Paul calls me out.
“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.”
Regardless of how notoriously evil our lives have been
before being impacted by Jesus,
it’s easy for me to not be steadfast in the faith,
to shift from the hope promised by the gospel
that I’ve heard and preached,
the gospel of Jesus the resurrected Christ
the firstborn from the dead
in whom all things in heaven and on earth
were created.
But in this hymn to Christ
that Paul has slightly reworked
Paul gives the Colossians hope
and not just using the impacts of the Ascension,
eschatological hope that all shall be well.
As Paul shares this song to fix what’s wrong
Take what’s broken, make it whole
A song so beautiful
It brings the world back into tune
Back into time
he grounds the work of Jesus in time, too.
God has not stayed absent in Their heaven,
but has walked our earth in the person of Jesus.
Jesus has returned to the Father
who is indeed making all things well
as the Reign of God is at hand.
But that’s not all.
Jesus through whom all things were made
has authority over all the powers and principalities
of this created world.
And Jesus through whom all things were made
is the head of the Church, the body.
Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers–
all things have been created through him and for him.
God has not stayed absent in Their heaven,
but has walked our earth in the person of Jesus
and is present here with us, the body, the church.
As I shift from the hope promised by the gospel
that I heard and preach and believe to the core of my being
I come back here to the well of sustenance
looking to Jesus the resurrected Christ
here whenever two or three of us are gathered in his name.
As I feel pressed, crushed, abandoned, and pressed down
by the powers and principalities of the world
that act in bad faith and only want control and to keep lining their pockets
I come back here
to behold who we are in —
Bread lifted high, Jesus’ very body
strengthed to become what I receive.
As I get discouraged by gesture vaguely
I join the church at Colossae hearing Paul’s rebuke
and having my eyes shifted back to Jesus
the head of the church that is alive, well, and working
in this world around us.
As the hymnodist wrote,
a different song to fix what’s wrong
take what’s broken, and make it whole
His word shall not fail you he promised
Believe him and all will be well
Then go to a world that is dying
His perfect salvation to tell
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace.
Amen.
[1] https://jill.substack.com/p/the-extremes-are-not-unusual