12when you were buried with [Christ] in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, 14erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. 15He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.
16 Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths. 17These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking, 19and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.
20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world?
Colossians 2:12-20
The story of Easter is not just the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection. It is also our story of death and resurrection. Christ led the way so that we who were already dead would have new life, a resurrected life, a life in which the entire world is seen differently. This is the world of the spirit, not of the flesh. The two are still together, but now we are invited to see the spiritual dimension of the world that God created.
That world is a world of mystery. We recognize that there are things going on that we simply do not understand. We have no idea how God might be acting across town, much less on the other sider of the universe. God is at work behind the scenes in sometimes quite mundane ways. No spectacle, no burning bushes, no smoking mountaintops. A smile here, a kind gesture there. An act of compassion, words of mercy, thoughts of hopeful insight. We do not know how, when, why. We simply believe that behind each act of love, compassion, mercy, kindness, hope there is God.
That world is a world of connections. We are connected spiritually with all of creation. We are connected to folks in our town, in our country, in our world. We are connected to whatever life there might be in other places. That is a design of God’s own making. We are connected. That connection means that we are all in this together. It is not just about our own personal relationship with God. Our relationship to God needs to be expressed in our relationships with all of creation.
That world is a world of hopeful possibilities. Our Creator is always confident and encouraging. God never gives up. Even in death there is resurrection. God wants us to be the creatures we were designed to be, living in faithfulness, living in trust, living in harmony. Life is often difficult, the world is often an unfriendly, chaotic place. God calls us to live in faith and to stop seeing the world as God.
Easter is a reminder of impossible possibilities. The prodigal returns. The lost coin is found. The seed brings forth a hundred-fold. The enemy becomes a friend. The dead find new life. The world is not the way we see it, touch it, smell it, think it. It is a world of awesome mystery created and overseen by the unknowable God. We marvel at its mystery and then do the best we can to live into that vision that God holds for us.
Peace,
Your Pastor,
Rick