A dash of thought - September 2021

“All” in Creation

Creation time - this is what the churches want to celebrate as a special focus in the month of September. In earlier times, harvest festivals were held in September. Today, in many UMC congregations, we have only a few farmers whose main occupation is agriculture. This year, they have particularly suffered the caprices of the weather and its consequences: hail, storms, high water and floods, but also sweltering heat, drought, fires, etc. The rest of us have experienced the effects at most in our homes and gardens, not in our earned income.
 
This summer I read and meditated on a biblical text that surprised me. It is a hymn on Christ. And as we are used to, it praises the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It speaks of the reconciliation through the blood of his cross. I often hear about that in sermons. Usually rather pointed at the individual human being. But in this hymn the horizon is much broader. Christ is also praised as the head of the body, the Church. Not only of your local church. Not only of the worldwide UMC. But of the Church as a whole, as we confess it in the Creed as "one, holy, catholic (universal) and apostolic Church". For Christ wants to create a new community, even if we Christians find it difficult to remain together.
 
But all this is only the second verse of the hymn in this biblical text. Much more surprising to me was the first stanza. For it is about Christ and creation. It praises how great the significance of Christ is for the whole of creation. It is a hymn of praise to the One who was not only before all of creation - in the technical term "pre-existent" - but through whom and towards whom all things were created! Read for yourself how often the word "all" appears in this hymn. All!
 
In the eastern Orthodox churches, the unity of creation and redemption in and through Christ is praised and celebrated much more convincingly than in the West. It becomes visible in the dome mosaic of the "Pantocrator" (The All Sovereign). So: Read and meditate on Colossians 1:15-20 during the creation time in the month of September! And marvel at Christ as the mediator of all of creation and redemption!
 
Bishop Patrick Streiff
 
 
Photo from Dimitris Vetsikas on Pixabay