Colossians 3:15-17<\/font><\/h5>\n15And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. 17And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
NRSV version<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nYour will, your decision-making, your politics, your emotions, your purpose, your deepest identity, your life-paradigms, your intellect, your rational thought and planning, your determination, your courage, your desires, and your identity-shaping memory must reflect shalom (integral well-being) as lived, taught, and demonstrated by Christ; because this, after all, is the non-negotiable vocation to which you were formed into one people and is why you were mandated to function as the body of Christ in the world.\u00a0 And this is possible only because of the free grace and multitude of gifts that have been given to you by God, and converts you into a Eucharistic community of wisdom, celebration, discernment, and gratitude.<\/p>\n
(SAV:\u00a0 Suderman\u2019s Amplifed Version)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nThis morning we\u2019ve been talking about the church, primarily the broader church we call Mennonite Church Canada.\u00a0 And you may have noticed that there is a multitude of ways to do that.\u00a0 We can talk about Mennonite Church Canada statistically.\u00a0 We can talk about it financially.\u00a0 We can talk about it by sharing stories about people and relationships.\u00a0 And we can talk about the church using the words of the apostle Paul.\u00a0 Jack Suderman talks about the church using his own words to tell us his interpretation of what Paul is saying.<\/p>\n
In all of these ways, we are trying to articulate not only what the church is but what it is called to be.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Jack Suderman, recently retired General Secretary of Mennonite Church Canada spent his tenure as General Secretary listening to who we say we are and then prophetically urging us, reminding us, prodding us, and imploring us to know and live into what God calls us to be.<\/p>\n
Many of you may know, but for those of you who don\u2019t know, as soon as he was appointed general secretary, Jack Suderman knew what he needed to do in order to do his job well.\u00a0 He needed a firsthand, up-close look at the challenges, activities and the spirit of the life of our 221 congregations nation wide.\u00a0 And so in the company of a few colleagues and occasionally his wife, Irene, he visited over 200 congregations in seventy-one days.\u00a0 His listening tour was framed by very simple questions:
How are you?
What are you doing?
What are your concerns?
What are your needs?
The very act of listening provoked responses that Jack and his companions did not anticipate.\u00a0 They did not anticipate the tears that flowed so often and so deeply. They did not anticipate the sacrifices people would make to meet with them.\u00a0 They did not anticipate that our church, meaning the church broadly,\u00a0 would talk about itself so honestly, passionately, fearfully, sorrowfully and joyfully, and he did not anticipate that the very act of listening served as a catalyst for further conversations within the churches themselves.\u00a0 And finally, he did not anticipate that what he was doing would be viewed as a significant act of leadership in the church.\u00a0 Jack\u2019s summary of his listening tour is contained in the book, \u201cGod\u2019s People Now: Face to Face with Mennonite Church Canada.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/em> I will leave my copy in the library so you may borrow it if you wish.<\/p>\nIn this book, he talks about the challenges he heard us articulate, he talks about unity and diversity and the role of the confession of faith, he talks about young adults and seniors and the future of the church.\u00a0 There is much wisdom and hope in these chapters. But in my estimation the most powerful chapter in this book is his articulation of the calling of the church.<\/p>\n
The calling of the church was also the core of his message at the Mennonite Church Canada Assembly in Calgary this summer.\u00a0 It was there that he shared with us his amplified version of our text for today. At the Assembly this summer Jack took three Bible study sessions, on three consecutive days to talk about these three verses in Colossians.
I invite you to take out your bulletin and compare for yourself the two versions of Colossians that you see there.\u00a0 The first one is the NRSV and the second one is his amplified version.
As you can see by what he\u2019s done, he struggles with most contemporary translations of this text.
Jack has two main difficulties with the translation and common interpretation of this text.
Let\u2019s consider the first line in the NRSV
\u201cLet the peace of Christ rule in your heart.\u201d
First \u2013 the word \u201cheart\u201d is not a warm fuzzy valentine that expresses feelings of romantic emotion and love.\u00a0 In Hebrew thought, the heart is the seat of the will, the locus of decision-making, the hub of commitment, the nucleus of reason and determination.
Second the verb \u201crule\/control\u201d in this text is an imperative.\u00a0 When the translations use the word \u201clet,\u201d or \u201cmay\u201d,\u00a0\u00a0 as in \u201cLet the peace of Christ rule in your heart,\u201d or \u201cMay the peace of Christ rule in your heart,\u201d the meaning is considerably weakened.
In our polite Canadian society and context it would be like saying,
\u201cIt sure would be nice if you would kindly decide to have the soothing peace of Christ in your heart.\u201d
Hence Jack counters that interpretation with his amplified version:<\/p>\n
Your will, your decision-making, your politics, your emotions, your purpose, your deepest identity, your life-paradigms, your intellect, your rational thought and planning, your determination, your courage, your desires, and your identity-shaping memory must<\/strong> reflect shalom (integral well-being) as lived, taught, and demonstrated by Christ; because this, after all, is the non-negotiable vocation to which you were formed into one people and is why you were mandated to function as the body of Christ in the world. <\/p>\nAnother key part of these verses in Colossians is their emphasis on Gratitude \u2013 three different times and three different words in the original text.\u00a0 At the end of vs. 15.\u00a0 \u201cand be thankful,\u201d at the end of vs. 16, \u201cand with gratitude in your hearts sing songs and hymns and spiritual songs to God,\u201d\u00a0 and vs. 17, \u201cdo everything in the name of Jesus \u2013 giving thanks.<\/p>\n
And so if you look back at the amplified version, starting with, \u201cand this is possible\u2026 the rest of the amplified version attempts to express the importance of gratitude. <\/p>\n
And this is possible only because of the free grace and multitude of gifts that have been given to you by God, and converts you into a Eucharistic community (eucharist means Thanksgiving) converts you into a Eucharistic community of wisdom, celebration, discernment, and gratitude.<\/p>\n
As I said, at the Assembly this summer Jack took three Bible study sessions, on three consecutive days to talk about these three verses in Colossians.\u00a0 At each of these sessions he provided a question and answer time at the end.\u00a0 At the last one a bright young adult woman, a student from CMU stood up to the microphone and asked an important question.
She identified herself as a Peace and Conflict studies student at CMU.
She commented on the current state of the world by comparing it to the Roman Empire.\u00a0 \u201cThe current empire has colonized our imaginations,\u201d she said, \u201cand th
\nat makes me feel pessimistic.\u00a0 How in the face of that are we able to be grateful? How do I reclaim what I have heard from you (like gratitude) in the face of the pessimism that awareness of the empire can generate?<\/p>\n
Jack responded,\u00a0 \u201cdedicate everything <\/strong>to building communities like this!!! And then he asked her,
What are you learning in Peace and conflict studies at CMU?
And she replied,\u00a0 – I\u2019m learning that the world is not that!!! And that\u2019s what causes my pessimism.
And Jack asked,\u00a0 \u201cBut, are you learning that,\u201d and he pointed to his amplified version of Colossians that was projected onto a screen.\u00a0 \u201cYou need to be learning how to build alternative communities that look like that and then you can be more thankful.\u00a0 You will be more thankful.\u201d<\/p>\nTheir conversation reminded me of how much easier it is to describe the world that has captured or colonized our imaginations than it is to describe the type of communities that the church is mandated to be in the world. The kind of community where Christ\u2019s rule encompasses everything we think, do, decide and desire.
The message of Colossians and even more so the message of Ephesians\u00a0 reveals the mystery of God\u2019s strategy to transform the world.\u00a0 According to these texts all things in heaven and on earth will be gathered up into Christ.\u00a0 All things are reconciled to God through Christ. And the apostle Paul was on a mission from God to let the churches know that the church in the world will continue what God started.
And what God started was not a new or post-Jesus strategy.\u00a0 God\u2019s strategy to transform the world began at the beginning and all throughout the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament with God\u2019s attempts always to form \u201ca peoplehood that is covenantal in character and communal in personality\u201d and continued when God revealed God\u2019s nature in Christ.\u00a0 This is what we call incarnation: God becoming flesh in a person and a peoplehood.\u00a0 Salvation is salvation of an entire people. God mandates the church as Christ\u2019s body in the world to continue to be God\u2019s incarnational presence in the world with gratitude.<\/p>\n
And how is this possible?\u00a0 We are all too familiar with the power of the forces of this world to capture our thoughts, decisions, desires and our imaginations.\u00a0 We understand the young woman who questioned Jack and spoke of her pessimism.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Colossians responds with \u201cthe peace of Christ rules\u201d (not might rule or maybe rule if we would be so kind as to let it rule) the peace of Christ rules and so \u201cthe church with Jesus as its head, has more power than any ruler, authority, power, dominion, and any name in this era or any era to come.\u201d\u00a0 As Jack would say, as he interpreted these words of Paul, \u201cthere are unseen resurrection forces ready to support the dream and vocation of reconciling the world, if we can only think big enough to engage them.\u201d We need only use our spiritual imagination to see what God is doing and longs to do in our world through the church.<\/p>\n
Jack took his spiritual imagination with him to the World Religions Summit in Winnipeg in June.\u00a0 I told this story already in a sermon this summer, but the planning committee for this morning\u2019s worship asked me to tell it again.
At that summit, Eighty leaders of the world\u2019s religions, with 13 youth delegates from 20 countries representing Aboriginal, Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Shinto, and Sikh traditions <\/em>gathered to create a statement for the G8\/G20 leaders meeting in Toronto.\u00a0 The summit called the world\u2019s leaders to be accountable to the United Nation\u2019s 8 Millennium Development Goals.<\/p>\nJack Suderman had five minutes to address the summit on issues of\u00a0 peace and justice. With his spiritual imagination in hand, He suggested a 9th Millenium goal: that world religions resolve to stop teaching and justifying the use of violence among faith communities. As he tells the story, he thought his suggestion was \u201cpie in the sky,\u201d but before he could sit down an orthodox priest shook his hand saying, \u201cthat\u2019s exactly what we need.\u201d Behind him was a Jewish Rabbi, who told Suderman \u201cthat\u2019s exactly what we need,\u201d and behind him was the Archbishop of Canterbury who said the same. This proposal became part of the official statement they sent to the G8\/G20 leaders.<\/p>\n
The statement reads:
<\/font><\/p>\n
\n
WE are aware that there are those who use religion to justify violent acts against others and thereby offend the true spirit of their faith and the long-standing values of their faith communities.\u00a0 We condemn religiously motivated terrorism and extremism and commit to stop the teaching and justification of the use of violence between and among our faith communities.<\/p>\nOur faith traditions are steeped in the promotion of love for one another and deep respect for all humankind; peace and justice walk hand in hand. Our most inspiring teachings are stories of reconciliation and compassion. We will collaborate to create paths of peaceful and sustainable coexistence.
<\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
Unseen Resurrection forces were on hand with Jack and the World Religions summit to support the dream and vocation of reconciling the world.\u00a0 Thanks be to God.
And so, here at TUMC, one of 221 churches in Mennonite Church Canada, we are part of God\u2019s incarnational presence in the world, part of God\u2019s strategy to transform the world.\u00a0 Unseen resurrection forces are on hand to support this dream and non-negotiable vocation.\u00a0 Let us respond with Gratitude in our hearts, singing songs and hymns and spiritual songs to God.\u00a0 And let us, here at TUMC use our Spiritual imaginations to join in God\u2019s strategy of transformation for the world.<\/p>\ni – Their statement can be found on the World Religions Summit 2010 website.\u00a0 The Statement is entitled:\u00a0 A Time for inspired Leadership and Action Final Draft \u2013 June 23 2010. http:\/\/www.faithchallengeg8.com\/pdfs\/2010%20Interfaith%20Statement%20-%20English.pdf<\/font><\/p>\n
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\u00a0 View Archived Sermons \u00a0 Colossians 3:15-17 15And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. 17And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons-a-worship-audio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1234"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3992,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234\/revisions\/3992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}