Hold It Together
10:30 am, Sun, July 17, 2022 - J G White / FBC
Amherst
(Amos 8:1-12; Colossians
1:15-28; Luke 10:38-42)
“The end has come
upon my people Israel;
I will spare them no longer.”
In the Hebrew language, ‘basket of fruit’ and ‘the end’ are words that
sound similar: qayis & qes.
The prosperous people of God were to fall. The rich people were
oppressing the poor, and greedy for making it rich. When we read from such
prophets as Amos, we take a glimpse at word pictures about the fall of a
nation: things truly break apart.
Things are moving in the opposite direction in the New Testament today,
as we heard words about Christ holding things together, reconciling things, all things. Colossians has this grand
language about the Son of God holding all things together. Do we see this? Do
we know it? Do we show it?
The first of my three points today is to say that Christ does Hold Together Creation. Let me start by
speaking in the style of Amos. (This was inspired by looking at the discolouration of our two buildings.)
This is what the
Master God showed me – a gray crust on the red sandstone church. God said,
“Jeffrey, what do you see?” And I said, “Lichens, growing on the stone.” Then
God said to me,
A new beginning is
coming upon My people,
Teamwork and
cooperation,
Like the symbiosis of
fungi and algae
in the lichens that
start growing on bare rock.
It was the author of the Bible book, Colossians, who wrote of Christ: 17
He himself is before all things, and in
him all things hold together. In Christ Jesus all things hold together?
The Bible is a very human book – mostly about us and for us. Christianity is a
human religion – all aimed at people, for the most part. Yet we get this
message, again and again, all creation
is involved. God we call Creator; Christ is part of creating also – from the
beginning, ‘before all things.’
Without exploring this deeply right now, I wonder about this phrase that
suggests the death of Jesus is for much more than getting rid of our sins. It
is about all the world, the universe.
20 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.
Our day-to-day activities as part of the environment are a large aspect
of our walk with God. So I am interested in where Christ leads us. I am going
to meet with someone next week to hear about the Chignecto Naturalists Club,
which needs a new beginning and new leadership. (Let me know if you are
interested in nature!) In congregations, I have always dreamed of creating a new
goal each year that we would celebrate at Earth Day, in April. Such as, we
become a model of recycling and garbage and composting at our Church. Then, for
the next year’s goal, we learn how to use up a lot less paper – paper does not
grow on trees, I always say!
Is our Jesus still holding things together on this planet? And can we be
better team members with Christ, to bless all living things? Colossians 1
mentions 23 the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature
under heaven. Let us be people with good news for all creatures, great and
small. As Francis of Assisi supposedly said, Preach the Gospel to every creature and, if you must, use words.
The jumping off point for my second assertion is Colossians 1:18 He is the head of the body, the church.
What does Jesus do? Hold Together the
Church. & it certainly does need some ‘holding together;’ we do.
Within the hour, we will be singing that old hymn, the Church’s One Foundation, which I have always liked, but maybe less so now. The language is quite dated: the Church is She, God is He, Man is the troublemaker. (All quite biblical imagery, I must admit.) To me, the message is idealistic and realistic, at the same time:
Elect from every nation
Yet one o’er all the earth
Thou with a scornful
wonder
Men see her sore oppressed,
By schisms rent
asunder,
By heresies distressed; (Samuel John Stone)
There is a holding together of the Christian Church by Christ, through
all time and space. To be with Jesus is to be with everyone who is also in Christ. I have said before, there is
a real miracle in this: humans belonging together and being one. It takes an
act of God! But what is our part? To live by this. We are one, thanks be to God.
Let me take time in the middle of things here to read you a story. A
story of Safed the Sage, by William E. Barton, published about one hundred
years ago. Rev. Barton wrote many stories about Safed, back then, in an even
older, old-fashioned style, that I find quite endearing. This story is called
‘The Private Car.’
There is a certain
man whose abiding place is a city where is a great Railway Station, even a
Terminal, and this man determined within himself that he would go upon a
Journey. So he walked unto the Terminal, and he bought a Ticket, and he paid
the Fare. And he presented the Ticket at a Gate where stood a Watchman and the
Watchman punched his Ticket and spake unto him saying, Thy train is all ready
on Track Number Six.
And he beheld the
Cars, and they were filling up rapidly. And he said. Behold, they will all be
crowded, and I shall suffer Discomfort.
And he beheld the
last Car, which was nearest unto the Gate, and behold, there was no one in it.
And he said, This will I do. I will go into that Car, and I shall have Abundant
Room.
So he went within,
and he had all the Room he Wanted, even the Whole Car. And he smiled within
himself when he thought of the other Passengers who were Jammed into the other
Cars.
And while he was
Hugging Himself for Joy, and considering what a smart Guy he was, behold, the
train pulled out, and left him and his Private Car standing upon the track.
And he rushed out and
spake angrily unto the Watchman, and he said. Wherefore am I left behind?
And the Watchman
said, That is an Extra Car which we keep on the track to use in case there be a
greater crowd than we expect, but today there was no great crowd. Yea, and
there had been room enough for thee in one of the cars that went, but thou
didst want more room, and thou hast all the room in sight. Yea, and upon the
Side Track out in the yard are many empty cars. Thou canst take thy seat in any
one of them. But if thou desirest to ride unto the City for which thy Ticket
readeth, behold there will be another train in four hours and fifteen minutes;
and take heed that thou enter the cars that go.
Now, this I beheld,
for I was in the Station, even the Terminal, and I saw that man, yea, and I
heard that man: and what I heard was a plenty.
And I considered that
often I am caught in the Jam of life, with people crowding and pushing, and it
were much more comfortable to find a quiet seat in some Rear Car, where the
wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest. But I considered how
that if a man is to get anywhere he must go with Folks, even though they crowd,
and that no one man can do very much without the companionship and help of
other men. Therefore did I resolve to keep out of the Private Cars that do not
go nor get a man anywhere but learn the art of going and working with other
men. For I have seen that for the lack of the ability to do this, some men are
left on the track in their own Private Car, while the enterprises of life move
on.
I believe the Faith we share here today, is in essence a shared thing. Because life is! Our
core hope and mission is about reconciliation, being held together, belonging.
Your task and mine is to take our own steps in that direction. This brings me
to conclude with my final point today.
Christ also lives to Hold
Together You and God. We have these words from Colossians 1 ...you...22 he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to
present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him. As you may
well know, it is the work of God to connect us to Godself. We get drawn in, the
divine relationship gets healed, it is about the human soul and the Holy Spirit.
The amazing things we have been given, and that we give to the world,
are 27 the riches of the glory of this
mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
The glorious One who is in us,
holds all things together.
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