The Busy Life of Amy
I read an article about a working mom. Amy lives in Dallas, TX. She has three kids, and she works as a producer in local broadcast TV. I want to introduce her life briefly. In the morning, she wakes up around 5 am, and prepares meals for the family, wakes the kids up around 6:30 am, and prepares them to go to school. She and her husband are constantly juggling the schedule, who will pick up whom, and who will take someone to whatever thing they need to go to. When she gets back from work, there are tons of chores in-home, and kids are always keeping her busy. After doing house chores, she ends up doing the remaining tasks for her company. Although she is happy to have three kids and her job, her life is restless. Is anybody here like Amy? It seems that our lives are noisy and messy, and the to-do list is endless. In a busy life, it is easy to be pointless and aimless. And sometimes, we think who I am, where I am, what am I supposed to do? The Power of Hymn I have a praise that comes to my mind when I get busy and noisy. I like the hymn "It is well with my soul." It is a good reminder that Jesus Christ is with me, and I have eternal peace in him. As the lyric says, 'when sorrow like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say it is well, it is well with my soul,' Whenever I sing this hymn, I feel that a new peace and power arise in my heart. Praising God has the power to place me near to God and to invite Jesus Christ to be center of my life and be master of my small universe. When Jesus becomes a solid pillar of our hearts, we are courageous and become bold again. The Hymn in Colossians 1:15-20 I believe that it was the same for believers in Colossae. Today's passage Colossians 1:15-20 is liturgical material. It is a hymn. When they had a worship service, they might have praised Jesus Christ, who is the Creator of the universe and the master of all things in heaven and earth. Whenever I read this passage, I am curious how the early Christians sang this hymn, how they felt with this hymn, and what changes they had after singing this hymn. When you read the passage carefully, it is hard to understand. The author of the hymn puts many prepositions in verse 16. v.16 "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." You see here three prepositions, "in him," "through him" and "for him." How can we understand these prepositions together? It is weird if we use them in our ordinary communication. We need to think this with “the-whether-clause,” which says "thrones or dominions or rulers or powers." Perhaps, when believers in the church of Colossae sang this hymn, they thought of the political/sociological/cultural circumstances surrounding them. Roman Emperor? Or Jesus Christ? who is the true savior? At the first century, the terms of "savior," "Lord," "Creator of heaven and Earth" already existed before the Christianity. These terms were initially not for Jesus Christ but the Roman Emperor. If you see the first page of the bulletin, you may see a coin depicting a Roman Emperor. His name is Domitian. He is the first emperor who called himself a god, “the Lord of Lords, and God of all creatures.”[1] He built a huge temple for himself in the city of Ephesus. On the back side of coin, there is a little Zeus and there are words around him, saying “DIVVS CAESAR IMP DOMITIANI F (Divine Caesar, the Son of Domitian).” Domitian identifies his son with the little Zeus saying that is he is father of a god. Everyone in Roman cities and its colonies saw this coin, and the Roman Emperor used the coin as political propaganda. Therefore, all cities in the Roman empire were ordered by the Roman emperor. The city of Colossae was no exception. In the city, people were living in a culture that the Roman emperor created. They had to observe a particular day, and remember the Roman Emperor. The Roman Emperor wanted everyone to call him, savior, Lord, the Creator of heaven and Earth. However, the believers in the church of Colossae praised only Jesus Christ. Although people around them called the Emperor a god, the believers called only Jesus “the image of invisible God” and “all things are created in him, through him and for him.” People around them might have thought believers were suspicious because they did not go to the worship place for the Roman emperor, they did not eat foods dedicated for the Emperor, and they did not observe the birthday of Emperor. Whenever they refused, they most likely experienced hostility. Among them, some would have had a hard time keeping their faith. However, they placed Jesus Christ at the center of the universe and the center of their lives by praising the hymn. The King of Happiness and Peace v.20 "and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.” They believed in Jesus Christ, who reconciles us with God and brings us peace. Their ultimate concern was not the culture, sports, economics, or politics that the Roman emperor created. Those things could bring joy and happiness for a while but couldn't bring eternal peace. The believers’ ultimate concern was the relationship with God and everlasting peace that Jesus brings through his church. Keeping that in mind, believers in the church still invite Jesus Christ to the center of their hearts. Then they have eternal peace, the Shalom that only God can give to them. The Ultimate Concern and Ordered Love We no longer have the Roman Empire forcing us to obey a human being. But we have more significant problems. There are too many things that capture our eyes, mind, and hearts. The great theologian of the 20th century, Paul Tillich, defines faith as the state of being grasped by ultimate concern. Ultimate concern should take up a significant part of our life, we see it as the most important thing, and we consider it when deciding what to do in situations. What is your ultimate concern? What is the most crucial thing you are concerned with? That is your faith and religion. Sometimes, we see that something other than God captures us. Then, your ultimate concern is not God but something you care about. It could be yourself, children, family, money, fame, or security. Let's take time to think about what your ultimate concern is. Some would raise a question. Do we need only to think about God all day? We have a life with our family, and we need to be concerned with economic situations and our budgets. That is an actual concern we have. Yes, it is true. Then let's hear from St. Augustine and see whether he has an answer. St. Augustine says God created all things good. There is no reason not to love worldly things because God created them. It is insulting God if we say that some creatures are evil. But, sin is disordered love. Thus, we need to love God more than others. Loving something more than God is idolatry and sin according to St. Augustine. There is a divorce case for a couple. The couple decided to divorce because the husband says she does not love him because she loves their puppy more than him. And she says that she feels more loved by the puppy than him. And the court allowed them to divorce. It is a case of disordered love. We should love our family and children. We need to care about our budget situation. That is good, but we need to set up priorities. St. Augustine says that sin is also self-deconstruction. If we love ourselves more than God, it will eventually hurt our souls. But, when we love God more than others, it gives us eternal happiness. He says, "our hearts are restless until it rests in you." In other words, we can find eternal happiness only in God as Colossians says, "by making peace through the blood of his cross." Peace is achieved only by Jesus Christ. By praising God, they place Jesus Christ at the center of their hearts. They re-order the love for God. Then, there is happiness and peace. But it is not easy. There are a lot of things that try to capture our hearts. Proverbs 4:23 says, "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." We must praise God I want to conclude this sermon with a story. “One day a prophet came to Sodom; He knew what Sodom was, so he came to save it from sin, from destruction. He preached to the people. "Please do not be murderers, do not be thieves. Do not be silent and do not be indifferent." He went on preaching every day.. But no one listened. Finally someone asked him, "Rabbi, why do you do that? Don't you see it is no use?" He said, "I know it is of no use, but I must. And I will tell you why: in the beginning I thought I had to shout in order to change them. I have given up this hope. Now I know I must shout so that they should not change me. ("Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel's Class" p.48.) I want to modify one line 'I must praise God so that they should not change my love for Christ. Amen. [1] Ethelbert Stauffer, Christ and Caesar: Historical Sketches( London: SCM, 1955), 156.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Pastor
|