FOCUS ON THE VISION
DENISE WALTON
In honor of Christ the King Sunday, I invite you to reflect on Colossians 1:11-20 presented to us in the form of a hymn. There is a larger discussion which we will not engage related to the historical nature of the text and its implications for earthly and heavenly kingship. Instead, the focus is simply to consider this hymn of the early church as it speaks to the kingship of Christ.
I have chosen to stay with this text over the next week as we embrace Advent. As I engage in the spiritual discipline of gratitude, Colossians helps me to stay centered and focused in praise and adoration to Jesus Christ.
As you carefully read the text below, how does it inform your understanding of Christ as King? What impact does the kingship of Christ have on your personal and communal discipleship?
Colossians 1:11-20
May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 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. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 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.
May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power. Amen.
Rev. Denise Walton serves as the Assistant to the Bishop for Connectional Ministries. Contact her at denise@sgaumc.org.
