A Big Move!
We moved! We’re happy to be in Longwood now closer to much of the Christ Church community.
Moving is exciting. A new space, new neighbors, new restaurants and stores – not to mention, for us, less drive time which equals more opportunities to connect and do ministry in the area.
But moving can be disorienting as well. I haven’t quite missed an exit yet attempting to go back to our old house on “auto-pilot,” but I have come close. That makes sense since it takes our minds a bit to adjust to change.
Our epistle for this Sunday drives this point home on the spiritual level. Prior to our reading, Paul says in Colossians 1:13 that Christ has “delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.” Here is the most significant move one can ever make – getting relocated from the dominion of evil into Christ’s Kingdom!
Our passage for this Sunday follows up on that reality by making it clear that everything has changed because of that move. Now, in Christ, we’re in a place of resurrection life with him rather than dwelling in the death of our sinfulness. And that came when God forgave us our sins by way of the cross – where he turned the tables on the enemy and through Christ’s death defeated the spiritual forces of darkness.
The point of this passage (and much of Colossians 1-2) is that God has spiritually relocated us, and the benefits are beyond what we can fathom. Everything is new in Christ, and it’s an exciting reality.
But it’s important to remember where we live now. That might sound odd, but it’s easy to slip into a worldly way of thinking, especially as the world, by way of media, bombards us with disorienting perspectives that can distract us from where we have moved and what that move entails going forward.
Paul warns us against such distractions when he says: “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe.”
He then reminds us of our spiritual address, saying, "in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority."
Friends, our new location, our new life is in Christ and his Kingdom. May we always be grateful for that move. And may our hearts, minds and spirits ever dwell there as we joyfully invite others to join us.
Fr. Darin+