For he is the complete fullness of deity living in human form. And our own completeness is now found in him. We are completely filled with God as Christ’s fullness overflows within us. He is the Head of every kingdom and authority in the universe! – Colossians 2:9-10
This summer there is an interesting shift in alignment surrounding the ethos of life at and around Maul Hall. It has to do with this transition into “being retired” as the central reference point for who we are in relation to the world around us.
“Ethos” is defined as the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; it is the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society…
Of course the central – pivotal – understanding of who we are as people is more accurately described as, “Blessed Children of God and Ambassadors of Grace” (BCoGaAoG) – it always has been. But it is also true that this looming movement away from “Pastor of a specific church family” absolutely impacts how living as BCoGaAoG will be playing out in our day to day lives.
With two weeks and two days to go before Rebekah’s last day as Senior Pastor at WFPC, we will have to wait and pay attention to see how all this shakes out. In the meantime, however, I feel confident that the scripture from Colossians offers an important clue: “Our own completeness is found in him.”
In other words, we can measure how we are doing in relation to being BCoGaAoG when we consider this statement from Paul: “We are completely filled with God as Christ’s fullness overflows within us.”
I don’t know about you, but the standard of “completely filled with God” is a much more meaningful point of identity than anything such as, “I am a school teacher,” or, “I am a writer,” or even, “I am the senior pastor of a large, busy, vibrant, faithful Presbyterian Church.”
So here we are, Blessed Children of God and Ambassadors of Grace. Always. Still moving the needle. We will never in even the smallest sense retire from something like that.
In love, and because love is the power that fuels this journey – DEREK
Like “We are completely filled with God as Christ’s fullness overflows within us.” we shall not become God in the same way “for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,” (Col 2:9 ASV) does not make Jesus to be God. He is, like God declared him to be the son of man and the son of God, as well as the mediator between God and man.