Ayashi-chuo Christ Church, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan, 31 July 2022
Colossians 1:15-20 :: Download Slideshow PDF
Good morning. It is good to be with you today. My wife Diana and I want to thank you for your kind welcome and your hospitality to us on our visit to our family. It reminds us that we belong together to a worldwide family of Christian people, and it is a joy to be joined with you in worship here.
This is where we live - in the North West of England, in Yorkshire, which is the largest sized County in England, which stretches from the east coast to the hills and mountains of the centre and the west.
We are surrounded by mountains and our nearest one, Ingleborough is one of the largest mountains in England. Many people are drawn from British towns and cities, and indeed from all over the world - to climb it.
Why are people drawn to the countryside away from their city lives?
Why are people drawn from the low-land up to the mountain heights?
When you ask people these questions, they may talk about finding refreshment by being out in the open air.
They may talk about the benefits which exercising brings to their bodies and to their spirits.
They may talk about the beauty of the green countryside compared to the grey concrete cities, and of how that brings joy to their souls.
Some may say that they visit the mountains because they are looking for healing.
Some because they are looking to rid their busy minds of anxious thoughts and seeking to think clearly again.
Some go to the mountains just for one simple thing which they call ‘escape’.
We might say that these people are all looking for Salvation - of one sort or another. Looking to be saved from all that harms them in their everyday lives; longing to ‘find themselves’ again in nature.
When they lift up their eyes to the hills, where shall their help come from? Will it come from the heavens and the earth alone? What is the good news for those who are seeking Salvation from nature?
In your land and in ours we have what some people call ‘holy mountains’. We have Pendle Hill, which for centuries has been associated with paganism, whose followers see it as a high place where the nature gods live.
And in Japan there are places like Yamadera, a holy mountain which people visit seeking healing from the ‘Medicine Buddha’.
Those who visit holy mountains, When they lift up their eyes to the hills, where shall their help come from? Will it come from the gods of the heavens and the earth? What is the good news for those who are seeking Salvation in nature’s holy mountains?
Now we know that the mountains can be beautiful in the sunshine but inhospitable and dangerous in a storm. Nature can be cruel.
Where are the gods of the heavens and the earth when I am caught in a storm? Are they judging me, punishing me for my wrongdoings? Or have they disappeared to abandon me to my fate?
Sometimes even when we are in a place of the utmost beauty our inner troubles continue; and can lift up our eyes to look, earnestly seeking out help.
The truth is that we are not always ‘at one’ with nature, nor is nature always ‘at one’ with us.
In times of drought people seek out the sky gods; in times of famine people seek out the gods of grain and harvest.
At times like these we may find that nature, in itself, is not enough. We may sense that those nature gods have their limitations, that like humans they can be selfish and cruel.
We may also reflect that our relationships with the non-human world are sometimes troubled. Consider how our greedy exploitation of nature has led to so much loss and destruction, and the fatal disruption of weather patterns; how our drive towards violence and power over others has led us to use nuclear fusion for weapons of mass destruction; how our disregard of the power we exploit has led to and energy plants which threaten communities with radioactive contamination.
And yet - despite all this - we might still feel in the deepest part of ourselves that in our world a force of absolute goodness persists; that a force of love and unity might yet be found. We might consider that there must be a way for the human and non-human world to be reconciled. And this may cause us to keep asking if there is another spirit behind the spirit of nature; we might be drawn to seek another power beyond the holy mountains.
The Psalmist of Israel went on that search, and in Psalm 121 when he asks,
‘When I lift up my eyes to the hills
Where shall my help come from?’
- he finds that his help comes not from heaven and earth in themselves, but from The Lord who made them. The Psalmist of Israel discovered the Spirit behind the spirit of nature; he celebrated in song a greater power beyond the holy mountains - in the Person of The Lord, who made heaven and earth.
The Psalmist discovered a Creator, who exists outside of our ideas of circular time and linear history and outer space, and who set all natural things in their place: ‘Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from beginning to end, you are God,’ another Psalm (91) says.
Through this Creator God all things in heaven and earth have their origins - Genesis chapter one shows us God bringing the world into being through the words of his command; and creating human society, as we are taught in Genesis chapter two, the story of Adam and Eve.
Although this Creator God comes close to earth - walking with Adam and Eve in the garden - he remains elusive, addressing Moses on the mountaintop, leading Israel towards their promised land in a pillar of cloud, hidden behind a curtain in the holiest place of the Temple.
And so people still often thought of this Creator God as a sky god - bringing forth rain in season; people still regarded him as a nature god - punishing wrongdoing through famine or flood; people still saw him as just like a god of any other emperor cult - destroying enemies to claim territory for his chosen people.
But with wonderful insight, again, the Psalmist of Israel perceives that this God shows signs of a deeper grace behind his actions. In Psalm 121 he describes a personal God - One who like a loving parent watches over us whilst we sleep; One who like a caring companion on an uphill trail makes sure that our feet do not stumble; One who even shades us from scorching sun and the dangers of a shadowy moon; ever-present, ever-giving, this Creator God has something more.
Could he be the One God who not only sets Creation in motion and sustains it, but who also intervenes in human history to save it? If he is a personal God then is it possible for us to see him?
The city of Colossae around 60 years after the birth of Jesus had been twice shaken by cataclysmic earthquakes which destroyed the place. Colossae had become a place of spiritual turmoil and its people were seeking certainty and Salvation. So there one of the earliest Christian communities was established.
To the Colossian believers, one of the very first Christian creeds was written. It begins with a remarkable statement about Jesus, saying ‘Christ is the visible image of the invisible God’.
This is a remarkable statement: if you look at Jesus you see what God is like. This Creator God who had been hidden for so long is visible in the very human shape and form of Jesus. Jesus is God in the flesh.
The first missionaries proclaimed Jesus as the saviour, through his absolutely self-giving act on the cross and his glorious life-giving resurrection. But in this statement of faith we find them affirming that he is also entirely the Creator - ‘who existed before anything was created and is supreme over all Creation, through whom God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth.’ The Creator is the Saviour, says the earliest Christian creed.
The Creator is the Saviour. There is no division between Creation and Salvation. This means that Christians cannot focus solely on the human world whilst ignoring the non-human part of Creation. It means that as well as seeking heavenly, ‘spiritual’ things we also find God acting at the heart of the life we live now. This is good news for those who are seeking Salvation in this world - those who care about human life being better, now. And this is good news for those who are seeking Salvation for this world - those who care about the earth and its well-being?
This passage of scripture helps us understand that Jesus brings Creation and Salvation together. His act of creating everything from nothing, is exactly the same thing as his life-affirming self-giving out of love on the cross through which death itself dies. The Creator is the Saviour of the human and the non-human world, which is one world, entirely made and saved in the absolute love of God.
The Salvation which Jesus worked was, at the same time, the fulfilment of his Creation. On the cross human sinfulness died, as did everything else that is broken in nature. On the cross Salvation was bought, marking a new beginning for God's whole Creation. [2]
We can celebrate because:
by the life of Jesus, God’s fullest life;
and by the cross, God’s gift of self-giving unconditional love;
and by Jesus’ resurrection, God’s release of healing, forgiving, renewing power into the world;
- all that is broken in Creation may begin again - human and non-human alike.
Let us give thanks that as a result of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, Creation is in the process of leaving death behind. As a result of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, all Creation is in the process of being reconciled.
Is there good news for those who are seeking Salvation in nature but don’t know where to look?
Is the good news that there is a Creator behind all this beauty and wonder, who existed before anything else, and who holds all Creation together?
Is the good news that this same Creator can be known because he has been shown, he has walked the earth, lived, laughed, loved, taught, blessed, healed?
Yes - the good news is that this Creator-Saviour has wept over the world’s brokenness, has calmed nature’s storms, has restored afflicted people to good health, has cast out evil spirits and brought blessing to the poor.
Yes - the good news is that this same Creator-Saviour, by exposing and confronting the sin of the world, paid the price with his life but now lives again, having overcame death once for all.
All this is very good news for all seekers after God’s truth in this world.
The final piece of good news is that the creative work of Salvation - of reconciling Creation - is a work in which we believers share in every day.
The Colossian creed says that ‘Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body.’ Which means that just as Jesus himself once embodied God on earth, showing the world the image of the previously invisible God, so now, with the help of his Holy Spirit, The Church now embodies God on earth. It is our joyful task to share in his work of Salvation - of reconciling Creation - in the way we live our lives each and every day.
Let us pray constantly for all who look up for help, all seekers after God’s truth in this world. Let us encourage each other in the joyful task of opening people’s eyes to The Creator, who is also and in the very same way The Saviour. Amen
Notes
Talk presented in collaboration with Naoko Seddon, translator, to whom many thanks.
[1] Background reading for this talk: Kosuke Koyama, Mount Fuji and Mount Sinai: A Pilgrimage in Theology.
[2] This section is based on James Alison, Raising Abel: The Recovery of the Eschatological Imagination, pp.49-50. Read extract of the passage here. See also Paul Nuechterlein, Girardian Lectionary, PROPER 11 (July 17-23) - YEAR C / Ordinary Time 16, Resources on Colossians 1:15-28, and my previous sermons Reconciling Creation (Somerset, 2015) and Rebirth and reconciliation: Creation starts with Christ (Yorkshire, 2021)
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