Keeping It All Together

Colossians 1:15-23

I’ve heard it said that were it not for friction the entire universe would fall apart. In practical terms there would be no way for objects to remain in contact, which means there would no way for us to grasp things. Transportation would be impossible because there would be no traction between wheels and the road. Friction is essential to our lives.

Paul makes a similar theological claim in his letter to the Colossians. “(Christ) himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17). In other words, were it not for Jesus Christ our lives would fall apart. There would be no way for people to remain in contact, no way for us to live in community. Truly loving one another would be impossible because we would have no frame of reference, no guidance, no encouragement, nothing to “hold us together.”

Certainly Christ is essential to the life of the church, which Paul refers to as Christ’s body over which Christ is the head (v. 18). We may speak of “friction” in negative terms from time to time, as in the friction between individuals, a phenomenon which can cause pain and loss. The church is not immune to this reality. But when the church does what it is called to do, and when the church succeeds in its mission, it is because Jesus Christ is holding it all together and making it work.

Paul would be baffled by our modern science, but he is right on target when he points to Jesus Christ as the one who gives shape and purpose to our lives.

Prayer: Lord God, by your grace may we come to know the love and community which Jesus Christ alone makes possible, for it is in his name that we pray. Amen.