WORSHIP RESOURCES
Ordinary Time (Proper 11)
Colossians 1:15-28
God’s Mystery Revealed
Additional Scriptures
Amos 8:1-12; Psalm 52; Luke 10:38-42; Doctrine and Covenants 163:4b-c
Preparation
For the worship center, consider including elements of a cross and a basket of locally grown, seasonal fruit.
Prelude
Welcome
In Community of Christ, we gather in awareness of the holy sacredness of creation. The mysteries of God can never be fully known, but the awe of gathering in God’s presence draws us to the sacred texts that uphold the beauty, splendor, and awesomeness of God’s creation in Christ. We confess that we have contributed to the desecration of that creation and the warming of the earth to the point of ominous consequences for all of creation. Our true desire is to live in harmony with all of God’s creation. Let us read from the lectionary texts.
Call to Worship
“This is what the Lord God showed me—a basket of summer fruit. He said, ‘Amos, what do you see?’ And I [Amos] said, ‘A basket of summer fruit.’” …
And yet, even more beautiful, Christ “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.” [Colossians]
Let us then declare that “the earth, lovingly created as an environment for life to flourish, shudders in distress because creation’s natural and living systems are becoming exhausted from carrying the burden of human greed and conflict. Humankind must awaken from its illusion of independence and unrestrained consumption without lasting consequences.” … [Doctrine and Covenants]
With the assurance of God’s goodness and the goodness of creation, let us proclaim: “I will thank you forever, because of what you have done. In the presence of the faithful I will proclaim your name, for it is good.” … [Psalms]
—From Amos 8:1-12, Colossians 1:15-28,
Doctrine and Covenants 163:4b-c, Psalm 82
Welcoming Hymn
“Hidden Christ, Alive Forever” CCS 24
“For Beauty of Meadows” CCS 142
“All Creatures of Our God and King” CCS 98
Encourage participants to sing in languages other than their own.
Prayer for Peace
Light the peace candle.
Peace Prayer
Creator of Mysteries,
We praise you for the glory of your creation. We see your handiwork in rivers and streams, lions and lambs, mountains and shadows. May we find your peace in our hearts as we confess that humanity has recklessly consumed resources that have warmed the Earth’s temperatures and polluted the land, air, and water. Help us to find ways to live in peace with one another and with creation. May we center our lives in Jesus Christ, who lives in the hidden mysteries of creation. This is our prayer in Jesus’s name. Amen.
Scripture Reading: Colossians 1:15-28
Hymn of Creation
“God Who Cares for All Creation” CCS 14
This tune can be sung in a two- or three-part round.
OR “Creator God We Sing/Cantemos al Creador” CCS 114
Encourage participants to sing in a language other than their own.
OR “Creator of Sunrises” CCS 207
Message
Based on Colossians 1:15-28
Disciples’ Generous Response
Statement
As we consider our response to God’s generosity in creation, let us take time to review some of the consequences of climate change brought on by greenhouse gases and fossil fuels. As responsible stewards, we are called to live in harmony with God’s creation, but the facts that confront us are stunning.
According to NASA, “there is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate. Human activity is the principal cause.” Also from NASA:
Global Temperature Is Rising
The planet’s average surface temperature has risen about 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degree Celsius) since the late nineteenth century, a change driven largely by increased carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere and other human activities.
The Ocean Is Getting Warmer
The ocean has absorbed much of this increased heat, with the top 100 meters (about 328 feet) of ocean warming 0.67 degrees Fahrenheit (0.33 degrees Celsius) since 1969.
The Ice Sheets Are Shrinking
The mass of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets has decreased. Data from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment show that between 1993 and 2019, Greenland lost an average of 279 billion tons of ice per year, while Antarctica lost about 148 billion tons of ice per year.
Sea Level Is Rising
Global sea level rose about 8 inches (20 centimeters) in the last century. The rate in the last two decades, however, is nearly double that of the last century and accelerating slightly every year.”
—Climate.nasa.gov/evidence
In Community of Christ, we are called to be in the forefront of those organizations that will end this needless desecration of the environment.
God invites us to use our resources to bring about solutions that promote peace and justice. When we open our hearts to courageously and generously share by placing money in the offering plates or through eTithing, we join the movement of God’s compassion in the world to bring peace and justice for the entire creation.
If you have participants joining the worship online, remind them that they can give through www.CofChrist.org/give or through eTithing at www.eTithing.org (consider displaying these URLs).
Blessing and Receiving of Local and Worldwide Mission Tithes
Hymn of Commitment
“Let Us Give Praise to the God of Creation” CCS 607
OR “Christ Has Called Us to New Visions” CCS 566
OR “My Savior Said That I Should Be” CCS 589
Benediction
Response
Postlude
SERMON AND CLASS HELPS
Year C—Letters
Ordinary Time (Proper 11)
Colossians 1:15–28
Exploring the Scripture
Today’s lection stresses the supremacy of Christ over all creation throughout all time. The text explains Paul’s involvement with the Colossian church. The first part (v. 15–20) may represent an early hymn used in Christian worship. Christ is the image of God. Christ’s existence preceded everything as the “firstborn of all creation” (v. 15). He helped in creating both the visible world and the invisible realm of angels (dominions, rulers, and powers that serve God). Creation not only occurred through Christ but “for him” (v. 16), pointing to his final triumph now and throughout time. He holds the universe together (v. 17).
Christ takes priority over everything. As the “firstborn of the dead” (v. 18), he governs life, death, and resurrection’s transforming action. As the Son of God, he is the full revelation of God. He reconciles and heals everything broken on Earth and in heaven. Thus, the Colossians also are reconciled. Their sins and distance from God are forgiven and healed, so they stand pure and holy before God.
One way of understanding this salvation is to imagine Christ as a lens that filters out sins and brokenness. God views humans through that lens and sees only the good in us. Paul makes the promise conditional on faithful adherence to the gospel of hope, which they have learned.
Jesus’s suffering on the cross did not end with his death. That suffering lives on in the pain and struggles of Paul, the Colossians, and every other disciple. As a servant of the gospel, Paul makes a remarkable claim: He is completing the work in the church begun by Christ’s sacrifice.
Jesus’s death resulted in the start of the movement now known as the church. But Jesus’s afflictions could not create the community of faith by themselves. That depends on Paul (and others like him) through whom the Risen Christ moves, suffers, reconciles, and acts to inspire new faith.
Paul received a commission from God to spread the gospel to the Gentiles, to reveal the mystery hidden through the ages. That mystery is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (v. 27). Hidden in the history of the Jews was the promise the Gentiles, too, could be saved and be part of God’s peaceable realm. Once strangers, standing aloof from God, they are reconciled through Christ. For Paul personally, that reconciliation resulted in Paul’s call to be the apostle to the Gentiles.
What Paul proclaims—and by extension, what the Colossians proclaim—is Christ living within his followers, so their words and deeds are an extension of Christ’s teaching and spirit. The goal is to help everyone become mature disciples of Christ, living the life of God’s peace, by sharing the teachings and acts Jesus modeled.
Living as disciples of Jesus Christ, who is over and through all things, aligns us with creation. It unites us with the universal church and with the transforming efforts of followers all over the world. By living the gospel message, we proclaim the Risen Christ and bear witness to God’s vision of the new creation and completion of the unity of heaven and Earth.
Central Ideas
- Christ is supreme over all creation throughout all time.
- All things exist in and through Jesus Christ, who was the agent of creation, and Christ holds all creation together.
- Jesus’s suffering on the cross lives on in the pain and struggles of every disciple.
- The church is to proclaim and live Jesus Christ.
- Jesus’s afflictions cannot create a community of faith by themselves. That depends on those through whom the Risen Christ moves, suffers, reconciles, and acts.
Questions for the Speaker
- How do some hymns in Community of Christ Sings present the divine and human natures of Christ? (Check 39, 405, 431, and 565 compared to 26, 36, 412, and 449. How would you classify the Christology of 22 or 32?)
- How does Christ’s suffering live in you? How has that transformed you?
- Who is the Christ your congregation proclaims, and how effective is that proclamation?
- How do you and your congregation witness God’s vision of the new creation and completion of the unity of heaven and Earth?
SACRED SPACE: A RESOURCE FOR SMALL-GROUP MINISTRY
Year C Letters
Ordinary Time, Proper 11
Colossians 1:15–29 NRSVue
Gathering
Welcome
Ordinary Time is the period in the Christian calendar from Pentecost to Advent. This span is without major festivals or holy days. During Ordinary Time we focus on our discipleship as individuals and a faith community.
Prayer for Peace
Ring a bell or chime three times slowly.
Light the peace candle.
Spirit of peace, as we consider how we can affect PEACE in our daily lives, we ask that you help us to:
Speak and act KINDLY, as it is amazing how far a little kindness goes in setting the tone in our lives, our home, and the impact it makes on those around us.
LAUGH often, to share the joy of your love with our family, friends, and those we may happen to meet.
Give GENEROUSLY, to share our time, our talents, and our treasures. To give with a grateful heart brings joy to our souls and furthers your work in your kingdom.
LOVE unconditionally, to share our love and your love with everyone we meet. We may be the key to making a difference in one person’s life. Help us to not miss that opportunity.
This is how we can affect PEACE in our small corner of the world. Let the efforts we make have a rippling effect in your world. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Read the following aloud:
Today we will be experiencing a blessing of loving kindness. I will say a phrase, and you will repeat the words after me silently.
As we begin, take a few moments to quiet yourself. If you are comfortable doing so, close your eyes.
Allow the words of blessing to resonate in your heart and mind. I will pause at the end of each phrase to give time for you to repeat it silently.
May I be blessed with loving kindness. (Pause.)
May I be blessed with health. (Pause.)
May I be blessed with true happiness. (Pause.)
May I be blessed with peace. (Pause.)
Think of someone who is beloved to you. Visualize the person as you pray. You may insert the person’s name into the prayer in your mind:
May my beloved be blessed with loving kindness. (Pause.)
May my beloved be blessed with health. (Pause.)
May my beloved be blessed with true happiness. (Pause.)
May my beloved be blessed with peace. (Pause.)
Now think of a close friend. Visualize the person as you pray:
May my friend be blessed with loving kindness. (Pause.)
May my friend be blessed with health. (Pause.)
May my friend be blessed with true happiness. Pause.
May my friend be blessed with peace. (Pause.)
Think of someone with whom you are in conflict or has harmed you. Visualize this person. Breathe deeply and lovingly pray this blessing:
May the one who harmed me be blessed with loving kindness. (Pause.)
May the one who harmed me be blessed with health. (Pause.)
May the one who harmed me be blessed with true happiness. (Pause.)
May the one who harmed me be blessed with peace. (Pause.)
Invite people to share the thoughts, emotions, and images they experienced in this time of blessing.
Sharing Around the Table
Colossians 1:15–29 NRSVue
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.
And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him, provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a minister of this gospel.
I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. I became its minister according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil and strive with all the energy that he powerfully inspires within me.
Today’s passage stresses the supremacy of Christ over all creation throughout all time. The first part may represent an early hymn used in Christian worship. The author of the letter reminds us that Christ is the image of God. Christ’s existence preceded everything as the “firstborn of all creation.” He holds the universe together.
Christ takes priority over everything. As the Son of God, he is the full revelation of God. He reconciles and heals everything broken on Earth and in heaven…including the Colossians. Although Paul makes the promise conditional on faithful adherence to the gospel of hope, which they have learned, their sins and distance from God are forgiven and healed, so they stand pure and holy before God.
As a servant of the gospel, Paul makes a remarkable claim: He is completing the work in the church begun by Christ’s sacrifice. Jesus’s death resulted in the start of the movement now known as the church, but Jesus’s afflictions could not create the community of faith by themselves. That depends on Paul (and others like him) through whom the Risen Christ moves, suffers, reconciles, and acts to inspire new faith.
What Paul proclaims—and by extension, what the Colossians proclaim—is that Christ lives within his followers, so their words and deeds are an extension of Christ’s teaching and Spirit.
Living as disciples of Jesus Christ, who is over and through all things, aligns us with creation. By living the gospel message, we proclaim the Risen Christ and bear witness to God’s vision of the new creation.
Questions
1. What hymns in Community of Christ Sings best express the Jesus you have come to know?
2. How has your relationship with Jesus helped you bridge the distance between you and God?
3. How is your life an extension of Christ’s teachings and Spirit? A witness to God’s vision of the new creation?
Sending
Generosity Statement
Faithful disciples respond to an increasing awareness of the abundant generosity of God by sharing according to the desires of their hearts; not by commandment or constraint.
—Doctrine and Covenants 163:9
The offering basket is available if you would like to support ongoing, small-group ministries as part of your generous response. You also may give at CofChrist.org/give.
This offering prayer is adapted from A Disciple’s Generous Response:
Discipling God, as we navigate our world of debt and consumerism, help us save wisely, spend responsibly, and give generously. In this way may we prepare for the future and create a better tomorrow for our families, friends, the mission of Christ, and the world. Amen.
Invitation to Next Meeting
Closing Hymn
Community of Christ Sings 287, “Come and Bring Light”
Closing Prayer
Optional Additions Depending on Group
- Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
- Thoughts for Children
Thoughts for Children
Materials:
· battery-powered tea lights (optional)
Today, we are going to pray for people who are treated unfairly or unjustly. To do this, we are going to practice a Quaker prayer called holding in the light. It invites us to place a person or concern in the light of God’s Spirit.
If you don’t know anyone specifically who experiences injustice, that’s OK. You can pray for people who don’t have enough to eat, people who are separated from their families, or people who constantly are afraid because of violence. You also can pray for people in your own life who you would like to hold in the light. Maybe someone in your family is sick, or someone at school doesn’t have many friends.
If you are using tea lights, pass those out before you begin praying. Invite all present to participate in this prayer.
Say: Allow a picture to form in your mind of the person or concern you wish to pray for. See the person or concern being surrounded and held in God’s light. Feel or sense this healing light even if you do not have an image of it. Open your heart to God’s love for the person and continue to hold the person in the light until you hear me say amen.
Trust that words are not necessary because God already knows the need.
Wait for a time to allow people to think and pray.
Amen.