Colossians 1:15-23 January 25, 2009
First Place Sermon Series, Part 2
“Mirror Image!”
Rev. Meagan M. Boozer
I have a letter here from the late Minnie Pearl to my mom. I found it in my mom’s papers after she died. She writes:
Dear Molly,
The reason this is so long reaching you is I kept thinking I’d wait ‘til I had the time to really write to you. Apparently, in my life, the time ain’t comin’!
So – I will say I loved your letter – all the news – all those growin’ younguns. All I can think of is the babies you had with you when we saw you all last!
As you see – we have a museum – Henry runs it – hating the whole thing – a 9 to 5 feller he ain’t! But he’ll like it better when the money comes in and we’re off our investment – we’re brand new.
Haven’t seen your young friends – they can reach me thru the museum.
I do a weekly show on the Nashville Network Cable – do you get that? Every Fri. nite on “Nashville Now” – fun!
Wish I could see you – come this way – I don’t seem to get up that way. We love you! MP
Now, I think that’s pretty cool – to have this letter. I remember Minnie Pearl and Henry coming to our house and sitting out by the swimming pool. She hardly ever took that big ole’ hat off. Seeing this letter brought back those memories. But what made this find extra sweet for me was that inside the envelope was a crazy picture of my mom, all dressed up like Minnie Pearl! When I saw it I remembered a variety show my mom was in at Chambersburg High School. I think she must have sent this picture to Minnie to tell her about it in addition to introducing by letter some friends who might stop by to say hello. Letters are wonderful things – pieces of history. I have boxes and boxes of love letters that John wrote to me the year I was in college in North Carolina and he was up here in State College. I wouldn’t part with those letters for anything. Winnie Agett was telling me this past week about all the letters she has from her husband John when they were separated from each other because of his service to the country. Of course she has kept those letters. How could you possibly throw away such important communications between people?
What a gift from God it is to us to have letters in the Bible that were written to the early church – opening up for us important instructions and encouragements that matter as much to us today as they did to the first recipients. We can call them letters – but most often they are called epistles – which basically means the same thing.
The Epistle to the Colossians is one of what is called the “prison” epistles because it, along with the Epistle to the Ephesians, to the Philippians, and the personal epistle to Philemon were written by the Apostle Paul while he was in prison in Rome. They were what we might call now, “jailhouse” letters.
The Epistle to the Colossians was written by Paul in about A.D. 62, so about 30 years after Jesus’ resurrection. It is a wonderful part of a whole package that is sometimes called “the anatomy of Christianity,” or “the anatomy of the church.” Ephesians is about the body of believers called the church, of which Christ is the head. Colossians directs our attention to the head of the body who is Christ. Philippians shows us how to live, emphasizing the importance of servanthood, and Philemon demonstrates Christianity working its way out in an irreligious community.
It is said of Colosse that it was a small, unimportant place in comparison to the cities around it. It had once been a prominent city, but it had declined over the years – and in fact it is stated by biblical commentators that Colosse was the most unimportant town to which Paul ever wrote a letter.
So why write it? Records show that Paul never even visited the city. Apparently on his way to Ephesus, Paul took the Roman road and by-passed Colosse. Let’s make the comparison using Spring Run in place of Colosse. Let’s say Paul was coming down 75, and when he got to the turn at Blairs Mills, he took it and wound his way out to 522, and eventually made it out to Rt. 30 and into Chambersburg, which was his destination. He could have come straight to Spring Run and right on through to Rt. 30, but instead he by-passed Spring Run. Then later on, he wrote a letter of incredible content to this church, a place in which he never set foot filled with people he never met. This is what we’re looking at here in this epistle. Why did he write this letter?
Though Paul was not the on-site founder of the church in Colosse, he is considered by many to be the off-site founder of the church. Epaphras appears to be the direct leader of the church, who most likely was one of Paul’s converts from his ministry in Ephesus, which is located about 100 miles east of Colosse. Paul is considered the founder of the church in Colosse in much the same way that he is considered the founder of the church at Rome: by preaching the truth about Jesus, by making the connections for both Jews and Gentiles between the Old Testament prophecies and Jesus’ life and ministry, and by raising up leaders from among the crowds to go and make disciples in every town and city.
But then, Paul is thrown into prison in Rome. Epaphras must have been the one who brought to Paul the news of a situation developing in Colosse. Much of the news he brought to Paul was good. Listen to what Paul writes starting in v. 4, “
First Place Sermon Series, Part 2
“Mirror Image!”
Rev. Meagan M. Boozer
I have a letter here from the late Minnie Pearl to my mom. I found it in my mom’s papers after she died. She writes:
Dear Molly,
The reason this is so long reaching you is I kept thinking I’d wait ‘til I had the time to really write to you. Apparently, in my life, the time ain’t comin’!
So – I will say I loved your letter – all the news – all those growin’ younguns. All I can think of is the babies you had with you when we saw you all last!
As you see – we have a museum – Henry runs it – hating the whole thing – a 9 to 5 feller he ain’t! But he’ll like it better when the money comes in and we’re off our investment – we’re brand new.
Haven’t seen your young friends – they can reach me thru the museum.
I do a weekly show on the Nashville Network Cable – do you get that? Every Fri. nite on “Nashville Now” – fun!
Wish I could see you – come this way – I don’t seem to get up that way. We love you! MP
Now, I think that’s pretty cool – to have this letter. I remember Minnie Pearl and Henry coming to our house and sitting out by the swimming pool. She hardly ever took that big ole’ hat off. Seeing this letter brought back those memories. But what made this find extra sweet for me was that inside the envelope was a crazy picture of my mom, all dressed up like Minnie Pearl! When I saw it I remembered a variety show my mom was in at Chambersburg High School. I think she must have sent this picture to Minnie to tell her about it in addition to introducing by letter some friends who might stop by to say hello. Letters are wonderful things – pieces of history. I have boxes and boxes of love letters that John wrote to me the year I was in college in North Carolina and he was up here in State College. I wouldn’t part with those letters for anything. Winnie Agett was telling me this past week about all the letters she has from her husband John when they were separated from each other because of his service to the country. Of course she has kept those letters. How could you possibly throw away such important communications between people?
What a gift from God it is to us to have letters in the Bible that were written to the early church – opening up for us important instructions and encouragements that matter as much to us today as they did to the first recipients. We can call them letters – but most often they are called epistles – which basically means the same thing.
The Epistle to the Colossians is one of what is called the “prison” epistles because it, along with the Epistle to the Ephesians, to the Philippians, and the personal epistle to Philemon were written by the Apostle Paul while he was in prison in Rome. They were what we might call now, “jailhouse” letters.
The Epistle to the Colossians was written by Paul in about A.D. 62, so about 30 years after Jesus’ resurrection. It is a wonderful part of a whole package that is sometimes called “the anatomy of Christianity,” or “the anatomy of the church.” Ephesians is about the body of believers called the church, of which Christ is the head. Colossians directs our attention to the head of the body who is Christ. Philippians shows us how to live, emphasizing the importance of servanthood, and Philemon demonstrates Christianity working its way out in an irreligious community.
It is said of Colosse that it was a small, unimportant place in comparison to the cities around it. It had once been a prominent city, but it had declined over the years – and in fact it is stated by biblical commentators that Colosse was the most unimportant town to which Paul ever wrote a letter.
So why write it? Records show that Paul never even visited the city. Apparently on his way to Ephesus, Paul took the Roman road and by-passed Colosse. Let’s make the comparison using Spring Run in place of Colosse. Let’s say Paul was coming down 75, and when he got to the turn at Blairs Mills, he took it and wound his way out to 522, and eventually made it out to Rt. 30 and into Chambersburg, which was his destination. He could have come straight to Spring Run and right on through to Rt. 30, but instead he by-passed Spring Run. Then later on, he wrote a letter of incredible content to this church, a place in which he never set foot filled with people he never met. This is what we’re looking at here in this epistle. Why did he write this letter?
Though Paul was not the on-site founder of the church in Colosse, he is considered by many to be the off-site founder of the church. Epaphras appears to be the direct leader of the church, who most likely was one of Paul’s converts from his ministry in Ephesus, which is located about 100 miles east of Colosse. Paul is considered the founder of the church in Colosse in much the same way that he is considered the founder of the church at Rome: by preaching the truth about Jesus, by making the connections for both Jews and Gentiles between the Old Testament prophecies and Jesus’ life and ministry, and by raising up leaders from among the crowds to go and make disciples in every town and city.
But then, Paul is thrown into prison in Rome. Epaphras must have been the one who brought to Paul the news of a situation developing in Colosse. Much of the news he brought to Paul was good. Listen to what Paul writes starting in v. 4, “
