March 21 – Colossians

In his iconic song, “Forever Young,”

Bob Dylan weaves together a lovely mixed metaphor:

May your hands always be busy

May your feet always be swift

May you have a strong foundation

When the winds of changes shift

Busy hands and swift feet,

yet a strong foundation,

something immovable in the face of changing winds.

Curiously enough, St. Paul mixes metaphors

in a very similar way.

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord,

so walk in Him,

rooted and built up in Him

and established in the faith,

as you have been taught,

abounding in with thanksgiving. (Col. 2.6-7, NKJV)

Since you have received Christ,

that is, since you have embraced

the word of truth that is revealed in Jesus,

walk in him (with swift feet perhaps),

keep moving, don’t stand still.

And yet, this is a dynamism

that is rooted like a tree,

built up like a secure building,

established like something that isn’t going anywhere.

Then he returns to a dynamic metaphor at the end,

abounding, or overflowing, bubbling over, in thanksgiving.

There is something to these mixed metaphors, friends.

Something worth meditating on during our Lenten journey.

Indeed, these mixed metaphors get at the heart of Christian discipleship.

Christian life is both dynamic, changing, growing and on the move,

and secure, rooted, and established.

If all you have is dynamism and change,

then you end up with a faith without discernment,

a faith without grounding.

If all you have is securely established faith with immovable foundations,

then you end up with a faith without life,

a faith stuck in a dead orthodoxy.

At Wine Before Breakfast

we are looking for a faith that is dynamic,

rooted in Jesus, the Truth of God.

We are looking for a faith that is secure,

dynamically led by Jesus, who is the Way.

That’s the kind of faith that Paul commends

in his letter to the Colossians,

and still commends to us all these years later.

This week at WBB …

Jacqueline preaches and presides.

Megan sets the table.

Amanda is crafting our prayers.

While Deb and the bandhood mixes it up with Sarah Slean, Bruce Springsteen, a little gospel and some classic hymnody.

Hope to see you there.

Brian Walsh

Campus Pastor