For those of us who are creative we recognise the beauty of bringing a mix of materials and tools together to create something useful and beautifully crafted. We see this in our craft group that meets in the cafe once a month, our crafters bring a mix of simple tools, skill and materials together to make something beautiful.
I have found whether it is gardening together in our grounds, or doing some DIY together to improve or fix something in the building, or meeting together for a crafty catch up in our cafe, when God's people gather Holy Spirit knits and weaves us together. Only through one another and our shared experiences and knowledge can we know God more fully. No one of us can fully experience God in isolation. This is how God has designed us to be interdependent, knitted and woven together. In the translation of Paul's words in The Message we are taught that this is how our minds become confident and find rest, when we are woven together.
2-4 I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God's great mystery. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else. And we've been shown the mystery! I'm telling you this because I don't want anyone leading you off on some wild-goose chase, after other so-called mysteries, or "the Secret." Colossians 2: 2-4 The Message
Many of our minds are far from rest. We have busy minds, overloaded by information from work and leisure. Of all generations we have more information coming at us and perhaps less time to be practical or together in fellowship. I believe this is why so many feel tired! We have to sort and prioritise mix media information in great volumes, and make decisions in ways, and at speed that are new and unnatural to humanity. What Paul says is helpful and discordant with our whirling world of frenzied economics, war and free flowing media. Our faith can be simple and straightforward - it's a matter of living what we have been given and in that we will find freedom.
6-7 My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you've been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You're deeply rooted in him. You're well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you've been taught. School's out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.
Colossians 2: 2-4 The Message
The Christian life becomes much simpler and more fulfilling when we we don't just learn about the faith but we practice it too, in pragmatic and simple ways. Our faith is truly a beautiful thing, however, just like when you are crafting following a pattern or manual isn't enough. Looking at the instructions alone won't create something useful and beautiful. It is only by practising our faith in community that we create a life where our minds find rest in our confidence in Christ.
Declarations
Everything has been created through Christ and for Christ. (1: 15-20)
Christ is all I and others need to be saved, and to truly be a child of God. (2: 11-15)
Lent Prayer
Father God, we thank-you that You love us and call us into a confident life resting in You. Help us to filter the overload of information coming at us and make time to be with one another, so we can grow from one another's experiences in our knowledge of You. Help us to live out the teaching Christ has given us. Help us not to over complicate things. Let our faith be simple and straightforward. May we recognise the confusion of the flesh, devil and the world and set it aside swiftly and live out the life of Christ as your hands and feet to our family, friends and all of Your creation. Let us remember today, You're not calling us into a cluttered life characterised by confusion and complexity but a life of simple and straightforward faith. Amen.