Colossians 1:17

Colossians 1:17--He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

There is a method of reading scripture called "lectio divina" (divine reading). It is a process of reading scripture, then meditating on the words, phrases, or verses that jump out at you. You may read the same scripture multiple times... each time having a different result. Why do certain things stay with us, when others pass without effect? Maybe those are what God wants us to hear, see, and know at that moment.

Tonight...out of the entire book, Colossians 1:17 resonated in my heart. The world is ever changing. My own life has gone through some major changes in the past year. It is a completely different life that I'm still learning how to live. God continues to take my life apart and reorder the pieces, creating a new picture. I used to question why and search for reason. Now I know, that it's in His plan, and the results will be more than I could ever have imagine. Faithfully, I have laid my life before Him, and consequentially, He is holding me together. Tonight, that's what I needed to hear.

Colossians 1:1

I was listening to a talk the other day, and the speaker told a story about a teacher he had in college. He attended some bible college, so his experience might have been different than yours. He said that the professor asked them to read a passage in scripture and write down any questions they had about it.

I took this approach the other day while I was reading through Colossians. The book starts off this way...

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Here are a few questions I came up with from verse 1:1.

1. Who was Paul? I know, people spend their entire life researching this subject. Maybe it would help if I knew a little more about him.


2. What does it mean to be an apostle of Christ Jesus?
   1. What does it mean to be an apostle of anything?
   2. Can you be an apostle of something else?


3. What does he mean by "by the will of God"? If Jesus is God, does he mean an apostle of God because God willed it?


4. Who was Timothy?


5. "Our brother"... Who does our refer to? Paul and the Colossians? Us? All Christians?


6. Why does the letter start off this way?I assume this was the cultural norm, but maybe there is more to it.


7. Is this a formal letter or a personal letter? Was there a difference in that day and age?

In the talk, the students each came back with a question or two about the passage they had been asked to study. The professor was livid. He admonished the students for their arrogance. He asked if they claimed to know everything else about the passage; All but a few things.

It made me think about how little I know about the scriptures, and how much I just read over without considering what is actually being communicated.

I have a lot to learn. We have a lot to learn.

Race for the Cure

I mentioned that Traci wanted to get a team from visio dei together to participate in the 11th Annual Triangle Race for the Cure. Well, I signed up and registered a team. It would be great if we could get a good showing from not only visio dei, but also from our home group. I know several of you have participated in the past.

Here is the link to the visio dei team page.

I hope you will all sign up.

-Shannon

Welcome All Ye New Bloggers

To all you who are new to this arena of communication, I want to exend my warmest welcome to what I kindly refer to as the blogosphere. I rather enjoy this medium as it allows me to express my thoughts in a place where they are documented and I can return to them if I choose.

I hope that you all will find this blog to be a useful tool to share ideas and thoughts. Remember the blog does not generate new content on its own. It will only be as good as we make it. So, feel free to share what you're learning, to rant about whatever it is that's got you all worked up, or to simply share what's on your mind.

I look forward to hearing from you all.

-Shannon