Just Pondering

Rick Branan

          

He is before all things,

          and by him all things hold together.

He is also 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 God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,

          and through him to reconcile everything to himself,

          whether things on earth or things in heaven,

          by making peace through his blood,

          shed on the cross.

Colossians 1:17-20 (CSBBible)

 

          Eighth-century Greek poet John of Damascus (b. Damascus, c. 675; d. St. Sabas, near Jerusalem, c. 754) is especially known for his writing of six canons for the major festivals of the church year. John's father, a Christian, was an important official at the court of the Muslim caliph in Damascus. After his father's death, John assumed that position and lived in wealth and honor. At about the age of forty, however, he became dissatisfied with his life, gave away his possessions, freed his slaves, and entered the monastery of St. Sabas in the desert near Jerusalem. One of the last of the Greek fathers, John became a great theologian in the Eastern church. He defended the church's use of icons, codified the practices of Byzantine chant, and wrote about science, philosophy, and theology.

Bert Polman

 

Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain

Come, ye faithful, raise the strain
of triumphant gladness;
God hath brought forth Israel
into joy from sadness;
loosed from Pharaoh's bitter yoke
Jacob's sons and daughters,
led them with unmoistened foot
through the Red Sea waters.

'Tis the spring of souls today;
Christ hath burst His prison,
and from three days' sleep in death
as a sun hath risen;
all the winter of our sins,
long and dark, is flying
from His light, to whom we give
laud and praise undying.

Now the queen of seasons, bright
with the day of splendor,
with the royal feast of feasts,
comes its joy to render;
comes to glad Jerusalem,
who with true affection
welcomes in unwearied strains
Jesus' resurrection,

Neither might the gates of death,
nor the tomb's dark portal,
nor the watchers, nor the seal
hold Thee as a mortal;
but today amidst the twelve
Thou didst stand, bestowing
that Thy peace which evermore
passeth human knowing.

"Alleluia!" now we cry
to our King immortal,
who, triumphant, burst the bars
of the tomb's dark portal;
"Alleluia!" with the Son,
God the Father praising,
"Alleluia!" yet again
to the Spirit raising.

Written by St. John of Damascus

 

          As Paul opens his letter to the church at Colossae (he had not been there), he writes a hymn about the centrality of Christ.  Many of us put Jesus the Son, as second to God the Father.  Paul exhorts that they are equal by saying “He is before all things” and “he is the beginning.”  Christ was there before the beginning.  John reminds us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  Christ is the “cosmic glue” (MacArthur) that holds everything together.  All of this so that we might be saved through His death, burial, and resurrection.  What a glorious message!  We are complete and reconciled only in the fulness of Christ.

          St. John of Damascus wrote, “all the winter of our sins, long and dark, is flying from His light, to whom we give laud and praise undying.”  Our sins are gone in Christ.  Our hope is in His resurrection from the dead.  His last verse is a doxology of praise to Christ the King, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit. 

          As we ponder what Christ did for us on the cross and the hope He gives in the resurrection, let us all sing and shout “Hallelujah! What a Savior.”

     Just pondering . . . Bro. Rick

 

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