colossians 2025
season 05 | in with the out crowd
We close our study of the book of Colossians by taking a look at Paul’s last challenge to us: care and compassion for the outsider. Using our values of “Selfless” and “Sincere,” how can we take our theology and make it a practical way of living. Exploring the idea of Praxis, the call for the follower of Jesus is to always be ready to implement the Way of Jesus no matter what we come across.
season 05 | reimagining submission, obedience, & service
Today we approach a difficult passage around submission, obedience, and servitude. Paul's directives to households have long been used to subjugate women, overburden men, silence children, and excuse the corruption of power. Though, what if these verses were intended to demonstrate our freedom from hierarchy and act as a subtle resistance to the way of patriarchy and degradation? If Jesus truly is Lord of all, that means we are no one's lord. We explore what this means for each of us in our families and in our relationships with one another.
season 05 | rejection is redirection
We’re taking a short break from our study of Colossians as we navigate this unique and challenging moment in the life of our church. Displaced and still searching for our next home, it would be easy to let discouragement and disappointment steal our hope. This week we’re reminded of a story from the book of Acts featuring Paul and a woman named Lydia that inspires us to keep trusting, believing that every rejection is a redirection.
season 05 | 06.03 | the other side of the coin
When we talk about simple grace, a natural question develops, “How , then, are we supposed to live? And what about all of the behaviors that Paul talks about over and over again? Don’t they matter?” Great question – of course behaviors matter and theology matters, it just isn’t the whole point. Jesus and his resurrection is. We change as people to act more and more like Jesus not because it’s a rule, but because our wants and desires are more like Jesus’s when we are close to Jesus. Rules don’t change hearts, and laws don’t make obedient citizens…but a transformed heart that craves the good life leads us to live out our faith in actionable ways.
season 05 | 06.02 | a simple kind of life
Colossians chapter 2 is Paul at his best – cautioning the Colossian church (and us today) about the influence of teachers that infiltrate Christian circles with the intention of confusing people, furthering strange agendas, or making personal profit. We explore what it looks like to be rooted and begin to grow in the simple message and ways of Jesus: that Jesus is sufficient for all that we want and all that we need.
season 05 | 06.01 | almost forgot this was the whole point
Today we begin our look at the book of Colossians, an ancient letter written to an ancient people trying to make sense of the way of Jesus among a diverse and spiritually confused culture. Being woven together is a powerful vision for the meaning of life, and an invitation out of darkness and into the Kingdom of Light. Together we’ll begin to explore these question, “If Jesus holds power over death, Jesus is LORD. If Jesus is LORD what does that mean for the darkness and evil and corruption, I see around me? If Jesus is LORD, what does it mean for authority and power and empires and government? If Jesus is LORD, what does it mean for communion and connection with people I was taught to despise?”