is substance and what is only shadow. Amen.
18 – Dogma-Tied by the World
Colossians 2:20–23 — (20) If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations, (21) “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”? (22) All these regulations refer to things that perish with use; they are simply human commands and teachings. (23) These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-imposed piety, humility, and severe treatment of the body, but they are of no value in checking self-indulgence.
What are the basic constituents of the universe? People have been asking that question for centuries, first with religious answers and then “scientifically” by observation beginning with the Greek philosopher Thales (640–546 BCE) who proposed water (!) as the basic building block of matter. As advances in instrumentation enabled closer looks at the material world, scientists developed better theories, and the answer to the “basic elements” question has changed and we now know that it is . . . well, at this writing, the scientific answer is still a work in progress.
But there is also a less scientific version of the question. It’s more like: “What is the basic driving force of human affairs?” For the answer, it seems that all you need to do is look at the misguided and selfishly used power under which Jesus was “legally” executed. How can Christians, reborn and reformed in our baptism into Christ, still think and act under the control of the basic operating principles of the “world” that killed him? Especially after Jesus’ “conviction” had been so dramatically reversed by God’s raising him from an unjust death?
Or what about this personally directed-at-you version of the question: “If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe” (or university?), how come you “submit to” (in the Greek, dogmatizesthe, or “let yourself be dictated to by the dogmas) “regulations” of the world?
Among the fundamental values or “dogmas” of the university are self-improvement, freedom, toleration, competition, concern for job preparation. Paul might dismiss them as “simply human commands and teachings” that only have the “appearance of wisdom.” You and Christ “died to the elemental spirits of the universe” and you both are free to replace them with other loftier, more important things like love, compassion, hospitality, and service of others.
Prayer: Lord give me the insight to what those elemental principals are so I can live according to your will. Amen.
19 – Witness Protection Program
Colossians 3:1–4 — (1) So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. (2) Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, (3) for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (4) When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
Remember on the TV program Sesame Street when they were teaching the concepts of “near” and “far”? Now you know that near and far, up and down, are not all that clear. You could theoretically move toward the “edge” of the universe, but since we now know that space curves, you would ultimately find yourself back more or less where you started. Reading the up/down language of Colossians as metaphorical is better than reading it literally. Our hope is in heaven (1:5a) means, importantly, that it is not here in the world of human beings and faulty human institutions.
God has delivered you from the “dominion of darkness” to the “kingdom of his beloved son” (1:13). In today’s reading, that change is described in terms of your move from “down” on earth, among earthly things, to “up” in heaven and the things of Christ. The importance here is the change in who you are. You are changed; your behavior is changed.
Now, in college, you are studying to change into a lawyer, accountant, teacher. When you become one of them you must behave like one of them. In joining the group (becoming a lawyer, etc.) you “die” to your previous life, and assume a role of privilege and responsibility dictated and expected of you in your new life.
In Christ, you have experienced a radical change of identity. You have been liberated to become what God intended you to be when he created you. It is like being in a government witness protection program and being given a new identity; you don’t want to let on to anybody what you were before you got into the program.
Prayer: Help me to think and act like I am really in a new place and that I am really a new person. Amen.
20 – Dump the Garbage
Colossians 3:5–8 — (5) Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). (6) On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. (7) These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life. (8) But now you must get rid of all such things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth.
Success in college means adapting to college demands: less TV, less sleep, a willingness to reserve judgment on complex questions, polishing those reading and writing skills. Yes, there does come a time when the fateful words must be spoken: Don’t do this; don’t do that. A lot of folks think that the Christian faith is basically a series of variations on the “Don’t” theme. Today’s reading is the kind of passage that the biblically illiterate are sure dominates Scripture and the whole of the Christian faith: Don’ts. Read it carefully because—surprise!—it is almost the only “don’t” in the whole letter. So little is spent on commands in this letter because the new nature of anyone in Christ spells out a picture that you will pick up on it in a flash.
Being in college as a Christian puts you on the margin where earthly habits battle heavenly ones. If you keep on living with the habits of the world, it is a denial of what you have learned in Christ and a rejection of the transformation going on in your life. It leads you in the direction of becoming what could be called a “Frankenstein’s monster”—a little of this and a little of that. You definitely do not want a diabolically split personality.
If you think sex organs are the only organs that put you in danger you may not have been listening to your tongue lately. Words can be the most powerful tool in your toolbox, for good or for hurt. As a Christian you have a Christian language so that you can speak truths that go unnoticed or denied by society in general. Not only do you have the “use of Christian language,” but you also need to develop the “Christian use of language.” As you become disciplined to a helpful, precise, truthful use of language, you necessarily eliminate “anger, wrath, malice, slander and abusive language.” As a person undergoing God’s makeover, dumping the trash is part of the process. How can you tell what is garbage? For starters, anything that hurts others must go.
Prayer: Let me not resist the transformation going on in the new person Christ is making of me. Amen.
21 – Ultimate Makeover
Colossians 3:9–10 — (9) Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices (10) and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator.
A better movie (more draw at the box office) than the “sex and say whatever you want to say” kind of movie might be one we could call College Lies. It might feature a university president who sexually harassed women; a researcher who not only invented her data but also the very subjects from whom she got the data; a coach who falsified his resume and played players who weren’t exactly students; a student who didn’t tell his parents that he had flunked his first two years because he had been playing cards. Unfortunately, these “characters” are
