Sermon Devotional: Youth Sunday - Rooted and Established

Scripture: Colossians 2:6-7 (ESV)


Two rich elements get us started on our Godspeed Pilgrimage. The Bible Path gives us the focus for our walk with God along our Parish Path.

Today’s Bible Path comes from Colossians 2. Paul begins his epistle saying that he is writing to “God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ” (Col 1:2) who have heard and believed “the true message of the gospel” (1:5). That “true message” is a trinitarian message: knowledge of the Father’s great love and his perfect will comes to the Colossians “through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives” because Jesus the Son has come “making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (1:9-20). The believers are no longer “alienated from God” (1:21); they are “reconciled” to God through Christ (1:22).

The brothers and sisters have “received Christ Jesus as Lord” (2:6). They have been united with Christ and by the gift of the Spirit, they are sealed for Christ forever. Now Paul exhorts these new disciples of Jesus to “live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way” (1:10) and to “continue to live [their] lives in him” (2:6). Paul tells the Colossians to let your roots grow deep and be established to maturity in Christ Jesus. “Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him” (2:7 NLT). That maturity is realized as Christ’s disciples forsake “elementary truths,” become students of “the teaching about righteousness,” and “by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” (Heb 5:12-14). By God’s gift and grace, the disciples are “established in the faith” (Col 2:7).

The Godspeed Bible Path—the truth found in God’s word—and the Parish Path merge as Paul tells the Colossians to “walk in him” (2:6). How are they to live their lives in him? The Parish Path is found outside our front doors and along the sidewalks of our neighborhoods. It is also a much greater and more encompassing path. It is inside our own homes and at the table where we share breakfast and do homework. It is in our school classrooms, our workplaces, laundry rooms, and committee meetings. Our Parish Path is where we laugh and cry, where we wait, and where we grieve and complain. It is wherever we wonder, wherever we ask “Why?,” and whenever we pray “May your will be done.” Our Parish Path is where faith and trust walk alongside our fear and anxiety and confusion. It is where our eager listening at the feet of Jesus mingles with our faithful service in Christ’s Kingdom.

We walk this Parish Path with a question. The Lord God asked Adam and Eve, “Where are you?” (Gen 2:10). The Lord asks us the same question during our Godspeed pilgrimage. We humbly reflect and honestly answer. Here I am, Lord . . . walking with You—here, now, and always.

Consider—
╬   Telling one another our Pilgrimage stories is an essential part of this journey. One pilgrim is seeking to set aside more quiet early in the morning to say, “Here I am, Lord.” Another walked with Jesus at the gym praying for those he saw there. Another pilgrim describes beginning to “learn how to walk with my Father.” Are you Godspeed-ing? Tell your stories to one another.

╬   Take time to remember who has taught you, who has modeled a rooted and established life in Christ? Give thanks to God for them. If you are able, tell them how they have shown you the path of righteousness.

╬   In you, Lord my God, I put my trust. Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. It is in Jesus’ name we pray.  Amen.