Christ at the Centre

In my report to the Association’s recent Annual General Meeting, I referred to this verse in Paul’s letter to the Colossian church: 

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy.  Colossians 1:17 

There is a feeling that the world is tearing itself apart at the moment. You could look at the situations in the Middle East and Ukraine; or, coming closer to home, university protests, the impact of the cost-of-living crisis, the rise in instances of domestic violence, not to mention so many elements of the State and Federal political discourse that cause great concern.  

The world without Jesus cannot hold together.  Large personalities can stem the tide – create a sense of hope even.  Consider Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Mikhail Gorbachev – they were God’s instrument for the destruction of a previously insoluble problem.  Bright lights shining hope on the darkest of circumstances.  Each provided a centring for the place where they were.  But, once their time was up, history bears out that things fell apart again – and the centre these leaders once held strongly could not hold once they were gone.  

Christ is different – He trampled death – He defeated it. He rose again.  He was victorious, for our sakes, for our flourishing, for our eternal good. 

At Donvale we are a community of Christians gathering each day so children may learn and experience what it is to grow up to love and serve Jesus.  We have no business in despairing for the world because we believe that God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved. John 3:17  

Global peace, good government, social order, norms as we’ve known them to be – all of these may seem to be coming crashing down around us. For followers of Jesus, we live with an assurance that Christ holds all things together.  

If Paul were a scientist today, he would say that if you can think of gravity without reference to Jesus, your view of Jesus isn’t big enough.  If you can think of your day-to-day routine without reference to Jesus, your view of Jesus isn’t big enough.  If you can think of anything without reference to Jesus, your view of Jesus isn’t big enough. 

That’s our great news.  The one that we love is connected to everything.  The hands that were pierced for our sins are the hands that hold everything together.  

Whether or not life is falling apart for you, at some point it will feel like things are very much out of our control.  Our lives need an organising centre with enough spiritual gravity; willpower is not enough.  

When Jesus challenges His disciples with the question “Who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:29) Peter answers immediately, “You are the Messiah, the Son of God, the living one.” This is more than just an answer. With those words he has re-centred his life. Christ is the axis around which Peter will present his body “as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.” 

“Who do you say that I am?” As a school, we need to live out the answer. With Christ at the centre, in all, with all, for all, at all times, in all places, in all spaces.  

Will we care for the poor (in heart, in spirit, physically, materially), feed the hungry, and defend the oppressed. Will we offer forgiveness despite your anger? Will we pray when we are too busy to pray? Love our enemies despite our fear? Deny ourselves, take up the cross, and follow Jesus, each and every day?  

Our Year 11s had their formal  early this term. One of the security guards at the event (covered in all kinds of body art, strong as an ox and very intimidating simply by his presence – arguably a good way for a security guard to present, given the nature of their work) shared with a DCC staff member that he noticed a significant difference in the way our students conducted themselves to what he was used to over his years of providing security at school formals. 

That was a witness to him (and I suspect others on his team),  a moment of a community bringing glory to God through what it did together, where Christ is at the centre. This is an example repeated at all ages and contexts as our students engage with students and staff from other schools (e.g. in sport) and on excursions. And then there are the multiple examples of worship leading by students seen week in and week out.  Not to mention students of all ages in the school praying for one another, spontaneously and intentionally, as they see a need.  

So let us celebrate the ways in which Christ is at the centre of what happens already:  the regular cadence and deep challenge of our multiple staff devotion gatherings – whole staff, primary staff, secondary staff, admin staff, grounds and maintenance staff, just to name the bigger clusters.  Whole staff retreats where these challenges are unpacked with the help of expert guest speakers, then discussed, prayed over and committed to God intentionally.

Shalom.