Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers– all things have been created through him and for him.
~ Colossians 1:15-16
Dear People of St. David’s,
Anyone who knows me knows that I have spent a lot of my life studying “theology.” The English word “theology” comes from the Greek words theos and logos, meaning God (theos) words (logos). Breaking the word down reminds us that we all are theologians, not just nerds like me who get degrees in the topic! Every single one of us thinks and talks about God. Therefore, what might it mean to talk about God well?
I’ll never forget an afternoon in a theology course when the class was discussing God’s “providence” (the fancy word for how God works within the world). During the class, one of my classmates made the claim that God directly causes everything that happens in the world, including suffering and evil, so God must be the cause of Hurricane Katrina. When I pressed this classmate as to why God would cause an event that brought so much death and destruction, their response was that God’s ways are mysterious and perhaps God was punishing people! While this is a dramatic example, it is not uncommon to hear this type of theology played out in everyday life. How many of us going through a tragedy have heard or been told “everything happens for a reason?” While people mean these God words to help, this is a theology that justifies pain, suffering, and even evil.
According to Paul in our reading from Colossians this Sunday, this is not the proper way to talk about God! Paul writes, “Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God.” This is a radical claim for how we talk about and understand God. What Paul is saying is that God’s character is not mysterious or unknown, we can see it when we look at Jesus! Paul reminds us that the image and character of God we see in Jesus is one of love, peace, and reconciliation. This is the same Jesus who rebuked the disciples for wanting to call fire down on a Samaritan town, the same Jesus who said the blind man’s condition had nothing to do with someone’s sin, and the same Jesus whose whole ministry was to bring healing to a broken world. The way Paul paraphrases this in our reading from Colossians is by reminding us that, “through Jesus, God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven!” So, if we go about using God words that are opposed to love, peace, and reconciliation, we are severely misrepresenting God! If we use God to justify sufferings and tragedies, or to legitimate oppressions and hatreds, then we’ve got the wrong image and character of God.
My prayer and hope for us as a church is that we would strive to talk about God well. We do this by remembering that God’s foundational character and work is one of love, healing, reconciliation, and peace. This truth has the power to radically shape us as a community! The words of our scriptures summarize this well, “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
Amen,
Elliot VanHoy
Pastoral Associate
Published on July 17, 2025.