I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God’s great mystery. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else. And we’ve been shown the mystery! I’m telling you this because I don’t want anyone leading you off on some wild-goose chase, after other so-called mysteries, or “the Secret.”
Colossians 2: 2-4 The Message
My friend Ann is a weaver, and a knitter. Occasionally, she has shown me some of the beautiful and stunning items she has created on her loom, or with her hands. Sometimes it is a scarf. Other times it is a wall tapestry. The colors are usually stunning, and each work is totally unique, absolutely one-of-a-kind in the truest sense.
Here, Paul compares the church to a great tapestry of love. More than anything, he desires that the people of Colossae be woven into that tapestry. For that to happen, they need to remain in the hands of the master weaver-God, and they need to remain focused on Christ.
None of us who are the individual threads in God’s tapestry occupy exactly the same place in the great work. Nor are we the same size, shape, or color. Some are woven in for quite a while. Others make a couple of passes of the loom. The point is not for us to envy the position of others in the tapestry, or worse yet, to long for independence from the tapestry. What God desires is for us to realize that we contribute something to the beauty of the whole tapestry, helping to make it a beautiful, colorful, varied fabric which enriches and touches all who see it…
How bland the world would be without color. How boring it would be without texture. How cruel it would be without love. Fortunately, in God’s great tapestry of the Christian church, all of those blessings are present. As we celebrate those blessings, our minds will be confident, and at rest. We will be peaceful, and ready to focus on Christ. As we do so, we will be woven together with Him into “God’s great mystery”. Let’s celebrate this mysterious blessing, and our part in God’s great tapestry of the church! Amen.
Prayer
Lord of all,
It is a mystery to me exactly why we all are created the way we are, with our unique talents and challenges, gifts and burdens. Yet You have called me to be part of this great tapestry of the church, Your bride. Let me be a colorful witness to Your grace, and Your love, in my life, in the lives of my family members, and in the local expression of the church I call home. Help me always to focus upon the one who is love incarnate, Your son, and my Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
