Fresh off another powerfully impactful LCMS Youth Gathering (YG), I thought it perhaps edifying to use the next few months to share big key theological takeaways that were instilled upon me, our adult volunteers, and most importantly, our high schoolers who went to Houston for the YG.  For a whole week, we immersed ourselves in Christ, His Word, worship, prayer, and play.  Truly it is a time unlike any other when for a whole 7 days we are breathing, bathing, and basking in Jesus.  It’s intense.  It’s transforming.  The YG is quite something, because, well…Christ is everything.  In all things to tell the truth.

“He [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning,  the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent. 19 For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven,   making peace by the blood of His cross.”

Colossians 1:15-20

When we go to God’s Word time and time again, the Holy Spirit brings us to discover that there is a huge story at work.  Scripture is in fact the “Story of All Things.”  God tells us who we are, how He is continually active in the world, and where all of this is headed.

Our Creator God is perfect in love and wants one thing for us:  a relationship with Him.  All of creation to be honest.  The Lord stepped into His very creation, walking in the garden, living in perfect relationship with His people (Genesis 1-2).  Sadly, God’s people thought that there were better things to be had than a relationship with our Creator and rejected His Word and purposes.  They sought after writing their own version of the story of all things.  They placed themselves at the center.  This rebellion brought sin, death, and separation from perfection, life, and a relationship with the Lord.  It brought God’s righteous anger and judgment (Genesis 3).  And yet, God in His mercy chose not to give up on His people though they rejected Him.  He enacted a salvation plan and made sure His story, the “Story of All Things”, went ever forward and unhindered (Genesis 3:15).  Even in their sinfulness, God did not abandon His people and promised to one day send a Savior to make all things right again.  Through Abraham and his descendants, on down through the line of David, God brought forth the promised Messiah Savior Christ Jesus.  In Him, God rescued His people and creation from sin and death through His death on the cross and resurrection from the grave.

Christ’s death and resurrection brought eternal reconciliation and healing in all things.  Through the work of the Spirit and His Word, Christ continues His transforming work through the hearts of His people, the Church, until He returns.  When Christ returns, all of us will be witnesses to the final stamp of God’s great story of reconciliation, redemption, and reign over all things in His new creation.

You are a part of “all things.”  It means all of us are written in the narrative of God’s living story of His salvation plan.  The Lord created you.  He has reconciled you unto Himself through Jesus.  In your baptism, God has permanently attached Himself to you, united Himself with you in His death and resurrection, and continually works in you.  The Lord God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit reigns over you in the Church and will come back for you.  The “Story of All Things” is not about us.  It is all about Christ.  His life.  His death.  His resurrection.  His return.  His victory.  And you are in it.  

Thanks be to God,
Pastor Sam