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SUMMARY:Family Communion
DTSTART:20251123T100000Z
DTEND:20251123T111500Z
DTSTAMP:20260407T175328Z
UID:9102492025-11-23 10:00:00+00:00achurchnearyou
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DESCRIPTION:Family Communion for the Sunday next before Advent (Christ the
  King): celebrant the Rev Tola Badejo. \n\nFirst reading:  Colossians 1. 1
 1-20\nGospel: Luke 23. 33-43\n\n'In him all things hold together'\, or in 
 older versions\, 'all things cohere'.  Paul presents an extraordinarily fo
 cused argument for the absolute centrality of Christ\, not only as the fir
 st-born of the Father but also as the underlying principle through which t
 he entire material creation came into being and continues to exist. The im
 plications are immense: Paul argues that literally the whole of the univer
 se is sustained  in Christ\, which must mean that the whole of creation - 
 including ourselves - is to be revered as something to which God is irrevo
 cably committed.  \n\nThe depth of God's involvement in the created world 
 is underlined in the crucifixion\, through which God shares in the worst t
 hings human life can bring. Because we are so familiar with the narrative 
 and imagery of the crucifixion\, we can easily miss the impact of the Chri
 stian belief that this had happened to God at a time when the pagan gods w
 ere imagined as engaging in human life only so far as they found it entert
 aining. The contrast\, that Christ stands beside us whatever happens\, was
  expressed in plain and simple language in the seventeenth century by the 
 clergyman Richard Baxter:              \n   \nChrist leads me through no d
 arker room\nThan he went through before\;\nHe who into God's kingdom comes
 \nMust enter by this door\n\nMy knowledge of that life is small\;\nThe eye
  of faith is dim\,\nBut it's enough that Christ knows all\,\nAnd I shall b
 e with him.
GEO:0.037423;51.469833
LOCATION:Kidbrooke\, St Nicholas
URL:https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/671/service-and-events/events/91
 0249/
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