Upward and Outward

At a church event I attended a few years ago, the leader asked groups to form a physical representation of what we thought our church was like. My group stood in a circle, our left hands reaching in, up, and meeting and our right hands reaching out. In a way, today’s passage is a reflection of that picture of a church. Paul first encourages the Colossians to pray (2), so that they can avoid all he’s been warning them against and can maintain all he’s been teaching them to do. He also asks for prayer for his own mission, so that he, despite being in prison, may be clear about the Good News (3,4). Then Paul encourages them in their relationships outward: they should be characterized by Christ’s presence, grace, and wisdom and should proclaim him whenever they can (5,6). In the physical representation I mentioned above, we kept turning our heads to look in and out, to indicate the continuity between the two areas of life. In the same way, prayer deepens our relationship with God and encourages us to engage in mission, which in turn points us back to God for his continual help and blessing.