Now There's Something to be Thankful About

Courtesy of NT Wright's commentary on Colossians.

And I pray that you will learn to give thanks to the father, who has made you fit to share the inheritance of God’s holy ones in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness, and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved son. He is the one in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

He is the image of God, the invisible one,
     the firstborn of all creation.
For in him all things were created,
     in the heavens and here on the earth.
Things we can see and things we cannot,
     – thrones and lordships and rulers and powers –
All were created both through him and for him.

     And he is ahead, prior to all else
          and in him all things hold together;
     And he himself is supreme, the head
          over the body, the church.

He is the start of it all,
     firstborn from realms of the dead;
     so in all things he might be the chief.
For in him all the Fullness was glad to dwell
     and through him to reconcile all to himself,
     making peace through the blood of his cross,
Through him – yes, things on the earth,
     and also the things in the heavens.

To recognize and give thanks for the most solid hope of our own resurrection (the assurance thereof being faith) seen most clearly in Jesus of Nazareth is the height of living the Christian life. This is the way to stay firm in our faith and solid on our foundations, as Paul goes on to say.

May all who read this have a hope filled, blessed Thanksgiving, both for what has come to pass as well as what's around the bend.

Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we thine unworthy servants do give thee most humble and hearty thanks for all thy goodness and loving-kindness to us, and to all men. We bless thee for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all, for thine inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we beseech thee, give us that due sense of all thy mercies, that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful, and that we shew forth thy praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives; by giving up ourselves to thy service, and by walking before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen.