We finished our journey through Colossians by having the entire letter read out loud. The feedback was all positive-hearing the entire book in one sitting was challenging for our hyper-stimulated, visual lifestyle, but it still worked.
I had a brainstorm of importing Colossians into Microsoft Word and using the auto-summarize command to see what Microsoft would say is important about Colossians. It was quite impressive, actually! Here’s Colossians in 10 sentences, thanks to Word:
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the Head over every power and authority. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ.
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings.
(And my friend Corey ever-so-helpfully suggested that maybe I could run my sermons through the summarize thingy before I give them. Dork.)