July 17, 2011 – Colossians  3:12 - 4:18

Paul sounds so jovial in this closing part of the letter.  He seems spirited and excited about the communities and how they are living their lives.  This letter is a pep talk and a confirmation for them, without much condemnation and here at the end, I get the sense that Paul was writing with a  spirited smile upon his face.  Thoughts about communities like this must have encouraged him greatly while he was imprisoned.  I can’t imagine the thoughts that might have gone through the heads of those leaders in the early Church.  They were on the edge of death all the time, what would happen when those first apostles were gone.  Would this Church be able to go on after those few that were with Jesus were gone.  Communities like these and letters like this must have been a comfort, but still you wonder if they really had any sense that the Church was going to truly be around 2,000 years later.