A reading from the letter of Paul to the Colossians.

Give thanks to God for having made you worthy to share the lot of the saints in light.  God rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us into the reign of Jesus.  Through Jesus we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.

Christ Jesus is the image of the unseen God
and the first born of all creation,
through whom was created
all things in heaven and on earth:
everything visible and everything invisible,
Thrones, Dominations, Sovereignties, Powers –
all things were created through and in Christ.
Before anything was created, Christ existed,
who now holds all things in unity.
For the Church is Christ’s body, and its head.
As Christ is the Beginning, and was the
first to be born from the dead,
in order to be first in every way;
because God wanted all perfection to be found in Christ
and all things to be reconciled through and for Christ,
everything in heaven and everything on earth,
when the Only Begotten made peace
by dying on the cross.

The Word of God recorded in the letter of Paul to the Colossians.