Dirt and Stardust: Why Our Biggest Ideas Matter
Beginning with the Cosmos
Paul wants to talk about how we live together, but he knows that begins with how we talk about everything. Our conversations about life, faith, and community are inevitably shaped by our assumptions about the cosmos. And that matters. Because the big ideas we carry around in our hearts have a way of shaping the small choices we make every day.
"Dirt and stardust" is a metaphor I borrowed from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. I explored it in my first book, and it's become increasingly important to me. Because this metaphor helps me tether my highest theological convictions to my daily lived experience. It connects cosmic vision with practical action.
Small Steps, Big Ideas
Change doesn't happen all at once. Transformation—of ourselves, our communities, our world—comes from stacking up a series of small, intentional choices. But to stay committed to those choices, they need to be grounded in something larger: a story about who we are, who God is, and what God is doing to repair the world.
That's why Paul begins his practical letters not with rules, but with poetry. With stars. With Christ at the center of all things.
You Are Salt and Light
Jesus says, "You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world." The Greek is even more evocative: salt of the land, light of the cosmos.
That is, you are part of what gives this ground its flavour, and you are part of what illuminates the great intangible networks of meaning that shape our lives—faith, politics, systems, relationships, and even economics.
To be salt and light is to care about all of it. From soil to structures. From personal moments of kindness to large-scale movements for justice. This isn't either/or. The kingdom of God is both/and.
From the Stars to the Soil
The Colossian hymn offers us a starting point in the stars:
Christ is the image of the invisible God.
In Christ, all things hold together.
Through Christ, God is reconciling all things.
Yes, it's grand. Even esoteric. But it's not disconnected. This cosmic vision is what fuels a life of love and justice and peacemaking.
What we believe about God shapes how we live:
If God is intangible and unknowable, we might follow the rules but drift toward substituting our own preferences for Jesus' radical ethic.
If God is stingy, we might start to live as if love is scarce and hoard it for ourselves.
If we believe some people are destined for reconciliation and others for abandonment, we might start to live as if some lives matter more than others.
Reconciliation Is the End
Paul insists: God was pleased to have all fullness dwell in Christ, and through him, to reconcile all things—on earth and in heaven—by making peace through his sacrifice.
This is not to deny judgment. The Bible's word for the painful process of setting wrongs right is "hell." But even hell bends toward repair. In God's economy, reconciliation is always the final word.
And if we hold that conviction—that Jesus shows us God clearly, that Christ is what holds all things together, that reconciliation is God's endgame—then that will slowly but eventually shape everything about how we treat everyone.
From the dirt beneath our feet to the stars above our heads, we are called to live as salt and light in the world. Our highest imaginations drive us, but we live life one step at a time. So let’s keep our heads in the stars, but also keep stacking those small, sacred choices in the same direction. Toward wholeness. Toward peace. Toward more love made more real.
