The Scripture reading for this week is 1 Corinthians 1:10-18
The Sermon title is Get Together!
 |
| From Naked Pastor |
Early Thoughts: This passage seems very appropriate for a Sunday that falls in the middle of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
One of the issues Paul seeks to address in his letter to the Corinthian Church is that they are divided. They are terribly divided on a variety of fault lines. Paul wants them to not be so divided. Or at the very least Paul wants them to be able to be unified in their diversity.
One of the fault lines appears to be which leader/teacher people choose to follow. People are choosing sides and claiming that Paul or Apollos or Cephas (Peter) provides the best, truest, most complete understanding of what it means to follow Christ.
Of course we would never have that happen in the modern world....right?
[Side Note: I think this passage makes Paul the patron saint of all who have trouble keeping their records in order. Does he even know who he baptized?]
Paul wants the people to understand that there is one Christ, and that whichever teacher you follow you still follow Christ. Looking at the cartoon above, note that they are all drawing water from the same aquifer. We all draw from the one source. Why can we not get our act together and celebrate our diversity while acknowledging that we all draw from the same source?
There is a quote from Church History that comes to my mind at this point: In essentials, unity; In non-essentials, liberty; In all things, charity. I had always believed that to come from a German Reformer and compatriot of Luther, Philip Melancthon, however some searching this morning shows me that it has been credited to a variety of people ranging in time from St. Augustine to John Wesley. Whoever said it first, the point remains the same.
In those things that are essential we should find unity and agreement. In things that are not essential we should be ready to recognize that there can be more than one right answer/method. In all things we are to love each other, in agreement and disagreement we are to love each other, in unity and in diversity we are to love each other.
The church in Corinth seems to have been having trouble with that third point. The worldwide church in 2023, how are we doing living out the dictum?
Yes part of the challenge is in agreeing on what counts as essential and what counts as non-essential. That is an area of discussion that has cause much ink (and not a little blood) to be spilled over the centuries. But I think we can all agree that the key essential, the key thing that keeps us unified as Christians is Christ. We can agree that the source from which we draw our life, our hope, our understanding of the world is Jesus of Nazareth, the Risen Christ and the God whom he reveals/to whom he points. God made known in Jesus is the aquifer from which all Christians draw their water. [I suspect that aquifer is then linked to other aquifers from which other faiths draw their water making one larger aquifer with separate points of access.]
I wonder if as we read thee words from Paul chiding the Corinthians for their divisiveness, we might feel ourselves a little chided as well. We tend to say our way is the best, not just for us but for all. We tend to be a little divisive ourselves at times. And so I close this with these words sung by the Youngbloods a few decades ago:
If you hear the song I sing
You will understand (listen!)
You hold the key to love and fear
All in your trembling hand
Just one key unlocks them both
It's there at your command
Come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another
Right now
--Gord
No comments:
Post a Comment