This morning the lectionary turns to the first of the letters from Paul to the fledgling Christian church in
The city of
It was also a place where everyone who was anyone was trying to show everyone else just how important they were – by association. Everyone wanted to be associated with the politician or teacher they thought was the most important – like having your picture taken with the governor or the president.
Even in the
To realize how much this could divide the church, it’s like some of us saying, I follow the Reverend Reid’, or ‘I follow Reverend Jones’ or ‘I follow Rev. Smith’. Imagine if we were divided up according to past pastors or visiting preachers? What kind of church would we be if we argued among ourselves about things as petty as the personalities of our preachers? Is it any wonder Paul says with a note of cynicism, ‘Is Christ divided?’ Are we not all one church, with one lord, one faith and one baptism?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yet it seems that there was no end to the kinds of things the people at the Church at
Some thought they were important because they were able to preach. Some thought they were important because they could teach, others congratulated themselves for being wise, or for having visions, or for having their prayers answered, or because they could speak in a heavenly language. They wanted to be more important or more influential than their brothers or sisters in Christ. They pointed to themselves and said, ‘Me! Me! I’m the greatest Christian! I’m the most important person in the church!’
Sadly, the other side of that exclamation was ‘You! You! You’re nothing! And you’re a nobody!’
We all understand that outside the doors of our church the world operates just like that. People claw their way to the top by climbing over friends and colleagues. They belittle their neighbors to make themselves feel better. They condemn brothers and sisters for every shortcoming, and excuse their own sinfulness as the result of things beyond their control. Instead of seeking peace and reconciliation with one another, they attack each other. They call names. They spread rumors. Instead of seeking the common good, they seek their own. They try to ‘give as good as they get’ and a glance at the last few issues of the local newspaper confirm that even our little communities are not immune to this devastating, tragedy – this race to brokenness.
-------------------------------
Certainly, when Paul heard about all this strife and petty arguing, his heart must have been broken. How he must have wept to think of all that the church could have done in serving Christ – but didn’t – couldn’t - do because instead of reaching out to a world in need of the message of salvation, they were busy arguing among themselves and worrying more about bringing the world’s status quo into the church than about bringing the kingdom of heaven out into the world.
When Paul writes the words of this morning scripture portion, he writes with several things in mind. He starts by writing: ‘I don’t want you to be ignorant of spiritual ‘stuff’’. He wants them to understand what the church is all about – because they have it wrong. He wants them to see that the life of the church – the life of the faithful – is different from the life of the world at large.
He continues in verse 4: ‘Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.’ We are not all the same – and we don’t need to be. In fact the Spirit of God insures that we’re all different. We need to be. There are many things, many activities, in the church that need to be done. There is one God whom we serve, but none of us can do it all.
He writes ‘To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good’ – means that the church is not filled with the few who do the work of Christ and the many who sit and watch. If you’re sitting here and you’re a Christian, you have a gift of the Spirit – a manifestation of the Holy resting on you just as the tongues of fire rested on the apostles at Pentecost. Each of us has the Spirit of Grace imparted to us – a tender connection to God, who created the Heavens and Earth and all that is in it. We are all special - all important – all beloved.
--------------------
Paul also writes that the gift we receive a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. No gift is more important than another. No gift is less needful than another. No gift is more – or less – holy. No gift is more – or less – honored or valued in the eyes of God. It is the Spirit God who decides who gets what gift based on the needs of the common church. Just as no gift is more valued than any other, so no recipient has more value than any other. In the eyes of God we are all equal – every one of us. None is more or less important and none deserves more or less honor in the assembly of God. There are no unimportant Christians. There are no undeserving Christians – and there are no inactive Christians either.
--------------------
One of my favorite movies is called 'Chocolat'. It takes place in a small town in
On Ash Wednesday, a strange young woman and her daughter arrive in the town and open a chocolate shop – just as many in the town have sworn off sweets until Easter. Gradually, the people in the town come to understand that it is not the rigidity of rules that matters, but the flexibility of love and relationship - except of course for the mayor of the town who becomes more and more resolved to rid the town of this corrupting influence.
For a time, the young priest in the town is overwhelmed by the powerful mayor who even presumes to edit the young priest’s sermons – until finally the priest himself sees the light.
In one of the final scenes, the young priest ascends to the pulpit to deliver his first Easter Sermon, he proclaims: ‘I want to talk about Christ’s humanity, I mean how he lived his life on earth: his kindness, his tolerance. We must measure our goodness, not by what we don’t do, what we deny ourselves, what we resist, or who we exclude. Instead, we should measure ourselves by what we embrace, what we create, and who we include.’
Paul would agree that as the family of Christ we should all measure ourselves by what we embrace, what we create, and who we include. That we should be defined by our love, our ministry and by those we welcome into the assembly of faith just as we were welcomed by those who came before us.
----------------------------------------------
Henry David Thoreau, in Walden wrote ‘If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.’
It could be that he, or she, having received a different spiritual thing from God is faithfully following that different drum beat. It could well be that the path of faith they follow is one that gives or will give the church some great benefit for the church, our local congregation or even you.
At the same time, if you hear that different drummer, if you hear the voice of the Holy Spirit of God calling you to pursue some gift, activity of service, some passion for ministry – pursue it. When we stand before God we all understand that we will answer for those things we have done – but we will also answer for all those things we have not done.
The problem most of us face, however, is that we don’t hear any drummer at all. 20th and 21st century Christianity has become an institution where people come to church and sit waiting to be entertained instead of coming to participate in the worship of God, where people keep a balance sheet making sure they get their money’s worth and where people come looking not for any opportunity for service but looking for any opportunity to find fault and give less. Where we come not to give but to get. Where we come not to embrace others, but to exclude them. The Sunday morning church hour continues to be the most segregated hour in the week.
We refuse to do the work of God ourselves and all too often we keep out the outsiders who may just be the ones called to do it.
The good news for us this day is that is not the way it is supposed to be – and that’s not the way it has to be. Just as Paul writes to the church at
If we really believe that something is important, we will find the time and the energy and the courage to do it. Our challenge this day is to go and do and find.
Amen.
