Our home page
Who we are
What's New
Fellowship
Youth programs
Interesting links
For the visitor
Site Map
|
Sermon Archive - January 24, 1999
Pastor Danielson
|
1 Corinthians 1:10-18
(Begin by addressing the entire congregation, but the children in particular)
"Who's in charge here? Who is in charge of this church and churches like it
everywhere?" Today, as soon as this service ends, every baptized member of
this congregation, 9th grade and older, is invited to remain in the sanctuary
for our Annual Congregational Meeting---visitors too! (Pull out a copy of the
Annual Report, show it around, and refer to the listing of officers and
leaders). Who will be in charge of that meeting ---I mean really in charge!
Will it be me? No! Will it be Pastor Gazzolo? No! Will it be Mr. Vail, the
president of the congregation, (have Jim stand)? No! Will it be Mrs. Bergsrud,
our Sunday School Superintendent? No!
Who does this church and churches like it belong to? Is it Maxine Washington,
Bishop Olsen's assistant who led us in worship last Sunday? No! Is it Bishop
Olsen himself? No! Is it H. George Anderson the Presiding Bishop of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America? No! Is it some world famous evangelist
or some TV preacher? No! Is it the Pope in Rome? No! None of these people own
or are ultimately in charge of the Christian Church on earth or even its
neighborhood churches. The true head of the Church and its congregations is
always (pause for an answer) Jesus Christ.
Throughout history, since the time that Paul was writing his letters to the
Corinthians, people have been looking at the church's earthly leaders
---pastors and preachers, congregation presidents and other faithful people
---and believing that they are in charge of the Church. This is understandable
but, it's wrong! I repeat, Jesus Christ alone is in charge, he leads and we
follow ---now and into eternity. He shows us the way to live, both as
individuals and as a community of faith. And, by his Spirit we are inspired
and empowered.
Obviously, being followers of Jesus Christ is our primary identity as
Christians. At the same time, we all know that it is unsettling to let go of
our personal agendas and allow Jesus to come in and take charge of our
churches and our very lives. What will he ask of us? ---we wonder. A higher
level of morality? Greater generosity? More willingness to forgive? Or, as
this morning's text suggests, greater cooperation with other Christians very
different from ourselves (heaven forbid)?
There are, in this world of ours, many religions. And, of course, among
Christians there are many denominations. There are Baptists, Methodists,
Episcopalians and Lutherans. There are Presbyterians, Reformed and
Congregationalists. There are Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses.
There are Moravians and Quakers. And that's only for starters. New
denominations spring up. Old denominations split up and form new branches.
When Jesus took the bread and said, "This is my body which is broken for you,"
it's hard to believe that even in his wildest dreams he foresaw the tragic and
foolish brokenness of the Church as his body.
Paul was clearly distressed at the divisions in the Corinthian church. He knew
division would weaken their witness. In a series of rhetorical questions Paul
points up the absurdity of finding identity in anything other than the unified
body of Christ. For the Apostle Paul, the ultimate act of God's love, enacted
on the cross, makes Jesus the one and only unity. That message of the gospel
is all that is really important. The gospel Paul feels called to preach is
"the cross of Christ," which he admits in verse 18 is "foolishness" to those
who have not experienced the saving truth. But for those "being saved," this
foolishness is revealed as nothing less than "the power of God."
And, later, in his letter to the Corinthians (chapter 12), Paul talks about
actually celebrating unity amid the diversity of gifts. Suggesting that the
very act of discovering what unites us will drive our mission as the body of
Christ and provide an effective witness to a fractured and hurting world.
Clarence Jordan, founder of that great ecumenical experiment, Koinonia Farm in
Americus, Georgia, paraphrased our text for today, entitling it: "A Letter to
the Christians in Atlanta," and writing as follows:
"Now brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I call upon
every one of you to be in unity with the rest of your brothers and sisters.
Let there be no splits in your ranks, but rather be knit together in
singleness of mind and purpose.
I'm saying this because some good friends of Clara's reported to me that
there were factions springing up among you. To be specific, various ones of
you are saying, 'I'm on Paul's side,' 'I'm on Oliver's side,' 'I'm on Rock's
side,' 'I'm on Jesus' side.'
Tell me this, since when did Christ get so split up? And was Paul lynched for
you? Or were you given Paul's name when you were initiated? I'm really
thankful that I didn't initiate a single one of you, except Chris and Garry, so
no one has a right to claim that he was given my name at his initiation. (Oh,
yes, I forgot, I did initiate Stephen's family, but other than that I don't
recall initiating anyone else.)
The fact is, Christ didn't appoint me merely to initiate converts, but to
tell the great story, simply and without display of learning, lest the noose
of Christ become something to be toyed with." (From The Cotton Patch Version
of Paul's Epistles (pp. 47-48).
It seems to me, there is a rhythm to Christianity which suggests that, while
unity in Jesus Christ is critical to true discipleship, the message is not one
of perfect harmony. That Christians will have their differences ---different
ways of looking at faith and going about ministry--- but we are called simply
to trust Jesus Christ, to lean on him, and to walk with him into an uncertain
future. We are even called to be like him, but we are not called to be him! We
should be thankful for that!
One of the best exercises in faithfulness (as opposed to perfection) is
worship. This is how we learn where we fit into the larger picture of faith
and faithfulness. "This is how. . . " wrote Barbara Brown Taylor, in a
Christianity Today article, last spring. . .
"This is how we locate ourselves between the past and the future, between our
hopes and our fears, between the earth and the stars. This is, she continues,
how we learn who we are and what we are supposed to be doing: by coming
together to sing and to pray, to be silent and to be still, by peering into
the darkness together and telling each other what we see when we do." ---end
of quote. (Barbara Brown Taylor, "The Day We Were Left Behind," Christianity
Today, May 18, 1998, 46)
In worship, we rediscover that we are of Christ, not of a denomination label.
That does not imply that a Christ-centered life means a life in which one only
worships. Hardly! A Christian is one who, believing that Christ is the Son of
God, holds that the Christ-life in his or her very soul and reflects that
belief in his or her worship.
In the confession, forgiveness, proclamation, praise, thanksgiving and
fellowship of worship, we rediscover that our mission in life is to be
faithful to the God who creates us, redeems us, sustains us, and loves us in
spite of our imperfections ---our diversity and our separation. When we see
ourselves as redeemed and loved by God, we can see others in that light as
well. In other words, within the body of Christ, having worshiped, acceptance
of each other is required while agreement on fine points of doctrine is
optional, as we go about filling our lives with good.
It has been my experience that denominational name tags aren't usually handed
out when people of faith gather at ecumenical services, swing hammers while
building a Habitat for Humanity house, or join other "CROP walkers" to raise
money to fight hunger. At times like these, the church's only name tag is the
cross of Christ. There is then no reason why everyone should be Christian in
the same way and every reason to leave room for differences as we journey
toward ever greater unity and cooperation.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who I quote often enough, had this to say about Christian
unity:
"I have community with others, and I shall continue to have it only through
Jesus Christ. The more genuine and the deeper our community becomes, the more
will everything else between us recede, the more clearly and purely will Jesus
Christ and his work become the one and only thing that is vital between us. We
have one another only through Christ, but through Christ we do have one
another, wholly, and for all eternity." (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together
(New York: Harper & Row, 1954).
And Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, in his book, The Gift of Peace, wrote:
"To close the gap between what I am and what God wants of me, I must empty
myself and let Jesus come in and take over. I have prayed to understand his
agenda for me. . . It is unsettling to pray to be emptied of self; it seems a
challenge almost beyond our reach as humans. But if we try, I have learned,
God does most of the work. I must simply let myself go in love and trust of
the Lord" (as cited in Christianity Today, June 15, 1998).
Cardinal Bernardin knew and has now experienced what we will ALL one day
learn. That is that, fortunately, the walls of separation within Christ's
Church do not reach to heaven. AMEN!
|
|
|
|
