Strive for the Greater Gifts

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Strive for the Greater Gifts"

Cuthbert Powers
5 years ago
Views:

1 Plymouth Congregational Church of Fort Wayne, UCC Strive for the Greater Gifts strive for the greater gifts. I Corinthians 12:31a (NRSV) Prelude Covet earnestly the best gifts. I Corinthians 12:31a (KJV) Our lesson this morning is drawn from the 12th chapter of I Corinthians, a passage wherein the apostle Paul is expounding upon the subject of spiritual gifts that infuse and distinguish life in the church, which Paul declared to be the body of Christ. It is a startling assertion, whether considered as a teaching applicable today or when first formulated within a quarter century or so after the dying and rising of Jesus. If ever there was a least likely place for a congregation to sprout up other than Corinth, I m not sure where you would find it. Corinth was an important civic center, a colony of the Roman empire, which elevated its status in the ancient world. Paul ventured there after his time in Athens, where he had little to show for all his preaching efforts. In the book of Acts we read that that when Paul left Athens, he head to Corinth where he made friends with a married couple, Aquila and Priscilla. Aquila and Priscilla were in Corinth, not by choice, but by chance. They had formerly been residents of Rome,

2 but they had been forced to leave when the Emperor, presumably Claudius, issued an order that expelled all Jews from Rome (Acts 18:2). It is a matter of some conjecture as to what prompted the expulsion; some suggest there were internal disturbances within the Jewish community that spilled over and rankled public officials who saw a solution in expulsion rather than mediating a reconciliation. Plymouth Church, Fort Wayne Page 2 Corinth was favorably located in the south of the Greece peninsula, some forty miles south of Athens. It was a transportation hub of sorts, a summit city not unlike our own, attractive to commercial interests who benefited from its being a bridge, a link between east and west. Corinth was a connector city, an intersection of choice in the first century global economy. It was a boomer city, fun, flashy, a party hardy kinda of place, full of opportunity. You want urbane sophistication, world heritage site status, all the accoutrements and polished marble of the academy, then your get-away destination would have been Athens. But if you want Las Vegas, where what happens there, stays there, where most folks are from someplace else, where people blow in, blow off, and blow out, then Corinth was the place to be. One commentary noted Corinth s reputation as Sin City, quite a billing in an age not noted for restraint. Others who spoke of life in Corinth noted the roughness, the lack of refinement, the friction that existed due to a rather large class divide,

3 with wealth concentrated in an elite, with poverty making life hard for the remainder. Plymouth Church, Fort Wayne Page 3 As a counter balance to its notoriety, life in Corinth was flavored with various shades of religious sentiment. A long list of religious establishments filled the local city directory. Venture into the Corinthian visitor and convention center and I guess you would have been told, we are city of faith, with lots of steeples and spires, with pretty much something to satisfy anyone s penchant for prayer. Modern archaeologists have dug around and found evidence indicating a robust religious environment, an array of temples and shrines and altars that once-upon-a-time spiced life in Corinth (see The New Interpreter s Bible, Vol. X, p. 774). Paul seems to have arrived in Corinth in or near the year 50 CE, and stayed a year and half (Acts 18:11). When he left, there was a congregation up and running in the house of a man named Titius Justus, apparently right next door to the local Jewish synagogue (Acts 18:7). How the First Church of Corinth ever got up and running in the first place is a wonder of wonders. It was a motley group, filled with factions. This is the church where division was so great they couldn t agree on an order of worship; to whom Paul wrote all things should be done decently and in order, which suggests, of course, that all things were not.

4 Plymouth Church, Fort Wayne Page 4 This is the church to whom Paul wrote, begging that they be united in the same mind and in the same purpose as befits the mind of Christ (see I Corinthians 1:10; 2:16). Yet from the get go, church members cornered up, faced off, not against the world but against each other. You may recall this is the church where folks aligned themselves according to the personalities they seem to have preferred, with some claiming I belong to Paul, and others I belong to Apollos, and others I belong to Cephas, and still others, I belong to Christ (see I Corinthians 1:12-13). It is a marvel that they ever got themselves together in the first place. ***** Fast forward to chapter 12, where Paul is concerned that there be a good communal understanding of spiritual gifts ( charismata ). I do not want you to be uninformed, Paul writes (I Corinthians 12:1). I would not have you ignorant is the translation we find in the King James. In this chapter, Paul includes two lists that break down the ways God s spirit works in community. There are varieties of gifts and varieties of activities traceable to the same Source. On list No. 1 we find: wisdom utterance of knowledge faith gifts of healing working of miracles

5 discernment speaking in tongues interpretation of tongues (I Corinthians 12:8-10) Plymouth Church, Fort Wayne Page 5 Then, a second list, a chart designating various roles that individuals play on behalf of the whole: apostles prophets teachers deeds of power gifts of healing forms of assistance leadership various kinds of tongues What Paul is working hard to impress upon the Corinthians is a degree of order and understanding they haven t yet attained. And also, we see Paul s remarkable accent, his desire to defend an understanding of faith that is radically inclusive of diversity; with the diversity all tied and traceable to a single Source, the Holy Spirit of the God who enlivens and animates us all. Paul was convinced everybody in the church has something of value to give and contribute. Everyone has a gift that is beneficial (I Corinthians 7:7), not to puff up the one in possession of the gift, but for the good, the common good, the possessor of the gift enriching others, building up the body, with what is shared. It is a grand vision of multicultural bliss under cover of the love of Jesus Christ. And our work, our prayer, is a balancing act of mutual respect and affirmation, ordering our steps to enhance our life in the love that makes our being together possible.

6 Plymouth Church, Fort Wayne Page 6 Now this is our annual meeting day in Plymouth Church. It is a business meeting, with reports of the past, a determination of budget and monies we hope to prudently expend; and also a time to ponder what challenges loom on the horizon. As we tend to these things, I want us to be mindful and aware, to be careful and aware, of what we are called upon to advance as the body of Christ. BEWARE EXCLUDING A PEOPLE THE LOVE OF GOD INCLUDES Beware of being blind to what good exists in others. The eagerness on the part of some to judge others deficient of God s spirit is not an attractive expression of faith. We should pray to avoid presumptions that belittle the faith we confess. I was reading the other day that a Virginia lawmaker, Rep. David Brat, was critical of President Obama, not over a disagreement in policy, but due to a a biblical reference the President alluded to in a speech that spoke of widows and orphans. There is a passage in James (1:27), you may recall, Religion that is pure and undefiled is this: to care for widows and orphans in their distress. The legislator took issue, saying (he) is bonking (us) over the head with the Bible. Our side needs to re-educate its people that we own the entire tradition (Yahoo, online news source, 1/14/16).

7 I m not sure how such folks get into elected office, yet they do. It does serve as a negative example, an occasion for us to remind ourselves. The church does not own the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit doesn t have a side to take, other than to convey and confer God s love. Plymouth Church, Fort Wayne Page 7 Of all people, in all places, the church should be a frontline, on the alert, who else will God use? Who else will come? Who else will contribute? What will they bring? How will we be blessed? So let us beware of being blind to our own conceits. Each side has an ingenuity for justifying its own position (Dalia Eshkenazi Landau, Dalia s Letter to Bashir, Jan. 14, 1988). MAY OUR EDGES BE POROUS, DESIGNED NOT FOR KEEPING FOLKS OUT, BUT HELP PEOPLE IN We can t be all things to all people, but we can do the best we can with what we have; our edges should be porous, elastic. Every gift is measurable. Does it help or harm the cause? Is the common good affirmed or threatened? Does our faith and its practice help us rest; do we sleep with a good conscience? No. 3 Pray When We Find Ourselves on the Verge of a Panic Attack Remember to Pray

8 Plymouth Church, Fort Wayne Page 8 I was reviewing this past week some of the work of Ed Catmull, browsing his book, Creativity, Inc Overcoming the Unseen Forces that Stand in the Way of True Inspiration. Catmull is a computer scientist, co-founder and president of Pixar Animation Studios (Toy Story, Finding Nemo, the Incredibles, etc.). What makes Pixar special is that we acknowledge we will always have problems, many of them hidden from our view; that we work hard to uncover these problems, even if doing so makes us uncomfortable; and then, when we come across a problem, we marshall all our energies to solve it. In reading this, I couldn t help but wonder what if the church functioned in just such a way? That we work hard not to elude or deny or blame others for our problems, but that we marshall our energies to seek solutions. In addition, Catmull has written: There is a sweet spot between the known and the unknown where originality happens; the key is to be able to linger there without panicking Let us work hard together; let us couple our work with prayer, a prayer for patience until the unknowns are revealed. May we pray ourselves through our challenges without panicking. And the challenge is this: can we maintain and defend the integrity of our community, in keeping with our commitments? Will the mind of Christ, the love of Jesus, be evident in our midst?

9 Plymouth Church, Fort Wayne Page 9 THE CHURCH WHERE AGONY AND ECSTACY MEET Let us close with this thought, a quote from MLK the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak (the above quotes are from A Time to Break Silence, delivered at Riverside Church, April 4, 1967, to a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned, expressing opposition to the War in Vietnam). In Plymouth Church we speak in ways like few others. And I hope we continue to speak in ways that best reflect our understanding of God s love in Christ, working in us through the Holy Spirit. I hope we realize, the church is not a Christian cruise ship, designed for comfort and convenience. We are a people called to strive for the gifts born of God s spirit, to covet the best that God would have us display. May we do so understanding that everyone has a role to play, to our advance. So let us remember and commit ourselves to carry on the faith that has brought us so far, knowing there is still much work to do. If you can t fly, then run; if you can t run, then walk; if you can t walk, then crawl; but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward (Martin Luther King, Jr., Washington University, St. Louis, 1957). (Sermons are typically composed in haste, for the demands of the day are many; so be charitable as you read; and remember: the contents of this sermon have not been edited and may or may not have been a part of its public presentation)

1 C O R I N T H I A N S O V E R V I E W THE CITY OF CORINTH

1 C O R I N T H I A N S O V E R V I E W THE CITY OF CORINTH Ancient Greece was divided into two principal areas: Macedonia on mainland Greece and Achaia on the Peloponnesus Peninsula. The Peninsula is