Mooroolbark Uniting Church

Epiphany 3 – Day of Mourning, 22 January 2023

Sermon – Howard Wallace

 

We heard the start of Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth last week. Today he goes on to spell out some of the problems he has with that church. First among them is that disagreements have arisen within the community that have created divisions between members.

 

As is the case with all of Paul’s letters we only have Paul’s side of the story. We have to reconstruct what is happening in the communities from what Paul has to say. In this case, it appears that a report has come to him, which suggests that strong party divisions have emerged in the church at Corinth. Some are saying that they belong to Paul, others that they belong to Cephas, that is Peter, and others that they belong to one Appollos. Paul is embarrassed to be part of the cause of such a division.

 

We are not sure now what the detailed differences between these groups were. We hear of Appollos later in Paul’s letter and it seems that he was one who attracted followers interested in wisdom, being able to speak and argue eloquently, a popular pursuit in the day among the educated – they are the ‘tech nerds’ of their time.

 

With regard to the mention of Peter (Cephas) we know from Paul’s letter to the Galatians that Peter and Paul did have their differences over whether gentiles needed to become Jews before joining the church, and over a collection that was taken up for the Jerusalem church in a time of need.

 

On the other hand we are not sure what Paul is referring to by ‘those who belong to Christ’, after all Paul and all Christians belong to Christ. Is Paul being facetious, or is there some group with extreme views about Christ, quite different to Paul’s view?

 

But Paul is not so much concerned with the details of the differences as with the divisiveness itself. Ultimately he is concerned with what unites this group of Christians.

 

We may well ask a similar question of ourselves. What unites the UCA in its diversity? What unites this congregation in our diversity? The church at Corinth has been called as a community in Christ and with each other. As we were reminded last week, as Christians we are called not only individually as disciples but into a community of saints.

 

As much as we can tell from Paul’s letter, it seems that the church at Corinth has become a marketplace for people’s affectations, their loyalties, their commitments. Leaders are placed in positions whereby their teaching, their effectiveness, their witness is only successful if it is at the expense of others; and that is true even if the ‘leader’ is not present in the Corinthian church, like Paul or Peter.

 

Paul wants to say that there is no place in the Gospel for such divisiveness. Make no mistake, he is not saying that all Christians should think, behave and believe exactly the same. He is not saying there is no room for disagreement and diversity. But such things should never lead to the sort of factionalism we see at Corinth, where one group or leader is set over against another, where there is a ‘we’ and a ’they or them’.

 

The UCA and others make a conscious effort to address issues that arise from cultural, ethnic and other diversity in community. There is a constant need to struggle for community in the context of diversity. There is a constant need to rediscover the bond of unity we have in Jesus Christ which unites us despite our differences.

 

We cannot be sure of what lies ahead of the Uniting Church as it seeks to maintain its witness in the community. We cannot be sure of what lies ahead of individual congregations as they cope with internal and external changes and challenges. But we can be sure that whatever the future holds it will require of us all to ask ourselves what lies at the foundation of our life together as disciples of Jesus Christ.

 

We will need to remind ourselves, as Paul did the church at Corinth, as we were in the reading from Corinthians last week and last week’s sermon, that we are people sanctified by Christ, who receive God’s grace in Christ, and who are enriched by Christ’s presence in our very community. Above all we are a people who have been given gifts by God to live out our life together in Christ.

 

We are also reminded that this is not just an issue for our life together in the Christian community. The gifts we are given and our life in Christ overflows into the larger community around us with its diversity and differences. It is for us to ask as Christians in that wider diverse, multicultural, multifaith community – what drives our response to matters of difference, disagreement and diversity within the larger community?

 

Paul would have nothing to do with anything that promotes competition or division within the church. As the people of Christ, what for Paul guides our life both within the Christian community and in interaction with the wider world, is the focus on what is at the heart of Christian faith: the cross of Christ. For Paul, God’s preoccupation is not with power, might or glory, the sort of things that in the human context lead to divisions, both within the church, as at Corinth, and without.

 

The model of God which Paul puts forth for emulation is that found in Jesus Christ; a model where, according to Uniting Church New Testament scholar, Bill Loader, ‘love reaches a dramatic climax and appears lost in defeat.’ That is, a model where love gives all and is the measure by which all other acts are measured. That is the only life or path to resurrection hope, to the presence of God, to the kingdom of God. That is the only way we can think of God’s power, might or glory, and indeed of any sense of human power, might or glory, that is sanctioned by God.

 

Paul’s problem is with the Corinthian church and its internal divisions. And the point he wants to make in light of that problem is one that applies particularly to Christians – remember the foundation of your common faith in Jesus Christ. But his point is no less relevant to us as Christians of a different age who face diversity and division within our own churches and the many aspects of diversity and division within our larger society. In relation to the relation of First Peoples and Second Peoples within Australia, raised every year as we come to Australia Day, there is an issue based on division and diversity and the valuation of peoples in relation to that diversity. The First Peoples of this land were regarded as ‘no peoples’ when European settlers first arrived on this continent. Terra nullius was the definition applied to the land – an empty land. And how much policy in relation to First peoples has been built on that division, that segregation ever since by governments themselves based on structures and institutions of power, might and glory that have little room for ‘love that appears lost in defeat’? That is, power that empties itself of pride and glory and approaches the other in love, in justice, in truth.

 

Paul, in his letter, was not just complaining about a community with divisions, although we can imagine his frustration. Rather he sought to bring that community back to the basis of its faith – the defiant symbol of Christ and his cross. That is the very thing that challenges all other allegiances, divisions, or loyalties.

 

That cross is the wisdom and power of God as we will hear next week as we continue reading 1 Corinthians. That cross is the basis of all our ministry. It is the starting point for us as we address all the issues we face in the church and beyond. It is the starting point for appreciating and dealing with disagreement and diversity. The cross is the place where we discover our equality before God; where we discover our common need; where we learn to treat each other with love in Christ.

 

We live in a society where connection, allegiance, power, and supremacy are all promoted within political, commercial and social contexts. In such a world we cannot, must not, forget our common foundation as Christ’s people – people who are in Christ and in whom Christ is present. As we think about the founding of our nation, its settlement, its development, its dispossession and its ongoing inequality toward First Peoples and others, may we never forget to ask ourselves where is Christ in all this, who is Christ with in all this? Those are the questions we will really answer when possibly later in the year we participate in the referendum about an indigenous voice to Parliament.

 

Never forget the foundation of your faith and our life together, for it is that foundation in Christ that will keep alive our bond of love in a world often desperately short of love.

 

Amen