Who are We? I Corinthians 1, Epiphany 2-A, 1/15/17
I have a book on my shelf entitled, Start With Why. It is a book on leadership and its thesis is that you should start any endeavor by asking why you are doing it. Instead of getting caught up in busyness, you begin by asking, “What is my purpose?” I think that is a good question, but maybe we should start with something even more fundamental; maybe we should start with who.
Who do I understand myself to be and just as important, who do I want to be? The way we define ourselves drives how we live our lives. If I define myself as a runner, I am attuned to good nutrition. I make training a priority. I adjust my schedule so that I can run each day. If I define myself as a father I will be sure I am there for my kids. I am prepared to make professional sacrifices in order to attend their school program or to be there to tuck them in. We are many things of course, but all of us have an identity which is most important, one which steers us day in day out, and it is important to periodically ask, “Who am I at my core?
That is the question which Paul addresses in today’s second lesson. He writes to a Corinthian church facing a lot of challenges. It is riven by internal conflict and unsure how it should relate to the world around it. Later in the letter he responds to specific challenges, but he begins by reminding them who they are and who they are called to be. It is as though he is saying, “Remember who you are and the rest will follow.” So who are they—and by extension, who are we as members of the body of Christ?
Paul addresses them, “To the church of God at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus.” First and foremost, says Paul, you are people who have been claimed by Christ. Eugene Peterson renders this section, “[you are] believers cleaned up by Jesus and set apart for a god-filled life.”
Victor Hugo’s great novel Les Miserables, pivots on an act of magnificent mercy. A desperately poor ex-convict, Jean Valjean, receives shelter and food from a bishop. Valjean repays the kindness by stealing the bishop’s his silver spoons and running away. He is captured by the police on suspicion and returned to the bishop’s home. But instead of sending Valjean off to jail the bishop tells the police he gave him the silver and indeed that Valjean forgot to take some silver candlesticks. The police leave and bishop addresses the wretched man, "Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I buy from you; I withdraw it from black thoughts and the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God."
“Who are we?” Like Jean Valjean we are people who have been claimed by loved. We did not ask for it, it comes as pure gift. In Christ, we have been set apart for something higher than just survival; we are called to be saints.
Maybe your reaction to that statement is less then enthusiastic. We are not always sure we want to be saints. The term conjures up images of super-Christians who piously float above the muck of the world. We think of saints as having an ethereal spirituality beyond that of mere mortals. Yet that is not what Paul means. On the contrary, to be a saint is to be in the world, but to be there with a mission to make God’s love known in all that we do. Saints are not super-Christians; they are simply folks who are committed to making Christ seen in all they do—when they meet a clerk, when they cast their vote, when they encounter human suffering, when they cheer their kids on the sidelines.
The good thing is that we are not asked to be saints all by ourselves; to be a Christian is to be part of a much larger body. As Paul says, we are called to be saints, “together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The challenge is sometimes giving flesh to that truth, creating a gathering which is truly a community of care and common purpose. In the musical West Side Story, members of the Jets, sing about the sense of belonging which being in a gang gives them:
When you're a Jet,
You're a Jet all the way
From your first cigarette
To your last dyin' day.
When you're a Jet,
If the spit hits the fan,
You got brothers around,
You're a family man!
You're never alone,
You're never disconnected!
You're home with your own:
When company's expected,
You're well protected!
How many church members would voice that sort of confidence about their community of faith, seeing it as a place of sure support and belonging? Paul reminds us that we are part of a community called into being by Christ and united in him. We have a unity which is bigger than common politics, economics, education, or culture. That being true, our challenge is to give that unity life, to be the kind of congregation where each person will say, “You’re never alone, you’re never disconnected! You’re home with your own.”
Who are we? According to Paul, wWe are people claimed by Christ, set apart to bear witness to God’s love, and joined to others by our common calling and identity in Christ. But what does that mean right here and right now? That, my friends, is what discipleship is all about, moving from the general to the specific.
Today we mark the end of Pastor Stallings’ ministry at Luther Memorial. After a long period of discernment she has determined that she is called to be a saint in another place. From the challenges of ministry in a university community she takes up the tasks of ministry near a military base. Her calling is the same—to proclaim Christ in word and deed—but the specifics are changing because the context is changing. So, we offer her our thanks and send her forth with our blessing.
Yet notice, she is doing nothing fundamentally different from what each of us is called to do. Whether lay or ordained each of us has to determine how we will live out our calling. As individuals and as a congregation we too ask, “What does it mean to the saints of God in this particular time and place? What is the word God needs us to speak in this moment? What are the divisions to which the reconciling word of Christ speaks? Where is the brokenness which needs healing? Where is the suffering which must be eased? Where is the injustice which must be confronted in God’s name?
I am not going to offer sweeping answers to those questions; one size does not fit all. But I invite you to ponder them as you think about your own Christian identity and your place in the ministry of Luther Memorial.
Who are we? We are God’s precious children, claimed by Christ, formed into a holy community, and sent to be God’s love in the world. That is who we are; that is what unifies us. May that be the core of our identity, and may it give us joy and purpose as we leave this place to serve Christ in the world.