Sermon for May 29

The reading

 

2 Corinthians 2:1-11

 So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you. For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved?  I wrote as I did, so that when I came I would not be distressed by those who should have made me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy.  For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.  If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent—not to put it too severely.  The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. Another reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake

The message

 (I changed some of this as I was preaching to clarify the point that Jesus invites us to see the world differently. I tried to update this manuscript accordingly)

I had 2 very strange days this week.  On Wednesday night I had volunteered to work at the tutoring center at the Pam Am Shelter on Queens Boulevard. The program started at 6:30 and Jen was off that day, so we went to an early dinner. As we entered the restaurant, I accidently dropped my eyeglasses and the frame broke in half.  At that time, I did what any normal person would do, I asked the waitress if she had some tape we could borrow.  All she had was some masking tape so I taped my glasses back together with that.   This repair lasted about 20 minutes and then they fell apart again. Without glasses my vision is really terrible. I went to the tutoring program anyway.  At tutoring, things were sort off, I had a hard time seeing the people around me and seeing the work (this was also my first night working with the Wednesday group, so they must have thought “wow the new guy is really weird”). After tutoring, I took a very slow, cautious walk home.   When I got home, I finally had the appropriate tools and equipment to repair my glasses. I got the duck tape from the draw and put them back together.  The break was in a really awkward spot so even duck tape didn’t really last long or fix it well.  Over the next few hours and on Thursday morning, I was hardly able to see. Even with the taped glasses, things looked really funny and were hard to make out.  Thursday afternoon, I went to the eye doctor (which I was long overdue for anyway) and ordered new glasses. They also taught me how to properly use duck tape to repair eyeglasses (You don’t, to help for the next few days they just moved the lenses to a loaner frame). Things were back to normal. After having glasses on virtually every day since first or second grade, it was strange to be without them.  For those hours, the world looked very different to me.  Even streets I had walked down 1000’s of times looked weird or strange.  Crossing streets, especially Queens boulevard, was more frightening than usual. I didn’t really feel quite right either. With the broken glasses, I always felt like something was wrong or off.     

There are the literal eyeglasses that many of us wear, lenses that help us use our sense of sight properly and help us experience the world around us.  There are also more figurative glasses many of us wear, lenses that filter and influence our relationships with each other and how we experience the world around us.  Some of these figurative lenses are very dangerous and sad. There are lenses like racism or other prejudices, which prevent us from seeing each other as children loved by the same God. There are lenses like justice or fairness, both of which are important to maintaining order in society but often abused to prevent forgiveness or create real change. There are lenses that allow us to see ourselves as great and our power as the ultimate. These things prevent us from acknowledging our sinful brokenness and from experiencing God’s grace (after all if we are too special to sin, how can we experience the joy of God’s forgiveness).   

In Paul’s communications with the church in Corinth, he is constantly challenging their lenses or  perceptions of the world. He is inviting people to see things differently, even uncomfortably. With faith and with the knowledge that Christ is Risen from the dead, the world should look very different.   Paul is inviting them to see the world as a place where God’s love covers all people, a world of real affliction and serious sin but also true consolation and complete forgiveness.  

Last week,  2 Corinthians began with Paul writing on affliction and consolation. This was an attempt to improve the relationship between the church and its founder. There Paul recounts the ways he has suffered during his ministry, not to brag but to show them endurance and the depth of his love for Christ, for the church and even for them (although he often has a tough love approach there). He does not want them to just see frustration, annoyance, dislike or hatred. .  He invites them to see the world through the lens of consolation, not the lens of suffering.  The people are called to draw their hope for something better from God’s promises of healing and ultimately the resurrection of the dead to eternal life

This week Paul goes on to talk about forgiveness. In particular Paul is advocating for the church to forgive an unspecified person who had led them away from Paul’s own teachings (it appears that after the letter of tears, the community turned on and inflicted some sort of punishment on the person who led them away from the faith). Paul writes “the punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him”.  Here, the lens we see the world with is often crime, punishment and protection. The normal, human thing is to not let stuff go, to not forgive and certainly not to forget. After all, leaving this guy in the community, leaves him the opportunity to go back to his old ways and sharing false teachings.  It’s not safe.  For Paul to not only forgive but also advocate for others to forgive someone who had seriously wronged him is an invitation to look beyond their previous disputes and look forward together to their shared experience of God’s joy.  Paul invites them to see the world in a dangerous and unsafe way, with forgiveness and trust in others you probably should not trust.   

Now forgiveness should be an easy topic for a pastor to talk about. After all most of us say the Lord’s prayer, “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us” a lot. At every church service I say “I declare to you the entire forgiveness of all your sins” ( Not because I have some magic powers, but  because Jesus died and rose again).  Over the past few months, I have added an invitation to reflect on the times when we have failed to love God and neighbor as ourselves and I have added “with great joy: to “I declare to you the forgiveness of all your sins”. These changes are meant to help highlight the renewing joy we experience when we become aware that our real sins are really forgiven.  Forgiveness is also a central idea for a lot of work that psychologists and other mental health professionals do with people who are struggling to experience joy in their lives.  The idea is that forgiving lets you move on, restart your life and and it stops letting anger eat away at you. As it turns out, forgiveness is not that easy to talk about and do.. We must also see the world differently. Its not about being safe, it’s about being loving, its not about being fair, forgiveness is unfair. 

 Almost 500 years ago, Martin Luther shared these thoughts in a sermon:   There is no greater theme for a preacher than the grace of God and the forgiveness of sin, yet we are such wicked people, that, when we have once heard or read it, we think we know it, are immediately masters and doctors, keep looking for something greater, as though we had done everything, and thus we made new factions and division.  I think I have forgiven people. I have now been teaching and studying this subject with all diligence for many years (more than any one of those who imagine they know it all), in preaching, writing and reading, yet I cannot boast of having mastered it and am glad that I still remain a pupil with those who are just beginning to learn.

To forgive takes trust, faith, and seeing the world in a different way.  It means taking off those glasses we have worn for so long and seeing the world as of place of uncertainty but faith that God is in charge, a place of sin but also forgiveness.

Sermon for May 22

The reading

2 Corinthians 1:1-11

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To the church of God that is in Corinth, including all the saints throughout Achaia: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ.  If we are being afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation; if we are being consoled, it is for your consolation, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are also suffering.  Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation.

We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of the affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death so that we would rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.  He who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us; on him we have set our hope that he will rescue us again, as you also join in helping us by your prayers, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many

The message

We are now starting a series on Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, which will take us through the next 6 Sundays.  I wanted to start with some background and context for this letter to help everyone get a sense of what was happening in Corinth, how and why this letter was written and some of the main ideas and themes Paul shares.

Paul wrote letters for much the same reasons that we do today, to communicate, to celebrate and acknowledge significant events, to share news, offer advice or address bad situations and seek change. After founding the church at Corinth, Paul writes to the community. Although this initial letter is now lost, there is a reference to it and brief summary in 1 Corinthians chapter 5: 9. This first letter addresses the need to avoid immoral people in the church. 

After this note has limited results, Paul writes 1 Corinthians.  This communication is in response to reports of struggles in the church and requests for help dealing with conflicts in the community. Those conflicts included disagreements between leaders, inequality in the church and theologically poor beliefs (like denying the resurrection of the dead).   Again, 1^st Corinthians has little impact.  After the letter, Paul sends Timothy to the community as his personal representative to reform and correct the church.. Timothy’s visit also does very little to change things. Upon his return, Timothy reports that a group of Jewish-Christian teachers were in the community and undermining Paul’s authority and message. This leads Paul to personally visit the church in Corinth. Again, this does very little to change things. In fact, during his trip, Paul is deeply disturbed, insulted and offended. In response, he writes a very severe letter called “the Letter of tears” (which is lost).  This note convinces a good majority of the church of Paul’s positions.  Paul’s joy and relief is short lived since he has to write a very bitter letter once again attacking false teachers and false beliefs. (A portion of this letter makes up 2 Corinthians chapters 10- 13)  

In the years after 1^st Corinthians, Paul maintained a very tense, frustrating, up and down type of relationship with them. He constantly writes and tries to heal the divisions.  Many of the letters to Corinth are lost and Second Corinthians is a collection of parts of those lost letters.  (which explains why it can be a difficult book to follow). A few themes do manage to unite 2 Corinthians including the relationship between affliction and consolation along with issues of boasting and confidence.

As we look at the overall record of communication between Paul and the church at Corinth, it is rough. We get the sense that, at times, Paul has no idea what to do with these people. He keeps trying different approaches and arguments. Some are kind, a celebration and highlighting of the communities scattered moments of accomplishment, endurance and commitment. Other arguments are blunt, aggressive, condemning and angry. As Paul expresses his care, frustration and disappointment, he always recognizes the community as loved by God.   Of course, the churches in Corinth are not so happy with Paul either. They are frustrated, annoyed and upset with him too, viewing him as a know it all and as someone who talks to them like they are children.  In Corinth, there was a cultural openness to all sorts of ideas and the tradition of combining or including pieces of all different teachings was normal. The church probably wondered “why don’t he just leave us alone, were growing, doing fine, and teaching mostly, kind of, sort of what he taught us.      

This week’s opening verses focus on consolation or comfort after suffering. Paul starts saying “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction”. This was a typical Jewish thanksgiving that emphases attributes of God (in this case God’s mercy and promised consolation). This was an unusual way for Paul to start a letter.  Generally Paul opens with a thanksgiving that stresses and celebrates his relationship with the community (for instance Paul opens the letter to the Phillipains I thank my God every time I remember you,  constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you,  because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now.

Corinth is different.  Paul’s relationship with them is adversarial, strained, difficult and uncertain. His authority amongst them is often questioned. We get the sense that they just don’t like each other.  Instead of focusing on their relationship, rift with personal issues and bad history, Paul focuses on God’s relationship with everyone, God’s grace and encouragement to endure by the promise of consolation.  When Paul has no idea what to say anymore, when all logical arguments failed, when angry rants did not change minds, when kind words did not warm hearts, he points away from his relationship with them and looks to God’s relationship with them., something they all experience and share joy in. Paul also seeks to find common ground and a new connection with them through his talk of suffering and enduring.  Paul’s ministry is filled with arrests, threats, close calls, accidents and disappointments.  He fights through all those things, and keeps going. The church members in Corinth also endured their share of suffering, exclusion and conflict.  Paul hopes this shared experience will reconnect them and help heal the relationship. 

Another aspect of this discussion on affliction and consolation may be Paul telling the Corinthians he is not going anywhere, that he will keep working with them, caring and praying for them, trying to guide, and sharing God’s love with them, regardless of how they react or respond.    There is a lesson for all of us in this background to Paul’s communications with the churches in Corinth. Church is not about us liking each other. Obviously, we all want to be part of a community where we like the people and they like us. Church is beyond that, a place not really concerned with personalities, likes or dislikes, This is a place where we see each other as children of God, where we put aside those very real feelings and choose something better. A place where we can endure together, hope together, serve together and bring each other comfort.  It is not always neat and easy but it is our burden and our joy.  

The other lesson we can take from this introduction to 2 Corinthians is endurance.  We are in a community that has endured.  This is a place that was dismissed and written off several years ago, told to pack it up and joyfully say mission completed.  We are still here, worshipping, serving, helping and providing for more people than ever before. It might look or feel like things are falling apart at the seams but we have a strong combination of good people and God’s love and welcome. We will continue to endure.  Over the past week, I had the opportunity to meet a few people in our community who have endured as well. There is Lester, Deborah and the people of City Mission, a group out of Newtown Reformed Church that runs tutoring and other programs at the Pan Am shelter on Queens Boulevard and 79^th st. (Please speak to me if you want information about how we can help with the tutoring program). I happened to be sitting with them at the Queens Impact Awards night.  Myself and several other pastors tried to get into the Pan Am shelter for various ministries and all failed to even get a return call.  I asked the people of City Mission: “how did you get in”, and they said something like,” we just kept trying, we kept calling, we went in and wouldn’t leave until we got something”. City mission has been publically and privately yelled at, criticized and condemned for their work throughout the process but just kept going.  A lot of people don’t like them, but they just kept going. They saw a need and responded in faith, they saw the people in the shelter as loved by God and they kept saying and doing that, until it was heard.  As we begin this journey through Second Corinthians, we are called to keep trying, to stay focused on sharing God’s word in love and invited to trust things will happen.        

Sermon for May 15 (Pentecost)

Pentecost 2016

The readings

Acts 2:1-4

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

1 Corinthians 12:1-13

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. 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. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

A note for online readers who were not at worship on Sunday, May 15. For worship, I completely changed the order of our service.  We started with a few hymns, then celebrated communion (which is usually the end of our service). After our sacred meal, we confessed our sins, prayed, shared the peace, had our readings and ended with this sermon)

Sermon for Pentecost 2016

If you are like me and accustomed to church being comfortable, with everything done a certain way and all of our rituals and practices in a particular order, then this has probably been a very strange experience for you.  For most of my life, as a Roman Catholic, then a Lutheran, then a seminary student learning proper worship and then a Lutheran pastor organizing and presiding over that proper worship, church has always followed a familiar pattern.  Today, virtually every part of our worship was shifted around.  We started with communion, are ending with this sermon and rearranged everything in between.  The pattern and ritual of worship is part of a very long tradition, going back to those first churches that apostles like Peter and James and missionaries like Paul founded in the years after Jesus life, death, resurrection and ascension.  Our worship is done in certain ways for good reasons, to help tell the story of God’s love, to provide people with a comforting and shared experience, to praise God by obedience, and affirm our connection to all the saints who have gone before us through worshipping God in the same way.   The changes today are not something I decided to do lightly and I owe everyone here an explanation of what just happened at church and why we celebrated Pentecost in such an unusual way.

Pentecost literally means the 50^th day and it is the Greek name for the Jewish festival of Shavot ( an important day in ancient Israel which celebrated the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai).  For the sparse, confused, and hopeful Christian Community gathering 10 days after Jesus’ Ascension to celebrate Pentecost, everything was about change.  This feast would take on an entirely new meaning, their lives, the church and the world would never be the same. This particular Pentecost, the first one after Jesus resurrection, his followers experience the fulfillment of a promise spoken through the prophets centuries before Jesus birth, by Jesus throughout his ministry and in Jesus final minutes on earth, in the moments right before the risen Christ ascends to God. In the book of the prophet Ezekiel chapter 37, verse 14, we hear "I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it," declares the LORD.'". In the book of the prophet Isaiah chapter 44, verse 3  'For I will pour out water on the thirsty land And streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring And My blessing on your descendants;  In both cases, this promise is spoken to a broken people, to bring comfort to the anxious and reassurance to the suffering that God is still in control and God’s promises are still good. 

In  all 4 gospels, especially at Jesus Baptism and at the Ascension, we have that promise of the Holy Spirit 

At the end of Luke chapter 24, verse 49, Jesus tells his followers to wait, to not do anything until the Holy Spirit comes.  "And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."

In John, chapter 15, verse 26 as Jesus prepares his disciples for his death, resurrection and their work, , we hear "When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,

In the start of Mark and Matthew, at Jesus Baptism, John the Baptist repeats this promise Mark Chapter 1 verse 8 “I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” and Matthew chapter 3 verse 11 "As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire”.

On Pentecost, this longed for, expected, promised, hoped for event happens, the Holy Spirit comes to the world.  Now this promise is not fulfilled with a gentle ocean breeze, or the soft whisper of a dear friend, it comes as a violent, disruptive wind and consuming fire.  Pentecost is not fully understood, quiet, private and well organized.  It is unsure, loud, public, and chaotic. The first thing the Holy Spirit does is cause this mysterious, attention grabbing  ability to clearly share the story of God’s love revealed through Christ in all different languages.  They are speaking about “God’s deeds of power”,  talking about God’s love, Christ’s resurrection, the power of God to act in the world, Jesus healings, miracles and signs, the invitation to baptism and a lifelong relationship with God.  This gets everyone’s attention. The crowds are amazed, in awe and very confused.  Some actually dismissed Jesus followers as drunk (which might make sense if they were just rambling incoherently. They are speaking properly in languages they have no business knowing). Peter, standing with the disciples, does the only things he can, he proclaims Christ, dead and risen for the forgiveness of sins to the crowds.  

None of the disciples could hide in a room, wait around, quietly pause to figure out what was going on, plan the next steps, write out and edit a message or argue over the best way to go from there. They could not simply do what they did yesterday.  Everything has changed.  They would have to speak, to explain, to open the scriptures and point to God’s love revealed by Christ.

During these moments, no one had any idea what was going on. The crowds and the disciples were not sure what was happening or what to do next.   The crowds knew something big just occurred right in front of them but needed help to understand.  On one level, the disciples knew Jesus’ promise would be kept, that the Holy Spirit would come, but I am not sure they were prepared for it.  When the Holy Spirit does break into the world, Peter and the others do not have time to think, stall, or wait.  Remember, a few days ago, this group of disciples were still hiding, locked in rooms, a little afraid and a little excited, trying to recover from the incredible emotional storm that was watching Jesus arrested, put on trial, being executed, rising from the dead and ascending into heaven victorious over evil, sin and death.  They are now the center of everyone’s attention.  There would be no hiding from Pentecost. Peter and the others are driven to do the only thing they can, to follow Jesus instructions in his last words “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age”.   The sudden arrival of the Holy Spirit hits them unprepared, with nothing to lean on other than this Holy Spirit. That is enough though. At the end of Peter’s message, the first Christian Sermon, 1000’s are baptized and the church begins.      

That is at the heart of today’s changes in our worship.  Church is the experience of God breaking into the world, disrupting things and changing us. As God’s people, we do not lean on ritual, wisdom or always having the right words, we lean on the Holy Spirit.  We do not pray, worship and live out our faith in a stable world, where things always work out the way we want or even the way they should. Things are often a mess but at the center of this mess is God’s love for us, that is all we have which never changes. No matter what happens, God’s promises are still good. Salvation does not come from saying, doing or thinking the right things, salvation comes because Christ is risen from the dead and that is enough. When we do not know what to say, we say Christ is Risen. When we cannot figure out what to do, we listen for the Holy Spirit in the world.   

Sermon for May 8, 2016

The readings

1 Corinthians 15:1-26, 51-57

Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand,  through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain.

For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.  Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.  For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.  Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.  Then those also who have died in Christ have perished.  If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being;  for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.  Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.  The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:

‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’

‘Where, O death, is your victory?

   Where, O death, is your sting?’

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The message

Last week, we looked at 1 Corinthians 13 and I mentioned that the reading was frequently part of wedding and funeral services.  Our reading this week is also frequently part of funeral services, I can remember standing by many grave sides and sharing the verses ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  These words are shared at the end of one person’s life to bring comfort to many others, to reassure all those who mourn of God’s promised resurrection of the dead, that Christ is Risen and we will arise.    

This hope is at the heart of our faith.  For me, it’s how I understand why bad things happen, how there can be such inequality, unfairness, pain, violence, separation, sadness, greed and undeserved suffering.  We are set free from the power of death but not from the pain of dying.  We can pretend all we want but our world is temporary, our hope is for something better, our joy is to participate in this wonder, and our work is to show or create glimpses of God’s coming kingdom here and now. For Paul, the resurrection of the dead is also central to the faith that came to him through a blinding vision, healing and instructions about Jesus.  Today’s reading is actually a long argument constructed to convince the people of Corinth that there is the resurrection of the dead.  Some members of the churches in Corinth incorporated the teachings of Apollos, an Alexandrian Jew whose systems of beliefs taught that the soul was fully separable from the body.  The body was temporary and replaceable but the soul was immortal, since it held wisdom.   For Apollos, the resurrection of the body was a silly thought, the soul was what mattered and that did not die.   

Paul was highly educated and trained in Greek rhetoric. His proof of the resurrection of the dead follows an order and the traditional pattern of argument. Paul leans on logic, scripture, authority and the experience of God in the world to make his arguments for the resurrection of the dead. He offers 5 or 6 unique arguments, hoping at least one or two will convince the Corinthians to come back to the proper faith as revealed by Christ.  He starts off in verses 1-11 with the early creeds of the church, the message that originally brought the Corinthians to faith:  Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand,  through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you . Paul goes on to recount the story of Easter, of Jesus death, resurrection and appearances to his followers and their authority as witnesses.  Paul moves on to a logical argument in vs 12-19, saying if there was no resurrection of the dead, Christ could not be raised. Since we are saved from sin and death by Christ’s resurrection, there could be no salvation and believer’s faith was in vain.   In vs 20-26 Paul argues the events of history and prophesy starting all the way back with Adam, all point to Jesus resurrection and the resurrection of the dead.

The Sections we did not read (vs 26 – 50)  include Paul telling the Corinthians they are foolish, ignorant and that those who say there is no resurrection have no knowledge of God (this line of reasoning, “if you don’t think like me, your stupid”, should sound familiar to us, we hear it a lot in our political campaigns). In these verses, Paul also looks at other proofs, including a metaphor about seeds: “what you sow does not come to life without dying”.   Our selected reading picks up again with verses 51-58. There we have a moment of prophesy or vision. This starts with the declaration “listen, I will tell you a mystery”. Here, mystery is a formal or technical term used in Jewish revelation to describe God’s plan for the fulfillment of history, something we might think of as the meaning or purpose of life.   As Paul ends his arugments for the resurrection of the dead, his use of the mortal / immortal and perishable / imperishable is a direct confrontation of Apollos and his followers.  They were familiar words to Apollos’ followers and indicated unbridgeable differences between body and soul.  Paul redefines them, aguring that since Christ lived, died and is risen, everything has changed. That distinction between mortal and immortal is gone, the body takes on immortality, through God’s grace, the perishable becomes imperishable. This is the close of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.  Chapter 16 is housekeeping stuff, greetings, acknowledgments, plans to visit and the collection for the saints (asking for money to support the work of the church and spread of the gospel). 

Just like the teachings of Apollos drew people away from the story of God’s love revealed through the death and resurrection of Christ in ancient Corinth, today our faith is often infiltrated by other ideas. It has taken on aspects of the society, culture and dominant world views around it.  Honestly and sadly they include greed, racism, violence, sexism, exclusion of others and harm to the people God loves. They include an embrace of the things we are hoping to be set free from. Even Paul himself seems to fall victim to this. Although all 4 gospels report that women (and only women) were the first witnesses of Jesus resurrection, telling all future generations of their bold faith, love for Christ and bravery, Paul leaves them out, implying that Cephas was the first witness to the resurrection and only mentioning sisters as witnesses of later appearances. This was probably done since the people he was writing to did not consider women reliable witnesses. Leaving them out prevented Apollos’ followers from attacking him on this point and just dismissing Paul’s entire argument.  Regardless of the possible reason, it was done.  

We are invited to look seriously at our lives, church and community.  We are required to spot the times and places when our world stops acting like Christ is risen from the dead. There are times when we are under attack from outsiders who doubt, have belief systems where God does not fit, cannot get over stories of the church being bad, who do not think Christ is Risen from the dead, or dismiss us as just another big, corporate business.  There are times when we are under attack from insiders, from priests, pastors, treasurers and secretaries who steal, churches built on exclusion and hatred, faith communities that replace hope with feeling good now, who hoarde money and resources instead of serving others and spreading the gospel, who hide, scared, hopeless and trying to hold on instead of boldly telling the story. Against all this we are asked to do something difficult and uncomfortable, to in the words of 1 Peter 3:15 In your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you.  This is not an “I’m smarter than you contest” or academic debate, this is about trusting in God’s promises, being led by the Spirit, and telling the others Christ is risen from the dead with joy and hope, through our relationships, joy, laughter, work, words and actions.