Foolishness!

1 Corinthians 1:10-18   CEB

10 Now I encourage you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: Agree with each other and don’t be divided into rival groups. Instead, be restored with the same mind and the same purpose. 11 My brothers and sisters, Chloe’s people gave me some information about you, that you’re fighting with each other. 12 What I mean is this: that each one of you says, “I belong to Paul,” “I belong to Apollos,” “I belong to Cephas,” “I belong to Christ.” 13 Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized in Paul’s name? 14 Thank God that I didn’t baptize any of you, except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that nobody can say that you were baptized in my name! 16 Oh, I baptized the house of Stephanas too. Otherwise, I don’t know if I baptized anyone else. 17 Christ didn’t send me to baptize but to preach the good news. And Christ didn’t send me to preach the good news with clever words so that Christ’s cross won’t be emptied of its meaning.

18 The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are being destroyed. But it is the power of God for those of us who are being saved.

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At least once a year, Christians are reminded of John 17, Jesus’ prayer for his disciples, and especially for unity among them and all who would believe because of their preaching, in which he says to the Father,  “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. they may be one so that the world may believe”.  Hearts are touched and Christians come together to pray for their unity. Congregations and parishes all over the world visit each other or exchange preachers or arrange special ecumenical celebrations and prayer services. The event that touches off this special experience is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which is this week, and which is promoted by both the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the World Council of Churches. We had a plan here at First Christian Church for that sort of event this week, but it fell through, as plans sometimes do.  You may have heard the old saying, “Man plans and God laughs.”  Although, honestly, we weren’t thinking of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity when we made those plans. 

Nevertheless, it is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.   We know, because we have read the Bible, that from the very beginning unity was not exactly a hallmark of the Christian movement.   They had barely started out when the Greek and Hebrew believers started arguing about the fair treatment of their widows.  Peter ran into trouble when he baptized the uncircumcised Cornelius and his household!   And here we are only about 20 years after the resurrection, and Paul is having to chastise the churches in Corinth for their disagreements on a number of topics, but especially on unity.  “Now I encourage you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: Agree with each other and don’t be divided into rival groups. Instead,” he said,  “be restored with the same mind and the same purpose.”   It seems that some members of those churches were considering themselves followers of the various preachers who had come through the city and arguing about who was best.   Paul comes down on them pretty hard.  “Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized in Paul’s name? 14 Thank God that I didn’t baptize any of you, except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that nobody can say that you were baptized in my name! 16 Oh, I baptized the house of Stephanas too.”   

Has Christ been divided?  What a question.  Over the millennia since this letter was written, the Church has divided many times.  This does not mean that Christ has been divided.  Only that our theological understandings and practices are different from each other.  Since our founding in the early 1800s the main focus of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is Christian Unity.  We say “Unity is our polar star” - it is supposed to be the goal which helps us determine our direction as a Church.  “However, the history of the Stone-Campbell Movement (that would be us) has been marked by social, cultural and theological tensions internally.  There have been a number of splits since our founding, over things like slavery and whether instrumental music had a place in worship. In the early 20th century the Disciples of Christ and the Churches of Christ became two separate streams of the Restoration tradition. Continuing arguments over led to a further division, with 3,500 congregations withdrawing in the late 1960s and early 1970s to form the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ.”  Since that time we have seen more congregations breaking away for a variety of reasons - most recently because our 2014 General Assembly adopted a resolution titled, “Becoming a People of Grace and Welcome to All.”   You know, All means ALL.  We, here at First Christian Church, claim this and work hard to live it, but not all Disciples congregations feel the same.   However, because Unity is not the same thing as Uniformity, it is perfectly ok for our congregations - and for individual members of our congregations - to have differing thoughts on this matter and many others.    We may all have different theological understandings, but the bottom line for Disciples is our belief that “We are not the only Christians, but we are Christians only.”   I am grateful that in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) we do not have to have the “right” theology to be baptized, or to become members, or share the Lord’s Supper.  

Paul said to the Church in Corinth that “18 The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are being destroyed. But it is the power of God for those of us who are being saved.”  Perhaps it is foolish of us to continue to work toward and pray for Christian Unity.  Certainly it is in the eyes of the world, especially as we don’t appear to be enjoying much success.  But we believe that is what Jesus wants, what God wants.  He prayed for us, his followers, to be one with him and with God and with each other.  Perhaps it is foolishness on our part to believe that regardless of all of our differences, we can be united in our love for God and for Jesus the Christ, even though our theology and practices may differ.  Perhaps it is foolishness to believe that we can agree to disagree.   But this struggle, this foolish struggle, has been going on since the beginning of the church - the struggle to interpret and understand what Jesus meant when he preached the Good News.  The struggle to somehow form an institution that could remain true to those teachings.  The struggle to be obedient to the commandment to love one another, in whatever way we understand that and to accept that we aren’t all going to agree on what that means.  The struggle to bring God’s justice into the world, when we don’t agree on what that looks like. This struggle to be one Church, even one congregation, united in Christ, even though we disagree on so many things may look foolish to the world.  But for we who believe, this struggle for unity with one another, with Jesus, and with God - as the Church, as a congregation, and as individuals - is the path to a new life, a better life, a life filled with hope and light, and to a world where God’s justice and God’s peace are the rule.

In the coming week, let us pray for Christian Unity - not uniformity - but Unity, so that the message of the cross may reach into every heart and God’s vision for us and for his world come to pass.