Community Church Sermons

The Third Sunday After Epiphany – January 23, 2005

Ecumenical Sunday

“The Light of Unity”

1 Corinthians 1: 10-18

Margaret I. Manning

I don’t know about you, but since moving to the South, I’ve noticed that churches are in ample supply!  If I were just moving here and looking for a church, I could find at least a dozen churches to attend between Tellico Village and downtown Loudon alone!  Even within our own Village community, our church sits right next door to the Baptist church and another two churches lie just beyond the borders of the Village – Christ Our Savior, Lutheran church and St. Thomas Catholic Church.  Now, I think on the whole, that the abundance of churches can be seen as a good thing – I mean it shows that lots of folks go to church and that there are many different kinds of churches to accommodate many different kinds of needs.  On the other hand, I have a sneaking suspicion that the abundance of so many different kinds of churches reflects a more negative reality.  Perhaps you’ve had a conversation like the one I overheard a few years back.  It went something like this:  

An older gentleman asked a young man, "Are you Protestant or Catholic?"

The young gentleman replied, "Protestant."

The other guy said, "Me too! What franchise?"

The young gentleman answered, "Baptist."

"Me too," the other man said. "Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?"

"Northern Baptist,” the young gentleman replied.

"Me too," the other man shouted.

They continued to go back and forth like this, highlighting the varieties within the Baptist tradition.  Was the young man Baptist General Conference, or Conservative Baptist; Regular Baptist, Free Will Baptist or Reformed Baptist? I had no idea there were so many Baptists! Finally the older gentleman asked with a gleam in his eye, "Northern conservative fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region, Council of 1879 or Northern conservative fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region, Council of 1912?"

To which the young gentleman replied, "Northern conservative fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region, Council of 1912."

Suddenly the older gentleman turned and said, "Die, heretic!"[1]

All of us, I believe have a sneaking suspicion that the plethora of churches we see all around us are partially the result of divisive conflict.  The history of the church confirms this suspicion.  The Christian movement that began as a unified whole has fractured over disagreement and dissension into often competing entities that seek to preserve and advance their own agenda.  How can it be, I wonder, that individuals as different as James Carville and Mary Matalin – arch Democrat and arch Republican respectively, can not only get along, but fall in love with one another, marry, and have a thriving relationship, while those of us who claim to know and live under the gracious love of Christ just can’t seem to get along?  It’s sad enough that what was once, ‘the catholic and apostolic church’ has become 1^st Church, 2^nd Church, 3^rd church and on and on.  In fact, the last time I counted, there were at least six varieties of Presbyterians, at least three varieties of Methodists, four varieties of Episcopalians or Anglicans, three varieties of Lutherans, and a zillion different varieties of Baptists – not to mention the Orthodox Church, the Reformed Churches and countless independent, non-denominational, and inter-denominational churches like our own. There are often, for example, three Community Churches on the same street in any given metropolitan area.  Perhaps it’s time to re-think what ‘community’ means.[2]

Now, you may or may not be aware that today is Ecumenical Sunday.  The word, ‘ecumenical’ derives its meaning from the Greek word, oikumene, which is made up of two words that mean ‘household’ and ‘to remain.’  While Ecumenical Sunday is a day in which diversity is celebrated and affirmed, the heart and spirit of both ecumenism and the ecumenical movement is to strive towards comm-unity in the midst of diversity.  It’s the desire to live into and out of this understanding that all Christians are a part of one household!   Our texts for today get right at the heart of what it means to be both ecumenical and to celebrate ecumenism.  And while I’m not here to argue against the variety of denominations, I am here to both challenge and to be challenged by the call to unity presented in the Scriptures.

I wish I could tell you that divisions and schisms were only a part of recent church history.  Unfortunately, as we see from our text in Corinthians, division within the newly forming Christian movement presented an immediate concern for the apostle Paul.  In fact, he was so concerned over these divisions, that he began his letter to the Corinthian church addressing this very issue.  The unity of Christians is just that important!  Right after giving his greeting he admonishes the Corinthians: “I strongly encourage you, brothers and sisters by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you all agree and there be no divisions among you, but be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.”  He goes on to tell them that he is aware of the nature of their division – they are forming alliances around different leaders and very likely, different teachings about the gospel; ‘fan clubs’, to use more modern language, were multiplying.  Some of these fan clubs were formed because new Christians had been baptized by particular individuals.  So, these new Christians in Corinth began to go around saying, ‘well, I belong to the fan club of Apollos.’  Others were baptized by Paul; and there were even some who were saying that they were better than all the rest because they belonged to the fan club of Peter – the disciple of Christ.  Still others were boasting and saying they could top Peter’s fan club because they were not just of Peter, they were of Christ.[3]  Of course, if they were really of Christ, they wouldn’t be using Christ as a means by which to divide and disagree.   

So Paul appeals to the Corinthians to be in agreement and to remain united in the same mind and the same purpose.  What exactly is he saying here?  Paul is not demanding uniformity, but he does make a clear appeal that the Corinthian Christians remain together.  The differences that were causing divisions prompted Paul to ask them three questions.  He asks them, ‘has Christ been divided?  Paul was not crucified for you, was he?  Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?’ The answer to all three of these questions is obviously ‘NO!’  Paul's questions point to the central argument against division in the Church – and illuminate what it means to be of the same mind and purpose - namely, that Christ, who was crucified on their behalf is not divided, but unites all through his death on the cross!  In his letter to the Ephesians Paul, says it this way, "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all."[4]  Paul reminds the Corinthians and all of us that the basis of unity is not ignoring differences, but in the midst of difference maintaining the same mind and purpose.  Namely,  that we are all one through the Cross of Christ.

Now, since we’re all sports fanatics here in Tennessee – let me use a sports metaphor to illustrate what Paul is getting at here:  a football team, like the Tennessee Vols, or a basketball team, like the Lady Vols is made up of individual members, with different skills, personalities, strengths and weaknesses.  But, when those players go out on the field or the court to play, they have one purpose in mind – to win.  They use their individual talents together to accomplish that unified goal and purpose.  We all know what happens when even one player loses that focus, or sees the advancement of their own individual talents and skills as more important than remaining of the same mind and purpose to win.  Teams lose when unity is lost. 

Paul is saying the same thing to the Corinthians; folks, we’re all going to lose if we don’t keep our same mind and our same purpose.  Christ has not been divided, so you must not be divided.  And more than that, the cross of Christ brings all of us together, and we’re one team because Christ died for all – no one is excluded – no matter if you were baptized by Apollos, Paul or Peter, or if you are a Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, or Anglican – we are all one in Christ Jesus!

Paul admonishes the Corinthians concerning the unity of Christ, and Christ’s unifying action in the crucifixion because this is a very crucial point to their survival.  Equally important here is that a very Jewish Paul makes an appeal to a Christian community composed of Jews, Greeks, pagans, intellectuals, common folks, businessmen and women, and common laborers and slaves.  In essence, very different people from many varied backgrounds, ethnicities, and races.  Our lectionary reading from Isaiah fits so beautifully at this point – and of course, Paul would have been very familiar with this text, and he was witnessing it’s reality in the life of the Christian movement.  Isaiah sees that ‘the people who walk in darkness will see a great light and those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.’  Who is Isaiah talking about here?  Galilee of the Gentiles, or nations!  A day would come when the light of God would shine on those who the Jews considered ‘outside’ or beyond that light, namely, the pagan nations who were not Jewish!  The cross of Christ makes the light of God available to all – regardless of their race, ethnicity, and economic background.  All have access to God through the cross of Jesus Christ.  So Paul, with this in mind, appeals to the Corinthians to not be divided, to have the same mind and purpose because in doing so they will reflect this united reality that the cross of Christ provides!  No longer should divisions characterize the Christian community, but unity.  The light of Christ is the light of unity!  Since we experience unity in Christ, through the cross of Christ – which makes access to God available and possible to ALL, our life together should reflect the oneness we have in Christ.  We should do nothing to promote division. We must die to the pride that puffs up and elevates our own self-importance.  We must put the needs and interests of others above our own needs and interest.  In our relationships with other Christians, we should focus on the core beliefs that unite us, namely that all of us are united in Christ, by the cross of Christ. 

Just over fifty years ago, a group of individuals set out to demonstrate this commitment to Christian unity.  They saw unity as both their unique challenge and goal.  In fact, they set forth to demonstrate that neither creed, color, class nor any other barrier that humans build upon to keep people apart would stand in the way of the unifying Spirit of Christ.  Their mission proves, over fifty years later that though minds may differ in interpretations, hearts can beat as one in the love of Christ – illuminated by the light of Christ.[5]  Those individuals, who set out to live the unity of Christ in their lives formed the International Council of Community Churches, to which you and I belong through this church.  And while our denomination doesn’t do everything perfectly, our church serves as a testimony to the dreams and aspirations of those who desired to see the church reflect the unity of Christ.  For within these walls, folks come together from many different denominations, regions of the country, economic classes, political affiliations, and on an on I could go – sure, we disagree sometimes and we have different views on issues and interpretations but, we worship and serve together – side by side – reflecting the inclusive love of Christ the apostle Paul appealed to as the unifying force in the Christian movement, all those thousands of years ago.  May we always remain united in this household of the Tellico Community Church, and on this Ecumenical Sunday may we continue to lift high the light of unity, proclaim the inclusive love of Christ, welcome those who come through our doorway from different denominational and religious traditions and so live out the unity of the Spirit, that the world may know the love of Christ that dispels the darkness of division with light of unity.  Amen.