Our True Calling

What makes a perfect church?

Maybe you have an idea or two. Is it the sanctuary space? The music? The prayers? The latest technology? The programs? The mission? The people?

We always think church is lacking something. Not enough stuff for kids. Not enough for older adults. Not enough classes. Not the kind of preaching I like. Not my kind of worship style. Way too much music. Way too modern. Way too traditional.

Church might be perfect if people didn’t keep getting in the way and disagreeing. For as long as I can remember and as far back as church history goes, the people of God have always been having some sort of disagreement. At least it was that way in Corinth when Paul was writing this letter. He had done all that hard work to plant a perfect church, and they were, in short, a holy hot mess.

And so when he begins this letter we might think that he has a Come to Jesus meeting. Time to tell them to shape up or ship out.

But Paul addresses them as “those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints” (1:2). The Message translation calls them “believers cleaned up by Jesus and set apart for a God-filled life” (1:2).

Sanctified. Holy. Set apart. This is how Paul addresses the church in Corinth, the church with all the squabbles and strife. But he doesn’t stop with just this church. He says “together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.”

Paul here is speaking of the community of Christians, or people of the Way as they were called. In other words, Paul is helping the church in Corinth to remember that they are not alone, that the Church is much larger than just their congregation. In our own denomination of the UMC, you may hear that we are not a congregational church but rather a connectional church. We live in connection with our fellow brothers and sisters all across the state, country, and world. In other words, it isn’t just about us. Perhaps a better translation of sanctified here is “dedicated. Holiness is not about putting a distance between oneself and others; it refers to being dedicated by God to a specific purpose in the world for the benefit of the whole creation” (Lancaster).

And then Paul says grace and peace. This isn’t some trivial thing but a true combination of blessing that has become Paul’s signature mark. Grace and Peace.

Grace, peace, and thanksgiving. Paul has some words for the church in Corinth and we will get to some of that next week, but he won’t say any of that without a foundation of gratitude. Gratitude for these people who are on the spiritual struggle bus. Gratitude for these people who just can’t seem to agree on anything.

He thanks God for the grace that has been given to the members in Corinth. And how is this grace evident? It is evident in their gifts. Paul says they have been enriched in every way, in speech and in knowledge. By the grace of God, their testimony has been strengthened so that they are not lacking in any spiritual gift.

Jane Lancaster says that the term for spiritual gift here can also be translated as charisma. It is not just a special skill or physical thing. It is “the gracious power of God for fullness of life. The Corinthian church has been dedicated and empowered by God for this purpose: to bring fullness of life to their part of creation.”

And they are not lacking! Paul tells this imperfect church that they are not lacking. Paul will go on to talk about a lot more. He will address the church divisions and disagreements. He will address spiritual gifts and unity of the church body. He doesn’t tell them to call it quits. He doesn’t tell them to get a new building, better worship, or recruit more volunteers. He tells them here before any of that they are not lacking. That by God’s grace they have already been given all that they need.

What if we realized that we were not lacking? What if we really believed that in this time and place, that God has given us all that we need to bring about the fullness of life to each other and into this town and to the community in which we have been called? All that we need to serve? All that we need to witness? All that we need to love one another.

Chaos over community. As we prepare to remember Martin Luther King tomorrow, I am struck by the title of one of his writings. It asks the question, “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?” Martin Luther King knew about chaos that erupted when community was lacking. In this writing he says, ““We can no longer afford to worship the God of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals.”

Paul says that God will strengthen us to the end and that God is faithful. In other words, God is with you. Take heart. And then he ends his greeting with God’s calling into community, into holy fellowship. Community over chaos.

No church will ever be enough when it is only about us. This is because when it is about us and our desires, it isn’t church. It’s an entertainment industry. And the church isn’t called to entertain. It’s called to transform, to heal, and to unite.

Eberhard Arnold says that “the community we seek is not based on human nature but on the eternal God. It is fed by divine strength and fed and comes to true unity in God not by reason of our own strength…but through a power given from above” (Called to Community, 81).

So many times over the years people would tell me the story of how they came to join a church. Surprisingly, they never spent a whole lot of time talking to me about Methodist theology. Half the time I’d say they wouldn’t even know who John Wesley was. Methodist history and theology are very important, please don’t misunderstand, but that’s not what really led people to join. It was always the people who held them and kept them in love. It was the lady who held your kid in the nursery. It was the friend who invited you to the youth trip. It was the lady who sat on the pew with you every Sunday when no one else would. It was the class that made you feel like family. It was the choir director who found a place for your voice. It was the children’s director who treated your child like they were your own. It was the man who greeted you. That one Sunday school teacher who taught you what prayer really means. The friend who showed up in the middle of your crisis.

You have these stories.Stories of people who cared for you and showed you the fullness of a life in God.

Stories not of a perfect church, but of the perfect love of God. A perfect church is made up of imperfect people filled with the love of God.

You are not lacking. Whatever you face this year, the grace of God has given you what it takes, to witness, to give, to love, and to choose community over chaos.