Has Christ Been Divided?

Most high and holy God, pour out upon us your one and unifying Spirit, and awake in every confession of the whole church a holy hunger and thirst for unity in you; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

What on earth was going on in Corinth? Were the members of the Christian community there so at each others’ throats that Paul was forced to write to them? Quite possibly they were. In the middle of the first century, Corinth was a thriving seaport that was home to a prosperous multi-ethnic community of both Gentiles and Jews. Consequently the Christian community that gathered around Paul and other evangelists in Corinth included people of different genders, ethnicities, social classes, and former religious allegiances, and they all had different ideas about sexual practice, divorce, worship of images, the importance of rhetoric, and how people should eat together, among other things. No wonder there were differences of opinion! And no wonder Paul felt compelled to write to the Corinthian Christians! Today, we’ve heard part of the very first section of the letter. We’ll be hearing sections from this letter through the end of next month, so we’ll get a good sense of some of the rest of the divisive issues among the Corinthians.

Let’s look at what Paul actually has to say in this opening section. First, following the required greetings, which we didn’t hear, Paul goes straight to the heart of the matter. He is rightly distressed by the divisions among the Corinthians that he has heard about. So he appeals to them to “be in agreement” and to “be united in the same mind and the same purpose.” Perhaps this was always a divided and fractious community, but Paul will not accept that situation and wants to see it changed. Second, notice that Paul addresses the Corinthians as “brothers and sisters.” He reminds them that they are now part of a new family, a family based not on the old patriarchal hierarchies, but on mutual love. Paul cares about the conflicts among the Corinthians, because he loves them as their brother, and doesn’t want to see this beloved family torn apart. Although Paul will strongly rebuke the Corinthians in later parts of this letter, he always does so out of love, because he and they are all now part of one extended family. Then Paul identifies the first issue that is causing division: “What I mean is that each of you says, ‘I belong to Paul,’ or ‘I belong to Apollos,’ or ‘I belong to Cephas,’ ….” He’s almost shouting as he rebukes the Corinthians for dividing their family by choosing one or another charismatic leader, perhaps by virtue of who baptized them, rather than caring about the community as a whole. You can almost see him throw up his hands in exasperation as he asks, “Has Christ been divided?”

Does any of this sound familiar to us? Two thousand years after Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians, we live in a deeply divided church don’t we? We’re in the middle of the week of prayer for Christian unity, but you might rightly ask, “What unity?” The western church centered in Rome and the eastern church centered in Constantinople (now Istanbul) have been irreparably separated since the year 1054. The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century shattered the unity of the western church. Just in this country, to say nothing of the rest of the world, we find a host of Christian denominations. Some denominations reflect the different waves of immigration to this country, some came about as a result of the split between North and South in the Civil War, some have grown out of late nineteenth and early twentieth century Pentecostal movements, some trace their beginnings to a charismatic leader, and some exist for trivial reasons, e.g. differences of opinion as to whether music should be used in worship or not. Some people split off from the Episcopal Church in 1976 in opposition to the ordination of women, some in 1979 in opposition to our current prayer book, and, as we know, some in the wake of the consecration of an openly gay bishop in 2003. Similar divisions can be found in every denomination in this country and in the church in every country in the world. Surveying the church today, would Paul shout at us, “What I mean is that some of you say, ‘I belong to the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch,’ or ‘I belong to Luther,’ or ‘I belong to the Pope,’ or ‘I joined the church through the Azusa Street revival?’” Wouldn’t he throw up his hands in exasperation and shout, “Has Christ been divided?”

Fortunately, Paul’s exasperation is not the end of his letter to the Corinthians. For Paul goes on to instruct the fractious Corinthians as to how to begin healing the divisions in their community. He reminds the Corinthians that they did not receive Christ’s saving power through any human leader: not Apollos, not Peter, not even Paul himself: “Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” Rather, Paul reminds them that they received God’s saving grace through the Gospel. He makes it crystal clear to them that God’s saving love is best known in the Cross of Christ. And if – you can almost hear him raising his voice again – if the Corinthians focus on the sacrificial power of Christ, as demonstrated by the Cross, then they will come together as the new people that they were called by Christ to be.

Does Paul’s advice ring true for us divided twenty-first century Christians? If we focus on what we hold in common, rather than the limited truths we are so passionate about, if we give our allegiance to our crucified and risen Savior, rather than to human traditions and practices, might we be able to take the first steps in healing what our prayer book calls “our unhappy divisions?” Perhaps we’ve already taken some baby steps. Following the early ecumenical movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the World Council of Churches was inaugurated in 1948. Today the WCC includes 349 denominations, fellowships, and church bodies in 110 countries, and it has even been able to agree to a common statement on Baptism and the Eucharist. The ecumenical movements that began in the U.S. in the late 1960’s created out of separate bodies, among others, the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Episcopalians and Lutherans deepened our ties and allowed for shared communion and ministry through the Call to Common Mission in 1999. And, as you know, the canons of the Episcopal Church now allow all baptized Christians, of whatever denomination, to receive communion. Yes, we are still divided, but we have at last begun to look again to the Cross of Christ and to focus again on what unites us as members of Our Lord’s family.

What else can we concretely do, especially in this place? Perhaps the most important thing we can do is to recognize our need for fellowship around the communion table. Just as sitting down to dinner together increases our cohesion as a family, so too does receiving communion together. It’s just about impossible – or it should be – to regard someone you’ve shared communion with as a stranger. For, just as we are united with Jesus when we partake of his body and blood, so also are we bonded to each other. I’m reminded of a lovely hymn in Evangelical Lutheran Worship It’s a Eucharistic hymn entitled “Gather us In.” I’m just going share with you the second verse.

We are the young, our lives are a mystery,
we are the old who yearn for your face;
we have been sung throughout all of history,
called to be light to the whole human race.
Gather us in, the rich and the haughty,
gather us in, the proud and the strong;
give us a heart, so meek and so lowly,
give us the courage to enter the song.

What a wonderful vision for us as we gather around this table! Can we invite others to join us around the table? Perhaps too can we leave the silo of this parish and begin establishing bonds with other Episcopal parishes? Could you come to a deanery event, participate in a workshop at our diocesan conference center, or serve as a delegate to Diocesan Convention? Every time I go to a diocesan event I never cease to be encouraged by the sight of “all sorts and conditions” of people. We might even – gasp – begin establishing some ties with Episcopalians across the river!

Next we can reach out across our “unhappy divisions” to our fellow Christians in other denominations. I was so greatly moved by the gathering in this church for our community Epiphany service. Christians of several denominations came together to worship and make a joyful noise in celebration of the acknowledgement of Jesus by the Magi. As we were vesting in my office, Msgr. Myers, the pastor of St. Louis Roman Catholic church, who was our preacher, must have felt that sense of unity, because he expressed the wish that all Christians might agree on a single common date for Easter. We’re not quite there yet, but we will continue our shared community Lenten service, and Fr. Myers and I agreed to share the Blessing of the Palms in the park on Palm Sunday this year. I even persuaded the Rev. Scott Baker, the pastor of New Life Lutheran Church, to share an Easter Vigil with us. And we know that it is not only liturgy, perhaps not primarily liturgy, that unites us. Several churches share our Loaves and Fishes, and we distribute diapers at the Methodist Church through a ministry organized by Lutheran Social Services.

Towards what other opportunities for shared ministry is the Holy Spirit leading us? If we bond with each other around the altar, if we focus on our shared confession of faith in Christ Crucified and Risen, and if we join together for ministry, what else might we be able to do to bring the Kingdom of Heaven nearer?