Worship for Sunday, February 20, 2011

Worship for Sunday, February 20, 2011

The Seventh Sunday in Epiphanytide

Theme: All Is Ours

We are God’s temple, called to be a holy people. Let us offer prayers for all in need of

God’s mercy.

For the church of Jesus Christ throughout the world.

Lord, have mercy.

For our Regional Church, and ministers Bill, LaTaunya, Steve, and Brenda, and all who minister in Christ, and for all the people of God.

Lord, have mercy.

For those chosen to govern peoples and nations especially our mayors, city councilors, and county commisioners, and for the welfare of their people.

Lord, have mercy.

For the poor and the alien, the deaf and the blind, and for all who suffer from oppression.

Lord, have mercy.

For our enemies and all who persecute us.

Lord, have mercy.

For all who are sick and in need of prayer, and for the dying and the dead.

Lord, have mercy.

Loving heavenly Mother and Father, thank you that your Son loved us

even when we were enemies, and that he prayed for those who killed him.

Teach us to be merciful like you, and do good to all people, even to those who do us harm.

We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23

¹⁰God was kind and let me become an expert builder. I laid a foundation on which others have built. But we must each be careful how we build, ¹¹because Christ is the only foundation.

¹⁶All of you surely know that you are God's temple and that his Spirit lives in you. ¹⁷Together you are God's holy temple, and God will destroy anyone who destroys his temple.
¹⁸Don't fool yourselves! If any of you think you are wise in the things of this world, you will have to become foolish before you can be truly wise. ¹⁹This is because God considers the wisdom of this world to be foolish. It is just as the Scriptures say, "God catches the wise when they try to outsmart him." ²⁰The Scriptures also say, "The Lord knows that the plans made by wise people are useless." ^21-22So stop bragging about what anyone has done. Paul and Apollos and Peter all belong to you. In fact, everything is yours, including the world, life, death, the present, and the future. Everything belongs to you, ²³and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

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“The Living Temple”

ure with

Two Catholic schoolboys were so disruptive in class that the teach sent them to see the priest. She dragged them down to the office and Said, “Father, I can’t teach these two little heathens anything. May be you could try.”

The priest brought one boy into the office while ordering the other one to sit outside.

He closed the door and asked the boy, “where is God?”

The boy stood silent.

“Once again, where is God?”

Silence.

The priest was starting to understand the teacher’s frustration, and said, “I’m only going to ask you one more time--where is God?”

Once again, silence.

The priest threw the boy out into the hallway and closed the door. The kid then sat down next to buddy, who asked him, “What’s going on?”

“I’m not sure,” the boy replied, “but I think that somebody’s kidnapped God, and their trying to pin it on us.”

The JerusalemTemple was a complex structure with progressively restrictive areas. As you can see, there were different courts with varied access. The biggest area was the court of the women. Up the steps, men could enter the court of the Israelites--if they were circumcised and not deformed. Further in, the priests could go--the court of the priests was where the slaughterhouse sand altar were located. Further in was the sanctuary, and within the sanctuary was the holy of holies, or most holy place. This is the place where the very presence of God was said to reside. It was considered to be so holy that only the High Priest could enter it, and only do so on one day of the year--Yom Kippur--the Day of Atonement. The High Priest could enter that place with the sacrifice which would atone for the sins of the people.

Perhaps if the boys had paid attention in class, they might have given that as an answer--but the question that answer would qualify might be, “where was God?”

Paul had a different answer.

the first letter to the church at Corinth lets us know that this was a very sick church. They had moral problems, fellowship problems, Christology issues, and factions.

In fact, a part of today’s reading refers to the faction problem. Some of the members of that church identified more with the teachers they followed. Some said they were of Paul, some of Peter, some of Apollos. They not only strongly identified with their particular teachers, but thought that only their little group had it right.

I smiled when I read Marjorie Lybarger’s obituary yesterday, in which she was identified with the Wilcox Bible Class. I think that the strong identity we have with our groups within the church is great. The Pioneers class. The Chapel class lunch get-togethers. The Christian Builders’ Christmas party. If our group identities became like the Corinthians, that would not be good. It would be like saying, “if you’re not in the Wilcox class, you’re doomed!”

But, we’re not that way. Because, what holds us together as a church is not our particular interpretations of doctrine, our identity with a particular teacher or group, and certainly not our politics. What holds us together is Jesus Christ--and it was the same for the church in Corinth. Paul says that the only foundation that a church can have is that of Jesus Christ.

The differences between Paul, and Peter, and Apollos are miniscule if the church is built on the foundation of Jesus Christ.

Paul here calls the church a temple and this is significant.

The Temple in Jerusalem was build on a solid foundation--the Temple Mount, or Mount Zion. And on that foundation, the Temple was constructed that was magnificent that it could contain the very presence of God.

But Paul says that the church that is built on the foundation of Jesus Christ houses the Spirit of God. The place where God lives is no longer the Holy of holies on Mount Zion, but wherever the church is gathered in the name of Jesus. What was it Jesusa said? “wherever two or more are gathered in my name…?”

It’s important to note that the “you” that is the Temple of God’s Spirit is plural. The King Jimmy--400 years old this year--renders it “ye.” You plural. Y’all. Youse. You’uns. Unlike the image on the cover of the bulletin today, the Spirit of God doesn’t live in one rock--but in the house of living stones--as 1 Peter describes it.

The Contemporary English Version, from which I read today, gets it right when it says that “all of you surely know you are God’s temple.

This is huge--God is no longer limited to a place, but lives wherever people are built together on the foundation of Jesus Christ. This is huge, indeed.

Because when we are God’s temple, we have nothing to fear. Paul says to this very sick church that they don’t need to worry about whether they are Paul’s or Peter’s. Because, in God’s temple, all belong to all. We are all Paul’s and Apollos’ and Peter’s. And all these teachers belong to us.

Indeed, writes Paul, everyting--all--belongs to us. The world, life, death, the present, the future belong to us--because we belong to Christ, and Chriswt belongs to God. That sounds like that phrase that keeps popping up in my funeral services. In life, in death, in life beyond death, we belong to God.

And therefore, we don’t need to worry about anything.

All of you have been given a personal invitation to gather here next Saturday for the discernment process called New Beginnings. We’re going to spend some time together as one, and then several weeks in groups around the city looking at what we’re passionate about, what we’re really good at, and what resources we have to do what we’re passionate about and good at doing. And in so doing, we will try to discern what the Spirit of God is calling us to do and to be.

In order to do this, we have to confess that we don’t know everything that is out there. And while the unknown can be daunting, we have nothing to fear. Why? Because Paul says it right here. Everything is ours. The present, the future. All of it. Why, because we belong to God.

What do you think?

Offertory Prayer

For the healing of the nations, we present a portion of the riches that you have entrusted to us. Make of us people of healing and grace in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Benediction

God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, sends you holy ones out to love in the face of evil.

We leave this building to be the temple of the Holy Spirit for the world. Alleluia! Amen!