February 26th

Transformed
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
Mark 9:2-9


How many folks here watch those home transformation shows on HGTV? Aren’t they something else? Depending on the show you watch, within just a very short time period, and with very little investment, your home can go from “blah” to “fabulous”! Again, depending on the show, it seems that sometimes that all your home needs to be transformed is to take some everyday items found in your garage or basement, spray paint them or cover them with fabric found in the corner of one of your closets.

Well, that and a crew of VERY talented and creative people who often don’t add their labor costs to the final tab for these truly magnificent transformations! But if you watch these shows closely, there are several emotions exhibited during these transformations as well. We may see confusion, fear, frustration, wide-eyed amazement, silence, disappointment, and joy—all in one hour or less!

As unbelievable as some of these television shows may seem to us, one thing we can learn from them is that transformation is not always a smooth and pretty process. Using our Gospel reading from Mark this morning that is the subject I would like to address. More specifically, what are some of the feelings we can experience during our own transformations, and how can we navigate this very unpredictable journey we call “transformation?”

Just before today’s reading, Jesus has told the disciples that he must undergo great suffering, rejection, and death. Then Jesus follows up that cheerful and uplifting discussion with an even more public declaration to the crowds, telling them that any who want to become his followers must deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow him.

To say the least, these teachings were not good recruitment material to strengthen the Jesus Movement! The Messiah was thought to be one who would come with great military might, and overthrow the oppressive Roman government. The Messiah would come and right the wrongs of this world! So, what is up with all this suffering, rejection, denial, cross, and death language? Sure, Jesus mentioned the resurrection; but that was probably even more confusing than all the suffering language put together!

Confusion. Discomfort. That is how our transformation experiences begin sometimes. Maybe that discomfort starts with something we see in the news about unjust and discriminatory government practices—whether it is a foreign government or our very own United States government.

Maybe that discomfort starts with that still small voice of God telling us that something has to change in our lives—like facing an addiction rather than rationalizing it; or maybe it is time we worked on reconciling some broken relationships in our lives, rather than continuing to place all the blame for that brokenness on everyone else except us. Maybe God is dealing with us about our lack of commitment. After all commitment means putting others first sometimes, and it means putting God first all the time. And face it, folks, as good American citizens, second place just isn’t too appealing to us.

Scripture tells us that six days after these teachings, Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain where they were alone. Now some of you may remember that all through the Bible that mountains are symbolic of the place where God’s power can be found. So, what does that mean for us in our journeys of transformation?

Well, during our journeys of transformation, I believe it is always necessary for us to spend some time alone with God “on the mountain”, so to speak. I know, I know; we’re a little short on hills—much less mountains— here in Corpus Christi. The important thing to remember is that spending time alone with God—whether it is on the beach, on a boat fishing or just relaxing, or taking a prayer walk in our neighborhoods—time alone with God is required if we are going to truly be transformed.

While on the mountain, Jesus is transfigured before Peter, James, and John. His clothes became dazzling white. Not only that, Moses and Elijah—long since dead and gone—show up and start talking with Jesus! Can you imagine the amazement of the disciples? Can you imagine their fear?

Amazement and fear are also part of our transformations. You see, we start with that feeling of discomfort—what some people have called a feeling of “holy discontent”—in our lives. As we begin to explore these feelings by spending some quality “alone time” with God, the time eventually comes when we get a glimpse of what God is trying to show us. In the case of the disciples, God was showing them that the glorification of Jesus Christ was the completion of the law, which was represented by Moses, and the prophets, represented by Elijah. They were getting a brief glimpse of the resurrection.

But maybe there was another connection here, too. Remember Jesus told the disciples six days earlier that he would have to undergo pain, rejection, suffering, death, and THEN be resurrected on the third day. In other words, to get to this glorification and resurrection, Jesus had to take the way of the cross.

When we get a glimpse of what God is trying to teach us, it can be pretty scary, can’t it? Although we don’t have the full story yet; we have a glimpse of what can be, and that’s great. But we also begin to comprehend what it is going to take to get there, and that is what can be so very frightening for us.

Maybe we begin to realize that getting to sobriety means going through the cross of detox, and then down the long road of support group meetings. Maybe we begin to realize that getting to the point of reconciliation in our relationships means going through the cross of humility and compromise. Maybe we begin to realize that saying “yes” to Jesus Christ means saying “no” to all those other loyalties in our lives that have already taken up far too much of our time, talent, and financial resources. Maybe we begin to realize that saying “yes” to Jesus Christ means that we will face rejection, ridicule, and even the loss of certain relationships in our lives.

So we have confusion, discomfort, awe, and fear. But have you noticed the silence in this passage of scripture so far? Even with all the spectacular actions taking place, not one word has been uttered so far. Could it be that silence is another very necessary part of our transformation journeys? Why is that? Maybe it is because sitting in silence takes trust, it takes faith, and it takes risking an openness that reveals our true selves. Silence often means relinquishing control. Maybe silence is necessary because it is in those moments of silent surrender—when we are in the least control—that we are most deeply connected to God.

But silence is uncomfortable, and like Peter, we tend to want to fill those uncomfortable gaps with words. Now, I think Peter probably had good intentions in wanting to build booths for Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. In a way, it is almost as if Peter wanted to somehow honor a defining moment in his life that he didn’t fully understand yet. Maybe he wanted to compartmentalize this moment, therefore, somehow controlling it.

But God will not be controlled! Only a joyless, heartless, and often grueling existence comes from always having to be the one in control. Giving ourselves totally over to God, and living our lives as genuine disciples of the transfigured Jesus, the transforming Christ, is the only way we will truly experience the transforming power of Almighty God in our lives.

Finally, transforming experiences—as wonderful as they can be—are only stops on this journey called “life.” Jesus led these three disciples back down the mountain to continue the work of day-to-day ministry. We cannot live on the mountaintop, transforming experiences of our lives, either. These experiences are meant to be strength for our journeys—strength for the day-to-day ministry that each and every one of us is called to do. But as Jesus went up the mountain with the disciples, and as Jesus went back down into the valley with the disciples, so Jesus Christ goes with us!

You know, in the end, I bet if we took the time to really get behind the scenes of those HGTV home transformation shows, we would probably see that it takes more than a little money, a few talented folks, and a couple of days to take a home from “blah” to “fabulous.” And I can guarantee you there is probably far more drama involved than we see televised.

It is much the same with the transformations of our lives. We start with some good basic material; after all, we are part of God’s creation, and God has proclaimed that creation is good. Then after a period of time, for whatever reasons, we can fall into physical, emotional, and spiritual disrepair.

But eventually, if we are smart enough to be silent for a time, let go of our need for control, and listen, we will hear that still, small of God calling us to transformation. OK. So maybe that voice will have to yell from time to time. But folks, unlike home transformations, life transformations take more than a little paint, some supplies, and a couple of days work with talented people.

True life transformation is a lifetime journey full of ups and downs, and it takes nothing less than taking up our crosses and following Jesus Christ—the One who came, lived, died, and rose again so that we might have life and have it more abundantly.

My prayer today is that we all start to let go and let God transform our spiritual dullness to dazzling white. May we, through the power of God’s Holy Spirit, be transformed from spiritually “blah” to spiritually “fabulous,” so that through us, others may see how great God truly is.

God bless you and amen.

February 19th

A New Thing

Isaiah 43:18-25
2 Corinthians 1:18-22



Do you remember back in the day when, if you wanted to take a long car trip, all you really had to guide you was one of those large, difficult to handle, paper maps? You know the one I’m talking about, right? It is that map of the entire United States that has been in the glove compartment of your vehicle since the days of 8-track tapes and rotary dial telephones.

I remember the time when people would plan long trips with these maps close at hand. Then, somewhere in the middle of Timbuktu, Kentucky, they suddenly learned that that little red line on the map labeled Route 4 no longer existed. Oops! Lost. Now what? Think about the implications here. For example, have you ever been lost in a place like Timbuktu, Kentucky while sporting a rainbow flag on your vehicle? You would be amazed at how quickly your prayer skills come into play in just such a situation!

Well, now, thanks to some wonderful technological advancements, we can print off not only maps specific to our trips, but even directions that have been updated in the last 24-48 hours for any major changes that have taken place on the roads on the route. Hey! We can even get street names, exit numbers, the works! Now, for people like myself who are not inclined to read maps, these directions are truly a gift from God.

So you can imagine my concern when I read in an article this week that urban planners in Holland and London are redesigning strategic traffic areas by stripping the area streets and thoroughfares of all signage—no traffic lights, no white crosswalks on the streets, no red hand crossing signals, no stop signs—and get this—no speed bumps or speed limits! Are these people crazy, or what?

Well, as crazy as this idea sounds, you may be as surprised as I was that it has worked rather well so far. People on foot, bicycles, and in motorized vehicles share the same space; and with no strict traffic laws to guide them, everyone seems to slow down, calm down, and pays close attention to their surroundings. Also, this “new thing” actually seems to be encouraging healthy human interaction! The golden rule from the Bible is in full effect: “In everything do to others as you have them do to you.”

While I am really happy that this experience seems to be working so well in areas of Holland and London, I still have to admit I have some reservations about how such a system would work in the United States. We tend to operate under the rule, “Do unto others BEFORE they do unto you.” Taking away the familiar rules and regulations that we have always followed—because you know that is always the way we have done things—can make us feel unsafe, lost, insecure, and threatened. Loss of the familiar can make us feel like we are wandering in the wilderness, or like we are in exile in a foreign land.

The children of Israel certainly knew a lot about wandering in the wilderness and being in exile. Of course, the main reason they had wandered in the wilderness, and after a time of prosperity and blessing, were now in exile in Babylon is because they had not paid attention to the signs that God had provided through Moses and the prophets. These were signs that said, “Slow down and pay attention to your relationship with God and with others.” These were signs like the Ten Commandments, for example.

So you can probably imagine how unsettled the Israelites were when God, through the prophet in Isaiah basically says, “Quit living in the past. I am about to do a new thing,” and then does not exactly define that “new thing.”

I can almost hear some of them now. “New thing? What new thing?” “What? No more partings of the Red Sea?” No more laws written on stone tablets? No more crazy prophets? No more fire and smoke, wind and hail? After all, that’s the way it has always been done before! Oh, we simply can not function unless this “new thing” is all spelled out for us!”

You see, the children of Israel had become accustomed to God acting in certain ways. And even though they were now in exile, they were still remembering the “good old days” of the exodus out of Egypt. Now don’t get me wrong; there were a lot of wonderful and powerful memories in the Israelites’ past. But, they were so stuck in that past, they were having trouble perceiving that God was about to do a new thing. Can you imagine some of those discussions?

“Yep, I heard the story about how God parted the Red Sea, and our ancestors crossed on dry land. Then God caused the sea to cover the entire Egyptian army. I’ll bet that was a sight to see!”

“Um hmm. I heard the story about how Moses brought the Ten Commandments down from Mt. Sinai. The Lord actually spoke to people back then. God’s voice was like thunder, and you had better believe people respected that kind of power!”

“Were you ever old the stories about how God provided manna in the wilderness, and caused water to spring forth from a rock? Haven’t seen anything like that in my lifetime!”

“Yep! Those were the days!”

Sound familiar? Sure it does! Today we have some of the same types of conversations. For example, some of us mourn the loss of our youth, and we recall how much better everything was “back in the day”—whether things really were better or not. Sometimes we become so preoccupied with romanticizing the past that we cannot see any signs of the wonderful “new things” that God can do in our lives—regardless of our ages!

And church folks? Oh, church folks are really good at having these kinds of conversations! Some of us remember fuller sanctuaries and offering plates, potlucks and fundraisers, and we recall over and over how much more spirit there seemed to be “back in the day”—whether there really was more spirit or not. Sometimes we become so preoccupied with romanticizing the past, that we cannot see the signs of a wonderful “new thing” that God is about to do in our midst. Not one sign.

No signs. That can be scary, now can’t it? No blinding flashes of light from heaven complete with an instruction manual written in stone giving us step-by-step instructions for living full, happy, and successful lives as individuals and as a community of faith. Sure we have the Bible, and here we teach that it is the inspired word of God. But it isn’t always user-friendly, now is it? Sometimes we may even begin to wonder, “Why doesn’t God act like God used to act back in the days of the Old Testament?”

Is it possible that maybe—just maybe—that the reason we don’t see all the obvious signs from God that we read about in the Old Testament is that this lack of signage is actually part of God’s plan? Could it be that by not giving us every little detail of God’s plan in obvious back and white signs, that God is encouraging us to slow down, and be more observant of life around us? Could this maybe even be God’s way of prodding us to use the intelligence with which God has blessed us to figure out a few things? Could it be that this lack of obvious signage is God’s way of encouraging us to be more caring and more cautious about how we relate both to God and to one another?

Well, those ideas are definite possibilities. Or, what about this idea? What if God has provided this signage for us; but rather than using outward signs, God has placed this signage inside of us? After all, God did promise to write it on our hearts. For as Jeremiah 31:33 tells us, “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

And the fulfillment of that law written on our hearts came in the person of Jesus Christ—the ultimate “new thing” that God has done to this point in history—God with us, and God within us.

Of course, accepting this “new thing” in Jesus Christ means stepping out in faith and letting go of the familiar past to face an uneasy present, and an even more uneasy future. How do we find our way? How do we get nourishment for those dry times on the journey? Can’t we just feed off the past? Well, the answer to that last question is simply, “No.” Positive past memories are comforting, but they don’t provide the nourishment we need for our journey into the future God has planned for us.

Sometimes stepping out in faith can feel like we are wandering in the wilderness. But hear the good news today! In our reading from Isaiah today, God says. “I will make a way in the wilderness.” Jesus Christ says, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

God says, “I give water in the wilderness.”
Jesus Christ says, “Those who drink of the water I give them will never be thirsty.”

If you’re here today feeling like you need a fresh start in life—whether you’ve never accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your Lord and Savior, or if you just feel “out of touch” with God right now, I pray that you open your heart—perceive and receive the “new thing” that God wants to do in your life.

If you’re here today and you are happy in your relationship with God, know this—God is not through with you yet—the best is yet to come.

And as for our church family, today we celebrate 24 years as a community of faith. We honor the “new thing” that God did here in 1982, and we honor those first members through whom God worked to found this church. But if you think God has done great things for MCC of Corpus Christi in the past, you had better hold on; because we ain’t seen nothing yet! The best is yet to come!

God bless you, and amen.

February 5th

The Purpose-Driven Life
1 Corinthians 9:16-23
Mark 1:29-39

Most everyone here today has at least heard of Rick Warren’s very successful book, “The Purpose Driven Life.” In Warren’s book, he outlines what he believes to be the 5 biblical purposes that God has for our lives. I do believe that God has worked through the message of this book, and lives have been changed for the better. And as I have said many times before, if it brings people closer to God and spiritually strengthens them in positive ways, go for it!

Our Thursday night Bible Study Group had a book discussion on “The Purpose Driven Life,” too. Now, that was interesting! I say that because, being the melting pot of faith traditions that MCC of Corpus Christi is, we were all over the map with this book. Our former Baptist sisters and brothers dominated one side of the table. I mean that literally, too. “In this corner, 3 former Baptists and 1 former Catholic!” “And in this corner, well, one of everything else!” Most of the time, the conversations were lively, thought provoking, and best of all, no one told anyone else they were going to hell! So, all in all, it was a very successful study.

I think some of the selling points of Warren’s book are that it reads at a pretty rapid pace, isn’t very theologically difficult, and has a clear purpose. The Gospel of Mark shares some of these very same characteristics. A majority of scholars believe that Mark was the first gospel written. It is short, fast-paced, and usually its message is pretty much to the point. Mark emphasizes the mighty deeds of Jesus Christ, as miracles make up about 1/3 of Mark’s gospel. For Mark, the kingdom of God is visible through Jesus Christ’s powerful deeds of healing, casting out demons, and teaching with authority.

Take the first chapter of Mark, for example. No genealogy of Christ like in Matthew. No Virgin birth story; no explanation of how Mary and Joseph came to be in Bethlehem. No angels, shepherds, wise men—nothing. John the Baptist is already an adult baptizing folks, and Jesus arrives as an adult to receive his baptism from John. And all that is in just the first 11 verses! And the temptation of Christ in the wilderness? 2 verses! Jesus went, overcame temptation, received care from the angels, and moved on!

Jesus goes on to call his first 4 disciples, and they head to Capernaum. Mark then relates to us what I call, “A Day in the Life of Jesus.” Jesus heads to synagogue, where he establishes his authority first through his teaching. While he is there, he heals a man by first silencing then casting out an unclean spirit from that man.

From there Jesus heads to house of Simon, and heals Simons’s mother-in-law. Later that evening, he continues to silence demons and cure the sick of the city. Then, before daylight, he gets up and goes to pray in solitude. The disciples find him, and Jesus tells them it is time for them to move on to the neighboring towns.

And we thought our days were busy!

Jesus was a man on a mission. He had a purpose. What was that purpose? Well, according to Jesus from verse 38, “Let us go to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.”

So, Jesus’ purpose appears to be proclamation. But “proclamation” tends to be a pretty broad term. How do we proclaim the message in the 21st century? Using our passage from Mark today, I would like to offer four suggestions for our consideration.

First, Jesus was involved in worship and teaching in the synagogue. Today, we proclaim the message of God’s life-changing love for all people when we show up in this place to sing, pray, and share the bread and the common cup. When we study the scriptures together, we can both learn from and teach one another about both God’s mercy and judgment, as well as share our views on how to better live out God’s purposes for our lives.

Second, Jesus responded to the pressing need for care and healing among those closest to him and for others as well. Jesus’ healing of Simon’s mother-in-law as well as those who came to him from around Capernaum symbolizes that the healing power of Almighty God is not just for the select few. God’s healing power is available to all people!

By the way, did you notice what Simon’s mother-in-law did once she was healed? She immediately got up and started serving others! The Greek word used for “serve” here is the same word used to describe the angel’s service to Jesus in the wilderness. It is the same word used to describe the service to others of Jesus himself. However, it is not used to describe the service of the disciples. Could it be that this outsider, this woman, this person with no real authority outside of her home responds as an ideal disciple should, with service to the community?

There is a HUGE lesson here for us, folks! Many times people come to church in so much pain. We have believed the demonic lies that God cannot possibly love us. We’re old and useless; we’re poor; we’re drunks; we’re queers; we have AIDS—you name it---the lies are endless!

Then somehow God heals us miraculously through caring, loving, open and affirming communities of faith. And what happens? Well, some folks tend to sit down, put on a spiritual bib, and say, “Feed me.” And in the beginning of our Christian walks, that’s fine, too. But as Rev. Carol West once told me, the time comes in all of our lives when it is time to take off the bibs and put on the aprons! In other words, the time comes for us to grow up and move from always expecting to be served to serving others.
Folks, if all we do is sit around on our blessed assurances expecting to be fed all the time, we are going to end up being spiritually fat and lazy. And as complications from obesity are huge contributors to physical death, I am convinced that spiritual obesity can lead to spiritual death!

The task of proclamation does not ask—it requires--each of us who call ourselves “Christian”—those of us who have been healed of our own sicknesses—to lift up our ailing sisters and brothers. We are called to not only cast out the demons of self-hatred, unhealthy doubt and fear, we are also called to tell those demons to “Shut up and move on! You have no power here!” And we are to take this message from this place and out into our community, where every one of us here knows it is needed!

As you can see, proclamation can be very demanding work sometimes. It can drain us physically and spiritually. In fact, twice more in the book of Mark, in chapters 6 and 14, we read where Jesus goes away to pray in solitude. So it is very important that, like, Jesus, we take enough time to retreat for a time of prayer and rejuvenation.

I cannot overemphasize the importance of prayer in our lives. Sometimes we get so caught up in the “doing” side of Christianity, we forget the “being” side. It is in our being alone with God that we can receive the comfort and strength that we need to face the challenges of day-to-day living. Both the “doing” of service and “being” of prayer, solitude, and rejuvenation are necessary if we hope to move toward living a more balanced Christian life.

So, Jesus models for us an example of proclamation that includes worship within a community of faith, and serving those close to him, as well as those not so close to him. The example of Jesus further points out the necessity of our maintaining a close relationship with God through prayer.

Then, after a really hectic 24 hours or so, what does Jesus do? He moves on! The disciples came looking for him, telling him that everyone was looking for him back in Capernaum. Jesus was definitely a hit with the crowds at this point in his ministry, and he probably could have stayed in Capernaum and settled into a comfortable position as a healer and prophet, loved by the masses in that city.

But proclamation doesn’t really allow us to sit on the laurels of our past successes. Proclamation means reaching out to new people and into new areas of ministry. Jesus knew this, too. He knew that the news he had to share was too good and too important to limit it to just a particular group of people. That is why in the book of Acts that Jesus told his disciples that they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. The purpose and mission of Jesus Christ was fueled by an outwardly focused sense of holy urgency. It is that same outwardly focused sense of urgency that has carried the message of Christianity through some of its darkest hours. It is a message that, when rightly proclaimed, continues to save lives every day.

I want to ask each of you to look at the banner high on the wall behind me. That is the mission statement of MCC of Corpus Christi. Motivate Faith. Create Unity. Communicate the Good News. Challenge Injustice. Celebrate God’s Unconditional Love. It is a message that can save lives.

I have a question for us today, church. Is the mission of our church fueled by an outwardly focused sense of holy urgency? Do we really believe we have a message that can save lives? If so, I want to challenge us. I want to challenge us to take off the bibs, put on the aprons, get out there, and start proclaiming it! Let’s proclaim the message of God’s life-changing love for all people with the examples of both our lives and our words! For we never know whose lives are depending on our proclamation of this life saving message.

Lives are at stake, folks. It is that important.

God bless you, and amen.

January 29th

Little Ones Are Watching
Deuteronomy 18:15-20
1 Corinthians 8:1-13

If you have been a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or anyone responsible for the care of a child for any length of time, you will probably have no trouble relating to the following story.

Some of you here have already heard the story of my nephew, Matthew. I was very close to Matt. In fact, I helped raise him for the first months of his life while my sister and brother-in-law both worked to make ends meet. As I have said before, for a time it seemed as if I had this growth on my hip in the form of a small child named Matthew. Where you saw Uncle Danny, you normally saw Matthew, and vice-versa.

At a family dinner back in 1977, when Matthew was just 2 years old, he decided to act out at the dinner table like many 2 year-olds are prone to do. His father looked at him, and said in a very stern voice, “Boy, if you don’t straighten up, I’m gonna bust your bottom!” Matthew looked at his father, smiled, and said, “Bull.”

This response was, of course, not well received by my brother-in-law. But do you know what happened? Everyone at the table turned at looked at me. Thoroughly offended, I said, “What? Why is everyone looking at me?” “Well, came the reply, he spends more time with you than he does anyone else. Where else would he have picked up that phrase?”

To be honest with you, I really can’t remember if Matthew heard the word “bull” from me or not. It was a word our family tossed around pretty often, so who knows? But the point was made: little ones do listen. Not only do little ones listen, they watch what we do. So it is important that we, as adults, mind our manners around young people.

The letters to the Corinthians are evidence that Paul knew this truth all too well. The first letter to the church at Corinth does not outline a rigorous theological system as much as it responds to specific practical concerns. That is probably part of the reason why it so challenging to both preach and teach from Corinthians. I mean, you can theologize a lot about the Trinity, Virgin Birth, and Resurrection. But drunkenness, sexual immorality, being honest with one another, and other similar topics are pretty straightforward—and the Bible’s teachings on these subjects can be quite disturbing to us, too.

The surface topic Paul is addressing today relates to the eating of meat that has been offered to idols. I say “surface” topic because, as I have said so many times before, surface issues in the Bible often point to deeper, core issues in our lives, as we will see later.

The question before Paul today is whether or not it is OK to eat meat that has been offered to idols. You see, idol meat was all over the place in Corinth. People would offer a sacrifice to one of the Greek gods, burn some of the meat on an altar, and then eat some of it in a ritualistic meal.

The remainder of the meat usually found its way to the local meat market and to the restaurants that were located in and around the pagan temples. So, whether you ate at home, ate at a restaurant, or ate at a friend’s home, unless you were a vegetarian, chances are you were eating meat that had been sacrificed to a Greek god or goddess.

Now for some of the Corinthian Christians, this dietary challenge was not a big problem. They took the teaching of Paul seriously when he said, “no idol in the world really exists.” But for others—and especially for those new to the Christian faith—eating meat offered to idols was a big problem. These folks were serious about following Jesus Christ, and wanted to remain as pure as possible. They were concerned that eating this meat would somehow defile them and prevent them from fully following the teachings of Jesus Christ.

So, on the one hand, you have a group of people who possess a certain amount of knowledge on this subject who don’t see what the big deal is about eating meat that is sacrificed, in reality, to nothing. On the other hand, you have a group of people who aren’t so sure they agree with this “liberal” behavior. Sounds like a church fight in the making to me! What is a good Corinthian Christian to do?

Enter our Master Moderator, Paul. Paul begins his discourse by warning those with this knowledge that they should be careful. Notice he doesn’t say knowledge is bad, per se. Paul is just saying that it doesn’t really matter how much we think we know, because none of us really has the full picture. So knowledge is fine—to a point.


Paul then, however, affirms the knowledge of the Corinthian meat eaters by saying that we really know that no idol exists. And while there may be other so-called “gods” in heaven and on earth, for us, there is but one God, and one Lord, Jesus Christ. Our closeness to God is not dependant upon whether or not we eat. So, Paul is affirming the right of this group of Christians to eat meat offered to idols. BUT, Paul tells this same group of folks to take care that this liberty of theirs’ does not cause others to stumble. After all, not all Christians share all this same knowledge.

In other words, little ones are watching.

Eating (the surface issue of this passage) is actually an excellent metaphor for describing all of life. When we eat, we acknowledge our dependence upon some of the remainder of God’s creation, and therefore, our dependence upon God. Humans—and all of creation—are from God and all of human life is lived toward God. In fact, Paul appears to affirm eating as well as drinking as a metaphor for all of life in 1 Corinthians 10:31 when he says, “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.” So the deeper issue here for us is that whatever we decide or choose in life must ultimately be decided and chosen in the light of what we know and believe about God.

But, like the Corinthians, we too have a responsibility to use our liberty wisely, and in ways that build up the community. And while I believe this statement is true for all Christians, I believe it is especially true for those of us who identify both as Christians as well as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered.

Why do I say that? Because people are watching us, folks. There are the people who say we can’t be Christians for no other reason than being the people God created us to be. Of course we know better. Like the Corinthians, we have a certain amount of knowledge on this subject that they may not possess. But then we tend to write these people off as “bigoted,” or “homophobic,” or as “sex negative fundamentalists.” Many times we don’t even bother trying to dialogue with these folks.

Then there are those within our community who are considering giving God another chance. Maybe these people were spiritually abused in the faith traditions of their youth, and after years of running from God, they have now decided to check out an open and affirming community of faith. Folks, what we say, what we do, where we go and how we behave when we get there, how we treat one another—in other words, how well our “talks” match our “walks”--can make the difference in the life-changing decisions that these people will eventually make. So, are we going to go the way of knowledge, and insist on exercising our liberties, disregarding the feelings of others, or are we going to go the way of love, and build up community?

For Paul, love trumps knowledge every time. In today’s world, love means getting the liberals and conservatives to talk to one another. It means taking the time to build such deeply personal relationships that church members will trust and support one another as they seek to do Christ’s work in the world. Love means dialoguing with one another to identify shared Christian principles that reach beyond the rhetoric of calling ourselves either “progressive” or “charismatic.” And most importantly, love means putting those shared principles to work both in this place and out in the world!

God wants us to be well nourished as a community of faith, and strong enough to do God’s work in the world. That is why God sent Jesus, the Bread of Life. That’s why God offers us the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. God spreads a banquet before us so that we can eat, be healthy and strong. That’s why God gives us the Table, where we can come together in this place each week, eat, and receive the strength to show each other the kind of love that is grounded in trusting personal relationships and shared Christian principles.

Speaking of the Table, many of you here know James. James is Makaylah’s big brother, and helps his Mom Annette take care of her. James also sometimes helps his Grandma Jean and Granny Linda sing up front here. Well, one day recently, the family noticed James standing over a plastic cup that was carefully covered with a white washrag. James removed the washrag, held up a plastic tomato from his Dora the Explorer Kitchen, and said, “Communion—for everybody!” James gets it. Don’t you wish more of us were like him?

Little ones are watching, folks--little ones of all ages and stations in life. With the help of God’s Holy Spirit, may we be examples of God’s inclusive love, grace, and peace in this world, so that these little ones may see how good God truly is. Amen?

God bless you and amen.