2 Corinthians 13:11-13; The First Sunday After Pentecost – Trinity Sunday
What can we say after the week we have seen?
We have a nation in turmoil, with people protesting all over the country calling out for justice…
With others taking advantage of the situation by inciting riots and looting.
And still others using it all to incite fear and more division…
We have a nation gripped by a pandemic and economic pain caused by the lock-downs…
Sometimes it seems like our nation is on the verge of tearing itself apart.
What can we say to a nation, to a world that is angry, afraid, in pain…and confused?
What is there to say in the midst of so much brokenness?
We can speak the Gospel, the good news of God’s great love for us.
Jesus’ message of unity and of compassion for others.
In today’s reading from II Corinthians Paul is speaking the Gospel to a young church struggling to find its way. The church in Corinth was challenging Paul, and they were fighting among themselves. There were arguments over their beliefs and the church’s structure and organization.
And controversy over who was actually in charge.
Paul was afraid that all of this discord would destroy the ministry that they were trying to build there…he knew that they had to work together in order to move forward.
This is why Paul calls for unity, as he exhorts them, and each of us, to care for each other, to show compassion and love…to work together to make our world a better place, and by doing so we following the call of Christ to not only sharing the love of God with the world, but to be the Gospel IN the world!
To be the message of hope and reconciliation that we all need hear so desperately today.
When we speak the Gospel, we are reminded of what binds us together, the fact that we are part of God’s family…all of us, no matter who we are, the color of our skin, our beliefs, education, background, etc.
Hearing the Gospel can remind us that we are all children of God, and that while we don’t all have to agree, we do all have to find a way to live and work together to face our many challenges.
This is an important message, when there is so much focus on what drives us apart, on what can keep us broken but not enough on those things that bring us together…that can call us back to unity.
All the things we have in common, like wanting health and happiness for those we love, safety and security, a feeling of belonging, and the desire to help those in need…to be of use.
One of the other things we have seen this week were bad storms, and these reminded me of a time several years ago, when storms caused flooding along the Schuylkill river in Pottstown. As I was between jobs at the time, I volunteered to help in the clean-up.
Our team was assign to a house owned by an elderly lady. The flood water had filled her basement, and spilled out onto the first floor. By the time we got there, the water had receded back to the river banks, but the damage had been done. Except for a few tools, plastic, and some canned food, the basement was a complete loss!
We spent a few days cleaning and sorting, and throwing things away and then scrubbing down the walls and running fans to help dry things out in an attempt to avoid mold.
We were part of a larger group of volunteers, as the whole neighborhood had been impacted by the flooding. Like me, these people were recruited from the various churches and synagogues that served the area.
At lunch break each day, we gathered at the local Lutheran church where there were food trucks and we all ate together, talked and got to know each other.
We all got along well, and made some new friends, if only for the week.
This does not mean we always agreed on everything…we had discussions about how to make repairs, dry out rugs, and what could be saved and what needed to be thrown away. Everyone had an opinion, but we all had our skills and knowledge to offer each other, and we were able to learn from each other in order to find new ways to move forward, and get our work done.
While I was not the best at construction work, I could clean, and having worked customer service, I was able to finesse PECO and get them to put our homeowner high on the list of repairs.
This is the value to not shutting someone out of the conversation, simply because we don’t share their opinion…this is why it is so important to keep an open mind.
The volunteers included people from many backgrounds, beliefs and opinions there on that work crew, but none of that mattered. What did matter was that we had a common cause: to help others.
And in pursuing this cause, not only by helping those who were flooded, but also through working together, we were unified in proclaiming the Gospel.
Today, we also have a common cause: to keep each other safe, not only in the face of this pandemic, but also in the face of this division and anger that has infected our world.
In some ways, the pandemic is the easy part, although it is inconvenient, all we need to do is wear a mask, keep socially distant, and simply take good care of each other by showing consideration and compassion for others.
It is harder to overcome the divisions, as it seems as if everyone has to be right…as it seems as if we all need to pick a side and them stick to it immovable, even if it turns out that we are wrong.
It is difficult to speak out against injustice and ignorance, against prejudice and racism, especially when those who want to keep us divided are so loud.
Today, we have a lot of rebuilding to do, and we cannot do it by being divided, we need to find unity in order to make our world a better place for all people.
For just as with the church in Corinth, our divisions could destroy us, or they could provide us with an opportunity to stop and turn things around!
To move in a new direction…
By speaking the Gospel, we are making way for the Kingdom of God to become a reality right here where we are…and like Paul’s church, we will get there if we find reconciliation and healing. We may not always agree on how to get there, but that is okay, it is through our discussions and conversations that we find answers to the difficult questions.
For the Gospel speaks of God’s love, and speaks of it in the face of those who seek to foment hate and fear.
Where the Gospel is spoken, we are freed from those things that would hold us back, freed from ignorance and fear, freed from all that divides us as we are brought to a place of reconciliation, unity and hope…
And unity is so important, when we are seeking a way forward in aftermath of this challenging time..for burdens are lighter when we carry them together, and we can go farther when we help each other along the way.
Ordinary Adventures 