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The power of a vision can transform
a people. We just celebrated Martin Luther King Day.
King’s “I have a dream” speech, spoken on the steps of
the Lincoln Memorial captivated the entire nation. King
longed for the day when the color of someone’s skin no
longer mattered. We continue to be diligent in
combating racism in fulfilling that vision. Two weeks
ago we reexamined our church’s mission statement, “to
experience and share God’s love.” We come to church
each week to experience God’s love, then when we leave
we share that same love we have experienced with people
outside of our church. Last Sunday, Mary Burger shared
her vision of seeing the church filled with people.
Powerful visions can and do change people.
A strong sense of mission and
vision motivates everyone within the church. Wonderful
things can happen when everyone is working together, on
the same goals, all for the glory of God. We know what
can happen when people do not work together, or see eye
to eye. “United we stand, divided we fall,” were words
of a popular folk song in the 1960s. There is much
truth in that song, united together we can accomplish
great things, but divided we fall.
“It all started long before I
came,” said Pastor Jason Kirk, pastor of the fictional
Clyde’s Corner Church. The founder of Clyde’s Corner,
Cedric Clyde was a successful farmer at the turn of the
Twentieth Century. To show his thanks to God, he paid
for the building of the church. Just before he died,
Cedric donated furniture to the church including, “a
giant red horsehair couch whose rich color Cedric
fancied would brighten the church.” The horsehair
couch was placed behind the pulpit. The huge chair
featured massive curved arms with dark mahogany legs,
each carved like the claw of a lion.
Years passed, the church as well as
the community changed, and that couch became the subject
of a bitter debate between members of the Clyde family
who wanted to keep the couch where it was and newer
members who thought the couch did not belong in the
sanctuary. This debate sparked tension between the
established members and the newer families who had moved
to the country to get their children away from the drugs
that were spreading into their suburban neighborhoods.
The new families had bought up foreclosed farms and
built beautiful homes in the hills. They were
accustomed to fine furnishings, and they detested what
they had dubbed, “the Victorian Leviathan” that
dominated what otherwise was a plain church building.
However, the Clyde family viewed
the couch in a different light. Their farms had fallen
on hard times. They looked at the couch each Sunday and
fondly remembered their great-grandfather Cedric had
founded the church. Although their tractors were
rusting in the front yard, at least the pastor sat on
Cedric’s couch.
“Every sentence I put in the air,”
Pastor Kirk says of his sermons, “I see them all
weighing whether it is ammunition for their side or the
other side. Here I am preaching about the love of God,
and everything I say is filtered through a single
question: ‘Is the pastor in favor of the red horsehair
couch, or is the pastor against the couch?’”(1) On the
surface this issue seems insignificant but it was
tearing the church apart. What suggestions would you
offer to resolve this issue?
Our epistle lesson reveals some of
the problems that the Corinthian’s were experiencing.
The situation had reached the critical stage. People
within the church were quarreling among themselves.
What started as a simple disagreement now escalated into
conflict. Sides were taken. Harsh words were spoken.
Some of the people might even have left the church.
Given the current state of the church, they were no
longer attracting new members. Who would want to be
immersed into a church conflict where they are forced to
take sides? When conflict rears its ugly head the
mission and ministry of the church comes to a grinding
halt. Nothing much gets accomplished.
In
the midst of these very serious problems the Apostle
Paul was contacted. Paul was the founding pastor of the
church. The people were confident that Paul would be
able to advise them and help them work through their
problems that threatened the very existence of the
church. Through correspondence Paul was made aware of
the situation. Paul’s goal was to always build up the
church and never tear it down. With a pastor’s heart
Paul wrote to his former congregation, “ Now I appeal to
you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there
be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the
same mind and the same purpose.”
The issue that was tearing the church apart must end
immediately. Resolution was needed. Paul was trying to
recapture the passion they had about their church when
he was with them. Paul wrote, “that all of you be in
agreement.” Instead of focusing on their differences,
what was tearing them apart; Paul was trying to rekindle
their earlier passion. What brought them together in
the first place, their love of the Lord Jesus, their
sense of mission in reaching out and caring for the
needs of others in that community united them. What
unites them should be more powerful than what pulls them
apart.
Sometimes we have to go back to the beginning, our
mission and purpose. It was time for the Corinthians to
refocus. There is more that unites us than divides us.
“Be in agreement,” Paul pleaded, “that there be no
divisions among you, but that you be united in the same
mind and the same purpose.” At one point in their
journey they claimed Jesus Christ as their Lord and
Savior. They were united in their mission and ministry.
Paul was calling to the people to remember who they
were and more importantly to whom they belonged.
There will be times when there are disagreements within
the church. There will be times when people do not see
eye to eye and that is all right. From time to time
there are issues that find people on different sides,
again that is all right. We love and respect each
other. We are united in our ministry and mission.
Paul was not urging uniformity, but
rather celebrating our God given gifts. God made us all
different. Diversity within the congregation is a good
thing, something to be celebrated, and not a cause for
strife.
Later in First Corinthians, Paul compares the human body
with the church, the body of Christ. Just as the human
body has various parts, each performing different
functions, so too the church. Every believer has a
God-inspired gift. We do not all have the same gifts,
and we need not feel bad because someone else has
different gifts. When we use our gifts together, united
in our mission and purpose, we make a whole. The church
would be a boring place if everyone was the same,
thought the same, not to mention that it would be
difficult to fulfill the mission and ministry of the
church. God made us all different.
Following Paul, the next pastor had different gifts; he
might have been a better preacher. There were some in
that congregation who in effect began following Apollos
while others remained loyal claiming “I belong to Paul,”
still others “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to
Christ.” We know Cephas as the Apostle Peter. It is
interesting that Peter is mention since there is no
evidence that Peter ever visited Corinth. Nonetheless
there were some who claimed loyalty to Peter, others to
Apollos and others to Paul. The situation was getting
out of hand. A sure fire way to destroy a church is to
break into divisive cliques. United we stand, with
everyone working for the same goals. Divided we fall
breaking into divisive fractions. There is no room in
the church for such nonsense.
Again the situation in the Corinthian Church had to stop
immediately, the mission and ministry of the church was
at stake. Paul asked a series of rhetorical questions,
“Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you?”
Paul wanted the people to see the absurdity of the
situation. The obvious answer to all of Paul’s
questions is “no, of course not!”
Paul knew what gifts he possessed and his mission, as he
writes, “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to
proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so
that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its
power.” The Lord Jesus sent Paul to preach the gospel,
not with “eloquent wisdom” or to baptized converts, but
to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.
United we stand! There is no telling what the church
will accomplish when everyone is working together for
the common good, with a clear sense of vision and
mission. When that unity of purpose does not exist the
church will falter, fall into petty quarreling. The
result will be that the mission of the church will be
sidetracked and nothing much will be accomplished.
Divided we fall!
Back to the fictional church at
Clyde’s Corner, a solution was reached thanks to the
leadership of its pastor. Everyone agreed that they
needed to refurnish the parlor. The pastor pointed out
the couch was coming unglued and the veneers were
splitting because of the extreme changes of temperature
in the sanctuary. The pastor suggested having the couch
repaired and placed in the parlor which is kept at the
same temperature all week with committee meetings almost
every day.
The church rallied together. All
of Cedric’s relatives agreed to Pastor Kirk’s plan and
the new people donated money for the entire project,
including the cost of framing a portrait of Cedric Clyde
to hang over his couch. A cross was hung behind the
pulpit. The Sunday of the dedication, Pastor Kirk
preached on the cross and then added, “When we took the
old couch out of the chancel we drove the bad feelings
out, and the cross brought a new spirit in.”(2) The
church was able to refocus on their mission.
What are the red horsehair couches
that are preventing us from rallying together behind our
mission statement? What is holding us back? There are
people who are hurting who need Christ and the support
of the church—people that we should be reaching out to.
May we continue to stand united in
our mission and purpose as the church of Jesus Christ.
We celebrate the gifts of each person who is part of our
church family. To advance the mission of the church it
takes everyone working together, not for personal
recognition, but for the glory of God.
Amen.
1. The
Parable of the Ten Preachers, Thomas H. Troeger,
Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1992, pp.20-22, 93-96.
2. Ibid, pp.
93-96
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