Hold on loosely

 

1 Corinthians 2: 1-12 *
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
February 5, 2023

Photo of a person with light skinned palms and brown arms lightly holding a monarch butterfly in their hands.  Person is wearing an item of clothing made from deep lilac colored cloth.

One of the things I appreciate about reading the letters of Paul as well as those written in his name is that, for the most part, we are reading theology, thoughts about God, who Jesus was, the life of the Spirit, as it was being worked out in real time. Whereas the gospels were written about the life of Jesus in a more biographical or journalistic form, Paul writes not only with a specific agenda for a particular community of faith but also inserts himself into his letters. After all, he can’t help it. He’s writing to communities he personally initiated and organized. He's completely invested. Not only that, but previously it had been his purpose to thwart those who followed to Jesus, so now he must be doubly convincing to his congregations.



And yet, it’s not about him. So Paul speaks not about his wisdom but about his foolishness; not about any power he might have but about his weakness; not presenting what he knows with utmost confidence but in fear and trembling; not about establishing what is certain but delving into God’s mysterious ways made known to us in Jesus. In this First Nations Version of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, Paul is referred to not by his name but with the First Nations or indigenous name, “Small Man”, as a way of illustrating his humility. When you think about it, calling himself “Humble Man” would defeat the purpose. The church in Corinth is divided because people have attached themselves to particular preachers and everyone’s egos are clashing over who has the true wisdom.



Yet even though Paul tries to disengage his ego from his preaching and teaching, it comes through nonetheless. He wants to tell his story, how he has encountered, as he puts it, Christ crucified and Christ risen. He wants this church to know not only God’s good story as known through Jesus but for them to understand his experience of that story, his involvement in that story. When you’ve been saved from a path of destruction, when you’ve been healed and made whole, you become an evangelist, someone who tells their good story to anyone who will listen. He wants his story to matter. Goodness, if he only knew what would eventually happen with his letters.



We want the stories that have become a part of us to matter, not just to ourselves but to make a difference in the life of this world. And yet the more tightly we hold on to them, the more harm we can do. Those who have set themselves up as the rulers of this world are hanging on with all their might to the stories, in truth the lies we told ourselves about race, about how this nation began and how it was built and for what reasons. They are clinging to outdated knowledge about gender and sexuality informed by a selective, literal reading of an ancient set of texts and creating harmful legislation with it. They fear being the minority to the point of White supremacy. They refuse to acknowledge the end of Christendom to the point of Christian nationalism. They are still convinced that empire and capitalism can have a future and that violence, exploitation, and control of human lives and bodies are necessary evils to ensure that future.



We all want our stories to matter. We do not want to leave this earth having died in vain and yet I do not believe it is possible to have lived in vain. We think our lives must have purpose. At our core, we are meaning makers. But purpose implies that we must earn our place in this world, that we do not have intrinsic value as human beings unless it is conferred upon us because of what we’ve accomplished rather than something we claim as our birthright, our divinity, our sacred worth.



Comedian Neil Brennan struggled with this in his most recent stand-up show, and in his ending monologue he managed to sound like the apostle Paul.



“How did you turn self-help into self-harm? I’ve been saying all night that something is wrong with me. And something is wrong with me. I won’t show myself any kindness. I won’t give myself any grace. Like, I just grind and attack myself relentlessly like it’s my job. I would love to stop. I like to believe that my ways of being, like my thoughts, my habits, my emotions, my beliefs…I’d like to believe that they’re not defects. I’d like to believe that alchemy of a personality, my spirit, it’s got to be enough. Please, let that be enough.”



Through the centuries we took this faith, this Table, which was meant to be help and we turned it into harm, when all along it was meant to say that we are enough. There is nothing we have to do to earn the unconditional love at this Table. At this Table, Jesus was willing to disrupt his life for us. Not only that but to also disrupt our lives and the ways we hold on so tightly to our stories that we not only forget to be kind and to extend grace, but how we harm ourselves and each other in the process.



At this Table of betrayal and desertion we are taught to hold all things lightly, lovingly, including ourselves, each other, and all that which is most precious to us, and yet not let go of that which is good, holy, and true. God as Love is faithful in that each of us has been gifted with the ability to be love enfleshed in this world, and it is Christ crucified, Love and Life disrupted for us, that helps us do this for others. We lean not only on our own wisdom but on the wisdom of our life together. We are enough. God’s faithfulness, God’s grace is sufficient.

*First Nations Version

“My sacred family members, when I came among you to tell you about Creator’s mysterious ways, I did not used big words or high-sounding wisdom. For I decided not to know anything while I was with you except about Creator Sets Free, Jesus, the Chosen One—and his death on the cross. I came to you as a weak human being in fear and trembling. I did not come with strong words or great wisdom, but with the Spirit showing power in my weakness. In this way your trust would not rest on the wisdom of human beings, but in the Great Spirit’s power.



“On the other hand, there is a wisdom that we speak among those who are mature in the Chosen One. It is not the wisdom of this present world or of its rulers, who are fading away. Instead, with a strong voice we make known the wisdom of the Great Spirit. A wisdom that is mysterious and hidden away in Creator’s heart, and decided long ago, before the world began, that this wisdom would be for our honor.



“None of the rulers of this present world have understood this wisdom. If they had, they never would have killed our great and shining Honored Chief. The Sacred Teachings tell us that no human being has ever seen or heard or imagined all the good things the Great Spirit has planned for the ones who love the Spirit. But Creator has revealed these things to us by the Spirit.



“The Spirit searches everything, even the deep things found in the mind and heart of the Great Spirit. No one can know the thoughts of another except for that person’s own spirit. In the same way no one can know Creator’s thoughts except Creator’s own spirit. We have not received the spirit of the world, but we have received Creator’s Spirit. This is how we can know the things that have been gifted to us by the Great Spirit.”

Benediction


Go forth into the world in peace.
Be of good courage.
Hold fast to that which is good
and render to no one evil for evil.
Strengthen the faint-hearted;
support the weak; help the afflicted.
Honor all people.
Love and serve God,
rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The grace of our Savior Jesus Christ be with us all. Amen.