A conspiracy for joy
2 Corinthians 8: 7-15
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
June 30, 2024
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| Photo of five children, one whose face is obscured from view. Three children have their hands aside their mouths as if they are telling a secret to one child, whose face looks overjoyed. |
When I was reading the liturgy for this Sunday, in the call to worship, these words yanked me by the collar and sat me down with Jesus: Plot for joy. Scheme, plan, strategize, design, conspire for joy. Draw a map. Graph for x and y. Do a pencil sketch. Let the colors run together. Create a vision board. Tell the story. Sing the song. Dance like who cares who’s watching. Assemble the ingredients. Light the fire.
When I hear “plot for joy”, I think of these guys.
This photo first went viral in 2013. It reappears every so often, and it’s back again for Pride month this year. It’s a photo of two bearded young adults with light skin and mischievous grins, standing in front of a church sign that reads “God says homosexuality is in”, because they’ve removed the letter S from the word “sin”.
Conspire for joy. Become a problem to the naysayers and those bent on destruction. Be eager for the kin-dom. Be generous with what you have. Let love and mercy overflow. Don’t hold back.
That’s what Paul is saying to the church in Corinth. He’s taking up a collection for the church in Jerusalem. Gentile congregations typically had more resources, more wealth than Jewish congregations in Roman occupied territory. Even so, a few verses back, Paul holds up a poorer gentile church in Macedonia as an example of bigheartedness. Even though this congregation suffered from a severe ordeal of affliction, perhaps some folks were incarcerated, despite their extreme poverty, but because of their abundant joy, they were overflowing in generosity. This church in Macedonia that had less didn’t give until it hurt; they gave until it felt good, even begging for the privilege of giving.
Paul uses the Macedonian church as an example to the Corinthian church because this is the same church that Paul wrote to about what love is.
“…[No] matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do,
I’m bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end."
- Eugene Peterson, 1 Corinthians 13, The Message
In other words, conspire for joy. Become a problem to the naysayers and those bent on destruction. Be eager for the kin-dom. Be generous with what you have. Let love and mercy overflow. Don’t hold back.
But in this second letter, Paul uses another word, charis, which sounds like charity, when referring to this collection he is taking for the church in Jerusalem. On one level it can mean “grace”, as in unmerited, unconditional, unlimited, but Paul also uses it to convey meanings like privilege, generous undertaking, generous act, and as thanks and blessing. He also uses words like eulogia—bountiful gift, voluntary gift—koinonia, which means sharing, and leitourgia—ministry. Paul is not just asking for money; he is asking the Corinthian church to join in solidarity with both gentile and Jewish congregations who suffer from lack of resources but who also have an abundance of joy.
Paul then employs a Greco-Roman practice of flattery before making a request, extoling the virtues of the Corinthian church: they excel in faith, in their ability to preach the gospel, in eagerness, and in the love that Paul and Titus have for this church, but are they able to excel, to go above and beyond, to overflow with bigheartedness, to conspire for joy? Do they have the yearning, the longing, the heart—in Spanish, the ganas to conspire for the joy of others as Jesus conspired for their joy?
Paul isn’t trying to talk them into anything they may not be able to do. He’s reminding them of why they are Church in the first place. Church is the people with whom we try to live like Jesus, not only to free ourselves but to liberate others who suffer because they have too little.
Earlier this week the Supreme Court handed down a decision that criminalizes people who do not have permanent housing, in effect, taking those who have little and punishing them for it. The unhoused and homeless are routinely arrested for doing all the things we do in our homes: eating, sleeping, engaging in sex, going to the bathroom, having a party with friends. We can do these things legally because we own property or rent it and live in it. The highest court in the land has made it legal to further demean and dehumanize people who are unhoused or homeless. They have criminalized people who suffer rather than the policies and systems that create this suffering. What was it Paul said? “…[No] matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.”
Last week we took a poll of ourselves, asking that if there was a positive outcome of an engineering survey of our property, would we be in favor of a possible affordable housing project on our site? Or in Paul’s words, would we be in favor of charis—overflowing grace, the privilege of participating in a generous undertaking, sharing what we have in thanks for our blessings, freely giving in solidarity, in ministry? Do we have such an abundance of joy that we are willing to conspire for the joy of others?
46 of us participated in that poll. Over 90% said that yes, we are willing to talk more about such a project, as we are in relationship with each other, as we are Church together while we consider and dream about where we are headed next.
In other words, let’s conspire for joy. In a time when so many are conspiring for their self-interest at the expense of the planet and everyone else. Let’s become a problem to the naysayers and those bent on destruction. Let us be eager for the kin-dom. Let us be generous with what we have. Let love and mercy overflow. Don’t hold back. Amen.
In other words, conspire for joy. Become a problem to the naysayers and those bent on destruction. Be eager for the kin-dom. Be generous with what you have. Let love and mercy overflow. Don’t hold back.
But in this second letter, Paul uses another word, charis, which sounds like charity, when referring to this collection he is taking for the church in Jerusalem. On one level it can mean “grace”, as in unmerited, unconditional, unlimited, but Paul also uses it to convey meanings like privilege, generous undertaking, generous act, and as thanks and blessing. He also uses words like eulogia—bountiful gift, voluntary gift—koinonia, which means sharing, and leitourgia—ministry. Paul is not just asking for money; he is asking the Corinthian church to join in solidarity with both gentile and Jewish congregations who suffer from lack of resources but who also have an abundance of joy.
Paul then employs a Greco-Roman practice of flattery before making a request, extoling the virtues of the Corinthian church: they excel in faith, in their ability to preach the gospel, in eagerness, and in the love that Paul and Titus have for this church, but are they able to excel, to go above and beyond, to overflow with bigheartedness, to conspire for joy? Do they have the yearning, the longing, the heart—in Spanish, the ganas to conspire for the joy of others as Jesus conspired for their joy?
Paul isn’t trying to talk them into anything they may not be able to do. He’s reminding them of why they are Church in the first place. Church is the people with whom we try to live like Jesus, not only to free ourselves but to liberate others who suffer because they have too little.
Earlier this week the Supreme Court handed down a decision that criminalizes people who do not have permanent housing, in effect, taking those who have little and punishing them for it. The unhoused and homeless are routinely arrested for doing all the things we do in our homes: eating, sleeping, engaging in sex, going to the bathroom, having a party with friends. We can do these things legally because we own property or rent it and live in it. The highest court in the land has made it legal to further demean and dehumanize people who are unhoused or homeless. They have criminalized people who suffer rather than the policies and systems that create this suffering. What was it Paul said? “…[No] matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.”
Last week we took a poll of ourselves, asking that if there was a positive outcome of an engineering survey of our property, would we be in favor of a possible affordable housing project on our site? Or in Paul’s words, would we be in favor of charis—overflowing grace, the privilege of participating in a generous undertaking, sharing what we have in thanks for our blessings, freely giving in solidarity, in ministry? Do we have such an abundance of joy that we are willing to conspire for the joy of others?
46 of us participated in that poll. Over 90% said that yes, we are willing to talk more about such a project, as we are in relationship with each other, as we are Church together while we consider and dream about where we are headed next.
In other words, let’s conspire for joy. In a time when so many are conspiring for their self-interest at the expense of the planet and everyone else. Let’s become a problem to the naysayers and those bent on destruction. Let us be eager for the kin-dom. Let us be generous with what we have. Let love and mercy overflow. Don’t hold back. Amen.
Benediction
Go forth in the Subversive Power of the Spirit.
Conspire for joy.
Become a problem to the naysayers and those bent on destruction.
Be eager for the kin-dom.
Be generous with what you have.
Let love and mercy overflow.
Don’t hold back.
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