“We Are One in the Spirit...?”
1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Back in the 1970’s, I remember having my first Christian summer camp experience at Westminster Woods. I was about to start junior high school and had just moved to a new city because of my Dad’s job. We left a suburb of Sacramento, CA, right as school ended, and drove to our new home in the Bay Area, Vallejo. Once we arrived, we connected with my grandparents’ church, the 1st Presbyterian Church of Vallejo, which had sign-ups for summer camp. I was kind of interested in going, but not so sure. However, my mom said I would have fun, that I definitely was going, and signed me up. So that was that.
I admit my mother was right. That week at camp was amazing. I had a cabin of different ethnic groups of 7th and 8th-grade boys- Asian, African American, and White, led by a counselor who was Hispanic. We all got along the whole week. I recommitted my life to Christ and felt the Spirit's unity. That unity was particularly strong on the last night of camp, as we gathered around the campfire, put our arms on each other's shoulders, and sang the song, “We Are One in the Spirit”. In that moment, there were no dividing lines between race, denomination, or whether you were from the popular crowd, the jock crowd, the stoner crowd, or the nerdy crowd- we were one in that moment, and it felt great.
I remember speaking with one of my cabinmates the last night, a short guy with a big afro. He said to me, “You are my brother. And I love you in Jesus, man.” I responded pretty much the same, and we hugged it out.
I really hoped to carry that same spirit of oneness into a brand new junior high where I didn't know anyone. Things worked out great, right? All the students at the school welcomed the new kid, and we all held hands in the halls and sang “Kumbaya” together…Not. Christian camp and Junior High were two totally different things.
Upon my first day on campus at my new school, Springtown Junior High, the walls of separation and difference were up. I was the new kid who didn’t know anyone. I had to quickly find a group to join for protection and a sense of belonging, or face the consequences of getting harassed. There was no unity, especially during lunch recess. Kids picked on other kids verbally and physically. The cafeteria was a popularity contest, and I was losing. That wonderful vision of being together and loving one another despite any differences disappeared just like that. So much for Christian, or any other kind of unity.
I longed for those days at camp and hoped that at least my church youth group would be similar. Alas, it was not. A lot of those same divisions were there, and it wasn’t much better than Junior High, at least at first. We even sang “We are One in the Spirit” in worship from time to time. But I didn’t sense that unity in the Spirit.
Is Unity possible in our world, other than when we go away to camp together as kids? Well, there are the Winter Olympics, happening now in Milan and Cortina, Italy. There appears to be at least a sense of unity between countries as they compete together. I still remember skiing at what used to be called Squaw Valley and looking at the Olympic rings and the flame from 1960 as I drove in. It was awe-inspiring to ski where the Olympics had taken place.
The Olympic rings stand for Unity. The rings are interlocked to represent the unity and meeting of athletes from around the world. In Olympic parlance, the five inhabited continents are Africa, the Americas (North and South America combined), Asia, Europe, and Oceania. The colors of the rings (blue, yellow, black, green, red) were chosen because at least one of these colors appeared on the flag of every nation at the time of the design. The rings are typically displayed on a white background. The equal size of the rings shows that each continent is treated equally at the Games. So, at least for two weeks, most of the nations of the world come together in unity and play nice. They are one in the spirit of the Olympic movement.
What about the church? Is unity possible? The passage from Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth suggests that unity in Christ has been a struggle since the early church's formation some 2,000 years ago.
In his first letter to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul explores whether unity is possible in this morning’s passage. He wants to know, "Is Christ divided, or one?" He had received a report from Chloe and her people that factions were developing in the Corinthian church. Word had reached Paul that there were "divisions" and "quarrels" among the church members, who were aligning themselves into different groups in the name of Paul, Apollos, Cephas—even Christ! Was Christ Divided? Is Christ divided today? To answer these questions, we need to look more closely at the past and at what was happening in the church Paul founded in Corinth. By doing so, we will have a clearer understanding of God’s wisdom for us and how to apply it to our congregation here and now.
An experienced churchgoer once said, “It has been said that wherever two or three are gathered together in the church,... there will be a disagreement.” This certainly seems to be the case with the church at Corinth. What was going on that made Paul write this section to the church in Corinth?
The church, founded by Paul, existed for around five years when this letter was written. How many Christians are we speaking of here that were part of this church? It is possible to make an educated guess. Now, when I say “church”, you may be thinking of one common building where folks all went to worship together. Yet remember that in those days, Christians met in private homes and had no public buildings. The size of their gatherings was limited by the homes of the community's most affluent, which could accommodate at most 35-50 people. So, there were likely several separate house gatherings. Over time, many of these communities could have developed different practices and elevated different leaders, thereby exacerbating factionalism within the community. A common guess among theologians is that this letter was written to a group of 150-200 Christians. So, they were just a bit larger than our congregation.
What else can we tell about this church in Corinth? We know the community had varied economic and social classes. House servants went to worship in the homes of wealthy patrons. We know that at least one member of the church in Corinth, Erastus, was a city official and wealthy enough to fund and dedicate a costly public pavement. An inscription found recently in the city reads, “Erastus, for his aedilship, constructed this pavement at his own expense.” So, the contrast in social status and standing in society may have also contributed to the factions within the church. Whether due to particular styles from a certain house church, economic divisions, or differences in leadership styles, some members of this early church were divided by the names of certain leaders.
The first mentioned was Apollos- Scripture tells us in Acts he was a learned Jew from Alexandria who was deeply grounded in scripture and “who taught accurately the things concerning Jesus”(Acts 18:25) with great passion and eloquence. He had already been preaching as a Christian in Ephesus before meeting Paul's representatives. Perhaps some were drawn towards Apollos because of his great speaking skills. Even though Paul himself had founded the community, he wasn’t there to lead the church. So, some Corinthian Christians may have found Apollos to be a great, charismatic, everyday leader who was present for them. Perhaps they wanted him to lead the community in directions different from Paul's, under his own name.
Cephas, whom we call Peter, and one of the twelve original disciples, was a widely recognized church leader at the time, whose reputation and personal influence had spread to Corinth. Calling yourself a follower of Cephas gave you instant credibility and standing. “We follow an original disciple, not Paul, who wasn’t even part of the authentic 12.”
Then comes this third group who would say, “I belong to Christ.” This is rather curious. Why is this statement in the negative? Isn’t this what every Christian should say? However, if some in the Corinthian congregation were claiming Christ in some exclusive way-“We are the ones who really belong to Christ, but we aren’t so sure about YOU.”- Then the name of Christ is being misused. When “I belong to Christ” becomes a rallying point of dissension, rather than a bond of unity, it is no better a claim than the rest.
The community’s dissension created a ridiculous situation, and Paul emphasized this ridiculousness by stating some absurd things- “Paul wasn’t crucified for you, was he? You certainly weren’t baptized in my name, were you?” It also seems as if, from Paul’s ranting about baptism, some house churches were splitting up with emphasis on who had performed their baptisms. “Well, PAUL did my baptism, the FOUNDER of the church...” The church was focused upon personalities and causes, upon differences and social class, and the result was disunity.
The church is unified, saved, and sustained only when it is united in the Spirit and in the love of Jesus Christ. When instead we focus only on our differences, such as which worship service we attend, who have been long-time members here and who are new, whether we are for or against a capital campaign to address needed building repairs, or have concerns over the tempo of a certain hymn, we can easily become divided.
What, then, should we do when Paul urges us to maintain the unity of the Spirit? That’s a good question. Do we scrap our differences to form some kind of "perfect union" where there aren’t any varied opinions among us here at the 1st Presbyterian Church of Ashland? Do we "take our ball and go home" when we don’t get what we want? Or do we anchor ourselves to the love and Spirit of Jesus Christ, and discuss our differences anchored in that love? More than 60 years ago, a French monk, Abbe Paul Couturier, said, "The walls of our separation do not reach to heaven." Perhaps we can hold onto those words and make our church more like the one on earth as it is in heaven, seeking unity and guided by love for one another, despite our differences.
As Paul puts it, "For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (v. 18). If we are looking for what can unite us as Christians, we must look to the cross in our chapel/sanctuary to remember Christ’s love for us. That doesn’t mean we do not have differences of opinion. That does not mean we may not disagree with our fellow kindred in Christ. Unity does not mean uniformity. But unity, grounded in love through the teachings of Christ, can lead us to be one in the Spirit, despite our differences. Why? Because they will know we are Christians by our love.
Consider that later in his letter to the Corinthians (Ch. 12), Paul will talk about celebrating unity amid the diversity of gifts. Discovering what unites us, while respecting and even celebrating our diversity, will drive our mission as the body of Christ and provide an effective witness to a fractured and hurting world that is increasingly building walls. They will know we are Christians by our love.
We have focused on our own church here. What about the big C Church? Look at the many factions of Christianity today: “I belong to Luther,” “I belong to Calvin,” “I belong to Wesley,” “I belong to the Pope.” When we are faithful and align with and define ourselves by a particular leader or style of worship, the larger body of Christ is no longer united. 18th-century English evangelist Rowland Hill said, “I do not want the walls of separation between different orders of Christians to be destroyed, but only lowered, that we may shake hands a little easier over them.”
We are working to lower those walls a bit. Our church has worshipped at the Methodist church a couple of times, and they have worshipped with us. And in March, we hope to take our Ashland Presbyterians to Central Point Presbyterians, worshiping together as one in the Spirit. After Easter, Ashland pastors from the Methodist, Episcopalian, UCC, Nazarene, and Presbyterian churches hope to participate in a pulpit exchange, visiting each congregation to help bring down those walls of separation a bit, but we have a long way to go.
We can find unity in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, but we have to work on it. Christians are called to “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, because our identity is defined by one Lord, one faith, one baptism”, as scripture reminds us in Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus (Ephesians 4:3-5)
The song we are about to sing, “We Are One in the Spirit,” can guide us to unity here in this sanctuary and beyond, reminding us that they will know we are Christians by our love for one another, and the neighbors around us.
May we go from this place today, being a witness to the world of a church united as one in spirit, led by the love of Christ and love for one another. Alleluia. Amen.
