In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
I can tell all of you, without any reservation, that 40 years ago, I would have never dreamed that I would be here now and I suspect there is a whole group of young people who I was confirmed with and a couple of teachers that would say the same thing.
Cause you see, in those days, growing up in SoCal I was more likely to be seen with a pair of shorts on and no shoes and no shirt. That was just how life was for me and there wasn't a whole lot of room for other endeavors at that point. But we evolve, and we grow, and we develop as people and as Christians. I can honestly tell you that 20 years ago, when I was still in the midst of seminary, that I also never dreamed that I might be here right now. Again, at that point in seminary, Kyle will tell you, Elizabeth Wheatley can tell you, Chuck Culpepper can tell you, I don't think I owned a pair of long pants. And I went to Seminary after talking with the Commission on Ministry very clear that I'll be a very good youth director for the rest of my career.
Thank God, God is not done with us. Thank God, we evolve and we develop. And that God keeps working with and within us and through us. And when I speak about evolving, I want to be very clear that I'm not talking about starting a debate about creation versus evolution. OK, I'm talking about how we as individuals grow and how we as individuals develop and how we as individuals evolve into who it is that God is calling us to be. Because we all do that, I think none of us could argue that our faith that we practice today and that we live by today, has been informed by those years and those persons who have gone before us and who have affected us upon the way and taught us and encouraged us and sometimes were the body of Christ and were the Holy Spirit and were the representation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who said, "Get up and get to work. I'm not done with you yet. I've got more for you to do, and I believe you have a message to share and a life to live that can touch others." Thank God.
When I was in Seminary, I remember a lot of things being rattled that first year, but I remember New Testament with Paul Coke. And I remember the first time we were really digging into the Pauline Epistles. I'm sure I'm not the only one here, but when I used to read the Pauline Epistles, and read some of the various translations, I would think, oh, my gosh, I really don't think I'd like Paul if I had a chance to meet with him. And the Fresh Start group heard me say the other day, "Oh, he comes across so arrogant, he's got all the answers, thank God for Paul!" And I think as you watch his development, from getting knocked off the horse on the way to Damascus, and his development as a Christian, as he moves into his ministry, and being the most prolific planter of churches in the history of the Christian faith, I think all of us would agree that he evolved as well. And that he evolved in his ministry to where he was able to share and he was able to say things and he was able to be with his people in much different ways.
I want to thank the Lectionary writers right off the bat because they gave me a bunch of great stuff to work with and I'm not going to talk about II Corinthians, ok. I am going to talk about I Corinthian, though. And I'm going to talk about this lesson that has often been, well let's not kid ourselves, it's often been used in weddings, and more weddings, and more weddings. I suspect that I'm not the only person here that when you are working with planning a wedding, you say, "here are some variety of choices in the prayer book for scripture readings," as your putting your hand over the Corinthians lesson to try to direct them in another way. And it's just because we hear it all the time. And I need to say that Paul never really envisioned this to be read in every 20th and 21st century wedding that came along the protestant or catholic tradition. Paul was writing to a specific audience, He was writing to the Christians in Corinth, and he was writing in a time ... let's just say they weren't sailing along magnificently. They were in the midst of conflict. They were in the midst of struggles. They were in the midst of evolving as a Christian congregation. And they needed to be sort of backed up a little bit and reminded that your gifts are not more important that your gifts, and we need your gifts and much as we need your gifts and we need ALL of your gifts to be the body of Christ. And he gives us the wonderful and important lesson about love. About love. We are here because of the love of God. We are here because of the love and passion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are here because God loved us enough to send the Holy Spirit to continue to sustain and send us to do his work in the world. That is what Paul is telling the people of Corinth. He's not only saying, "I need you," but here are some essentials about love. Here are some essentials that you need to know.
Again, thank God! Thank God, that God wasn't done with Paul, and that he was continuing to evolve and continuing to turn him into the incredible Christian Church planter that he was. Now, he uses the word love over and over and over again. And if you count within this 1 Corinthian, here, you get sixteen examples where he uses love as the subject of a verb, ok. Some of the samples of love being used are not the understood subject, but he's using it sixteen times in an almost staccato-like fashion. If we look as some of the other translations, he's not just saying, love is kind, but he's saying love is an active kindness, Love is an active kindness. He is also saying that love isn't calm. But again, it's an active sort of ministry. It's an active sort of being amongst God's people. It's an active sacramental faith and sharing of God's love with the world. In memory, he closes this out in verse 8 by saying love never ends. Love never ends. And indeed, it doesn't. It doesn't, because we are all here because we believe in the love of our Lord makes a difference. We are all here because we believe that we are going to share the resurrection one day. I believe that, I believe that and I look forward to that. But in the meantime, we've got some work to do. And thank God, that the spirit and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ isn't done with us yet, and that we are still evolving. Thank God! Thank God that church in Corinth evolved. And I don't know where they are now, I don't know if there are some seeds planted somewhere around the world, but Corinthians still teaches us. Corinthians still informs us. Corinthians is still with us, and love still teaches. Thank God for that! Thank God.
We as a community of faith are always evolving whether we want to be or not. We are always changing whether we want to or not. We are always giving way to the next generation, whether we want to or not. And thank God for that. Thank God for that Spirit that continues to empower us. That Spirit that continues to send us. Thank God for what Michael Curry said, for that love that will not let us go. Thank God for that. And thank God that we as a community of faith can share with each other and share with the world at large, can share with those in our neighborhoods, can share overseas. Thank God for those things. But it's imperative that we evolve as well. That's just part of our Christian faith. That's part of who we are. God calls us to take these experiences that we have as a community, to take these important historical tenants of the faith and carry them into the world. God calls us to challenge ourselves. God calls us to love. A love without limits. A love so bold that it can change lives. A love that's patient. A love that's kind. And a love that never ends.
I think it's also imperative to mention that we do experience Christ in other ways. We do come to see Christ in other and amazing ways and that we need to be open to that. I believe wholeheartedly that the Corinthians and those first Christians in Corinth ... open their hearts... they open their minds to love upon the suggestion of Paul, their pastor. And within his words, they saw the love of God. And they saw that they could be so much more.
Friends, I believe that we are so much right now. We are so much, as a community of faith, and we can be more. We can be more. Being together as one church is significant and so important because, together, we can do so much more that we can by ourselves. Together, we can make sure that those that go without, (and I'm talking about love) know that they are loved. Together, we can make a difference in people’s lives who don't have. Together, we can be one church in mission, reaching out.
I got a great text yesterday. This wasn't in my script or anything like that, I just want to share it with you. It was from Michael Curry, because I had taken a picture of the sign out front about being the Jesus movement, and he said, "That's very cool." And the last thing he said was, "Keep the faith."
Keep the faith, my brothers and sisters, keep the faith. Be one church in mission, because we have a lot to offer. We are the Jesus movement of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Mississippi. We have much to share, and we have so much to love. Each other and those who haven't even found us yet. Thank God, that God's not done with us, thank God that we continue to evolve, thank God that we continue to change, and thank God that we are the people sent to be the Jesus movement.
In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
