WHAT IF?
January 22, 2012
I Cor. 7:29-31
Union Avenue
Truth in advertising is important. We do not like to be conned into thinking we can get a really good deal – and then discover we were merely being lured into something different. The opposite is also true. Shaking the big stick loses its alarming value if nothing of consequence ever happens.
Paul’s words of utmost concern that the present form of this world is passing away to people living almost 2,000 years AFTER the words had been uttered can hardly be blamed for their nonchalance. What difference do his words mean to us …is there anything relevant here? This passage could legitimate the hue and cry that ancient Biblical texts are useless for people today. Frankly, hearing which Republican candidate is winning a primary or getting out the race causes much more interest than a headline about the world coming to an end.
So…a big task for the next few minutes. Taking verses out of the context in which they were written and then to think they can be transferred to times and places so different from their original context is one of the major ways we abuse our Biblical texts. Trying to understand our scriptures within the context in which they were written we can glean some truths – but this takes work and digging.
Paul was responding to matters that some folks in the Corinthian congregation had raised with him. I would encourage you to read the whole 7th chapter of this letter for the background of the two verses we have for our scripture today. It is, however, PG 13, with conversation about sexual self-control, deprivation, virginity, and marriage being the better option than living aflame with passion. Probably the best news within the chapter is Paul’s admission that his words are, in fact, his own…not words or thoughts he has received from Jesus. This is a rare admission for Paul – who, more often than not comes across with over-enthusiastic authority and arrogance.
But, the end of time didn’t happen. Paul and many of his early Christian colleagues fell into the timeworn pattern of literalism – hearing a truth that is coated with a contextual covering … then passing on the coating rather than seeking the truth that is deeper and often hidden. The church – through the centuries – has been an expert at this.
There is a truth – within Paul’s thoughts and the concern he heard because of Jesus Christ.
Can we hear his concerns that we live as if… even though we are in relationships as if we were not consumed by that…even though we might be grieving or rejoicing to live as if we were not…even though we have possessions to live as if we do not? The impending end of the world isn’t really necessary for those realities to be the true faith challenges for our lives right now and every day.
Consider how would we live differently IF:
- the people for whom we have deep responsibilities and love did not have first and total dibs on our energy and resources
- if we were not always fluctuating between the high points and low points (mourning and rejoicing) of our lives.
- If we did not have to concern ourselves so very much in protecting our assets (our homes, our health insurance, our cars, our savings accounts, our investments)
What if our lives were truly centered – first and foremost – on who God wants and needs us to be and through that relationship our energy and time would be extended to our families, our staffs, our students, clients, patients, our neighbors? Even that sounds selfish – because it is all about us…but truly it is about the relationship WITH God that brings us and gives us life. We can be far more valuable to all of the people in our lives if we are focused …and if we are focused appropriately. Alternatively – and very easily – we fall into the routine of awaking each day to meeting the loudest or closest demands upon us.
Again, what if our lives didn’t wax and wane between our sadness and joy …or between our fixation with caffeine and sleeping pills …but our energy was always erupting from the knowledge of who we are as an integral and important part of this created universe of God’s?
And can you imagine if we could be released from worrying about or protecting the things we own…our material possessions?
That’s what Paul is suggesting …and that is precisely where the Christian faith calls us. It is not about the planet earth blowing up. It is about living lives like most everyone else in our neighborhoods or living a life that is focused, centered, and responsive to the call placed upon us.
The present form of the world will only pass away when and if those who are truly serious about the call placed upon them make a witness. The present form of the world will only pass away when faithful people are dissatisfied with the present form of the world. What if the church – those of us who are gathered together even within this congregation – reclaimed a serious centeredness in which our lives were absolutely focused on how to be the people of God needed in this world rather than occasionally remembering to attend to our faith?
The following was written about 50 years ago …but falls in this what if line of thought
There was a time when the church was very powerful–in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being “disturbers of the peace” and “outside agitators.”‘ But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were “a colony of heaven,” called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be “astronomically intimidated.” By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests. Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church’s silent–and often even vocal–sanction of things as they are.
That was part of the response from one clergyman to several other clergymen who were annoyed because of “unwise and untimely activities” and the call to faithful action. The timidity and moderation that Martin Luther King, Jr., saw within the church in those days was more of a stumbling block to him that even the Ku Klux Klan and so he wrote his letter from the Birmingham jail.
People of faith – Christians – we are called to rail against the present form of this world …that which allows and encourages us to be comfortable…that which demands that we are responsive to our possessions, our moods, our aches and pains, our clients, patients, students, staff and even those closest loved ones before we are responsive to God.
Jesus called for something entirely different, but 2000 years have relaxed us into the same old way of being. What if we took him seriously…really, really seriously? What if our lives were re-focused? What if that started today?
