Knowledge Puffs Us Up, Love Builds Us Up

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  Amen.

Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.”  Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.  (1 cor 8:1)

Our reading from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians today is packed with wisdom.  It’s a little hard to understand though.  It is all buried in an argument about eating food sacrificed to idols.  A practice that is not that common around here anymore.

So let’s try to unpack it a bit.  In Paul’s time (and in ours) it was against Jewish law to eat food sacrificed to idols or to gods other than Yahweh.  The temptation was that this food was free.  If you went to a worship service for one of these false gods, this food was shared as part of the ceremony.  So if you believed that these gods had any power, you were worshiping them.

Earlier this year we already talked about how some members of the church in Corinth were interpreting the law.  “All things are lawful for me.”  Here they are saying, “We know that no idol in the world really exists.  There is no God but one.  So this food sacrificed to false gods can have no power over us.  It is safe for us to eat it.  It can neither help us nor hurt us.”

Once again Paul says “you are right … but ….”

Knowledge puffs up, love builds up.

You are the leaders of your church.  What happens if another member of your church, one who does not understand that the food has no power, follows your example and eats?  In their hearts, they will believe that they have sinned against God.  They will be pulled away from loving God.  And they have done this by following your example.  “But when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.

Can any of you think of a modern example of this?

For me a Nicorette commercial comes to mind.  In fact, many Nicorette commercials come to mind.  There are three guys sitting together.  Both the one on the left and the one on the right pull out cigarettes.  The one in the middle first looks very worried and then he smiled and pulls out his pack of Nicorettes.

Smoking is not illegal, but if those are his friends, they are friends he could do without.

Knowledge puffs us up, love builds us up.

Paul is telling us that any time we knowingly cause someone else to be weak; we sin against them and against Christ.  Any time we cause someone else to do something that is wrong for them, even if it is okay or right for us, we sin against them and against Christ.

But there is a good side to his message too.

Radical love!

“Therefor, if food is a cause of their falling, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause them to fall.”

Paul would rather eat the gruel of those in poverty than tempt one follower of Christ away from their love of God.

Love builds up!

Instead of having a cigarette next to their friend who is trying to quit, how about sharing a Nicorette?

When someone we know is trying to do something hard for them, Paul is telling us to lovingly build them up.  Give support and helpful advice; even criticism if it is constructive and caring.  When we use our own knowledge to point out someone else’s faults, no matter how real those faults might be, we sin against them and against Christ.

There is a lot of love here in this community.  Let’s remember to share that love with each other and build each other up.

I love you.  Thanks be to God.

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Not Uniformity)

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  Amen.

Today is the first day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.  Have any of you heard about this?

This is a movement that has been around since the 1800’s.  Originally, its purpose was to bring the Church of England back into communion with the Holy See or the Roman Catholic Church.  Since then, it has been adopted by many denominations around the world as a time to work together; as a time to realize that we are not so different, at least not in ways that really matter.

Throughout this sermon I am going to be offering insight and prayers from the Canadian Council of Churches which was written for this week.

Consider this: what opportunities for service are most threatened by pride and arrogance?  I know that I am guilty of believing that I know the “right” way to do things.  I find it difficult to back away from my position and look at other ways of doing things.  In our community, what can Christians of different traditions do better together than separately to reveal Christ?  We have Christians of several denominations here North of Smokey.  In our own denomination, we have two distinctly different traditions.  We are all following the same God and serve the same community.  How can we do this together?

Almighty and eternal God, by travelling the royal road of service, your Son leads us from the pride of our disobedience to humility of heart. Unite us to one another by your Holy Spirit, so that through service to our sisters and brothers, your face may be revealed; all praise be to you. Amen.

Consider this: in what situations do we need to practise a greater trust in God’s promises? What areas of church life are particularly at risk from the temptation to act hastily?

Faithful God, you are true to your word in every age. May we have patience and trust in your steadfast love. May we not obstruct the fullness of your justice by our own hasty judgments, but rather discern your wisdom and love in all things. Amen.

Consider this: how can our faith help us in our response to long-lasting suffering?  How can Christians bear witness together to the power of the cross?

God of consolation, you have transformed the shame of the cross into a sign of victory. Grant that we may be united around the cross of Christ. May the Holy Spirit open our eyes and our hearts, so that we help those who suffer to experience your closeness. You who live and reign for ever and ever. Amen.

Consider this: in what ways can our faith in Christ help us to overcome evils in our time and the evil one? What can we learn from situations in our community where division has given way to reconciliation?

Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for your victory over evil. Help us in our daily struggle against all adversity. May the Holy Spirit help us overcome evil with good, and division with reconciliation. Amen.

Consider this: how do we experience hidden hostilities that affect our relationship to each other as Christian communities? How can we learn to welcome each other as Christ welcomes us?

Loving and merciful God, teach us the joy of sharing in your peace. Fill us with your Holy Spirit so that we may tear down the walls of hostility separating us. May the risen Christ unite us as members of his household. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Consider this: what can we do to become more credible witnesses to God’s steadfast love in a divided world? How can Christ’s followers more visibly support one another throughout the world?

Lord Jesus Christ, Lord of life, out of love for us you have chosen us to be your friends. May the Holy Spirit unite us to you and to one other, that we may faithfully serve as witnesses to your steadfast love; for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

Consider this: how does the Good Shepherd inspire us to comfort, revive and restore the confidence of those who are lost? In what ways can Christians of various traditions strengthen each other in confessing and bearing witness to Jesus Christ?

Father of all, you call us to be one flock in our Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. In following him, may we so care for others that all see in us the love of the one true Shepherd, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.

Consider this: how do we express together our faith in the Reign of Christ? How do we live out our hope in the coming Kingdom of God?

 Almighty God, grant that we may accept your gifts with humility. May your Holy Spirit strengthen us for the spiritual struggles ahead, so that united in Christ we may reign with him in glory. Grant this through the exalted Christ, who lives with you and the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.

As we go forward into this special week, let us try to remember that unity is not the same as uniformity.  Uniformity means thinking, acting, behaving the same.  Unity means working together towards the same goals, each in our own ways.  Unity means that we see being different as a strength, not as a problem.  May God help us to find unity in our parish life together and in our greater community here in God’s country.  Amen.

Stop Fornicating

I speak to you in the name of the One, True, and Living God. Amen.


There is entirely too much fornication going on in this church!


That is what Paul told the church in Corinth. He said that by having sex with prostitutes, they were committing the worst sin possible.

Why is this?


Thou shalt not commit adultery!

Having sex with a prostitute was not automatically committing adultery. For it to be adultery, the woman had to be married.

There are about twenty different places in the Bible that talk about prostitutes. About half of them speak of prostitution negatively. Other than this letter from Paul to the church in Corinth, none of them say that sex with prostitutes is a sin. In fact, in the old law only one group of people is told to stay away from prostitutes: the sons of Aaron or the priests.


So if having sex with a prostitute was not a sin before Jesus came, what changed?

The church in Corinth is saying that they are no longer bound by the old law. “All things are lawful for me.”

Paul says “you are right … but ….”

Stop fornicating!


What is Paul trying to tell them? And more importantly, what am I trying to tell you?


When we are baptized, we invite the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. We become Christ’s body. We are “spiritual” beings. Paul is not against fornication because it is sex. He is not even really speaking against prostitutes or prostitution. He is not saying that only people married to each other are the only ones who should have sex. He is dead set against fornication.


What is fornication? – I look to my handy Greek dictionary … looking up fornication … porneu,w … illicit, illegal, or unnatural sex. From the rest of what Paul is saying, I believe he means the last of those meanings: unnatural sex. But is fornication only about sex? If we look back to the Old Testament, there is a similar word in Hebrew. It is used to describe worshiping idols or false gods.


We may not do it all the time, but every once in a while, we all indulge in fornication. We bow down at the altar of the almighty dollar. We go out and celebrate and eat or drink too much. We make choices that are not good for ourselves or for those around us. This is what Paul is saying to you and to me.


STOP FORNICATING!!!


Because of what Jesus did for us, we are all spiritual beings. We are no longer just flesh. Every time we use our spiritual bodies for something that is either not spiritual or is against the spirit, we damage ourselves. Jesus said that we are no longer bound by the old law. Instead, the law has been written in our hearts. When we break that law, God does not judge us. God does not give up on us. God does not need to judge us. We can judge ourselves. We know what we did. We know it was wrong.


Unfortunately knowing it is wrong doesn’t always stop us. We go ahead and do it anyway. So every once in a while we all need someone like Paul to tell us to stop.

Thanks be to God.

The Baptism of the Lord - New Year's Resolutions

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  Amen.
Happy New Year!

How many of you made a new year’s resolution this year?

I did too, and I’ll share it with you later.

Earlier this week I was listening to a program on CBC about New Year’s resolutions.  I don’t remember what they said the statistics were, but it got me thinking about them.  It turns out that there are a couple of well-known studies about New Year’s resolutions.  The stats are available on the internet.

How long do you think most people keep their resolutions?

According to the studies, more than half of us keep going for more than a month.  One in four of us will give up in our first week.  Less than one in four of us will make it through the whole year.

If we do so badly at keeping our New Year’s resolutions, why do we keep making them?  And what does this have to do with our readings today?  Aren’t they about baptism?

Well, they are important and they have a lot to do with baptism; especially the baptism of Jesus.

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Why would Jesus need this baptism?

Baptism, for John, was a long-standing tradition in the Jewish faith.  They would be baptized to cleanse themselves so that they could return to the temple.  It was a ritual of new beginnings.  Jesus was baptized at the beginning of his ministry.  It was the moment when he gave up his former life as the son of a carpenter and took up his life as the Beloved Son of God, the Anointed One, the Salvation of the World.

That’s quite a new beginning.

Our baptisms were also new beginnings.  When we were baptized, we gave up the ordinary life of a blessed creation of God and took up a new life of promise.  We took up the promise to actively seek God’s kingdom on earth instead of waiting to find it when we die.  We took up the promise to look for God’s work in our lives, to listen for God’s voice calling us, to feel the pain of God’s creation being mistreated, to breathe in the sustaining incense of prayer and worship, to live as those who know that we are the beloved of God.

This is a big promise.

It is also one that we are bound to fail at over and over again.

This is where New Year’s resolutions come in.

I said earlier that New Year’s resolutions were important.  Here’s why: every time we make a New Year’s resolution, we are making a new beginning, kind of like a mini-baptism.  We are renewing some small part of God’s call to us.

The studies on New Year’s resolutions showed that less than one in four of us manage to keep them for the whole year.  This may sound disheartening, but there is a big silver lining.

While most of us won’t succeed in keeping our resolutions for the whole year, those who make resolutions are more likely to reach the goals that they set for themselves, even if they have many slips.  That one surprised me.  Even though we are setting ourselves up to fail, we still end up succeeding eventually.

So our message is to keep trying.  When we fail at our resolutions, don’t give up.  Instead, we need to look at our failure as a step on the way to success.  Make the resolution all over again, starting right away.  We don’t need to wait ‘til next New Year to start over.  Any time is a good time.

Another thing to remember is that you are not alone in your failure.  I am not alone in my failure.  We all mess up.  God does not stop calling us.  God does not stop loving us.  God does not stop expecting us to pull up our socks and try again.

I also said that I would tell you my resolution.

As a priest in this diocese, I have a long list of things that I MUST do.  There are always more things to do than there is time to do them.  I am very good at setting my priorities by doing what is easiest to do first and working my way down to those things that take the most of my energy.  This is a strategy that doesn’t work very well.  By the time I finish the easy things, I have very little energy left.

My New Year’s resolution is to set my priorities by what is most important, not by what is easiest.

This means that the first things on my list every day will be visiting, prayer, and worship, in that order.  Everything else I have to do will just have to wait if I don’t have the time or the energy for it.

Since I don’t live as a hermit, but as part of a community, I am asking for your help in keeping this resolution.  I’ve put one way that you can help me on the back of the bulletin today.  I’m sure there are other ways that you can support me as well.

I would also love to hear from any or all of you about what you are working on in your lives.  I will do all I can to support you in your resolutions, and I hope you will all try to help each other.

This is one of the promises we made in baptism and renew at every baptism that we attend.  We promise to support other baptized people as they grow into the full stature of children of God.  So we walk together with each other and God walks along with us.

Thanks be to God.