Today’s Scripture Reading (December
10, 2014): 1 Corinthians 11
The roots of
some or the social strife of our culture lies in events of the past that we
just can’t seem to leave behind. The roots of the problem in Ferguson, Missouri
may be much older than a conflict between a white police officer and an unarmed
black boy. The roots of the conflict lie in communities where black people have
been excluded and a culture that was built around a necessary separation of the
races. Closer to my home, the roots of tensions between the Native American
populations and the other ethnic cultures (Canada prides itself on being a
Mosaic rather than a melting pot, a place where diverse cultures are welcomed,
although admittedly we often seem to forget that this is what we value) lies in
decisions to move Native American children into Residential Schools – schools where
Native American children would learn to live more like the white populations. I
have American friends that really don’t understand segregation, and I have
never understood the residential systems, but our culture is marked by these
unsavory events that lie barely under the surface of our not quite forgotten
past.
The connection
between both of our histories is that, for at least a period in our pasts, we lost
sight of the fact that we are the same. The difference in the color of our
skins and our ethnic cultures mean less than nothing – and while I admit that I
don’t know for sure, I suspect that this is a history that we all share. But
the real truth is this - in Christ there can be no difference, but our cultures
have simply not recognized the truth.
This was the
core of Paul’s message; the color of our skin, the amount of money in your bank
account, your freedom (or lack of it) that is a constant feature in your life,
absolutely none of these things mean anything. It was something that the
Corinthian Church had forgotten. It seems that the division within the Corinthian
Church had developed on several levels. Some of the divisions were based on
belief systems, on the difference between the supposed teaching variances
between many of the early Church teachers. But some of the division was based
on much more fundamental foundations. Divisions that existed between the rich
and poor – and among the slave and the free. And these differences showed up in
the practice of the Lord’s Supper. In the practice of the ritual, the rich were
taking the best, and leaving the leftovers (or sometimes nothing) for the poor
and the slaves who often had to work later. And Paul had identified the
problem, the Corinthians Church had not recognized the Body of the Christ.
We have
often missed understood this verse. Paul is not saying that the Corinthian’s do
not know the risen Jesus. But they have missed the fact that Jesus lives in midst
of their community – that the Body of Jesus was found in the other. And unless
they were willing to see Jesus in each other, they would never really be able
to celebrate the Lord’s Supper the way it was meant to be celebrated.
And neither
can we until we can get to the point where we finally deal with the root of what
divides us. Jesus is found in the middle of our diverse communities – and he can
be seen even in those within our communities who are least like us. And this is
the Christ that God is waiting for us to recognize.
Tomorrow’s
Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 12
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