SCRIPTURE: 1 Corinthians 1:10-18
TEXT: 18 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. THEME: Finding power for eloquent love in the cross of Christ. INTRODUCTION Kung Hee Fat Choy! Happy Chinese New Year. In 1941, the Rev. Kim On Chong, was the last pastor of the Wailuku Chinese Church as it closed its doors on Market and Wells, across the street from the Wailuku swimming pool. Some of its members joined Wailuku Union Church. Part of our spiritual heritage became linked to those who came from China to Maui to find their fortunes and found faith in Christ. Although our backgrounds are varied, we find our commonality in Christ. We are different from each other, with our own particularities, but we do not reduce everything as universals and are willing to accept each other for who we are, making us diverse and not divided. We have our different languages, cultures, theological slants, values, political views, but everyone matters, we value each other, we are willing to learn from each other, are enriched by each other and work together for Christ. We agree on most things but are gracious, patient and accepting of each other when we don’t. The church in Corinth had elements of this diversity but they saw them as difference, competitiveness and used those peculiarities to cause divisions. SCRIPTURE The Apostle Paul draws attention to these divisions while trying to turn their focus upon the common work of Christ on the cross. Tom Hollan, Christian author and historian, says the cross embodies everything weak and foolish. The ways of Christ are not the same as those of the world. Christ is the victim as Jesus lays his life down. Matched against the political power of Roman Empire, the political crosshairs of King Herod and the resources of the temple Religion of Chief Priest Caiaphas, Jesus refuses to stop his ministry of love and continued to act to overcome the world’s systems of oppression, by creating freedom for us in its stead. What seems as weakness was the power of God’s love. Tom Hollan falls in line with the idea of Creation being ‘good’ but not ‘perfect’. The Creator is God and is unchangeable and worthy of worship. Creation is changeable and should not be feared or worshipped. According to this perspective, Creation is God’s temple. Christians are God’s technicians with the ability and gifts to use creation to create, and reflect God’s character in the world. We have the potential to radically change the world with the power of God’s love. APPLICATION What happened on Christ’s cross that should stop us from having divisions in the Church? The faith we inherited believed that our sin required a payment to satisfy an angry God, but what if forgiveness does not require a payment? What if God’s grace and love for us is enough, so we don’t need Jesus to die before we can be forgiven? Forgiveness is in the context of relationships, grace, love and peace, and not making sacrificial payment to fulfill a debt. That is works not grace. This goes back to how we treat each other. Of our behavior when someone holds an opinion that is different from our own. Or whose bright idea is doesn’t seem that bright. Or when we hear of an ancestral story of hurt and betrayal that leads to deep seeded pain today. The power of God’s love can give us the ability to listen without judgment, to be patient. To not try to fix their hurt, and to pray for them. Before the pandemic (BP April 2019), the ‘Aha O Nā Mokupuni ‘O Maui, Molokaʻi A Me Lānaʻi brought Eric Law to do a workshop on Holy Currencies. Relationships were one of the currencies of the church that he identified but he said that he was surprised at the inability of church people, to hold a conversation where all they did was talk about themselves. He advocated that we would have a “Holy Curiosity” in our conversation with someone we didn’t know, and refrain from only talking about ourselves to ask them questions about themselves from our interest in them. As obvious as this may seem, it is important for us to be aware of this dynamic, so we can foster new relationships. During the Pandemic we were sheltered in and were isolated. Moving out of the Pandemic (AP 2023) we have lost our capacity for friendly chit chat, so this skill has become dormant and we need to foster again to build relationships with others as people of grace, love and forgiveness. These conversations will give us a back story where we can have more empathy for why a person thinks the way they do. We may not still agree with them but we have an understanding that helps us to be more gracious with them. God does not seem to be as concern about right theology as we are, because our theology keeps changing with new revelations and there are so many different varieties of Christianity. God actually seems to tolerate a lot of diversity. We have been so obsessed with what we need to do, to keep us from perishing that we have missed out on adding to the quality of our living for the examples of a loving God. CONCLUSION The heart of God is relationship. Fellowship in the garden of Eden, fellowship with us here on earth and fellowship with us in heaven. It is easy for our anxiousness to portray God in the colors of Crime and Punishment. But through our Holy Curiosity with others and God, we will get a different portrait of God that we never even considered. This comes as we are willing to discover God’s shards of light in every person and every event. This is the power of the cross of Christ, the power of God’s love.
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