Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
February 13, 2011

Scripture:

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O God, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

Some churches seem to have nothing but trouble. In some churches people quarrel. In some people think too highly of themselves, exhibiting an arrogance that is unbecoming to any church bearing the name of Christ. Some lose hope for their own future and fall into despair, denying the power of the Holy Spirit to bring new life. Church trouble comes in many different forms.

The church that St. Paul started in the major Greek city of Corinth was one of those churches that seemed to have nothing but trouble. Paul founded it, then, as was his practice, he moved on. But he kept having to turn his attention back to Corinth because of the trouble he kept hearing about there. We hear him doing that in the verses we heard this morning from his letter to that church that we call First Corinthians. In those verses Paul refers to the “jealousy and quarreling” among the people of that church. Apparently the church had split into factions, for Paul refers to some who say “I belong to Paul” and others who say “I belong to Apollos.” You remember good old Apollos, right? You don’t? Well, neither did I, so I looked him up. He was a Jewish Christian from Alexandria who met Paul in Ephesus. Paul at one point sent him to Corinth, where he was warmly received, apparently because he was a very good orator. Apparently some in Corinth came to claim him as a greater authority than Paul, hence Paul’s statement here that some in Corinth said “I belong to Apollos” while others preferred Paul. Be that as I may, Paul here tries to convince the Corinthians that such division, jealousy, and squabbling is a sign of spiritual immaturity and that they should be focused not on the human workers of the church—Paul and Apollos—but on God.

These lines from Paul deal of course with conditions in an ancient church, one so different from ours in many ways that we’d be hard pressed to find much that we have in common with them. Nonetheless I think that Paul’s words are germane to us on this Sunday as we gather for the annual business meeting of our church. (I think annual business meeting is a better term than annual congregational meeting, for the congregation meets every time we gather for worship, but I digress.) Paul directs our attention to the local church as an institution, and he tells us something important about local churches like ours and how they function.

Paul’s problem with the church in Corinth was that people were focusing on which church leader they identified with, which they thought had the greater authority. That focus led to division within the congregation, so Paul tells them that the church isn’t about the human workers in the church, it is about God. He says “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” Although he says that “neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything,” he recognizes that workers in the church are necessary and valuable. He says that the workers “have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each.” But his last words in our passage point not to the workers but to God: “You are God’s field. You are God’s building.”

These are Paul’s words to an ancient Greek church almost two thousand years ago, but they have something important to say to us as we gather today to conduct the institutional business of the church. More about that in a minute. First I want to reassure you that I don’t think our problems anywhere near as big as the one Paul was addressing in the Corinthian church. At our meeting here is little while we’re going to hear a good deal about money problems, so before we go into that meeting I want to say a word about how wonderful this church is, that is, how wonderful you are as a small congregation of God’s people. I brag about you to my clergy colleagues every chance I get. I did it at what later seemed to me excessive length at the Conference clergy retreat just a couple of weeks ago. You are the most genuinely authentic and authentically welcoming group of people I have ever known. You have created a safe and welcoming community for people who tragically have difficulty finding such a community, especially in a Christian church. You have warmly and genuinely welcomed people who are quite a bit like most of us and people who are quite different from most of us. You have welcomed the young and the old, white people and people of color, straight people and gay people, healthy people and people with physical and mental illness, people who are quite well off and people who are poor. You generously give to help members and friends of the congregation in times of need, and you rejoice and celebrate with members and friends of the congregation in times of joy. Many of you have formed bonds of friendship that extend beyond the walls of the church and our time together here. I often wonder if all of you realize just how truly unusual you are in all of these ways. It is an honor and a privilege for me to serve as your pastor. I simply cannot imagine a congregation I would rather serve than you.

So does that mean that we have no more sowing and watering to do, to use Paul’s metaphor for work in the church? No, of course not. The work of the church is never done. The work of the church is never done because the work of the Holy Spirit is never done, the work of bringing people the Good News of God’s grace, the work of justice, the work of peace. The work of building community in a society dominated by the ethos of individualism. The work of bringing hope to those who live in despair and of bringing light to those who walk in darkness. There is always more work to be done.

And we face a particular challenge here in our church. It is the challenge of money. You’ll hear a more it in our meeting this afternoon, and I won’t belabor the point here. But I think Paul has something important to say as we face that and other issues before us. He tells us that in a fundamental way the work is up to us. We have to plant. We have to water. But we do none of that alone, and the success of our efforts doesn’t really depend on us. Paul says: God gives the growth. That means that as we work together, as we organize and plan, as we staff our committees and make our pledges of time and treasure to the church, we do all of that knowing that we rely ultimately not on ourselves and our work but on God. God gives the growth. All the human work, all the human sowing and watering, produces no crop if God is not behind the work. But if we do that work relying on God to give the growth there is nothing we can’t accomplish. Paul planted, Apollos and a lot of other people watered, and the faith of Jesus Christ touched the lives of billions of people all over the world from their day to ours. Paul planted, Apollos and a lot of other people watered, and people all over the world came to know God and God’s grace in Jesus Christ. God did indeed give the growth.

We aren’t faced with a task nearly as daunting as Paul faced, the task of creating a new world religion grounded in grace and founded on Jesus Christ. We’re just trying to make our way as a small congregation of God’s people in this place at this time. We have planting to do. We have watering to do. But here’s the thing. We do all of that relying not on our own human efforts alone. We do all of that relying on God to give the growth.

And because we rely on God to give the growth we need not fall into the trap of all those problems churches so often have. We need not quarrel, not that there’s ever been much quarreling in this church in my time with you. We need not be jealous, although there’s never been much jealousy in my time with you. Most importantly we need not fall into despair. Indeed, we must not fall into despair. We have a money problem. That’s true. There’s no denying it. But we also have God. We have God the Holy Spirit present with us, leading us, encouraging us, inspiring us every step of the way; and with the Holy Spirit despair simply isn’t an option.

So let us get on with planting. Let us get on with the sowing. Let us do the work of stewardship. Let us do the work of strengthening this wonderful community of God’s people. Let us do the work of insuring that this little church remains a beacon of hope, a light in the darkness, a spiritual home for the seekers and for the outcasts as well as for the believers. Like Paul we plant. Like Apollos we water. And as God did for them God gives the growth to us. Thanks be to God. Amen.