Paul spends a lot of ink in a number of his letters trying to help the churches he started navigate inevitable conflicts with grace. The conflict this sermon addresses was over food. While the particulars don’t apply to us now, Paul’s solution most certainly does. Read or hear Paul’s advice on living with diversity both gracefully and faithfully.
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As the followers of Jesus began to expand their message beyond Israel’s borders, Gentiles heard the message and wanted to follow Jesus, too! Since the followers of Jesus to that point were all Jews, and they weren’t even sure themselves what it really meant to follow Jesus’ final command to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,” many conflicts about Gentile participation and interaction ensued. These questions and conflicts over responding to Gentile followers of Jesus is another broad piece of context that underlies much of what we find in the book of Acts and the letters of the New Testament.
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This sermon takes us back into Bible study mode. Having focused on the first century during Advent and Christmas, we’re going to stay there for one more week to take a look at letter-writing in that time. Specifically, we’ll look at Paul and his first letter to the Corinthians, how “Chloe’s people” spilled the beans on church infighting, and what Paul means in 1 Corinthians 1:17 when he talks about the “power of the Cross.”
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On the liturgical calendar, this is the Sunday we remember Jesus’ baptism. That always comes very close to Epiphany, since Jesus’ baptism is one of the three events that Epiphany celebrates. This Sunday we’ll put all that together with the words of the prophet Isaiah in the first nine verses of chapter 42 and see what we can make of it all.
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Winter is upon us and we are all feeling the chill in the air. Help us to help those who have insufficient protection from the icy cold.
Crawford is collecting gently used or new coats, sweatpants, sweatshirts or hoodies, backpacks, and winter hats, gloves, & masks which we will distribute to those who need them most in the new year. Bring your donations of cold-weather wear to Crawford (34 Dix Street, Winchester, MA) any time between now and January 31. Please place them in the large plastic tote outside of our parking lot door. Thank you!