Tuesday 23 July, 2013

10 Brothers and sisters, I ask all of you to agree with one another. I make my appeal in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then you won’t take sides. You will be in complete agreement in all that you think. 11 My brothers and sisters, some people who live in Chloe’s house have told me you are arguing with each other. 12 Here is what I mean. One of you says, “I follow Paul.” Another says, “I follow Apollos.” Another says, “I follow Peter.” And still another says, “I follow Christ.” 13 Does Christ take sides? Did Paul die on the cross for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I’m thankful that I didn’t baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius. 15 No one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16 It’s true that I also baptized those who live in the house of Stephanas. Besides that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else. 17 Christ did not send me to baptize. He sent me to preach the good news. He commanded me not to use the kind of wisdom that people commonly use. That would take all the power away from the cross of Christ.

Divisions in Church. People taking sides and choosing their favourite leader. This is not God’s desire for his people. I find so much peace in the family of God, in His Church. This is one of the defining characteristics of my experience of Church life. Here Paul paints a picture of divisions identical to the kind that the world commonly experiences. Where is the internal peace that the Church is intended to manifest?

I am not called to a certain brand of theology, neither am I called to follow a certain spiritual leader because I like his/her style. I am called to follow Jesus, the person. All of us who belong to Jesus are united not by an ideology, not even by a creed. I am united to other Christians by a person and Jesus is not divided.

Lord, because of you I always have unity with other’s in your family. Because of you I have more in common than I have differences. Lord you are our love, you are our vision, you are our strength, you are our hope, you are our peace and you are our God!

Written by Andrew Mellor