Some people had a hard time hearing so I have included the sermon:
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Knowledge is to most of us, very important; it is seen as a keystone, a necessity for advancement and achievement of prosperity.
As a child my mother would read to me stories; some, I would think about; others I would just store away in my memory. One story that I particularly liked was about a man; a powerful man; a black man (his race really doesn’t matter, but it was a part of the story) well, this black man, a former slave drove spikes into railroad ties to hold the railroad track in place. The story tells of a race between this man (I now remember his name, John Henry) and a machine driven by steam, designed to drive in the same spikes. As the story unfolds, initially John Henry fell behind the machine, but amazingly he caught up and then kept pace with the machine. The race went on for miles, but John Henry, unlike a machine, needed food, water and rest. The story tells of how John Henry swung again and again and again his mighty sledge hammer, and did not stop for the things that he needed. The machine broke down and John Henry won the race, but his heart gave out and he died, a sledge hammer still in his hand; the machine would be repaired and be put back into service, not John Henry. In time the men and women who worked so hard, swinging their sledges, were replaced by this and other machines. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from this story, but the one that stuck with me, was that of the power of knowledge or technology; our bodies, strong as they may be, are no match for what can be done with knowledge and technology. Knowledge is important; I learned this from the story of John Henry and other stories and from life experiences.
All of us today have experienced technological advancements that have greatly changed the world around us. I remember resisting the use of computers in my ministry. But, thanks to John Calladine, I learned how to use one and it became an essential tool for my ministry. The cell phone is another one of those things that I resisted and now I rely on every day and because of Covid we are doing new things like livestreaming worship (something I never thought we could do). The importance of knowledge and technology cannot be ignored.
Still knowledge is not everything. I enjoy watching the TV show “The Big Bang Theory”. If you are not familiar with the show, it is comedy involving four brilliant young men, who while successful in their fields of science, struggle to develop relationships, struggle with, what most of us, would consider normal life. On the show, it is an attractive, though unsuccessful young actress/waitress (a neighbor), who helps them to find a bit of normalcy. My point here is, knowledge and technology are not everything. These young men needed love and relationships in their lives, to be truly happy and to feel fulfilled.
The Apostle Paul, while living centuries before any of the technology we now take for granted, understood that knowledge, even the kind of knowledge shared among his people, was not everything; how could it be without love and relationships; how could it be without God and Jesus? Men with knowledge often stood in opposition to Paul and other early Christians; while the knowledge they wielded was not bad, Paul observed that it was often used as a way of hurting God’s children, the followers of Jesus. Believe it or not, this knowledge was the knowledge of God’s Law, on one hand, and the knowledge of Jesus’ promise of forgiveness on the other. Both, Paul observed, were being used to hurt those who believed in Jesus as their Lord and Savior by other Christians who also believed in Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but in a different way. Those with a great knowledge of God’s Law would condemn Christians who did not know or obey all the rules and traditions of God’s Law. And those who knew well Jesus’ promises of forgiveness condemned those who felt compelled to obey God’s Law fully. The Apostle Paul spoke about this in his letter to the Corinthians; we read it earlier. Paul made the observation that “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” The kind of knowledge spoken of by Paul has nothing to do with technology, but it was given us by God to advance and help bring about prosperity. God gave us the Law (you see) so that we may live in harmony with each other, with nature and with God; to follow God’s Law is a good thing. Likewise, the promise of forgiveness and salvation allows us to forgive and love each other as well as work with those who have different ideas to help improve our life conditions, it is a good thing. The Law and God’s grace in Jesus, were not meant to be used in opposition to one another, but to enhance one and the other. Forgiveness and love are to go hand in hand with God’s Law, neither was/is to be used as a sledge hammer to force a certain way.
Here at St. Peter’s, we’ve had disagreements over in-person verses only virtual worship. Within the Lutheran Church, nationwide, there have been disagreements over the offering of virtual Holy Communion. We may not be able to fully settle these disagreements; the truth is, both sides are supported by good arguments. What we can do is, look to Jesus; what we can do is to accept each other knowing that the intentions of both sides are to respond to Jesus’ will and love; they are both good. What we can do is remember Paul’s words to the Corinthians that “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” What we can do is remember that Jesus forgives us when we are wrong, and God loves us always. It is only when we begin condemning others because of such differences, and begin hurting one another, that we truly step away from Jesus’ plan and Jesus’ hope for his followers. So it is that, whether you agree with having only virtual worship during this pandemic or believe it is necessary to worship in person, whether you believe that Jesus is present in virtual Holy Communion or do not believe it, please understand that the side that you disagree with is, just like you, seeking to follow Jesus and build up the church and so I ask you to treat them with love. It is Jesus’ call to us that we always treat each other with love, just as Jesus always treats us with love, with forgiveness and his wonderful promises.
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