{"id":134,"date":"2019-01-27T20:48:59","date_gmt":"2019-01-27T20:48:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/?p=134"},"modified":"2019-01-28T01:52:20","modified_gmt":"2019-01-28T01:52:20","slug":"third-sunday-after-epiphany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/2019\/01\/27\/third-sunday-after-epiphany\/","title":{"rendered":"Third Sunday after Epiphany"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

1 Corinthians 12:12-31a<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grace to you and peace\nfrom God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today,\nwhen we gather for our congregational meeting, we will discuss the successful\nand the unsuccessful attempts of our congregation to minister, to grow, to fellowship\nwith each other, to learn about Jesus and participate in the ministry of Jesus\nChrist. In addition, we will surely discuss our church finances, for good or\nfor bad. It is important to understand that none of what we will be doing in\nthis meeting is about seeking praise or pointing fingers of blame. A\ncongregational meeting is about recognizing that we are the Body of Christ,\ntogether. You see we all share in St. Peter\u2019s successful and unsuccessful\nattempts at ministry; as the Apostle Paul would say, if we do well, we all do\nwell and get the praise together and if we do not do well, we all share in the responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately,\nthat is not the way that most of us, maybe all of us, like to do things. We are\nunapologetically, so called, rugged individuals, and as such we are very\nwilling to point out blame, but at the same time, we are slow to praise each deserving\nmember for the church\u2019s successes. When repairs are made, we will sometimes but\nnot often, turn to thank Mike, Chris or the Property Committee to thank them for\ntheir work. However, when something goes wrong, we are very quick to complain\nand point out blame. If we love the hymns, sometimes but not often, we will\nturn to Peggy, Gabriel and the Music and Worship Committee to thank them. However,\nwhen the preacher preaches too long or a hymn doesn\u2019t meet with our approval or\nsomething in the service doesn\u2019t quite work, we are quick to complain and\nblame. When the refreshments are great for the fellowship hour, we may\nsometimes, but not often, approach Dave and the Fellowship Committee to express\nour appreciation. However, if the snacks are lacking, we are quick to complain\nand blame. We are, it seems, slow to praise and quick to complain and blame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nmight not be so willing to complain, if we were to really understand the\nApostle Paul\u2019s meaning, when he described Christianity as the Body of Christ. Paul\nis most certainly, not a spokesman for individuality. Christianity, as\ndescribed by Paul, is all about community, a \u201cbody\u201d, Christ\u2019s body, which is\nmade up of \u201cJews and Greeks, slaves and free\u201d. Paul makes it clear that all\npeople are welcome and the \u201cBody\u201d is enhanced by the variety of people and\ntheir gifts. Paul also makes it clear that all of the members of the Body of\nChrist are blessed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This is especially\nhelpful since, if we remember the reading from last Sunday, also written by\nPaul, the Holy Spirit\u2019s gifts, are given for the \u201ccommon good\u201d of the community\nof faith and the world. Our reports, whether from the Pastor, church officers,\ncommittee leaders or leaders of organizations, all reflect how we did<\/strong> as a congregation, as the body of Christ. There is no place\nfor individual glory or blame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul\u2019s\ndescription of the church as the Body of Christ is telling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each\nof us, according to the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given us, are important\nfor the working of the \u201cBody\u201d. We are the hands and feet, the eyes and ears,\nthe heart and the brain, the stomach and the lungs, the nose and the mouth, and\nso on, of the Body of Christ known to us as St. Peter\u2019s Lutheran Church. As\nsuch, some of the parts do not get as much of the recognition as others, but\nare very much needed for the Body of Christ to function. Some of the parts that\ndo not get much of the recognition, translate into things like folding\nbulletins, and checking on the oil for the heater, and meeting with\ncontractors, and clearing snow, and washing dishes and wiping tables after the\nfellowship hour, and taking the trash and recycling to the trash enclosure, but\nthink about what the church would be like without those services. Other body parts,\nor services, get the greater recognition, like those who sing in the choir and\nthose who distribute Holy Communion and those who serve as church officers. We\nneed them all, but we should, as the Body of Christ, not need to be reminded of\nthat. The fact is, we are all the Body of Christ together! We can\u2019t deny each\nother\u2019s importance and we shouldn\u2019t. We are all of us needed; we are all of us gifted,\nthe church, through us, has been provided with all of the gifts needed for the\ncommon good of St. Peter\u2019s; all the gifts needed to accomplish the Lord\u2019s\nexpectations for the ministry of Jesus Christ here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With\nthat in mind, each member of the Body of Christ is missed, when the member is\nnot here to provide his or her special gifts for ministry. In a small\ncongregation like ours we depend all the more, on the gifts and talents of each\nmember to be a congregation in ministry. And it is not just members that we\ndepend on, some of those we depend on are friends of our congregational who\nparticipate in the life and ministry of the church (we have some friends that\nare as much a part of the life of the congregation as some members.). Personally,\nI thank God for all of you; I pray for all of you and I pray that those who\nlive on the fringes of the congregation will someday get involved, share their\ngifts and enjoy the fellowship of St. Peter\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\nthe Body of Christ, we will function best when all of the parts of the Body,\neach using his\/her gifts, come together and focus on God\u2019s purpose and\nministry, and the mutual care of one another.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 Corinthians 12:12-31a Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ Today, when we gather for our congregational meeting, we will discuss the successful and the unsuccessful attempts of our congregation to minister, to grow, to fellowship with each other, to learn about Jesus Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons-and-services"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134\/revisions\/135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}