2 June 2005

Onward with division and the work of the church in 1 Corinthians.

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 3:10-11).
I will include this section again along with the following verses in tomorrow's devotion.

The foundation forms the future of what will be. We are given the opportunity to raise up lives that bring attention to the foundation upon which the life of the community of Christ is built. Therefore, the character of the building - the community and each of its members - must always return to the foundation in order to align ourselves with the grace that abounds from that source - Christ, Jesus. The beautiful notion of building on a foundation of grace is that we are not fixed into one pattern like a kit that will allow you to build something just one way. Rather, the community of Christ can and must build itself up within its abilities and skills and gifts. This means that even as we have a common foundation, the community in which Jesus is lifted up as Lord may look different in its very structure and presentation but its "being" is shaped by and secured in place by the grace of God that makes all things begin and brings all things to an end.

Connection: There is too much fighting over how different we are in the church. It is as though we do not care about the abundant grace of God and the freedom of life it brings. It is as though we expect that everyone will be the same...have the same kind of lives...live in the same manner as others. In reality, this demand for conformity is usually not based on the Good News, it is based on the values of one set of people in one time. Have you ever noticed that people mandating a set of "Christian Values" for everyone...rarely have a view of everyone. Instead it is usually simply a view of themselves and how they would have the world be.

Keep us anchored in your grace, O Lord of Love, so that as we find ourselves confused by the winds of the day we can return to you, our rock and our foundation, for a new way to face all that comes and goes around us. Amen.