February 28 - March 17, 2019

I sat before a man

who stood before his people

with other men as well regarded

some of whom disagreed

on Genesis

some of whom disagreed

on Revelation

all of whom agreed

from Abraham to Jesus

I sat before this man

standing before his people

with these well regarded men, saying

“We may disagree

on Genesis.

We may disagree

on Revelation.

But we are agreed

from Abraham to Jesus.”

going on to say

“These men love God.

We stand as one, united.

These men are my brothers.

We follow Christ in union.

Follow our example.”

I sat before this man

before these men

before these well regarded men

and wept

at thought so careless intertwined

What unity can there be

between truth and lie?

As created beings we may not enjoy a perfect grasp of Truth in this life, as we stumble around orthodoxy each of us knows some part better than another. Differences of  opinion are inevitable but our differences of opinion should never be celebrated from the pulpit, as they were this morning. In 1 Corinthians 1 Paul told the believers in Corinth that they were wrong to say "I am of Paul", "I am of Apollos" and "I am of Cephas (Peter)" and that the only acceptable "I am of ..." was "I am of Christ." And Paul, Apollos and Peter were teaching essentially the same message; imagine their shock if they were to visit our churches and hear the "I am of ..."s we say today.