“Consider your own call, brothers and sisters” (1 Cor. 1:26).
St. Paul wrote his letters, which make up a large part of the New Testament, to small Christian communities in Europe and Asia, hundreds of years ago. When Paul wrote to the Christians in the Church in Corinth, it was the beginning of the Christian movement, still in the afterglow of Christ’s death and resurrection. But today his words reach across time and space to address us at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Nashville, Tennessee.
In many ways, our situation is completely different. Many generations have passed since the Gospel was first proclaimed. We live in a prosperous age, free from persecution. In this country, the Gospel of Jesus’ death and resurrection can be proclaimed without fear of government reprisal. On the other hand, the world thinks it knows what Christianity is, and hostility has been replaced by indifference. In the early days, as one early saint said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” Persecution led to a mighty harvest. Indifference, by contrast, provides only stony ground in which to plant the seed.
In other ways, our situation is very similar to that of the early Church. St. Paul’s words, reaching across time and space, speak to our own situation. Most of our communities, like the Church of the Holy Spirit, are small groups. We too struggle to proclaim the Gospel and to minister to the needs of the Church and the world. We too need to be encouraged in the work that God has called us to.
That work is the result of our own call. “Consider your own call, brothers and sisters” (1 Cor. 1:26), as St. Paul writes. Here is a truth that is common to the early Christians and to us as well: we are all called by God. God’s call is addressed to every Christian, whether ordained or not. St. Paul was not just writing to the officers of the Church in Corinth, to the inner circle. He was writing to every member of the Church, from high to low.
Remember what he says: “not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth” (1 Cor. 1:26). Maybe some of them were wise and powerful and distinguished by worldly standards, but that was not the case with most of them. Hardly any of them measured up. In any case, it didn’t matter: what mattered was that they had been called by God. The fact that they didn’t have much going for them in worldly terms was proof that it was God’s calling that mattered. God was the one who was at work in them, and he could provide what was needed.
So what was God calling them to? Our Gospel reading from St. Matthew provides the pattern for the Christian life. Here, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus lays down a new law for Christians: a set of new commandments like the ones Moses gave on Mount Sinai. As it says at the end of Jesus’ sermon, “Now when Jesus finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority…” (Matt. 7:28-29).
Jesus taught them, and he teaches us, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness”; “Blessed are the merciful”; “Blessed are the pure in heart”; “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matt. 5:6-9). This is the life all Christians are called to. As it says in our Gospel, God makes his promises to the poor, the humble, to those who mourn, to the persecuted and the despised. These are the people who are called: not the rich or powerful or successful or unbroken. It’s the other people, the rest of us, who are called and blessed.
Today, St. Paul reaches across time and space to address the call of God to all of us here at the Church of the Holy Spirit. Not many of us are wise or powerful or distinguished but we are all called to be leaders. The most fundamental act of leadership is turning out and showing up so that we can be the Church, here at this time and in this place. Church means “gathering,” and as we gather for worship today we are all leaders. “Consider your own call, brothers and sisters” (1 Cor. 1:26), as St. Paul says: consider your own call.
