Monday, January 21

Today’s Lectionary Readings: Psalm 59; Isaiah 43:14-44:5; Luke 3:15-22; 1 Corinthians 1:10-17; Psalm 141

As someone who LOVES studying history, I’m shocked how little history most folks know. This is especially true when it comes to the history of our own faith as Christians. One of the most important turning points in the development of Christianity occurred in the early 4th Century when the emperor of Rome, Constantine, converted to Christianity? And why was that important? Because it changed the way our faith was both perceived and defined. Before the emperor’s conversion, for instance, Christianity was a faith that was practiced on the margins of society. Once the emperor converted and issued the Edict of Milan, Christianity became a faith that enjoyed societal privilege and status. In many circles this changed the way the Gospel was proclaimed. Some people (especially people of privilege) started minimizing the radical, Liberative elements of the faith and instead used the Gospel as a primary defender of the status quo. Another huge shift that occurred had to do with the way differences were handled in Christian community. Prior to the emperor’s conversion, people were actually relatively safe to express different understandings of their faith. That’s why they had things like the Donatist and Arian controversies. Differences not only existed but were acknowledged by people of faith. What a concept!!!! Once the emperor converted to Christianity, however, theological difference became the enemy. One of the emperor’s jobs was to “enforce doctrine, root out heresy, and uphold ecclesiastical unity”.[1] Sadly Constantine did a great job of this as he set in motion a dynamic that crushed and shamed expressions of difference within the body of Christ over the past 1,800 years. Today’s lectionary reading from 1 Corinthians was a breath of fresh air for me in that it reminded me that for the first four centuries of our faith, God gifted us with different understandings of their faith (yes, I am one of those radicals that believes differences are not of the devil but of God J). Of course as with many gifts from God, they are not easy to receive. So today’s passage lays out for me a wonderfully pastoral perspective on how we can live with these differences. We aren’t told to physically or spiritually crush these differences. Nor are we told to vilify those who see things differently. No, instead we were given these words: “You must get along with each other. You must learn to be considerate of one another, cultivating a life in common” (1 Corinthians 1:10 – The Message). Imagine how differently the history of our faith would have unfolded if we had embraced the spirit from this passage. Things like the Inquisition would have never happened. Today, on this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I invite you to think about ways in which you could participate in a process whereby diverse – I don’t mean theoretically diverse here, I mean TRULY diverse – people of faith can come together and cultivate this life in common. Perhaps then we can undo some of the sins some Christians have committed over the past 2,000 years in the name of Jesus and move a bit further along in our realization of God’s reign here on earth. Til next time…
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_I_and_Christianity