As
a child, to escape the heat of the southeast Texas summer afternoons, I watched
old movies on “The Saturday Matinee” TV show. These were mostly westerns from the 1940s; you probably
remember them, the actors who starred in them, and their recurring characters. My
favorites starred Roy Rogers and sometimes Dale Evans. Roy and Dale always did the right
thing. Oh, sometimes circumstances
may have conspired to put them in a pickle, but their motives and actions and
words were always good.
Come
to think of it, my earliest memories of Bible heroes are similar. Because of his strong and pure faith in
God, David bravely faced and fought the Philistine giant, Goliath. From a burning bush, when God called
Moses to free God’s people, Moses responded by leading them through the parted
waters of the Red Sea. Through a
miraculous encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, Paul’s
energies and passions were re-directed, and his life was completely turned
around. No longer Saul, who
persecuted Christ’s followers, he became Paul, who founded and nurtured
churches throughout Asia Minor. Such
surface-level introductions to these Bible heroes present people who, like Roy
Rogers and Dale Evans, seem too good to be true, role models we cannot possibly
imitate.
While
it’s inspiring to hear stories of pure faith, unhesitating response to God’s
call, and dramatic conversions, often, what we really need are examples of
faith tinted with fear and doubt; examples of hesitant, questioning response to
God’s call; examples of long, winding paths to conversion. We don’t need models of perfection
which we cannot achieve. What we
need are heroes, just as human as we are, whose flawed responses to God are
still faithful.
So,
as we grow and develop in our faith, we learn about the adult David, anointed by
God to be king but hiding from King Saul and fearing for his life. As we grow and develop in faith, we learn
about Moses’ initial response to God’s call—“Lord, I can’t speak in public; get
someone else. The Hebrew slaves
won’t follow me; get someone else.
Pharaoh won’t listen to me; get someone else.” As we grow and develop in
faith, reading Paul’s letters we meet a sometimes bitter and regretful
apostle. As we come to know these
Biblical heroes in all their humanity, then we begin to see that we, too, can
be faithful disciples.
In
between Paul’s founding the Corinthian church and his writing this letter, he
left Corinth to found new churches in Macedonia. New missionaries arrive in Corinth. Through innuendo, they challenge both
Paul and his teachings. This
creates a rift between him and the Corinthian church. In earlier chapters of 2 Corinthians, reading between the
lines, we hear how Paul is pierced by the church’s defection to these new
missionaries. Reading between the
lines, we hear him question their integrity. We don’t have to read between the lines to hear his anger at
the missionaries. He sarcastically
refers to them as super-apostles because they have set themselves up as better
than he, smarter than he, purer than he, more devoted than he. He responds with his own
one-upmanship. And that’s where we
are when we begin our reading today.
Paul is bragging—bragging about his miraculous, heavenly vision—which of
course places him in a league of his own—far outpacing these super-apostles and
any encounter with God’s presence they might have experienced. Then somehow, in the telling of this
story, Paul remembers. He
remembers that not only did he have a heavenly vision which elevated him, but
he also suffered from a weakness which pulled him down. Asking God to release him from this “thorn
in the body,”[1] Paul heard, “My grace is enough. It’s all you need.”[2] God’s answer restrains Paul from
getting all puffed-up and setting himself apart from the people he serves.
In
the midst of his emotional, biting response to the Corinthians’ rejection, Paul
remembers. He stops and shares
this “thorn in the side”[3]
which he still bears. Now we don’t
know what exactly he refers to.
And it doesn’t matter what it was.
What matters is that Paul acknowledges his weakness, making himself
vulnerable to the Corinthians. It
is in this vulnerability that God can and will reconcile the Corinthian church
with Paul.
“My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your
weakness.” We live in a
culture that tells us to be independent—not to ask for anything from
anybody. That’s the culture we
live in. But, as members of the
Christian community, the church, we are called to live counter-to-the
culture. At times, we are called
to be like Paul here—making ourselves vulnerable. Your leaders are making
ourselves vulnerable. We are
asking for your help in doing the mission of this church—proclaiming God’s good
news and sharing God’s love in order to change lives. We are asking your help in growing faithful disciples
through worship and study. We are
asking your help in welcoming people into relationships with each other and
with God. Your leaders, like Paul,
are making ourselves vulnerable—acknowledging we are not the church, and we cannot be the church without you! Committing your Time, Talents, and
Energy, you partner with your leaders and with God to form the strong, loving,
faithful church God wants us to be.
Making
ourselves vulnerable . . . You may feel vulnerable as you respond to the Time,
Talents, and Energy survey. You
enjoy being around our 5th and 6th graders, but you
wonder if your ideas of fun will be fun for a youth fellowship? Never fear—planning the group’s
activities, youth and leaders will discover fun together. You’ve never played hand-bells before,
so you wonder if this newly forming hand-bell choir will embrace a novice? You
bet—Jeanette tells me there are already novices in the group! You want to know
how our Christian faith is relevant today, but you wonder if your questions be
welcomed in a small group study? Yes because questions guide the discussion!
You love to sing the old hymns, but visiting a nursing home to share worship is
outside your comfort zone. Guess
what, comfort comes in practice.
You wonder if our
committees really want someone new to join their work? You bet they do; not only do they want
you, they need your fresh perspective, your new ideas, your energy your enthusiasm. We may feel vulnerable committing our
Time, Talents and Energy to the life of the church, but God will use each of
our commitments to build the strong, loving, faithful church God wants us to
be.
You
may wonder, “Do I have to be perfect at what I volunteer to do?” Tina, George, Richard, and Marie were recruited
to be the Inviting and Welcoming team at their church. None of them had a gift for placing
names with faces, but each of them remembered the warm reception they had
received as they visited and then joined this congregation. So, each Sunday 2 of them stand at the
2 doors to welcome folks as they enter and 2 more stroll the aisles striking up
brief conversations with visitors then introducing them to members. They may have to ask someone’s name
again in the introduction. They
may forget whether they’re talking to a 1st time visitor or a repeat
visitor or even a new member. They aren’t perfect hosts. But God uses their enthusiasm and their
sincere, warm welcome to ease visitors into the worship and fellowship, the
study and service of their particular congregation.
We
live in a culture that tells us to be independent—to pull ourselves up by our
bootstraps. That’s the culture we
live in. But, as members of the
Christian community, the church, we are called to live counter-to-the
culture. Moses told God “I can’t
speak in public,” so God gave him Aaron—who handled the negotiations with
Pharaoh. It is in sharing what we
cannot do or what we do not have that we receive. It is in asking for help—in being weak—that we find
ourselves strengthened. Here’s the
paradox of our weakness is God’s strength. In the body of the Christ, the church, when we ask for help,
we are also offering help to others.
Responding to my need your talent is revealed—a talent that strengthens
the church. I may need to
publicize an upcoming event.
Asking for help, I learn you wrote for your college newspaper and can
professionally craft the persuasive, interesting, newsworthy article. Your talent for effective communication
is revealed. Did you know the
giver is strengthened by the receiver’s gracious response? In our weakness, God’s strength is
revealed.
We
live in a culture that tells us to be independent—to just get over it and move
on. That’s the culture we live
in. But, as members of the
Christian community, the church, we are called to live counter-to-the
culture. We are called to
acknowledge our pain, to reveal—not to hide—our suffering. “My
grace is enough; it’s all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.”[4] God’s answer to Paul is a reminder that
the Christ who suffered and died on the cross suffers with each one of us. It is a reminder that the God through
whom Christ was raised from the dead has ultimate power over anything we face.
We are called to acknowledge our pain, so that our siblings in Christ can share
our suffering with us. Together,
we will be strong enough to walk through the dark valleys.
No
model of perfection, Paul was all-too-human. And in his all-too-human response to the Corinthians’
rejection, he offers a realistic faith role-model. God used this all-too-human Paul to found and build up the
early churches and through his letters—which we read in the Bible—to nurture
churches even now 2,000 years later.
Like Paul, we can live fully for Christ and work for God’s purposes in
the world—not expecting perfection from ourselves or others, not giving up when
we fail—but hoping with assurance that God is using our weaknesses to illumine
God’s great strength. Knowing that
God’s grace is sufficient frees us to hope and dream, to work and play, to live
and love. Knowing that God’s grace
is sufficient frees us to be faithful disciples of Christ.
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