A proud and squabbling church...and the Beautiful Letdown!
Every day we're reading or listening to part of the Bible together and sharing thoughts with you. Today it’s Chris Simmonds:
What did I like about today’s passage?
Ah, the Corinthians!
I love the raw messy humanity of this letter. I think, if it weren’t for letters like those Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, we could be forgiven for sort of idolising the early church, putting them on a pedestal of holiness unsurpassed ever since. I’m sure many a church leader has observed the petty squabbling and egoic power-plays of their congregants down through the centuries and been consoled by these letters. Where there are people, there will be problems!
In these initial chapters of this first letter, Paul frankly scolds this community for behaving like spiritual children. I love how Paul cuts through to what underpins the church’s divisions over who it is they follow – their in-fighting smacks of a pub debate over whose football team is best..! What I love most about these chapters is how, as a means of rebuking this behaviour, Paul lays out a wonderful description of God’s upside-down Kingdom dynamic – God takes the weak and foolish to shame the ‘strong’ and ‘wise’. Those who are humble and aware of their limitations are spiritually open to hearing God’s voice and receiving his true wisdom – ultimately exemplified in a crucified Messiah. Those who want to lead must do so by serving, by laying their lives down.
What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?
These chapters draw us once again into the very heart of who God is. Jesus revealed a God of love who gives, and gives and gives. A God who reveals how tender, kind, sacrificial ‘weakness’ is greater than any army, any ‘sign’, any eloquence or other apparent show of strength. As I read in a shop window in Stokes Croft yesterday – ‘kindness is power’.
What am I going to do differently as a result?
For the past few months I’ve been playing RISK on my phone – fairly compulsively if I’m honest. Anyone who knows me will know I’m occasionally a bit competitive (!) but it did occur to me recently that rather than jumping straight back on for a new match (‘to show them all!’) I should just sit there, bask in the heat of defeat, and grin to myself as my ego dies a small death.
I wonder if there are repetitive situations for each of us where we could develop a habit around letting our ego die a small death – ‘dying daily’. Possibly better ones than my silly example – maybe we put others before ourselves, not take the credit we feel is due to us, etc. Let’s have a think for a moment about which situations often trigger immature reactions in us and plan ahead 😊
Who am I going to share this with?
I’m going to listen to the following song with my kids (one of my faves from my ‘20s!) which powerfully explores this ‘weakness is strength’ dynamic.
[I love discussing song lyrics with my kids by the way, helps me and them get so much more from the song! Maybe this is something you could try with family / friends?]
“It was a beautiful letdown
When I crashed and burned
When I found myself alone, unknown and hurt
It was a beautiful letdown
The day I knew,
That all the riches
This world had to offer me will never do….
I'll be a beautiful letdown
That's what I'll forever be
And though it may cost my soul
I'll sing for free….
We are a beautiful letdown
Painfully uncool
The church of the dropouts
The losers, the sinners,
The failures, and the fools
What a beautiful letdown
Are we salt in the wound
Hey, let us sing one true tune”
Switchfoot, The Beautiful Letdown