Epiphany

January 24, 2020

Scripture Reading:
1 Corinthians 1:10-18

What I mean is that each of you says, ‘I belong to Paul’, or ‘I belong to Apollos’, or ‘I belong to Cephas’, or ‘I belong to Christ.’ Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. –I Corinthians 1:12-18.

I think I would be a Jesus follower without faith. My sense of His way of being is very close to my philosophies of living. Granted, my philosophies were shaped by indoctrination in the stories of his life from my birth. I still think if I stumbled onto him as an adult, his ways would be appealing to me. I notice when I am searching for the illustrations I use with these devotions; I am often drawn to pictures that contain quotes of Mother Teresa or someone named Rumi. I finally looked him up and found that he was a 13th-century Persian poet and Islamic scholar of whom I had never heard. Dietrich Bonhoeffer is another person with who I wished I could have shared a chat and a cup of coffee.

When Paul writes about the cross is foolishness, he is inviting us to take that faith step from fan to disciple, from working to be a good person who practices mercy and justice to giving our lives to help others find the joy and love of God through Jesus Christ. The positive influence of others enhances our lives. The power of God shared through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ saves our lives for a higher calling.

Prayer: Lord, lift me up, and let me stand
By faith on Canaan’s tableland;
A higher plane than I have found,
  Lord, plant my feet on higher ground*. Amen.

*Chorus of I’m pressing on the upward way by Johnson Oatman Jr.  See at https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/396

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.