Epiphany

January 21, 2021

Scripture Reading:
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

The “I mean” phrase refers to instructions on whether people should marry at that time of the continuing role out of God doing a new thing* through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ, including his instructions to take this new thing to the whole earth. The scripture above stresses the urgency of the task ahead. It is like the experience of being forced to decide in a split second what is essential when fleeing from a flood, tornado, or fire. Yet 1 Corinthians was probably written 20 years after Jesus’ Resurrection. We share that same urgency today.

 I write this as the United States of America inaugurates a new President bringing a new thing to our governance as defined by the Constitution. We live in a nation founded on the government’s principle, even include in our name, of working in unity very much modeled after the instructions that Jesus gave his disciples to work toward being one** as the right way, the just way to live in God’s love. Yet our country is very divided, as is the Body of Christ, and those two realities somehow have been woven together.

Christ-followers continue to be called by God to be one That will require us to take on a new thing as we cease tearing the body of Christ apart like dogs tugging at either end of a bone. Christ called us to live our love as a model to the whole world. [T]he appointed time has grown short. We must repent and be redeemed to take on the undaunting task of modeling for the world the Body of Christ loving each other and loving all others as Jesus loved.

Prayer: Lord, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit make us one in your love.  Amen.

*See Isaiah 43:19
**John 17:18-23

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.