[Propertalk] Fwd: [propertalk.topic] 7th after Epiphany Epistle

[Joe Parrish]

Forwarded:
Friends,
ere are a few Australian thoughts towards a sermon on this week's epistle. 
ick and choose, add illustrations, rearrange as may suit you.
oward
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* The Epistle reading takes us to the city of Corinth, in ancient Greece, a 
ignificant cosmopolitan city, but one somewhat removed from modern day 21st 
entury Australia.
 One significant difference, highlighted in today's passage, is
ur attitude towards anything sacred.
 What do most people in our country hold as being sacred these
ays?
 I venture to suggest that outside the Christian Church, there
re very few things people would recognise as being sacred.
 Probably the very word "sacred" is not part of most people's
ocabulary.
 As an example, just think of how much difficulty "European"
ustralians have in coming to grips with the whole concept of
boriginal sacred sites;
 it seems that many people take a rather cynical view of that
hole business;
 that says a lot more about our limitations, than it tells us
bout the reality of being an indigenous person.
* So when Paul says to us today that we should refrain from destroying the 
emple of God, because that Temple is 'holy' or 'sacred', then most 
ustralians would be rather at a loss to understand what he's on about.
 We are more used to hearing things like:
 if there is oil, or minerals, in the ground, then we should be
ble to pull that part of the landscape to pieces despite the
laims by some strange group of people that that ground is
acred!
 So we, in the Church, have to work hard at restoring meaning
o the word 'sacred'.
* When we claim that something is sacred we are saying that we should 
espect it, are we not?
 We should do all we can to protect it, to preserve it, to keep
t intact;
 but more than that, we should recognise that thing, that
lace, that person, that group, can teach us something
mportant about ourselves, about our world, about life.
 So instead of rushing in and saying that no one is going to tell
s what to do (a common response to any serious challenge to
ur opinions);
 we are invited to pause before the sacred, to think, to pray,
o worship.
 But for people who do not recognise anything, or anyone as
eing sacred, that must be very difficult.
 A further illustration of that difficulty can be seen in the fact
hat not too many years ago most people in the community
egarded a church building as being sacred.
 It was possible to leave a church unlocked day and night,
nd know that it would be quite safe.
 Not so today; most buildings have to be locked because
andals get in and destroy things, or thieves come and steal
hings.
 Now Paul offers us a caution:
 perhaps we may be guilty of wanting to impose too much of
 sacred aura on buildings when there are much more sacred
hings around.
 Paul says that it is not so much the building which is sacred,
ut the group of people who make up the Church.
 And that group of people is sacred because the Spirit of God
ives among them.
 Even church members find that concept hard to get a grip on,
ecause we are not all that far away from doing things as a
ommunity which seem to belie that fact that we are the
emple of God.
 We are prone to look at each other, or our group, as if we
re the only real Christians, or the only real human beings,
ven;
 we develop customs, laws, rules, and habits which somehow
ide the very sacred nature "The Church".
 We look too often at our weaknesses, our limitations, our
ailures; we criticise, we judge, we discriminate, we fail to
ook for God's Spirit among us, and so we separate off, and
ivide the Church, i.e. we fail to respect the sacred nature of
his gift from God.
 Paul is telling us today to take a fresh look at ourselves: if we
laim to be followers of Jesus, then the Spirit of God really is
mong us,
 and his Spirit becomes most evident to human beings, by the
ower of love, as Jesus tells us in today's Gospel.
 People who say that they don't need the Church, that they can
ome close to God in nature, for example, have really only
limpsed a very tiny portion of the truth.
 They are in fact missing out on the real essence of what it
eans to be a human being, the theme today's reading.
 God has taught us that in order to reach our full glory as
uman beings we need to become part of this Temple, which
aul has brought to our attention.
 It is as we rub shoulders with fellow pilgrims: people who
nnoy us, people who are just as weak and limited as we are,
ut nevertheless people who are signs of love.
 This is the meaning of "sacred" which needs emphasis in the
orld of today; the lack of this understanding is probably what
s at the heart of the great uprisings of ordinary people against
arsh regimes in our world today:
 People are sacred, and ought to be treated as such.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
he Rev'd Dr H.C. Smith
Retired Anglican Priest
Orange NSW
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