February 12, Ep6A (1 Corinthians 3:1-9)

Iwas born a Baptist. I mean, you can’t really be born a Baptist, but I was born to Baptist parents. I grew up in a charismatic evangelical church, became a Lutheran as a young adult, worked among Methodists for a while, and now worship with the Episcopalians. I can report at least one thing all these American Protestants seem to have in common: we are rather quick to point out divides within our own specific traditions, to distance ourselves from those with whom we share a name but often not much more.

It is easy to lament this disunity—Baptist against Baptist, Lutheran against Lutheran. For that matter, it is easy to lament the story of Protestantism itself, both the split with Rome at its root and its ongoing knack for conflict and schism. While we’re at it, let’s lament the East-West Schism of 1054. Christians have long struggled to fulfill Jesus’ desire that we may all be one (John 17:22).

Lamenting it is a lot easier than actually doing something about it, of course. When Paul tells the Corinthians that neither he nor Apollos is a leader to align oneself with—because only God is—it sounds to my 21st-century ears like an annoying truism. Sure, Paul, you’re obviously right: we should all stop saying we belong to one faction or another. We’ll get right on that, just as soon as you stop haranguing these very Corinthians for listening to leaders who aren’t you. Saying “we’re all on the same God team here” is nice, but it’s just words, and we’ve seen in the centuries since Paul wrote his letters just how difficult they are to embody.