Philippians 4:8-9; Matthew 11:28-30
Just in case you noticed my baggy eyes this morning, let me tell you – this has been a rough week for me. First, our Church annual meeting on Monday, via zoom, never happened – the presiding elder got the time wrong, so we were all gone by the time he tried to connect with us.
Let’s skip Tuesday and Wednesday – the election’s outcome did not sit that well with me – just in case you are wondering, I’m still licking my wounds. Third, on Thursday a very close friend called me in distress – her doctor had just confirmed a very suspicious lump.
Fourth, Friday afternoon another close friend, this one a somewhat fretful and peevish layperson now retired in Boston, called me to report that he was finally giving up on church — “Ariel, I can’t take it anymore, these folks keep fighting over everything under the sun. I’ll never go back!”
What a coincidence, for our meditation today is, precisely, about conflict in the church and what to do, or not do, when conflict happens, when we suddenly feel that not everyone is lovable – even worse, when not everyone feels we that are lovable.
Have you ever asked yourselves, wouldn’t it be great to be a member of a congregation where there was never a difference of opinion? A church where everyone, the pastor included, was always nice, right, fair, sweet, understanding, and lovable?
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The apostle Paul thought the church at Philippi just might be such a church — of all the churches he had established during his travels, Paul knew and loved the Philippian church best. That was the very first church he planted in Europe around the year 50 or 51 of the Christian Era. The apple of his eye, to say the least!
He knew all its charter members described in Acts 16 as though they were his own family: Lydia, the businesswoman from Thyatira and her household; Stephanas, the jailer, and his family; the little slave girl, whose emotional problems he had purged in the name of Christ; Euodia and Syntyche, two intense local leaders; and all the others.
He knew that the Philippian Christians, while not perfect, were loving and supportive of his ministry, and strong enough to confront a bunch of false teachers who might stop by with bad doctrine.
But he didn’t worry much, for even though he knew his church wasn’t perfect, he also knew that they were deeply attached to Christ and deeply committed to one another, so together with one another, they would certainly prevail in such a hostile environment. As long as you remain as of one mind in Christ, he had taught them, there is nothing you should fear.
But, oh surprise – quite soon things in Philippi didn’t work the way Paul had expected!
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During Paul’s absence, some of those members caved in to the preaching of those false teachers — their vision of Christ, of ministry, of the way the church should function, of how to worship, among others. Thing got off hand when Euodia and Syntyche challenged each other and threatened the unity of the congregation with their rival cliques.
As you can imagine, this incident should give us some comfort, for if such a crisis happened to the apostle Paul, to his own church, we should not feel miserable if – when — the same may happen to us! Throughout the southeastern United States there are hundreds of small towns with two United Methodist churches.
The two separate congregations date back to Civil War days when the Methodist Church split over the issue of slavery. Slavery has been abolished for more than a century, the Methodist denominations reunited in 1939, and many of these congregations are too small and too weak financially to be dynamic and effective as centers of Christian evangelism and mission –they are barely alive.
Yet, despite significant efforts by visionary pastors and lay people who have tried to reunite them, such a union never got off the ground – so sad indeed.
Quite recently, as you are all very aware, many congregations walked away from our denomination over theological and pastoral differences, like the way we interpret the Scriptures, gay marriage, the ordination of gay ministers, and others.
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Paul’s dream of a dream church “of the same mind in Christ” had all but vanished. Imagine his disappointment as he began to receive letters from his friends back in Philippi.
They were very disappointed, angry, exhausted by such a conflict, and even worse, they knew they could not expect Paul to return right away to calm the storm and restore order and peace, for Paul was in a prison in Rome. All he could do was to write back to them and somehow bribe his jailers to get his mail to the apple of his eyes in remote Philippi.
One of those letters from the prison survived –we have known it for twenty centuries as Paul’s letter – or epistle — to the Philippians. Inspired, as always, by a very practical pastoral insight, Paul wrote back to them with a very simple formula, what I like to describe as the “peanut” formula,”.
What? The “peanut formula”? Yes, you heard well – “the peanut formula”. Let me explain.
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One of the most fascinating people in our recent history was George Washington Carver, a black chemist born in Missouri in 1864 and died in Alabama in 1943. Even though he was born into the system of slavery, Washington Carver never allowed his thoughts and actions to be enslaved.
On the contrary, from his youth he had a deep belief that God had something special in store for his life, so he let God mold his life. Carver became specialized in agricultural products, and eventually convinced many farmers to diversify – besides cotton, why not potatoes, or peanuts?
In his lab, which he called, “God’s Little Workshop,” Carver often carried on conversations with the Almighty to ask for help so that he could discover new ways to use peanuts. One day he said, “God, tell me the purpose of the universe.”
God replied, “My man, that is too big a question for your little mind. Narrow your scope.” Then he said, “All right, God, tell me the purpose of humankind.”
God replied, “Narrow your scope.” Finally, he said, “Okay, God,” holding in his hand a peanut, “tell me about the peanut.” God replied, “Right on, now we’re talking.”
Carver went on to discover over 100 different products and uses for peanuts, and his discoveries helped to re-shape and re-energize the weakened economy of the South.
Many people to this day have benefited from Carver’s attitude about life and his willingness to allow Christ to mold his mind and deeds from a spiritual perspective.
That’s what I call Paul’s “peanut” formula – to let Christ mold and shape our minds and thoughts so that we can stick together in Christ until our joy is complete. “Brothers and sisters,” Paul wrote to the folks in Philippi, “narrow the scope, focus on the key matter.”
Paul had no doubt about it — the key matter, the crucial point, the “peanut” matter for him was this: to stick together to be the body of Christ despite their differences of background, talents, sensibilities, and ideas.
Even their personal likes and dislikes, that too, for oftentimes we may find someone less lovable than others, and in turn we may be found to be less lovable than others –but we are all wrapped up in God’s same love and called to love the same way.
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Now, being of the same mind in Christ means that we are to neglect, let alone renounce to who we are, all that makes each so unique? No way — to be of the same mind does not mean we must all think alike in the church –it means that we all seek harmony.
In fact, one of the marks of the Church when it is the Church is healthy controversy.
Christianity by its very nature is divisive, for it forces people to choose sides — in fact, issues that don’t polarize people usually are the kind that don’t matter one way or the other. Christians are, or ought to be people, who know how to disagree without being disagreeable, who can contend with each other without being contentious — who can learn to like and appreciate even those we feel we will never be able to like or appreciate.
During a session of the ordained ministry of the New York Annual Conference many years ago, many of us observed two colleagues debating a controversial issue during one of the business meetings.
The debate waged hot and heavy, and each minister literally excoriated the other as to his perspective, judgment and common sense. Later, some of us saw the same two men in the cafeteria line, this time laughing loud with their arms around each other.
Somewhat astonished, I said to them, “That’s a switch, buddies! An hour ago, I thought you guys were about to fight!” They both laughed again, and one said, “Ariel, Johny and I don’t agree on anything except the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Therefore, we can disagree on everything and still be brothers in Christ together!”
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But, Paul, what do you mean by the same mind of Christ?
“Quite simple, my friends, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever in pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, whatever is excellent, whatever is praiseworthy . . . if you put into practice, that is to be of the same mind as Christ.”
Now we are talking – aren’t we?
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Dear Buckeystown brothers and sisters, every day I thank our gracious God for you and your ministry, for you are always doing your very best to stick together with one another as you rejoice in the Lord. And don’t ever give up on the peanut formula!