Daily Liturgy and Scripture

The gift of tongues is considered by Paul to be a true spiritual gift, but not for the benefit of the entire church. For that reason, Paul encourages the church to seek things that can be shared. He’s spent time talking about how the body works together and how love is the bond, so this is the next natural progression: if you are one body, bonded together, make sure you can worship together. Don’t...

After talking about being the body of Christ… what holds us together? The greatest gift, love. This one is not like the others, it is given to all. And just as it is given to all, so should it be the thing we most often give between the members of the body.

Being the body of Christ is no small task. We remember his bodily sacrifice every time we partake of the Eucharist, or the Lord’s supper. But the body has more sacrifices. We must sacrifice for one another as well, feeling one another’s hurts with the same urgency that the hands to into action when the toe hurts, or that the arm goes into action to shield the eyes. It’s going to mean taking on a l...

What’s with the head coverings? As Paul has advocated before, this is a measure of unity. In ancient days, women sometimes uncovered their heads to show a higher social status. Unmarried women in some cultures would go without head coverings in order to attract a husband, still others considered women with uncovered heads immodest. You can imagine how distracting this argument must have been for t...

If you’ve ever been called a people pleaser, you might actually be in good company: Paul’s. His total willingness to go with the flow and do what others do is so that he can bring them into a sense of community, not so that he can avoid conflict. He is very concerned with doing what is necessary to win others to Christ, not maintain even his own sense of identity. Perhaps that is because his ident...

This verse is all about life as a pastor, but don’t bypass it just because you aren’t a pastor. The life of a church requires everyone to support and love one another in different ways. The clergy have a right to their pay just as an ox has a right to eat the grain in front of him when he works. Passing love and support to one another shouldn’t stop there: the love that the early church defined th...

Another answer to a letter we’ll probably never read! This time, the subject matter is a little easier with only one side of the conversation. The pantheon of gods around Corinth must have made it difficult for new believers to know what to do. We don’t believe in those gods… what difference does it make if we have a roast beef sandwich that was roasted on their altar? But Paul isn’t letting them...

It’s really easy to hear Paul saying that marriage is bad in this verse, despite the fact that he very specifically says that he’s NOT saying that. Perhaps the most important thing to remember in this little passage, even above the things Paul says, is, “regarding the questions you asked in your letter.” He is giving a response to some very specific questions from this church (in a letter that has...

“Why not just accept the injustice and leave it at that? Why not let yourselves be cheated?” We almost can’t believe Paul is saying this. Let someone get away with cheating us? Especially a fellow believer?!?! Most of us wouldn’t dream of it. And yet there it is, a specific instruction from a genuine Apostle, setting church unity above legal fairness. It’s a picture of the church that’s something...

Here’s a passage that’s sure to be inconvenient if you think being in the church means nobody should be “judgey”: Paul told the church at Corinth to judge one another. Not those outside the church, but inside. This isn’t a culture of throwing everyone under the bus (we should still let love be our primary motivation), but being part of a community of believers means we should love one another enou...

If the Corinthians still haven’t gotten the message, maybe they’ll get this one: being a superstar isn’t fortune and glory, it’s foolishness and a prison. Certainly Paul doesn’t hate his calling, but he certainly has had his share of persecution and will have even more. It’s no glamorous job. For the Corinthians to brag about knowing him isn’t, to Paul’s estimation, a mark of nobility, but it’s to...

That Paul returns to talking about celebrity following is notable; it must have been worth coming back to. His message here is to once again repeat that following a preacher isn’t the point, but now he finds a new caveat: you don’t need your celebrities. You have everything already, because you have Christ. It must have certainly been a temptation to Paul to allow accolades to fall on him, but he’...

Having made an attempt to disentangle the Corinthian church from their preoccupation with all-star preachers, he now comes back to them with a reminder of how God works. He doesn’t need flashy words or flashy people, he takes pleasure in using the forgotten and weak. When he does, it makes very clear that all-stars aren’t making him up. It’s the Spirit, alive and moving, that creates the things of...

The church at Corinth is legendary, and these two books will give us some very familiar passages. In the opening, Paul acknowledges that he thanks God for them and for the gifts they have been given, and subtly reminds them that their gifts come from God. It also appears that the members of this church were very familiar with the star evangelists of the day, and often associated themselves with th...

What happens in a highly successful undertaking? There are always a few who show up and want to capitalize on the success but not take part in the work. Thessalonians appears to have been such a place. As Paul gives guidelines for dealing with idle people in their ranks, he seems to be addressing just such a problem. What is his best advice? “Follow the example we set for you.” That’s pretty hard...

Today we remember two of the most important people in Church history: Peter and Paul. Theirs wasn’t a perfectly harmonious relationship, as Paul once opposed Peter to his face for a mistake. Here at the end of Peter’s letters, though, we see a harmony between the two, as Peter’s letter affirms Paul’s place as a fellow teacher and apostle of Christ.

In Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians, it's great to see that, since he encouraged them to love one another at the end of the last letter, they appear to have succeeded in doing so. But they also haven't stopped being persecuted. Paul doesn't seem to be too concerned about the persecution stopping, though. What he prays and hopes for them is that they will be able to live a life worthy of t...

How do we treat those who aren’t as spiritually mature as we are? A good first step might be to avoid labeling ourselves as “more spiritually mature.” Beyond that, Paul has some pretty good advice: Encourage. Take tender care. Be patient with everyone. Since the Thessalonians are an all-star church, there were probably a few who everyone looked to as superstars. Paul wants to bring them back to th...

This passage from 1 Thessalonians is probably one of the most divisive in modern Church history. The idea of Christ bringing his Church to be with him has sparked many books, tons of sermons, and even some movies. Remember, though, that Paul faced religious folks who didn’t even think resurrection was possible. He faced others who thought followers of Jesus were blasphemers. This church receiving...

Why do bodies matter so much? In God becoming man and living among us, he took on a body. He still had a body after the resurrection. In this passage to the Thessalonians, even a faithful church that has endured persecution needs to be reminded that bodies matter. Not just our own, but those of others. If we reduce ourselves to only spirit, we are missing the point that bodies are part of God’s re...

As we remember the birth of John the Baptist six months before Jesus, we also remember the important role John played in the ministry of Jesus. Is there any greater compliment than what Herod said, that Jesus must be “John the Baptist, raised from the dead”? This shows how strong both of their messages were and how similar must have been their challenge.

Both the readings from Judges and the letter to the Thessalonians have common characters: those who go against the flow of their communities to follow God. Gideon cuts down the tools of idol worshipers (which shouldn’t have been there in the first place!) and incurs the wrath of his countrymen, while the Thessalonians are commended by Paul for enduring despite persecution. Certainly, that has been...

Paul’s tone to the Thessalonian church is very different than the Galatian church. Where the Galatian church was struggling to hold their young faith in the face of false teachers, the Thessalonian church were exemplary. So much so that the spoken Gospel was almost unnecessary, as the Thessalonian church's reputation did its own preaching. What a great compliment. There are probably a lot of minis...

It’s interesting that Paul, one of the pillars of the church, seems determined to help this little church stand even without him. Wouldn’t it be easier to just swing his influence, declare his apostleship, and draw a line that he demanded they not cross? But that’s not what he’s doing. Even with rogue evangelists trying to derail what he has built, he ends this letter by encouraging them to bear e...

In Paul’s struggle to bring his young church back to Christ, he has one indispensable weapon on his side: the Spirit. Beyond teaching his church that Christ is all they need, he has the Holy Spirit with them at all times to help them discern the correct path. The popular list of the fruits of the Spirit are in this passage, and for good reason: you can tell if a person is filled with the Spirit, b...