November 30--Rich in Every Way

"Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

"I always thank my God for you because of the grace God has given you in Christ Jesus. I thank God because in Christ you have been made rich in every way, in all your speaking and in all your knowledge. Just as our witness about Christ has been guaranteed to you, so you have every gift from God while you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to come again. Jesus will keep you strong until the end so that there will be no wrong in you on the day our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful" (1 Corinthians 1:3-9)


It feels good to hear that someone is grateful for who you are, simply as a human being. Those of us who have trouble accepting compliments may shrug away such glowing words of praise. Those of us who have been taught to be "humble" may hear it as idolatry. Those of us who know we have messed up big time may hear it as a cosmic joke. "I always thank my God for you. . . . you have been made rich in every way . . . you have every gift from God while you wait."

And those of us who have lost our retirement portfolios or our jobs or even our homes may hear it as a lie.

We used to be "rich in every way," we might think. We used to "have every gift from God" while we waited. We used to be thankful for abundance on Thanksgiving. Now we enter the holiday season with flattened wallets and heightened fears and a sense of dread about how long we have to "wait" until things get back to normal. Advent this year--the season of active waiting--may be less about preparing for the eternal reign of God and more about figuring out how to ride out a recession (or worse).

How do we hear Paul's words of gratitude if we are anxious, if we are sinful, if we are humble, if we are full of self-doubt?

"I always thank my God for you because of the grace God has given you in Christ Jesus. I thank God because in Christ you have been made rich in every way, in all your speaking and in all your knowledge."

God has given us grace, Paul says to the first century Christians at Corinth. God has given us grace, Paul says to twenty-first century Christians around the world. We have been graced by God, in Jesus Christ. We are rich in God's grace. We are rich when we know this grace and when we speak it. The gift of grace will keep us strong as we wait. It will help us know the faithfulness of God. This is why Paul is thankful for us.

But what is this gift? What is this grace, in which we are rich?

Grace often refers to mercy, of course, to the gift of restoration after repentance. But it is also a dynamic gift of faithful living that, according to Charles Campbell, "creates a new kind of community--one in which the divisions and hierarchies of the world no longer function." Grace is, in short, the very kingdom of God among us, the very thing we claim to be waiting for!

In the rest of Paul's letter to the Corinthians, he outlines what that new kind of community should look like . . . and holds the Corinthians accountable for falling short. They are divided among themselves (1:10-15), they are puffed up with pride and arrogance(4:6), they emphasize wealth disparities within the community (11:22), they have yet to learn how to love one another (13:1-13).

We, too, fall so very short of the kingdom community. We, too, are divided, puffed up, full of economic disparity, yet to learn how to love as God loves. But we are graced. We are forgiven. We are empowered to live a new life together. We are, indeed, rich in every way. Our fears and our wrong-doing and our self-doubt will not keep us from the riches of God. They are, instead, opportunities to embrace what we have had all along. They are opportunities to acknowledge God's grace.

The faithfulness--the grace--of God will indeed endure forever. In Advent, we prepare ourselves to receive that grace. We begin by acknowledging how very much we need it, and then by saying "thank you," to God and to the community that teaches us how to love one another.

May we use this season to cultivate that gratitude and to share it with the world.

Amen.



Gusti Linnea Newquist


Additional lectionary focus (Isaiah 64:1-9; Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19; Mark 13:24-37)