Glimpses of the Kin-dom: the Kin-dom is the activity and influence of God
present here on earth in the work of the church, the body of Christ, now…today…among us and through us.
The Christian faith is centered on following Jesus Christ as a disciple who is committed to the Kin-dom. We spend our lives learning and growing as a human being
alongside of our siblings in Christ.
We are learning to live into our identity as children of God…
as siblings to one another…
and as neighbors to all people.
This is a process to which we commit our whole selves for all of our days.
So…while we are as much members as anyone else is from the moment we are baptized, we mature and grow and are strengthened and enriched in our faith.
We continue to grow in living our lives in the light of love, grace, compassion, service, and justice.
We live as Jesus teaches because he himself is the way, the truth, and the life.
We began in baptism…and we continue in our life as a part of the church.
So…life together…
can get tricky.
can get messy.
Can be beautiful and life-giving and full of nurture and support…
and can be difficult and stressful and disturbed by divisiveness.
Divisiveness is what Paul dealt with in his letter to the church in Corinth.
We will continue in the opening verses of that letter this week.
But, before we do, I want to talk about “The Bigger Yes”
THE BIGGER YES is a way for us to process what is happening in life and the decisions we make from day to day; big decisions and small decisions.
We all have bigger yeses. Many we are aware of and some we are not.
In my personal life, one of my bigger yeses is my family.
I’m a partner to Lauren and a dad to my 4 children.
They are my bigger yeses.
So…if something came along in life as an opportunity, for me, that meant I would not be able to be the kind of partner and dad I have been called to be…I would have to say, “No” to that opportunity.
Now…I, like many people, don’t like saying, “No,” especially when the opportunity may be a really good one…an important one…a meaningful one…not just for myself but for others, too.
But if I said, “Yes” to the opportunity that would lessen my ability to be a good partner and dad to my family, then I’m actually saying, “No” to my bigger yes.
So…I would say, “No” to that opportunity because, in fact, I’m really continuing in my commitment to my bigger “Yes.”
So: for example…
When I was in school, I was committed to learning and growing and being educated about theology and ministry. I had been called into this kind of process.
Learning and following my calling was a bigger yes.
There were many times I was invited to participate in groups on campus. One was about assembling into groups for bible study. Another was about working alongside of people of other faiths to celebrate our commonalities while doing mission projects around the city.
These were good opportunities…
But…I had a family, a full-time job in ministry, and a full-time workload in school.
Saying, “Yes” to doing any of the other work would take away from the extremely limited time I had to accomplish my other tasks.
My other tasks were my bigger yeses…and, to continue to say “Yes” to them fully, I had to say, “No” to the small group study and service teams.
This kind of thing lends itself in all directions.
In relationships, we are often faced with disagreements and differing perspectives:
We are faced with the choice — do I hold to my “yes” concerning my need to be right or is my relationship with this person or persons a bigger “yes” which means I’ll give up the fight for the sake of my connection.
Even something like your health fits in here—
I really want to enjoy the delicious food before me…but I’ve committed to consuming less sugar or salt or whatever to be healthier and live a longer life so that I can be in the lives of those whom I love longer.
I’ll say, “No” to the food I really want because there are things I want even more…so I’ll commit to my bigger