When our kids were young, we would sometimes play a Veggie Tales sing-a-long CD when on a long car trip.
One particular tune would stick in my head as an earworm. You can listen to it here if you so wish: VeggieTales Sing-Alongs: Are We There Yet?
The chorus goes:
Are we there yet?
It won’t be very long I bet.
I know I just asked but I forget,
Are we there yet???
Not the finished article!
I’ve been thinking about Paul’s letter to the Church in Corinth. He opens with these words:
To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours
Yet, if you read on in Paul’s letter you find that there are all sorts of issues in the Church at Corinth, which seem quite un-sanctified like, un-saint like! So, the Church at Corinth is in one sense full of sanctified saints who are simultaneously works-in-progress. They clearly are not yet the finished article!
What about us?
So, are we there yet? …Are we the finished article, a perfect church? Obviously not (this should not be news to any of you!).
Yet ….
Yet, like the church at Corinth, we are an assembly/body/temple/family of God, who are sanctified in Christ Jesus. Just like the church in Corinth, we are called to be saints (‘holy ones’).
This Sunday
This Sunday we will continue looking at some of the fundamentals of our faith that the Apostle Paul taught/practised.
Using the passage above (1 Corinthians 1: 1 – 3) we’ll explore what Paul understood the church to be, what he understood the church to be for, and how the church was to act.
Given like the Corinthian church we are ‘not there yet’ I’m sure we have much to learn from them.
Prayer
My prayer is, that as we wrestle with this passage so we will know it to be a living word which brings life to us as a church and as individuals.
See you all on Sunday.
Brodie