Unity

1 Corinthians 1:9-18
"Faithful is the God by whom you were called into fellowship with his son Jesus the Messiah, our Lord. Brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, I urge all of you to be in agreement and not to have divisions among you, so that you may be perfectly united in your understanding and opinions. My brothers, some members of Chloe's family have made it clear to me that there are quarrels among you. This is what I mean: Each of you is saying, "I belong to Paul," or "I belong to Apollos," or "I belong to Cephas," or "I belong to the Messiah." Is the Messiah divided? Paul wasn't crucified for you, was he? You weren't baptized in Paul's name, were you? I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. (Oh yes, I also baptized the family of Stephanus. Beyond that, I'm not sure whether I baptized anyone else.) For the Messiah did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, not with eloquent wisdom, so the cross of the Messiah won't be emptied of its power. For the message about the cross is nonsense to those who are being destroyed, but it is God's power to us who are being saved."

This year I think God has grown me up. Like children, we seek our own way in this world. We are idealistic and refuse the status quo out of sheer need to find who we are outside of the covering and boundaries of those older (and wiser) than us, but I don't discount this because we have to know that we know that we know what we believe is rooted in us apart from what is demanded of us.

Like Paul going away for years after the Damascus road, I have come back to the council of elders understanding 4 things:

-I respect their long view and consistency
-I recognize the power and anointing of coming under the corporate vision
-I have a calling that at times will buck the status quo
-In those cases, God will make the way and I don't need too

Some would say that should have been dealt with before I found my way into different places, but I don't believe I would have learned what I have without it. The Church is a complicated and at times messy place filled with people at different levels of hurt and spiritual discipline. I see now why I have heard the horror stories of people going through seminary only to quit after there first pastoral ministry position. I needed the cellophane to be taken off the box, so I could see what was inside and make a decision if that was truly what I was willing to accept in answering Gods call.

It's been a challenging journey this far and I haven't even really began in a sense, but this is what I have come to this year......

Our Pastor has for some time been speaking of a vision based on the statement "Kingdom Community". In this, we see a call to the people of our church to begin to see the beauty of the Body of Christ as one. We see the unity that comes when the people of God recognize the authority, beauty, and commission of the head of that body which is Jesus.
We are called much like the Corinthians are here by Paul to be in agreement or say the same things. I think there is wisdom in this not because he is calling us or them to conform and become monotone in our expression of faith, but through the Holy Spirit he understood that a people speaking the same goals and seeing the same picture of the mission would be a people in movement. When we have our own personal mission that doesn't connect with the central vision we see a core being split from factions pulling outward instead of forward.
As the worship director of Portland Mount Hope, I have been given a vision for our team this year and it is at its core, "Congregational Unity in Worship." As I check and recheck this vision against both my Pastors God given vision (the leader of this local body) and the God given mission of Jesus (the head of the universal body), I am confident in what God has given me and excited to see the corporate anointing that comes with a corporate unity.
We are at a time of great choices.

-Are we a people pointing back to the core vision of Kingdom Community?

-Are speaking that Kingdom Community vision into each other?

-Are we prepared for the sacrificing of things we hold to dearly that are a Good calling, but for this season not a God calling?

In worship where I am called at this time, you will continue to hear me speak with a repetitious consistency of a refocus every time we gather to this core conviction of Kingdom Community. As a team, a core conviction tied to both the mission of Jesus and vision of our Pastor of Corporate Unity in Worship for the glory of God and the empowerment and encouragement of His people for the days ahead.




- Posted in the moment