Wednesday, Week One of Advent by Keirsten Bumgardner
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind-- just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you-- so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
===============================================================================
In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul is writing as a response to reports from Corinth, reports of disorder, sin, and general moral and spiritual mayhem. Instead of reacting in anger and admonishing language, he responds with the literary equivalent of an embrace, a loving embrace that begins with, “Grace and peace to you from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
What a wonderful way to draw them in and remind them who they are and whose they are! I wonder if his initial knee jerk reaction was to scold and shame the Corinthians for their evil deeds. I wonder if he said a prayer asking for guidance and if Jesus answered that prayer by breathing through him and helping him to see those people through his eyes, loving them unconditionally.
Fred Rogers once said, “How sad it is that we give up on people who are just like us.”
During this season of advent let’s try and not give up on each other but remind each other who and whose we are.