The Most Excellent Way

 Most Excellent

Indeed.  This is it.  A chapter that many people know quite well.  It is often repeated at weddings as a description of all love can be.  But what we sometimes miss, is that this chapter was not originally written for wedding ceremonies, (although it is great to remember on such occasions)but comes out of a different context and conversation.  1 Corinthians 13 is a part of the conversation that began in chapter 12.  It was a conversation about people who saw themselves as gifted, and informed, and well equipped - and who were, apparently, quite taken with their giftedness.  Listening to chapter 13 in the larger context of chapter 12 and 14 helps us to hear what we might otherwise miss.

Nothing says significance like productivity, right?  That's what we think.  Or even it's not how we think, it is often how we live.  We reward giftedness, productivity, quantity, what we can crank out and how well we can do it.  It's almost as though we convert the Kingdom of God into an industry and church members are merely cogs in the machine to crank out a product.  How do we get there?  There may be some comfort in knowing that the Corinthians got there before us.  The better news is that the perspective that Paul shares in chapter 13 can be as healing to us as it was to them.  Power.  Efficiency.  Production.  Along side of the more excellent way, these things are nothing but noise at best, and destructive at worst.  In our most honest moments we know this.  Why do we resist it so?

The good news is that the most excellent way is what God invites us to explore and embrace.  That's what Pastor Jon shares with us this week.  If you would like to listen to the sermon again, or perhaps for the first time, you can access our sermon library here.  Or, if you like, you can view the livestream of the service here.