One of the hottest topics going in physics these days
is how to define nothing. The reason is
that most theoretical physicists say that our universe came into existence out
of nothing, but how do you define “nothing”.
Some will say there was a time when everything including time was
not. There was nothing and somehow out
of that nothing all our something came into being. On the other hand, there are those who take
the stance that nothing is still something.
Their argument seems to hinge on what we know about gravity, which is
very little. Gravity is a force, an
energy field that is everywhere present.
Gravity does not form and grow when mass forms and becomes bigger. Rather, mass forms and grows because of
gravity. As best as I can understand it,
these folks say that underlying our universe of spacetime is something like a
chainmail of little loops or quantum loops of gravity and that this chainmail
has always been. We cannot conceive of
it ever having not been. Therefore,
there is no such thing as nothing.
Well, that seems to be a lot of talk about nothing
and definitely a chicken-or the-egg kind of debate. But, if we look at this conversation about
nothing from a philosophical/religious perspective, it seems that neither side
is saying anything new. One side sounds
a lot like Western/Christian ideas of Creation ex nihilo, creation out of
nothing, and the other like Eastern ideas of the eternal all in which
everything is connected and has always existed.
On the Christian side, the more Christianish you get with your ideas of
how things came into being the more things seem to have a purpose that needs to
be developed. The more Eastern you get,
the more things lack a purpose and just are.
You know, the goal or non-goal of Buddhism is to empty one’s self of
self and become nothing and if you progress far enough along this route you
will reach the center of the perfect state of nothingness, known as nirvana (Des
Moines, the capitol of Iowa). Practising
meditation and compassion will help you along this route.
One crucial difference between Christian faith and
Buddhism is that we Christians say we are not “nothing” and should not seek to
be nothing. We are something and we
should strive to be what we were created to be.
God created us, humanity, in his image and with a purpose that the
Westminster Catechism so wonderfully states as glorifying God and fully
enjoying him forever. Each of us is
uniquely and wonderfully made and beloved by God and gifted towards that
endeavour. We are not nothing nor should
we strive to be nothing. Our problem and
one that we must strive to rid ourselves of is not self but rather a self that
is bent in on itself, self that seeks only itself.
Looking here at 1 Corinthians, I don’t know how
philosophical Paul was trying to be, but he was certainly being poetic when he said
if he had all those spiritual gifts for ministry but not love, he is nothing. Love is how we express the something that God
has created us to be, it is how we glorify and enjoy God. Love requires we set aside the self that is
bent back in on its self and humbly serve on another.
Paul said what he said because in Corinth they had a
little problem, a leadership dispute that was affecting their unity in Christ. A little background, Paul spent about a year
and a half in Corinth planting what developed into several house churches. When he left, he left no one in charge. I suspect he was hoping that they would
prayerfully discern by the working and leading of the Holy Spirit who Jesus was
calling to be their leaders. Instead, several
groups and personalities began to compete for control. There were the rich patrons who owned the
houses in which they met. There were the
philosophical types who thought the churches should be run more like
philosopher clubs. There were the namedroppers
who said “I follow Paul” or “I follow Cephas” or “I follow Jesus” and since
they were the “most sincere disciples” of the “great teachers” they should be
the leaders. There was also what appears to be a group consisting primarily of women
who spoke in tongues and prophesied a lot and who gave words of knowledge. These likely thought that since they were so “spiritual”
they should be in charge of the churches.
Unfortunately these women looked just like the priestesses in the pagan
temples.
This leadership conflict in the congregations severely
affected their unity in Christ. They were
failing to love one another, to be community where the love of Christ shown as
the distinctive character of their relationships as congregations. Instead there was infighting in which congregants
took each other to court before pagan judges. There was sexual immorality. One man had taken his stepmother to be his
wife. When they celebrated the Lord’s Supper,
it turned into a party for the rich while the poor had to stand back and watch. And those spiritual women looking like pagan
priestesses simply had these Christian churches looking like just another
organization, trade guild, or religion like any other instead of a community
which embodied the Kingdom of God/New Creation community that reflects the
character of the One True God, and existed as a foretaste of what things will
be like when Jesus returns and sets the world to right.
Here in chapter 13, the Love Chapter, the most read
passage of any kind at weddings, Paul isn’t giving marriage advice. He’s telling these churches what the heart of
being the church is – love. The Greeks
had four words we translate as love. One
is the love of family. Another is the
love between friends and another is romantic love. The word for love Paul uses here is for
sacrificially and unconditionally looking to the needs of others as if they
were your own. In the church’s Paul planted
this love was evident in a kind of fellowship that was not known in any other
social grouping in the ancient world.
Women were leaders. Slaves worshipped with the families who owned
them. Rich and poor regarded one another
as equals. They suffered together,
celebrated together, prayed together, worshipped together. Christian community was something new.
As this community in Christ was new and had vastly
different values than other kinds of communities back then, Christians often
found themselves in conflict with their surrounding communities. The result was that fellowship in this new
Communion in Christ filled with the living presence of the Holy Spirit became
the primary relationship network for those who came and believed. Each one of them all got a new identity as a
beloved child of God and a family resemblance that became evident in love. In this Christian fellowship every one of
them no matter who they were could say, “I am something. The Spirit of God is
in me. I am a child of God the Father, a
sister or brother to Jesus Christ the Son of God who is Lord of all Creation. And we are all family, a new humanity that
loves. Without this love, I am nothing.”
This love embodied in Christian community is the
heart of the church. This love by which
we are something rather than nothing is not a matter of private religion where good people just come to hear good talks on how to be a good person and then go
on trying to live a good life. It
requires that we gather together and listen to each other as we share our
lives, our struggles, joys and pains. It
requires that we learn hospitality and respect for everyone and not put up
boundaries to people who we think are not like us. It requires that we do together that most
shameful of all activities - prayer -even if it means we must pray out loud for
one another. It requires that we make
our Christian fellowship the primary fellowship of our lives. It requires that we study the Bible together
and struggle with it together and do our best to live according to it.
Being a community that embodies love in the image of
God is why this congregation is here.
This love makes us each “something”.
We can have every kind of ministry under the sun that we think churches
ought to do but if we don’t have this love we have nothing…gain nothing…are
nothing. Love, for in Christ you truly are
“something.” Amen.
