My best friend throughout seminary was a graduate of West Point Military Academy came to seminary straight from his first enlistment as a captain with the United States Army. He was very black and white in his view of the world due to his military background. In his world, it was “These are you orders. Carry them out.” “This is what your commanding officer says. Do not question.” He had a difficult time with the liberal atmosphere of seminary which gave room for questioning particularly when the questioning seemed to be just about “me”, “my” rights, and “my” agendas and particularly matters of political correctness. Often in our private conversations after classes, he would offer a commentary on the “me” focused agendas of some of our fellow students, a commentary which almost always included “Oh waa. What a bunch of babies.” It was always my job (and his wife’s) to bring him down off the pedestal and remind him he needed to be more understanding.
But anyway, that thing he always said, “O waa. What a bunch of babies.” It’s the sort of thing you can say to your platoon when they are whining and complaining about things in the field. But, it’s not the sort of thing you can say like when you’re a minister and addressing a church conflict. (Incidentally, he had two shortish pastorates and then reenlisted to become career Army as a chaplain and did two tours in Iraq.) You don’t say that, but it seems in our reading today that Paul did just that to the Corinthian churches. “You bunch of babies. Drink your milk. You’re not ready for solid food.”
The reason Paul calls them a bunch of babies has to do with their spirituality. “You’re not spiritual people. You’re a bunch of babies.” If I ever said such a thing to a group of people in one of my congregations, I have no doubt that I would soon be looking for another church. You just don’t do that, but Paul did and he had his reasons. And of course, I need to take a few minutes to explain what those reasons were. So…sit back and settle in.
According to the Book of Acts, Paul was in Corinth for about a year and a half and he planted several small churches that gathered in people’s homes which were most likely the homes of people wealthy enough to have a space large enough for a gathering of twenty or more people. Judging from Paul’s two letters to the congregations, congregational life in those churches was very much on the Charismatic side and likely what we would call Pentecostal today. People were speaking in tongues and prophesying and singing praise songs. The early church was also very empowering for women and so there were women speaking in tongues and prophesying, teaching, and leading worship. So, small, lively fellowships meeting in people’s homes.
Interestingly, there is nothing in Paul’s letters or the Book of Acts to indicate that when Paul left he had appointed leaders in any of the congregations. It may have been that as active as the Holy Spirit was there, Paul either expected that the Spirit would make leaders obvious or things were so egalitarian and spontaneous that Paul didn’t think they needed them. The lack of appointed leadership proved problematic. Groups of people need leaders.
Feeling the leadership vacuum after Paul left, individual people and cadres in the churches began to compete over who would be in charge. There were the wealthy patrons who owned the houses. There were wise philosophical types who thought that the intelligentsia should run the show. There were “spiritual” women who thought that since they spoke in tongues and prophesied so much they should be in charge. There were also the name-droppers – “I follow Paul.” “I follow Apollos.” “I follow Peter.” “I follow Jesus.” They thought that being students of a particular teacher should hold sway. The jealousies and quarrellings that ensued damaged the fellowships.
In Paul’s opinion, the arguing that ensued over who should run the show made them look like babies. And not only the arguing, when they celebrated communion, which they did as part of a meal, it was nothing more than a party at which the rich were feasting and getting drunk while poorer people had to stand back and watch. There was a man who was playing husband to his own stepmother and nobody called him on it. They were taking each other to court and suing each other. Worship was developing into a spectacle of incoherent tongue speaking. The resultant disunity and immorality that arose from certain members seeking to run the show is why Paul called them babies and blatantly noted that they were not spiritual people.
But…what does Paul mean by “spiritual people”. What is it to be “spiritual”? Well, due to the breadth of the topic, it’s kind of hard to nail Paul down on this one but then again, it’s not. In the two chapters leading up to our reading Paul has talked about personal weakness, the cross, ministering according to giftedness that the Holy Spirit gives, and having the mind or mindedness of Christ. Later in the letter he talks about love, unconditional and sacrificial love. Love…you can speak in tongues and prophesy, and understand mystical stuff and be knowledgeable in the faith, but if you don’t have love, you’re a banging gong or clanging symbol.
At almost every church wedding these verses get read from 1 Corinthians 13:4-8: “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” This love is what being spiritual looks like. Marriage is a huge spiritual exercise when this love is practiced.
In 2 Corinthians 5 Paul talks about our being entrusted with a ministry of reconciliation. This ministry of reconciliation involves working on our healed relationship with God and striving to heal our broken relationships with each other. And, being that counter-cultural presence in the lives of people that encourages them to do the hard work of forgiveness and working things out.
In Philippians 2 Paul tells us to have among us the mind or mindedness of Christ which he describes with the words of a popular hymn in the early church. The hymn was about how Jesus emptied himself of his divinity and became human, like us in every way, not to rule over us but to serve us. This emptying of self even led to Jesus dying on the cross but God raised him and exalted him above all others. So also, in love we are to empty ourselves of our desires to rule over others and to self-serve and rather serve one another making sure those around us get their needs met. Self-emptying and serving in love is being a spiritual person. That’s spirituality in Paul’s book if you can actually tag a definition on that very vague word.
Paul also talks about prayer, praying without ceasing really. As we are to have the mind or mindedness of Christ, what we do with our own minds and mindedness is important. If you are anything like me, then your mind is your worst enemy. By mind I mean that part of us that worries and quite frankly just won’t shut up. It tries to mindread other people and figure out motives and explanations for things that are usually just self-destructive babble and not the way things are in reality. Getting control of the mind is hard. Some spirituality people talk about emptying the mind, turning it off, and becoming nothing. Paul goes a different direction and tells us to dwell on the good, pray, meditate on Scriptures, sing hymns and psalms to ourselves. Also, take time to bring what’s on your mind, what’s troubling you before God. Focusing our minds on God-things will change the things we’re minded on. To be minded on something is to be focused if not fixated on it, driven by it. To have the mindedness of Christ is to be focused on his Presence and seeking to be driven by his love.
The continual praying of the Lord’s Prayer is a fruitful spiritual practice. And not just praying it according to wrote memory, but rather learn to desire what you’re praying for in it. How does it apply to me and my life, our lives. When we say “hallowed be your name” that’s an invitation to think about what we truly think and feel about God. What does “Thy will be done” look like for our lives. Who do we need to forgive and who needs to forgive us. From what trials do we need saving. From what evil do we need to be delivered. Another way of think about that evil thing is to ask what lies am I believing that are causing hurt to myself and to others.
Being spiritual, a spiritual person, is to let God be the one who unconditionally and sacrificially loves us and then be that way to the people around you. Being this spiritual person brings healing, reconciliation, and hope into the world. Spiritual people are mindful of the Presence of God, prayerful, and minded on unconditionally loving and serving others. One last thing to mention, spiritual people will suffer. This is the way of the cross after all. Sacrificially loving others that they might find Christ and find healing and life in him does not come without ambivalence being directed towards us. But he is with us. God’s Presence is our comfort, our assurance, our peace, and sometimes joy even arises; joy in the midst of some pretty painful circumstances. Amen.
