Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
In the 2012 movie The Dark Knight Rises, Gotham City finds itself in great peril. In the past, with the help of the vigilante hero The Batman, the city faced plots by groups like the League of Shadows who intended to destroy the city through an act of chaos. Now, a darker sect of the League of Shadows has come out of hiding and has taken over the city. Normally, Gotham would turn to The Batman to protect them, but they no longer can do so. He lies collapsed, thrown in a pit by the villain Bane, his back broken. Gotham is alone without its hero to protect them.
Normally this is the part of the story where the people are spiritually torn in two. Where they lose hope. Where things continue to go downhill in the wake of the return of their hero, or at the very least a visitation by someone new who can save them.
And yet, there are people in Gotham who rally. Police Commissioner Jim Gordon and Detective John Blake gather policemen and other citizens to help resist Bane and the League of Shadow’s control over the city. They even meet with friends of the Batman’s alter-ego, like Lucius Fox.
And they come up with a plan to challenge Bane. They find out that he has a bomb set to go off to destroy the city and they figure out a plan to find the bomb and deactivate it.
There does come a time when they do require help. Detective Blake finds himself surrounded by the League of Shadows as he tries to put their plan in motion. And Commissioner Gordon is sentenced to death by exile on the iced- over river surrounding Gotham.
But in both of these instances, The Batman returns and helps his former allies. He goes on to help them in the final battle to stop Bane. And in the end, he helps get rid of the bomb that would have destroyed the city.
The Batman may have been away for a great deal of Bane’s reign of terror, but that did not mean there weren’t others that could rise up. He had worked with and prepared his allies so that they could help in a crisis. So that they were equipped to do the work that needed to be done. And he was there to help them when they needed him. Just like with Paul in our reading from the First Epistle to the Corinthians.
Paul, as an apostle, is the pastor for the Corinthian Church. But Corinth isn’t the only place under his care. He had many other churches to care for too, as evidenced from the great deal of letters he wrote. He had to be in many other places as well. So he was often traveling. He often times couldn’t be there in person.
And while Paul continues to offer his wisdom and guidance to the church in Corinth, He obviously cannot be there to run everything. But that doesn’t mean that church doesn’t happen, even though Paul is away. That doesn’t mean that Paul has left the Corinthian Church completely unequipped to God’s work. Instead, we learn, Paul has help to build up the church in Corinth.
Paul says to the Corinthians: "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.”
God does not just come to His apostles. He doesn’t just come to His clergy. He comes to all who are part of the fellowship of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And that is all who are Baptized in His name, and in the name of our God, The One in Three Persons.
And so all are equipped to do God’s work in the world, through whatever
spiritual gifts we are given. And as Paul will say to the Corinthians later in this
letter, there are many gifts that we receive. And most of us don’t share in the
same gifts. And that’s okay. Because we need many people with many different
types of gifts to do God’s work in the world.
This doesn’t mean that Paul’s own gifts aren’t still needed. The fact that they are is the reason he writes this letter. The Corinthians are still learning and growing in their faith. And they still make mistakes. And that is why Paul writes to them. To remind the Corinthians that it is Christ and Christ alone that they follow, as we will read next week. To remind them that even though their sins are forgiven, there is still a standard by which we live our lives. That we live our lives to God and God alone, and so we do our best to follow God’s path for us.
This doesn’t mean that Paul’s own gifts aren’t still needed. The fact that they are is the reason he writes this letter. The Corinthians are still learning and growing in their faith. And they still make mistakes. And that is why Paul writes to them. To remind the Corinthians that it is Christ and Christ alone that they follow, as we will read next week. To remind them that even though their sins are forgiven, there is still a standard by which we live our lives. That we live our lives to God and God alone, and so we do our best to follow God’s path for us.
Paul writes to remind them what it means to be a member of the fellowship of Jesus Christ our Lord. Because that is his gift. To be an apostle and teacher. To help lead and guide the church to listen to God more fully.
Just like Gotham needed everyone to stand up against the threat of Bane, the church needs everyone using their gifts to continue it's work. Because everyone has God-given gifts to use. Everyone is called to be a part of the work God has given us, not just you or me but us, to do.
And just like in Gotham, the church sometimes needs guidance in certain situations. That's where Paul comes in, gently guiding the church in its course, even from afar.
Here at St. Paul's, we are no strangers to having to rise up and use our gifts in
service to the church. It is how we have been able to survive and thrive even in
the times without a pastor, priest, and teacher to help lead and guide us. It is how
we have been able to weather both good and bad times.
Now that we do have a pastor, priest, and teacher we have an incredible opportunity. An opportunity to continue to build those gifts we each have and to grow stronger as we move forward together. We have the chance to not just continue to thrive as we have, but to go further and flourish as we do God's work together.
My personal hope is to take my own gifts and use my own role to help us to do that. To grow stronger in the things we already do well so that we can continue to work together to do God's work of spreading the Gospel through word and deed to the world.
I hope as we move forward in our live together that you will use my role and my gifts to continue to grow stronger in your own gifts. I hope each of you can use what wisdom I do have and what teaching I can give to help you move closer to God in our journey with Christ Jesus and to grow in your faith. And in using my gifts, my presence, and my role among you, we can move forward as one as we continue to do the work God has given us to do in this town of Greensboro and in the world.
Now that we do have a pastor, priest, and teacher we have an incredible opportunity. An opportunity to continue to build those gifts we each have and to grow stronger as we move forward together. We have the chance to not just continue to thrive as we have, but to go further and flourish as we do God's work together.
My personal hope is to take my own gifts and use my own role to help us to do that. To grow stronger in the things we already do well so that we can continue to work together to do God's work of spreading the Gospel through word and deed to the world.
I hope as we move forward in our live together that you will use my role and my gifts to continue to grow stronger in your own gifts. I hope each of you can use what wisdom I do have and what teaching I can give to help you move closer to God in our journey with Christ Jesus and to grow in your faith. And in using my gifts, my presence, and my role among you, we can move forward as one as we continue to do the work God has given us to do in this town of Greensboro and in the world.