CLANS UNITED IN CHRIST

1 Corinthians 1: 10-18

There are so many ways that human beings compete: certainly it happens in sports, but that is their essential purpose. In a capitalistic society such as ours, competition is in our bloodstream: Walmart vs. Target; Microsoft vs. Apple; in “The Miracle of 34^th Street film it was Macys vs. Gimbels; it will be the Orlando Magic vs. a host of teams and the Super Bowl glues people to their TV sets. In a few weeks at the Speedway it will be Ford vs. Chevy, Dodge, and even Toyota. Several years ago Toshiba lost countless dollars producing the HDDVDs, only to see their format get tossed in favor of Sony’s Blu-Ray. Now the cellphone provider battles continue to wage; will the consumer be the winner or loser in that? Sometimes the alignments we choose, however, foster differences to the detriment of our society, don’t they? Are we better off because we now have Democrats, Republicans, and the Tea Party? Has the airline deregulation of the 1980s produced a better product for the traveling public? Are Americans always going to qualify their citizenship with terms like southern, Asian or African Americans? Sometimes our competitions can hit a nerve.

In the book of Genesis, readers are introduced to the twelve sons of Jacob that would later lead the Twelve Tribes of Israel. If you don’t remember another thing about those sons, remember that Jacob, a man who schemed with his mother to win the first-born birthright from him brother Esau, had never seeing a parenting book in his life. Can anyone, then, be surprised to read about the unbelievable favoritism he showed toward his son Joseph? His other sons were not blind; they saw what dad was doing—giving him a special coat—and as they heard their brother’s ego at work—he dreamed that their sheaves would bow down to him—their anger got the better of them and they “sold” their brother to Ishmaelites—people who were organized into “clans” according to Genesis 36! Competition was not too healthy for the twelve tribes!

Now we move on to Corinth. In a city with too many people entrenched in their own ways of thinking (like people you perhaps know!) things were always stirred up and interesting! It was to address those volatile conditions that the Apostle Paul wrote his letters. Although in Ireland, Catholics and Protestants have fought bitterly over the years, believers in Corinth were not to the level of criminality, they just thought they were right! Family feuds often start over someone believing he is right, don’t they? So when Paul wrote the first chapter of his first letter to the Corinthian church, he named the divisions in that church and stated his hopes for unity. Some in that church started to show denominationalism. As we might say today: “I belong to a Calvinist Church” or “I belong to a “Wesleyan Church” or “I belong to a Lutheran Church,” in Corinth they said “I belong to Paul,” which probably meant they were Jewish and Gentile Christians who were sympathetic to Gentiles. Others said “I belong to Apollos,” which probably meant they were very intellectual Christians who grouped with other studious Hellenistic Christians. Still others said “I belong to Cephas” (Peter’s real name) probably meaning they were Christians who were most sympathetic toward Christians who passed through the Jewish rituals first. “I belong to Christ” was the claim by some of the centrists in Corinth. So Paul appeals to his brothers and sisters in Christ, and asks “be in agreement, and let there be no divisions among you.” You see the problem, don’t you? Certainly Paul’s world was not without divisions as just described. And our world is just as divided, with litigation clogging our court system. Our society is not kind to people who are different. Some suggest that “good fences make good neighbors,” the way oil won’t mix with water. Despite the theory that America was once a big melting pot, we are not a society that melted together easily. In St. Louis where I spent my teenage years, there are neighborhoods where groups are huddled together: the Italians, the Germans, and the Polish among others. In some cities there are neighborhoods where Chinese, or Vietnamese persons gather; and in other cities Anglo Americans may live in neighborhoods apart from African Americans or Native Americans. Such heritages make for great food, great stories, and great bonding! But if they are people of faith, can they unite, putting aside differences, so that Christ can be lifted up? That is the question that brings us to this service today.

In a humorous but factual account of clans in Scotland, Rupert Besley writes “The word ‘clan’ comes from the Gaelic ‘clann’ meaning offspring, tribe, or clan. The Clan System was introduced in the 11^th century and was essentially a bureaucratic measure, whereby the population of Scotland was split up by surname and people with the same name were required to live together in alphabetical order.( A little tongue in cheek there!) Thus were forged the strong links between the clans and their territories—Stuarts and Bute, Macdonnells and Glengarry, Macbaynes and the Islands. All this did create some difficulties for the postman, but did at least make family get-togethers at Christmas rather simple to arrange! The clan system worked relatively well for a while, but, as so often happens in families, feuds grew up over the centuries….Intense rivalry and ill-feeling (such as between Edinburgh and Glasgow) led to constant turbulence in the Highlands. The merest clash of tartans was enough to cause the clan chief to … summon clansmen into action against their neighbor. It was a grim chapter in Scottish History.” [SCOTLAND FOR BEGINNERS, Lochar Publishing, 1990, p.33,34.] The term “Feudal System” came from a term categorizing families and attaching them to land. The next time you hear about a “feud,” you can think back to Scotland among other countries, where fighting for family and land could become a long time obsession. For a time the wearing of Highland costumes and tartans was banned by the government. Finally in the 19^th century kilts returned as a source of national pride and even commerce, since a real kilt took 21 yards of material per person! And today, kilts are, for the most part, a source of pageantry, family heritage, and national pride.

What Joseph demonstrated in Genesis was forgiveness. What Paul implored in both his first and his second letter to the Corinthians was reconciliation. And today, what a preacher like the late Peter Marshall requested was that we human beings—not just Scotsmen and women, but as members of the human race—lay aside our differences. It is to Almighty God that we should cling, and to the Word. In the place of short-term arguments or long time feuds, we only ask God to bless us, and our tartans, if we truly—brother and sister alike—band together, sing together, march together, work together, pray together, and evangelize together. Only one Savior could bring about such unity amidst such strife. It is the name, which is above every other name, Paul said. For the sake of Jesus Christ, who died for our sins, and who shows us the way, the truth, and the life, that we come together to build up the body of Christ. May his Church show love, honor, and devotion to him as the Head of the Church. For the sake of Almighty God, may our cloaks of many colors symbolize a patchwork of Christian clans, and not a divisive coat of many colors.

Jeffrey Sumner January 23. 2011