Sunday Praise & Worship 10:00
Christian Education - 10:00 - Casual Dress - Loving Childcare
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Scripture quotation taken from the Holy Bible, New
Living Translation, copyright© 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House
Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
We have so much in common with the Christians at Corinth. Because it was a port city and a crossroad in commerce, Corinth had a pluralistic culture filled with many different religions and religious practices competing for people’s attention. We, likewise, have sports and other recreational activities vying for our Sunday morning attention. As a large port city, it was filled with sexual immorality, which was sometimes linked to the religions themselves. We see the media and music industries promoting sexual violence and infidelity. The diversity in Corinth extended to social status and wealth as well, and Paul struggled to help the Christians there understand that social norms did not necessarily reflect Christian principles. Our country still wrestles with poverty and racism and their lasting effects. The Christians in Corinth struggled to lead faithful lives in the midst of such secular pressure. They were experiencing an identity crisis, as they worked out what it means to live a holy life in an unholy place, and how to live in unity within such a diverse community. On the other hand, they experienced true freedom and the gifts of the Spirit in worship. Unfortunately, some of the Corinthians focused on the gifts themselves, ranking one as more important than others, and so further dividing their community. Paul responded to the church in Corinth with this letter. He had begun the community there, with the help of Priscilla and Aquila (the first co-pastors). After Paul had left, Priscilla and Aquila met up with Apollos and converted him, and sent him back to Corinth to help lead the community there. Paul still understood his role as spiritual father of the community, and wrote this letter out of care and concern for his people. We will be studying this letter over the next couple of months as we learn together what it means to be a Christian community, and as we listen to discern God’s vision and direction for Skyline. We begin with this passage from chapter 12 concerning unity, a common theme in this letter. Paul uses the body metaphor to describe the different functions and different parts of the same body. The link holding believers together simply arises out of our common baptism. Paul reminds people that no part of the body is more or less important, but that all work together for the good of the whole. Skyline’s Council has been busy this past 10 months listening for God’s direction and vision for Skyline. One important document we have worked on is our Core Values. We began the exercise by asking the members to relate their favorite memory at Skyline and explain why. Other members listened not only to the stories, but to what underlying value those stories demonstrated. We have distilled those values to the acronym, SUPER! We will introduce you to those values over the next five weeks, and we want your feedback! The value we introduce with this passage is “S: Supportive Relationships within the Skyline Community. We celebrate God’s gift of community and encourage relationship building through small groups, where people experience care through prayer, support and unconditional love. (Colossians 3:12-17)." Come, let’s be a Christian community together! Questions for Reflection
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