TRAVELING IN THE SAME DIRECTION

Now that fall has arrived, children and youth have returned to school to begin another year of learning. The beginning of school always heightens my awareness of children walking and riding their bikes through the neighborhood to the local school. Most of these children are traveling in groups and are easily spotted as I drive past them. However, last week, two girls traveling separately caught my eye as I drove home from the bank. These two middle-school-aged girls were walking home from school, in the same direction, on opposite sides of the street. On one side was a girl with hair combed back into a neat pony tail, a pink decorative back-pack on her back and a stylish outfit with matching shoes and socks. On the opposite side was a girl with long unkempt hair, a T-shirt, jeans, sneakers, and what looked like a well-worn black back-pack. Although geographically they were connected by the same piece of pavement, socially they were worlds apart. We’ve all been there, that age when our appearance and possessions begin to divide us into cliques or social groups. It is as though some invisible authority that is fueled by media hype and glitz suddenly dictates the status of each person’s worth.

Unfortunately, this is but one of many experiences of division that these two girls, and others their age, will have in life. As we have seen time and time again, divisions have escalated beyond the concerns of mere appearances and possessions to the level of how others might be allowed to live their lives. We live in a world, a nation, and even a church that is divided, even though we occupy the same “pavement.”

Paul’s letter to the Corinthians speaks of the same human divisions that have continued throughout history. Lines are drawn between groups that claim to know the “truth” of an issue and seek to impose power and authority over those who are ignorant of the “truth.” As each group declares its own set of beliefs and takes on a unique identity they become more polarized and take to their own “side of the street.” But like the two girls walking home from school last week, we are all really traveling in the same direction. We do not belong to a doctrine, a set of beliefs, or even to a proclaimed truth. We belong to Christ, in whom we are unified and have the same status and worth. As Paul continues his polemic in this section of scripture he pointedly asks, “Has Christ been divided?” (v. 13). While we may never meet Paul’s challenge to be of the same mind, we are on the same road traveling in the same direction. Despite the divisions of our world, nation, and church, there is hope for our journey. Christ is already here. . . in this place new light is shining, now is the kingdom, and now is the day.