Sunday Sermon, 25 January 2026
Third Sunday of Epiphany, The Conversion of St Paul
A reading from St Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians
Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.
For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1 Corinthians 1:10–18 NRSV
You can listen to the sermon here, or read below:
In our Lent course which begins in a few weeks, we will studying the book ‘God of Surprises’ by Gerard Hughes. In the preface to the book, he shares a story of how as a Jesuit priest he visited the remote Isle of Skye, to minister there for a few months. The island was not used to having a resident Roman Catholic priest. Here is how he describes his welcome:
“On the Sunday afternoon, I heard a tinkle of glass in the chapel and discovered a brick in the aisle. Another brick came through a few days later, and then a thrower of commendable accuracy managed to get a stone through the narrow room of my window. Ecumenism had made little progress in staunchly Presbyterian Skye, but after a visit to the headmaster of the local school the stone-throwing ceased.”
This incident happened 40 years ago and thankfully, in our country, religious sectarian violence has decreased since then. But it is a reminder of the divisions that still exist within the Christian church. Since the earliest centuries of the church, there have been schisms and splits within the body of Christ. In the eleventh century the western and eastern church split. In the sixteenth century reformation, the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches divided. And since then, the protestant church has divided into about 300 major denominations, and over 30,000 if you include them all.
In our reading from 1 Corinthians this morning, St Paul asks the young church: “Has Christ been divided?”. When you look at the divisions within the worldwide church today, someone looking from the outside could be forgiven for answering that question in the affirmative.
* * *
St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians reveals that this has been a problem for the church since the very beginning.
Last week, as we considered the introduction to the letter, we saw his great love for this young church. But he also hinted that they had some big issues that were spoiling their fellowship and sabotaging their witness.
In this first section he cuts to the chase, and names their big issue: division. They are failing to “be united in the same mind and the same purpose” (v10). Rather, they have split off into different factions. Some claim to follow Paul, others Apollos, others Cephas, and others Christ.
Who are these leaders? We know Paul already. Apollos was a young and gifted preacher who had arrived after Paul’s departure and helped the young church to grow. Cephas is another name for Peter, and it is unknown whether Peter visited Corinth himself, or whether this refers to a party within the church that particularly esteemed his leadership. And of course we know who Christ is – the issue here seems to be exclusivism, that they were implying that they alone were truly following Christ.
St Paul only founded this young church four or five years ago, and they are already in a bit of a mess. Already they have started splitting away from each other and creating factions within themselves.
* * *
You could say that the Corinthians are simply being human. After all, it is a natural human instinct to differentiate and split out into rival parties and groups.
Sometimes this is fairly harmless. When I was growing up, there was a big rivalry between Oasis and Blur, Mac or PC, Pepsi or Coke, to name a few. But it can be more problematic when the lines are drawn along political, religious, or ethnic boundaries. There is much talk today of the ‘culture war’, in which the woke left is pitted against the conservative right. A lot of this is being whipped up by agitators in order to score political points. Outrage and indignation can be like a drug to the human mind. It is difficult not to get sucked into it, but to engage in this toxic debate does serious damage to the soul.
The sociologist Jonathan Haidt has argued in his book ‘The Righteous Mind’ that this kind of tribalism is a fundamentally human instinct. When we belong to a group, it binds us to that group, and makes us feel a part of something bigger. But the ‘binding’ also brings with it ‘blinding’. You can see your own groups strengths, and the other groups weaknesses, but you are blinded to their strengths and your own weaknesses.
So at one level, you could say that the Corinthians are exhibiting perfectly natural human behaviour. But that is the problem for St Paul. Because, as he will go on to explore in the rest of the letter, the gospel sets us free from a worldly, human, way of seeing. It offers us the grace to see things differently. So to form separate ‘party groups’ within the church is to deny the transforming power of the Gospel.
* * *
I quoted earlier Gerard Hughes’ personal experience of division within the church. But he goes on to give the other side of the story; the many blessings of working ecumenically across church traditions. As he reflects on the way in which his book has encouraged Christians from across many denominations, he says this: “Our unity in God is not something we have to create, but something we have to discover”.
“Is Christ divided?” asks Paul. The answer is ‘no’. The body of Christ cannot be separated or split apart. God has established us in relationship with one another – along with all Christians across space and time. It is our job to discover and reveal this unity that already exists.
To do this, we need the help of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit opens our eyes and removes our blindness. He helps us to recognise the Spirit of Christ in others. The Spirit can bring healing and wholeness to a sick body.
This is a work which takes time and patience. It can be quite painful as we repent of the walls we have built and the trenches we have dug between ourselves and others. But it also brings great joy as we embrace the richness and diversity of the Christian faith. It’s a relief to realise that we are not in competition with other churches, but rather in partnership.
So how do we achieve this locally? We have already made a good start which we need to build upon. Make it a priority to attend our joint services on the third Sunday of the month. Look for the good rather than the bad when worshipping in a church that is different to your own. Come along to our ecumenical Lent group that starts in a few weeks. Invest in relationships with others, be curious, ask questions. Above all, remember Paul’s greatest lesson for the Corinthians in chapter 13: “If I have not love, I am nothing”.
Our unity is not something we bring about in our own strength. It is a reality that is given to us in Christ. Let us look to the Holy Spirit, in prayer and dependence, as he heals divisions, enables honest and open sharing, and calls us to the unity of mind and purpose that is ours in Christ Jesus.
Amen.