1 Corinthians 1:10-17: Groups and Slogans
First Sunday of Lent, February 22, 2026
The Church in Corinth must have been a cantankerous lot. In this citation we hear Paul’s words of exhortation that we all follow Christ rather than divide ourselves into petty groups. I like Jesus’ admonition to us in the Gospel of Matthew: When you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your father who sees in secret will repay you. In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (6:6-8)
We have the false idea that we may do anything in order to save ourselves when the inverse is actually true. We can do nothing to save ourselves and we best become selves by emptying out the self to make room for God, the all.
We believe erroneously that our secret thoughts have no effect on the world, but they do, because our thoughts form our actions.
We must allow ourselves to be searched by God, as the psalmist sings in Psalm 139: Oh God, you search me and you know me, you know my resting and my rising, you discern my purpose from afar.
And so we pray: Help us to listen to one another, to help one another, to witness to your Oneness in us. Help us to see one another, to empathize with one another, to act as Christ in all circumstances. Help us to be guided by one another, to find union with one another, to see that only when we bridge differences will we truly be the One you seek. Amen.
A re-post from December 8, 2011.
Images from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrocorinth
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