I Corinthians 12: 14-27 – For Such a Time as This

I Corinthians 12: 14-27 – For = Such a Time as This

You are part of Christ’s body, you must never forget this.

You are part of CHRIST’S body, you must never forget this.

You are part of Christ’s BODY, you must never forget this.

You are part of Christ’s body, you must NEVER FORGET this.

<= /p>

But it is so easy to forget all of that.

This worship service was first planned way back= in May. It was then that we invi= ted Pastor Carlos and his beloved wife Vania, to join us at our conference Annu= al Meeting. And back then we fir= st began to envision how we would spend a span of ten days together.

We envisioned all of this time to be one of celebration, particularly because our partnership, over the past couple of years has encountered some rough patches.&= nbsp; However, we have experienced reconciliation and re-commitment.<= /o:p>

In May we looked ahead to the rest of 2009 thro= ugh all of 2010 as very, very busy times for the partnership with numerous grou= ps traveling to and working in Honduras. We envisioned growth in relationsh= ips and a deepening of our experience in being the body of Christ. But as we all know what we planned = and dreamed for did not come to be.

We know now that a slowly developing political fissure broke into a great chasm that has now divided families, churches, communities, a country, and even Latin America as a whole. Honduras is divided.

And reconciliation of the chasm which now is pl= ain to all, will require nothing less than divine intervention,

nothing less than God’s might power,

nothing less than holy justice,

nothing less than naked truth,

nothing less than the power of resurrection.

Or not.

It may simply be that a bandaid is placed on a gaping wound, we we’ll all call it “good”. That would be the easy road, = and I am terribly fearful that it is the road being sought by political powers on= all sides.

&nb= sp; On Wednesday evening the Partnership committee sat at table and broke bread wi= th Carlos and Vania. And we list= ened. It’s been an incredible stor= y. The last question of the evening w= as prefaced with the words “this is a personal question”. And Carlos was asked how is it wit= h his soul?

And he answered by explaining that while he nev= er imagined that God would call him to minister amid these circumstances, indeed, God had.<= /p>

Marcia Charles whispered to me a few words from= the book of Esther, and I’d like to share these with you in the fuller context.

Esther is a Hebrew woman who through unforeseen= circumstances ascends to become Queen of Persia. <= /span>She finds herself in a place of power, but the unholy power is about the persecution of her own people. Her adoptive father, Mordecai, urges her to convince the king to liberate the Hebrews. Esther responds that= she can not speak to the King, unless he calls for her. And Mordecai writes back to her:

"Do not think that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, b= ut you and your father's family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come = to royal dignity for just such a time as this."

&nb= sp;

For such a time as this.

Perhaps God’s call to Carlos and Vania is precisely “for such a time as this”.

And perhaps after 13 years of partnership, and = over twenty years of Maine mission teams going to Honduras, And after seeing our way through t= he devastation of hurricane Mitch,

And after years of building parsonages and providing medical brigades, A= nd after hurt, and division, and prayer, and reconciliation, Perhaps after all this, this partn= ership has been God’s tool for such a time as this—this difficult time= .

A book I read this summer while I was in Poland = was very helpful to me. The author was Viktor Frankl, an Austrian Je= w who lived in the concentration camps in Poland<= /st1:country-region>, including Auschwitz. <= /p>

The point of Frankl’s book, is that the purpose of life is not joy and happiness and peace, the purpose of life is = to have meaning.

Perhaps our relationship with Honduras is precisely for such a time as this so that our lives may have meaning. A bandaid will not heal the wound = that has ripped apart Honduran society.

It will require the divine surgeon who can bring real healing only with the balm of holy justice.

Might we be the tool in the surgeon’s han= d?

For such a time as this.

Might we be the conscience aware that the body = of Christ is broken;

And the ear is crying to arm: hear me;

And the leg is crying to the eye: see me;<= /o:p>

And the heart is trying to hand: touch me.=

Might we be the balm in the Great PhysicianR= 17;s hand?

For such a time as this?

Amen.