ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 3, 1996 TAG: 9602050047
SECTION: RELIGION PAGE: A5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID BRIGGS ASSOCIATED PRESS
``For in the one spirit we were all baptized into one body. ... and we are all made to drink of one Spirit.'' - 1 Corinthians 12:13.
Sometimes it seems that if contemporary Christian churches could only get their minds off sex, their denominational lives would run much smoother.
Denominations such as the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have struggled for years, sometimes bitterly, over how to approach issues of sex outside marriage, particularly regarding their stance on homosexuality.
Now, in advance of a legislative reckoning later this year at its General Assembly on sexuality issues, the church is taking a few pages out of the Bible to reflect on how early Christians handled some of these same tensions.
The denomination recently released a national Bible study program of Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians. The eight-part program was sent to each of the denomination's 11,000 churches, and some have already made plans to do a Lenten Bible study of the book.
Those who sometimes lose heart over the dissension in churches today may take some comfort in the fact that Christians have been struggling with the same issues for almost two millennia, or nearly since the birth of the church.
``We tend to think back to the good old days and tend to assume it was easier to be a Christian community closer to the time of Jesus,'' said the Rev. Kristine Haig, associate for discipleship and spirituality for the Presbyterian church. ``It's never been easy. It's always been hard.''
The church at Corinth faced a number of issues - from arguments regarding permissible sexual practices to the role of women in the church - that many congregations today continue to struggle with.
Those favoring more liberal sexual attitudes point to Paul's emphasis on the importance of love in passages from the 13th chapter declaring ``Love is patient; love is kind.''
Others favoring traditional sexual standards refer to the sixth chapter, where Paul warns the Corinthians against being deceived.
``Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers - none of these will inherit the kingdom of God.''
Recognizing the parallels in the issues faced by the church at Corinth and Presbyterians today, the denomination's General Assembly Council voted last fall to commission the churchwide Bible study of 1 Corinthians.
In putting together the Bible study program, Haig avoided taking stands on controversial issues such as homosexuality. Instead she encourages members to pray and reflect on how Scripture addresses the tensions and the spiritual foundations that unite the community.
For example, in the session addressing sexual issues, Presbyterians are asked to take time to pray about the church's struggle with the issue:
``Simply quiet yourself and ask to be open to the presence of the Spirit, and then bring with you into that loving space the image or name of someone who has struggled with or has been closely touched by issues of human sexuality.''
In another session, the meditation focuses on the relationship between a pastor and a man with Alzheimer's disease. Even though the man, Clint, initially did not recognize the pastor, she remembered the urgency with which he asked her to share a piece of half-eaten bread with him during one of her final visits.
``In my car, I sang a hymn and went back into the world, renewed in strength, peaceful about leaving Clint, knowing that in the depth of Clint's shadowy valley God is with him and in him,'' Glaucia Vasconcelos Wilkey writes in the study program.
``I know, for I saw God in the breaking of bread with my friend, and even Alzheimer's disease was not potent enough to destroy that priceless gift.''
For Haig, the lesson that comes out of 1 Corinthians is the importance of Christian community transcending other divisions.
She rejects all the talk about how the church would be better off if the liberals left, or if the conservatives left.
``For any of us to have to leave the community, the Presbyterian community, would be a tragedy,'' Haig said. ``To lose any one of the voices would be to diminish the body.''
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