{"id":77257,"date":"2020-04-13T04:59:53","date_gmt":"2020-04-13T08:59:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=77257"},"modified":"2020-04-12T16:40:32","modified_gmt":"2020-04-12T20:40:32","slug":"easter-sunday-school-via-zoom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2020\/04\/easter-sunday-school-via-zoom.html","title":{"rendered":"The First Zoom Conversation of St. Paul with the Corinthians"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In my Sunday school class and fellowship on Easter morning, which met via Zoom, I shared a thought from 1 Corinthians 12, observing that this text stands between Paul\u2019s comments on the dividedness of the church in Corinth and their resurrection faith. Here\u2019s the text I read:<\/p>\n

12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body\u2014whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free\u2014and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many\u202626 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.<\/p>\n

27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Paul said that the Corinthians are the body of Christ, but not a body of Christ over against the Jerusalem church and others. We are one body even across long distances. This is what I think Paul might have said if he could have spoken with the Corinthians via Zoom rather than by letter.<\/p>\n

With respect to Easter, we don\u2019t need to go looking for Christ. Even as the angels say about the tomb where his body lay, \u201cHe is not here. He is risen,\u201d and even as the the risen Christ might be depicted as saying \u201cdo not touch me\u201d or \u201cdo not cling to me,\u201d<\/a> the meaning for us is \u201cHe is here. He is us. We are in him.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Psalm 137 the Israelites wondered whether they could worship their nation\u2019s God in a foreign land. The Israelites who experienced exile developed a crucial theological idea that has been incorporated into Judaism and Christianity down to the present day. God is not limited to a territory, nor to a sphere of influence. God is all in all.<\/p>\n

In John\u2019s Gospel, Jesus prays for his disciples to be one even as he and the Father are one. That is a prayer that, if we are honest, remains unanswered and has never been positively answered. That\u2019s worth reflecting on theologically. Even Jesus\u2019 prayers do not get a positive answer, at least or in particular when they depend on the will and action of others. In a context of pandemic it is not enough to pray, we should act in a loving way. And yet paradoxically, one of the most loving things we can do is stay away from others. It has never been easier for introverts to be loving members of the body of Christ!<\/p>\n

To conclude, here are a couple of scenes from the Upper Zoom.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my Sunday school class and fellowship on Easter morning, which met via Zoom, I shared a thought from 1 Corinthians 12, observing that this text stands between Paul\u2019s comments on the dividedness of the church in Corinth and their resurrection faith. Here\u2019s the text I read: 12 Just as a body, though one, has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":77308,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[110,16673],"tags":[203,1293,1828,1880,2311,10276],"class_list":["post-77257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1-corinthians-bible","category-easter","tag-1-corinthians","tag-body","tag-christ","tag-church","tag-crooked-creek-baptist-church","tag-resurrection"],"yoast_head":"\nThe First Zoom Conversation of St. Paul with the Corinthians<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In my Sunday school class and fellowship on Easter morning, which met via Zoom, I shared a thought from 1 Corinthians 12, observing that this text stands\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2020\/04\/easter-sunday-school-via-zoom.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The First Zoom Conversation of St. Paul with the Corinthians\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In my Sunday school class and fellowship on Easter morning, which met via Zoom, I shared a thought from 1 Corinthians 12, observing that this text stands\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2020\/04\/easter-sunday-school-via-zoom.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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