Perhaps I should stay out of the kitchen.
I’m not talking about our kitchen at home; I’m talking about church kitchens, where my brothers and sisters in ‘the tea-towel’ are our church family. It can get hot in there.
I like to think I have a thick skin, but last Sunday I discovered that the passing of the weeks had not dulled the resentment which I harboured for the instant and multi-voiced rebuke I had received last time round for going through the “wrong” door while carrying the rubbish out to the bins. The lack of logic (most direct route to the bins), the lack grace on the part of my sisters (was I not taking upon myself a lowly yet essential task?) and (this most especially) the lack of any notification on that door that it was not to be used (how anyone is supposed to know they don’t want you using it baffles me), pressed all the wrong buttons. As the perceptive among you may have sensed, they seem to have stayed pressed.
In 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Paul tells us what love is like, as personified in perfect form by the Lord Jesus Christ. Although a staple reading at wedding services, Paul here is not writing about how to love our spouses but how to love our church family. Love, Paul tells us, keeps no record of wrongs. How many records are you keeping?
“..and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.” Matthew 6:12
Hi Jeff, like the article.
Reminded me of Isaiah 45 where is says: “I … remember your sins no more”
This is not forgetting, but a decision not to remember.
It also says “Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past”.
You have also pinched a key point from a draft blog article I am working on.
1 Corinthian 13 was not written for weddings.
It is how all ministry and gifts in the church should operate.
Love is more important than being right, which comes back to your unfortunate choice of using the wrong door.