Resolving Conflict for the Sake of Mission
- davidwperk
- Jan 28
- 8 min read
Daily Office Devotional, Tuesday, January 28, 2025
The week of the third Sunday after the Epiphany
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s epistle reading.
2Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2I went up in response to a revelation. Then I laid before them (though only in a private meeting with the acknowledged leaders) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain. . . .
7On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel for the circumcised 8(for he who worked through Peter making him an apostle to the circumcised also worked through me in sending me to the Gentiles), 9and when James and Cephas and John, who were acknowledged pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10They asked only one thing, that we remember the poor, which was actually what I was* eager to do.
You will find the full text of today’s epistle reading at the end of this reflection.
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 944)
AM Psalm 45; PM Psalm 47, 48
Isa. 48:12-21; Gal. 1:18-2:10; Mark 6:1-13
Today we celebrate the Feast of Thomas Aquinas. (See below.)
David's Reflections
German theologian Jürgen Moltmann writes of the unity of the church
with these words:
In the community of Christ and in the energies of the life-giving Spirit we experience God as the broad place which surrounds us from every side and brings us into the free unfolding of new life. In the love which affirms life we exist in God and God in us. The church is not just the space for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is the place indwelt by the whole Trinity. The whole Trinity is the living space of the church, not just the Holy Spirit. *
In today's epistle, the earliest Christian leaders were wrestling with a divisive issue that threatened to splinter this nascent missionary effort. Should those who were not Jewish be required to accept circumcision and Jewish ritual law to share in the salvation wrought by a Jewish savior? Paul said “no,” but his opponents, some of the conservative Jewish Christians, vigorously affirmed the reverse. How could Jewish and nonJewish believers share table in a house church if the nonJews were not living kosher and were viewed as unclean by their Jewish brothers and sisters?
The matter went before the leading Apostles, including Peter and John and Jesus' brother James in Jerusalem. The result—all parties involved resolved the issue in a fashion that furthered the mission of the church to share the good news of Jesus in the world. Gentiles would not be compelled to accept Jewish ritual law. Paul and his associates would take the Christian message to Gentiles and Peter and his, to the Jewish people.
Unfortunately, Peter later lost confidence in that consensus when traditionalist Jewish Christians appeared and he withdrew from the house church fellowship that included nonJews, evidently to preserve his relationship with those traditionalists. Paul rebuked him before the assembly for that action, which inadvertently had pressured nonJewish Christians to become Jewish to preserve their relationship with Peter and the Jewish Christian community. (See Galatians 2:11-14.)
The Episcopal Church has gone through excruciating conflict regarding the place of women in ordained ministry and the place of homosexuals in the ordained ministry and larger life of the church. Yes, we ordain women and gay and lesbian people but do they exist on a level playing field in our churches? Our church has endured splintering as a result of these conflicts and continues to struggle with that level playing field issue.
Both sides in these debates have made recourse to Scripture, buttressing their arguments with proof texts and interpretive strategies. My perspective, hammered out during and immediately after seminary in the late 70's, calls for full inclusion of all persons; and, I mistrust any use of Scripture that leads to the oppression or exclusion of any group (a tactic being employed by Paul's opponents).
However, my complaint against those on both sides arises out of my reading of this text. Imagine that both sides in our current debates had made the mission of the church in the world with the Christian message their number one priority. What would have happened had we made our most basic question, "How can we resolve these issues in a way that furthers the mission of the church in the world with the Good News of Jesus Christ?" Both sides would immediately claim that they have done so. I would respond that the splintering we’ve experienced, the hostility expressed, and the ongoing lag in creating that level playing field have resulted in the weakening of mission of the church in the world.
Without claiming that I know the answer to my own question, I maintain that Paul, Peter, James, and John showed an amazing lack of parochial narrowness in their discussions. Some within the church rejected their solution and continued their divisive behaviors. Yet, these missionary pioneers named above got it right.
Would be to God that our energies could be directed more to the core value of mission and less to who is right or wrong about the Bible on sexuality and women (I consistently stand opposed to any demeaning of a person on the basis of sexual orientation or gender.) Would that we would allow the Spirit to knit us together. Would that we would refuse any solutions that leave us alienated and mistrustful of others engaged in bringing the freshly baked bread of Christ's redeeming love to a starving world.
The late President Gerald Ford had it right. According to his Episcopal priest rector, Ford spoke with him often of the fractious controversies in our church. Robert G. Certain, Ford's rector summarized Ford's sentiment. "He said he did not think they should be divisive for anyone who lived by the Great Commandments and the Great Commission to love God and neighbor." +
Late former President Jimmy Carter captured Ford's spirit in a eulogy delivered at Ford's final service in Michigan. "We (Ford and I) took to heart the admonition of the apostle Paul that Christians should not be divided over seemingly important but tangential issues, including sexual preferences and the role of women in the church." #
By God’s Grace may we be more responsive to God “as the broad place which surrounds us from every side.” (Moltmann)
*Jürgen Moltmann, Experiences in Theology: Ways and Forms of Christian Theology, trans. Margaret Kohl (Minneapolis: Fortress,
2000), p. 330.
+ Robert G. Service, cited in "A healing president and devoted Episcopalian." The Christian Century, January 23, 2007, p. 10.
# Jimmy Carter, cited in "A healing president and devoted Episcopalian." The Christian Century, January 23, 2007, p. 10.
Collect of the Day, Third Sunday after the Epiphany
Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 216)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Thomas Aquinas, priest, friar, and theologian (died 7 Mar 1274 CE).
Collect of the Feast of Thomas Aquinas
Almighty God, who has enriched your Church with the singular learning and holiness of your servant Thomas Aquinas: Enlighten us more and more, we pray, by the disciplined thinking and teaching of Christian scholars, and deepen our devotion by the example of saintly lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
A Collect for Peace
Most holy God, the source of all good desires, all right judgments, and all just works: Give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, so that our minds may be fixed on the doing of your will, and that we, being delivered from the fear of all enemies, may live in peace and quietness; through the mercies of Christ Jesus our
Savior. Amen. (BCP, 123)
For Young Persons
God our Father, you see your children growing up in an unsteady and confusing world: Show them that your ways give more life than the ways of the world, and that following you is better than chasing after selfish goals. Help them to take failure, not as a measure of their worth, but as a chance for a new start. Give them strength to hold their faith in you, and to keep alive their joy in your creation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 829)
A Prayer for Light
Grant us, Lord, the lamp of charity which never fails, that it may burn in us and shed its light on those around us, and that by its brightness we may have a vision of that holy City, where dwells the true and never-failing Light, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 110)
A Collect for Mission
Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. (BCP, 100)
Daily Office Epistle, Galatians 1:18-2:10
18 Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him for fifteen days; 19but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord's brother. 20In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie! 21Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, 22and I was still unknown by sight to the churches of
Judea that are in Christ; 23they only heard it said, `The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.' 24And they glorified God because of me.
2Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2I went up in response to a revelation. Then I laid before them (though only in a private meeting with the acknowledged leaders) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain. 3But even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. 4But because of false believers* secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might enslave us— 5we did not submit to them even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might always remain with you. 6And from those who were supposed to be acknowledged leaders (what they actually were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those leaders contributed nothing to me. 7On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the
uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel for the circumcised 8(for he who worked through Peter making him an apostle to the circumcised also worked through me in sending me to the Gentiles), 9and when James and Cephas and John, who were acknowledged pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10They asked only one
thing, that we remember the poor, which was actually what I was* eager to do.
Daily Prayer Offices in The Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, p. 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p. 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
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