Partnership with Christ - Second Sunday after Epiphany
Author: Pastor Carolyn Hetrick
January 18, 2026
For everyone under the age of forty, for the rest of us, it’s
hard to believe, but within many of our lifetimes we’ve gone from writing
letters when we had something important to share, to being people whose
personal lives, culture and government swirl around in posts and texts and what
people can send around the world with the movement of their thumbs and the heat
of the moment. I was just at family funeral this weekend and all of the eldest
cousins, of which I am one, were talking about the letters our mothers used to
send to each other. Some of those weren’t great actually. But, today, things
are so much faster. Our news outlets, all of them, reduce substance to
attention grabbing “pick your side” phrases to get reaction. Did you see? Did
you hear? REACT!
And so, we are often a reactive people. It’s hard to imagine
the church in Corinth is seemingly breaking apart and what Paul decides to do
is write a letter and puts it on a boat. First Corinthians is the letter Paul
wrote to help people reframe their way of being, from constantly reacting
toward one another to allowing God to ground them so they respond deliberately,
with purpose, but in partnership with Jesus Christ.
Corinth was a booming commercial metropolis in Greece, so
large that only Rome was larger in the Roman Empire. It was a swirl of many
cultures, ideas and statuses. When Christianity began to take hold there, it
was in house churches, not one central church. Each house church had its own
leadership and developed its own way even though they were all trying to follow
Jesus. There developed at times an atmosphere of heated debates, clashing
wills, rivalries and divisions that mirrored what was happening in the city itself. The unity
they claimed to possess, was so fractured, that when Paul got wind of it, he
wanted to get them to sit down, stop reacting, and listen as his letter was
read to each of the house churches.
Since he’d been with them for a year and a half when they
were forming, he hoped he could re-ground them in following Jesus’ way, calling
them into a partnership with Jesus Christ so that no matter what else is
happening around them, they would be defined first by this.
Paul also realized those early Christians were not like
Jesus’ disciples in that Jesus had not been physically among them. They had to
live as those who trusted the stories of scripture to grow in faith and
understanding.
That was hard to do surrounded by so many competing
beliefs and where even those who all believed in Jesus may not agree about what
a particular situation needed. All believers since Jesus’ death, resurrection
and ascension have had to consider faith in light of what we have been told
while holding in tension all other beliefs and the questions of our time. We
try to have faith and understanding come together so we can respond.
The gospels center us around what Jesus is saying and
doing and how supporters respond or critics react. We can ask who we see
ourselves being in the story. In today’s gospel, would we testify like John? Or
ask questions? Or invite a friend to meet him? Would we go? All good questions.
When our girls were little, it was the height of the WWJD movement. What Would
Jesus Do? It showed up everywhere from bracelets to bumper stickers and next to
the packets of mints called Testa-Mints at the Christian Light Bookstore in our
town. If Jesus was here now, what would he do? He probably wouldn’t sell
Testa-mints. WWJD sometimes that functioned like a gentle corrective to pause
before you respond. But sometimes it ended up being a lot more reactive, as a
way to critique the walk of others with Jesus.
Beyond the gospels, the whole rest of the New Testament and
our lives, we wonder how we who are not physically rubbing elbows with Jesus at
the table can grow in faith and love and understanding. In unified and fractured
times, followers are being called into a partnership not of our own making, but
of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
So here we are, we’ve sat down to hear Pauls’ words that
though not written to us, can be for us.
Paul begins with grace and peace and then offers foundations
to ground us that may not be as attention grabbing as much of our cultural
blasts of information, but I think can be life shaping for us. Paul reminds us how
God is showing up and being revealed for us in the here and now. So we have
strength not just be overwhelmed in the world, but to respond and embody
Christ.
Christ is revealed in the grace of God given to us in the
sacraments. The word “sacrament” means “holy sign.” It is a welcoming into the
partnership of Jesus as water and the word reveal God’s grace in our baptism.
We are marked with the cross of Christ (new life!) and
sealed with Holy Spirit, claimed and loved from now into forever by a God who
never lets go of loving us no matter what. Then we respond with baptismal life
promises that shape us and remind us who we are and whose we are as we strive
for justice and peace in all the world.
We also experience grace in Holy Communion. “Communion” is
about union with God and others and a reminder that no matter whether our
journey on any given day, has given glory to God or needs forgiveness, Jesus
shared this meal first with people he knew would not follow him as closely as
they promised.
Yet Jesus would give everything for them and for us. We
hear each time, “THIS IS FOR YOU.” Then, in gratitude, we follow in this love
even when it means that responding will call us to also sacrifice things we are
tempted to hold onto. For the sake of love we set our selves aside sometimes because
we are in partnership with Christ.
Paul says that for this work, we are enriched by the
testimony of others in Scripture and that God uses the word to strengthen our
faith, not only when it feels new. God promises to strengthen us all the way to
the end of whatever we face no and to the end of time so we can respond amidst
challenges and joys. No matter how strong the pull is to find solace or
justification or answers in some other flashy feel-good thing, no matter when
it is so incredibly tempting tear someone else or something else down, we are
reminded that in the end, no one and nothing is as faithful as God. We can pause,
remember the faith witness of others, look to Jesus and pursue God’s calling.
Paul reminds us we will not be lacking in gifts as we
wait to see Jesus more clearly. We receive the Holy Spirit who will activate
gifts in each person and instill faith in us. Each of us is given gifts, though
no one possesses all gifts and no one gift the best one. We collectively have
what we need and perhaps the best gift we are given is the gift of life
together. If we are always caught up in reacting in our world, we will miss it
and end up feeling isolated or frustrated. The late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. wrote that we can make a choice- chaos or community.
As followers of Jesus, in ever changing times, for faith
and understanding to meet, it takes time. Sometimes faith has to wait for
understanding to catch up. And sometimes understanding has to slow down for
faith to interpret what it all means. It’s why we all need each other.
I look around here at Grace and reflect upon our
partnership in Christ. So many of you are reflecting the love of Christ in the
world, in this building, our parking lot and in all the places you go. Never
underestimate how your gifts can strengthen others when you respond to Jesus. Some
of you are working overtime. Remember too that our world makes us think we are
not enough and we can never rest. That’s not a good mirror for us to see
ourselves or anyone. So we take turns responding.
No one person can be all things. Use your gifts but
remember to rest and let others’ gifts shine too. Because when we do not rest,
we are more likely to react and less likely to see Jesus.
Whenever you feel fractured by our world, sit down and
let God talk to you. In Scripture, in worship, in each other. Pray for each
other and our world for what you see and do not see. Ask God to show you how to
respond. Then, let your light so shine others may see Christ through you. We
cannot change the whole world but in our part of it, we can shine light enough
as we place our trust in God’s grace along the way as we continue to be
partners with Jesus however he calls us.
Copyright Rev. Carolyn K. Hetrick, 2026 All rights reserved. May
not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission.
Sermon Texts: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9
1 Paul, called to be an
apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, 2 To the church of God that
is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be
saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ.
4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace
of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, 5 for in every way you have
been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind 6 just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among
you 7 so that you are not
lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8 He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be
blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom
you were called into the partnership of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Gospel: John 1:29-42
29 [John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him and
declared, “Here is the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who
ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him,
but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to
Israel.” 32 And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from
heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him,
but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend
and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the
Chosen One.”
35 The next day John again was standing with two of his
disciples, 36 and as he watched Jesus
walk by he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed
Jesus. 38 When Jesus turned and saw
them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained
with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. 40 One of the two who heard
John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). 42 He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to
be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).
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