with meditations by my mother, Poetess Gertrude Sanborn
November 30
Romans
16:14--1 Corinthians 4:2
THEY VOWED TO STARVE THE PREACHER OUT!
1
Corinthians 4:2
"That there be no divisions among
you."
As I look into Paul’s letter to the
church in Corinth, I am reminded that this church was a
typical church. Why do I say that? Because there were
many church problems within the assembly. Every sin that
churches have today was there in Corinth.
Right away in I Corinthians 1:10,
Paul calls for UNITY. He wrote "that you all speak the
same thing, and that there be no divisions among you. .
." He gave a similar plea to the Roman Church in Romans
16:17, "Mark them which cause divisions and offences
contrary to the doctrine."
I remember my first church split.
Probably, Maybe I was in seventh grade. It was in a
Baptist church in a small Ohio town. That was the church
where I was baptized when I was ten years old. We lived
close to the church. A sportsman could have thrown a
ball from our front door to the church’s door.
As in many Baptist churches, there
are certain families that "run" the church! A new
preacher came to our tiny town of three hundred. It was
smack dab in the middle of many dairy farms. After the
"honeymoon" was over, reality set in. The "church
bosses" were still "church bosses." My father was the
Sunday School superintendent. We were the "city folks."
We put in indoor plumbing and had pasteurized milk
delivered to our door. You can imagine the "talk" when
we did not have the local dairy deliver unpasteurized
milk to us. (I had become very ill, as a small child
from unpasteurized milk!) The"church split" was over THE
GOSPEL HERALD. It was a good periodical for which the
church subscribed for every member. I remember my mother
daily reading it as she ate her lunch.
The Pastor and my Dad thought it
would be wiser for each family to subscribe to the
magazine instead of the church paying for each
subscription. Remember these were the depression days. I
think the preacher’s salary was five dollars a week–or
something like that. We could buy a pound of hamburger
for twenty-five cents. A loaf of bread was about ten
cents. My sick uncle, recovering from TB, rented a
large, old farmhouse for $5 a month in Oberlin.
Well--there was a church split! The
more affluent families, who had been running the church,
got huffy and left. They had vowed to "starve the
preacher out!"! Only the "followers," who had been
assigned to the "lesser" church jobs, remained. Much to
the surprise of everyone, within that remnant, were
talented people. There were musicians, and teachers, and
financial contributors! What a lesson for my future life
of "church splits." There are always people who can be
used of God, who never had the opportunity to serve Him
because others had hogged the show!
I have seen other such "divisions" of
which Paul warned. In our little church near the
Cleveland airport, while the pastor was absent, my
grandfather called a church meeting. I was sixteen and
not permitted to be in there. I’m not sure what
happened, but Grandpa was dismissed from the membership
because of it. There were divisions in our family over
this. In fact, my aunt favored the pastor’s position,
and my parents my grandfather’s. Though we stayed in the
church, it was a very sticky situation. Years later, the
pastor apologized to my grandfather-–but much damage had
been done!
Fresh out of the Navy chaplaincy, my
husband moved us to Massachusetts where he pastored a
prominent church in Newton. Much to the surprise of the
deacons, Pastor Waite followed the Bible and the church
constitution. Whoever heard of doing that? The deacons
had been calling the shots. One Sunday morning, during
an announcement, the church leaders stormed the
platform. There was a minnie riot! That was back in
1961, when such things were not "in vogue" as now. The
police were called. Needless to say that was one of the
kinds of divisions about which Paul had warned Corinth!
Sad to say, I could tell of other "divisions" and
"splits"–but I’m running out of time and paper. (ysw)
"A
VERY PRESENT HELP"
(Exodus 3:14;
Psalm 46:1)
"My Presence
shall go with Thee, and I will give thee rest."
A very PRESENT
help !
I am WITH THEE
always.
It is not only
on daring and brave endeavors that we are promised His
presence,
but in the
ordinary, and sometimes trying duties of life,
He walks with
us, and cheers us, encouraging us onward.
(GGS)
And Sarah
heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.
And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he
said, Behold, in the tent. And he said, I will certainly
return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo,
Sarah thy wife shall have a son. (Genesis 18:10)
AN IMPORTANT CONFERENCE:
Make plans now to attend the 33rd annual meeting of the Dean Burgon Society.
The theme of this years conference is the four hundred anniversary of the King
James Bible. The date for the meeting is July 27-28, 2011. The place
is Collingswood, New Jersey. This is a meeting you do not want to miss.
Please arrange your schedule to be there in person. To view the 2010
conference please follow this link: http://www.deanburgonsociety.org/Videos/dbs2010.htm
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