2 Corinthians 3, 1-6

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen.

1 Are we starting to commend ourselves again? Or do we - like certain people - need letters of recommendation to you or from you?

2 You are our letter of recommendation; it is inscribed in our hearts and all people can read and understand it.

3 Unmistakably you are a letter from Christ, written through our ministry, not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but - as on tablets - in hearts of flesh.

4 Through Christ we have such great confidence in God.

5 Yet we were not made able to do this on our own, as though we were able to ascribe something to ourselves; rather, our competence comes from God.

6 He has made us able to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Dear congregation,

It is said that a church needs a mission statement. 

Some church leaders are convinced that if the congregation knows who it is and what it wants, then things will look up. And upwards is meant in numbers: enough members, enough income.

Other congregations and church leaders place their hopes in good pastors. They are convinced that if the pastor is good, then the congregation will also do well. Here, too, success is measured by attendance at church services and membership figures.

Both statements make sense to me: yes, it is good if a congregation agrees on what is guiding it and what it wants to radiate. Pastors are just as important - good pastors.    But what makes a mission statement good - what makes a good church - what makes a good pastor? These are the questions addressed in 2 Corinthians.

The church in Corinth was close to Paul's heart. He was there from the very beginning.  And from the very beginning, he had an idea that the Corinthians should be a good church - an example of what it means to be the “body of Christ” as a church. An example of what it means when people see themselves as a new community - not a community of Corinthians, but of women and men who see themselves as sisters and brothers through the Spirit of God.

And this spirit gives life - in the middle of a city where people were dying of worry and poverty. In the midst of bloody economic competition and the question of who would rise to become a world power, Paul is driven by his own personal encounter with Christ: human coexistence does not always have to be determined by competition and opposition. Human coexistence does not have as its most important question: who sets the tone? Who will prevail? Human coexistence not characterized by fear of the strongest and war? Human coexistence not based on power and violence?

You Corinthians, you Christians in Corinth: God has something in mind for you. Through you and in you, God's spirit is in the world - a spirit that Paul describes in detail elsewhere: The Spirit of power, love and prudence. In Galatians, chapter 5, Paul describes the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, tolerance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And Paul adds: “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

And all of this is now at stake for Paul - in Corinth, in his church, with which he associates so much hope. His church is no longer the way he had grown to love it. His church has changed. He no longer feels at home. He feels that it is losing its way. He is afraid for his congregation.

Let us take to heart the concern of someone saying: “We used to do it this way!” Let us listen to the heartache that is triggered in some people by changes in our church or congregation.

There is a deep pain in Paul. He who led the way for so long. They had trusted him. He had achieved so much. And now he is being dropped like a hot potato.

Paul is pushed into the background. The church has lost faith in him. Now there are apostles who inspire with new ideas - apostles who miss the spirit in Paul and say: “It's all far too formal. It lacks the spirit.”

Who measures the Spirit of God?

It doesn't get any worse than one Christian denying another's gift of the Spirit. There is no worse judgment than someone saying: this pastor is only doing his job - he is not gifted with the Holy Spirit.

Paul asks: how do you measure the Holy Spirit? Should I defend myself, he asks? Should I commend myself?  Paul is bitterly disappointed.He withdraws. He writes a letter. In fact, he has written several letters, which come together in 2 Corinthians.

Paul wrestles with his feelings, he wrestles with the congregation. And he reflects on what makes a church alive: the Spirit of God.

Wrestling and struggling are part of being alive, just as disappointment and forgiveness. Part of the strength of a congregation is that its mission statement it is not set in stone.  

A living church is one that has different and new ideas. People have different ideas about the Holy Spirit; the images in which we talk about and with God do change.

Living faith – in a chaotic world with great challenges.

Paul is calling the church with this letter.

You are our letter of recommendation!

You are unmistakably a letter of Christ.

Paul emphasizes the experience: Your fellowship is founded in Christ. You are not a community of like-minded people like in a club. You are not united by an interest: Rugby or music or cooking or whatever. You have not chosen yourselves: God has brought you together. Your fellowship is founded in Christ.

Your fellowship is not in your origin, not in your language, not in your status. You are one in Christ.

This is and remains his guiding principle. It means that differences can be endured. It makes the calling clear: the purpose of the church, the significance of its mission in the city of Corinth is to show how different people can belong together.

A church focussing on this calling is alive.

The promise is still valid: the Spirit moves and is alive. God's spirit works - not always measurable - but definitely tangible.

The Spirit brings life.

It is wonderful, says Paul, to preach, wrestle, pray and come together inspired by this Spirit. We are nothing of ourselves - we are empowered by God.  Paul trusts in this - and look: more than two thousand years later, God's Spirit is still working through his letters.

May the trust grow among us that God is working through us - with or without a mission statement - with or without good pastors. God is working - as long as we have this hope, we trust with Paul. Because we have this hope, we stand up with great boldness.

May this trust grow among us that in our church and through our community Christ becomes visible in the world and that we are unmistakably an epistle of Christ.

May the peace of God, which is higher than our understanding, guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen