Unity In All? – 1 Corinthians 1:10-18

What this episode covers

In this week’s text, we look at Paul’s words to the church in Corinth where he stresses unity. Is unity helpful or harmful? How does Paul understand his own role in the early Christian movement? What does it mean for people to work in solidarity with one another while also holding people to a higher standard?  Episode Transcript Brian: Welcome to the Queer Theology podcast! Fr. Shay: Where each episode, we take a queer look at the week’s lectionary readings. We’re the co-founders of QueerTheology.com and the hosts for this podcast. I’m Father Shay Kearns B: And I’m Brian G. Murphy. FS: Hello, hello, and welcome back to the Queer Theology podcast. It is Sunday, January 26 and we are excited to be back with you for a second version of our new, and revamped, and longer podcast, and so… Together: Buckle in! B: I can’t believe it’s already the end of January. The time is flying. FS: I know! It’s wild! It’s wild! So what’s new in your world, Brian? B: It’s still trucking along in trying to figure out my life-career, making all the money work. [laughs] So thank you to everyone who supports Queer Theology making it a little less stressful. The website is ready which is wild to me! It’s been a long time coming and I don’t know now if we’re going to find glitches, so if you find glitches on the website please very gingerly let me know about them. There’s almost seven years of QueerTheology.com now. We’ve started with a one-page website. We were like, let’s just see what happens and we just keep adding more and more as ya’ll keep wanting more and more from us. So trying to make sense of seven years of content in a way that is useful to you and gets everything there but is not overwhelming and that nothing got lost in translation has been a challenge. So many spreadsheets , and spreadsheets, and spreadsheets trying to keep track of everything. So if you spot any glitches, let me know. That’s me. What about you Shay? You’re getting ready to come to me! FS: Yeah! I’m super excited! I signed up for this 2-day workshop it’s called Something To Say and Rob Bell basically walks through a 2-day communications workshop on how to communicate better. It’s capped at 30 people, so I’m super excited to just be in a really intimate space of other creatives and communicators, and hopefully, learn some tips. I’ve long admired Rob Bell as a public speaker, the fact that he can give a 2-hour or more talk that involves science and deep theology, and never once look at notes is just… it’s just mind-blowing to me. I aspired to that level of ease with both message, and also content, and being. So I don’t think he is going to fix my life in the next two days, but I’m certainly hopeful that he will give a push in the right direction. I guess I just find him really inspiring the way that he has reinvented his life and his ministry, and his career a couple of times over. I’m just excited to be in the same room as him and kinda soak up that energy for a couple of days. Also, to not be in the tundra of Minnesota for a week and I think I’ll probably be the only person in LA in a tank top and swimming trunks. Everyone else will be in their jackets, but I’ll be like “Not Minnesota”. So I’m pretty stoked about that. B: I’m excited for you to bring some of that learning and energy to the work that we’re doing here and just continue taking Queer Theology up it up to the next level. Making it more and more useful and engaging for folks. One of the things we set out to do all those years ago was to engage the head and the heart of theology. It has to be a sound faith, but it also has to be a meaningful faith. That’s what we’re trying to do and I’m excited to see what comes out of your time with Rob Bell. FS: Yeah, and you’ve been working on a course for everyone too,