No schism

that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.  - 1 Corinthians 12:25

Schism is an ugly word, isn't it? It is one of those English words that just sounds like it is not a nice word. It is almost onomatopoeic. The Greek word means ans split or a gap or a rending. You can almost hear that happening when you say the word.

In the church this ugly word is used to describe real ugliness. There have been several infamous schisms in Christianity in its general sense. Most of these were political in nature. There were a couple of Great Schisms in the Roman Catholic Church. This kind of thing is bad and we know what kind of damage it did even if they were more political than religious. Wars were fought and people died.

There have been schisms that are more common in nature. Good churches have split over all kinds of things. Sometimes there are major issues. Sometimes they are petty issues. Sometimes they are dumb things like the colour of the carpet or the layout of a car park.

It is these stupid things that come to my mind. Schisms are never good, but it is the stupid stuff that so often does so much damage.

Isn't it amazing what we allow to schism us?

These schisms and splits and divides in and amongst our churches are horrible things. When good churches are split and sweet fellowships are broken it is not what God wants. It happens because we become more focused on ourselves than on others.

Paul is off course speaking here of the body of Christ, the church. He has just spoken and all the wonderful and diverse members of that body. When we split and divide and schism it is like cutting off one’s nose to spite the face. It is ugly. It is sinful. It is not of God.