01/18/02025 ~ Second Sunday after the Epiphany ~ Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 40:1-11; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9; John 1:29-42 ~ Weekend of the Federal Holiday known as Martin Luther King Jr. Day ~ EKC VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLwgiYYKtlU HARPSWELL TV VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyEhvbJ4ajg

Small

“Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, together with our brother Sosthenes, to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified, consecrated, in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, a people set apart for the work of God, together with all those who, wherever they may be, call on the name of Jesus, the Christ, who is both their Savior and ours:…” — 1 Corinthians 1:1-2.

I have on several other occasions started my comments the way I am about to start them. “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….”

If my math is right a long time ago would be fifty-one years ago, 1975. A galaxy far, far away would be New York City— not a galaxy but at least a different planet.

As a theater professional in order to kept food on the table, one of the many very odd jobs had while I did that was being a tour guide at South Street Seaport Museum in New York. And yes, the museum is about ships but it’s about more than that. A significant part of the grounds are buildings on very dry land.

One of the sst structures is known as the Schermerhorn Row, six brick buildings built by one Peter Schermerhorn in 1811 to serve the growing seaport. They were called counting houses.

The modern term for counting houses is warehouse. Please note: each of these structures is small and take up only a little section of a city block. These structures were not at all the way we think about warehouses today.

Today a warehouse often covers an area of several city blocks. So what they thought of as large in 1811 is what we think of as quite small, tiny.

Back then the population of the United States was just over 7,000,000. Today it’s about 340 million, nearly 48 times larger than 1811. In drawing this parallel I’m trying to help us understand how different things are— at least in terms of small verses big— in just a little more than 200 years. How about that? (Slight pause.)

We find these words in First Corinthians: “Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, together with our brother Sosthenes, to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified, consecrated, in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, a people set apart for the work of God, together with all those who, wherever they may be, call on the name of Jesus, the Christ, who is both their Savior and ours:…” (Pause.)

You may have heard me offer some of the statistics I’m about to use before but repetition is not a bad idea. We, today, live a society that’s used to big. These days the seating capacity of stadiums for sports events is at least 50,000. Big is what American society likes. Big is how we think. In a cultural sense, we are uncomfortable with small.

The same was true of Roman society in New Testament times. That society thought big. Big is what they liked. The population of the city of Rome— not the Empire, just the city of Rome— the population was about one million people. In fact, the seating capacity of the Coliseum was about… wait for it… 50,000.

That sounds pretty modern, does it not? Indeed, in a cultural sense Rome was uncomfortable with small. (Slight pause.)

You’ve heard me say this: at least 90% of that population lived under conditions that you and I would call slavery. Hence, the economic system could only be described as one based on domination— humans dominating and enslaving humans.

Now it seems to me, humans enslaving other humans might just be a by-product of big. How? Why? Big lacks intimacy. When you don’t deeply know the people you are enslaving, it becomes much easier to enslave them. (Slight pause.)

Well, Paul writes to this church in Corinth, a city which is a thriving commercial hub in this society. It’s a city versed in Roman culture and that culture is enthralled with big. So, how many people belonged to that church in Corinth? How big was it? Hundreds? Thousands? (Slight pause.)

No one really knows exactly how big that church was but we do have a very educated guess. The church in Corinth was not just small. It was tiny— perhaps 50 people or less. In fact, all the churches to which Paul writes are small.

How do we know that? Biblical scholars are fairly confident about two dates and one fact— that’s how they’re confident about it. The dates: this letter to the Church in Corinth was composed in the year 54 of the Common Era. Paul died in the year 64 of the Common Era.

The fact: in the year 100 of the Common Era— 36 years after Paul died— the number of Christians in the entire Mediterranean basin was still very small. It numbered less than… 10,000. To reiterate— the population of Rome: about a 1,000,000— seating capacity of the Coliseum: about 50,000. The entire Christian population in the Mediterranean basin in the year 100: 10,000. (Pause.)

At the end of this reading we hear these words (quote:) “For God, through whom you have been called into intimacy with Jesus, our Savior, is faithful.”

Intimacy— now that’s an interesting word. Here’s one definition of intimacy: an interpersonal relationship that involves emotion.

Emotional interaction demands a close relationship. Intimacy, therefore, is not having lunch with 50,000 of your closest friends. Intimacy demands small. (Pause.)

This weekend we remember the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Often what we remember about Dr. King is big— the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the “I have a dream…” speech, the Nobel Prize speech— big things.

But I think King’s most important contributions may have had a much smaller feel, such as the one on one interactions it’s likely he had with parishioners as a pastor in times of crisis. As a pastor, I know that’s true for me. So perhaps what we need to realize is at times things over which we have no control can become big and make a splash and make a noise. But small is where real things happen.

However, these days there seems to be a lot of noise from a lot of people. And those folks are trying to make noise, sound big. But we need to be wary of noise since noises often drowns out reality. Perhaps that’s the point of those making noise— they like the idea of drowning out reality.

On top of that, when there’s a lot of noise it can result in us, each of us, losing our own voice… our real voice. Why? It can feel like the big stuff all around us, that noise which can drown out reality, requires us to get loud also.

And I think when we get too loud, when we make too much noise, we lose our real voice, lose our one to one touch with others since noise actually demands that we lose intimacy. And intimacy is more real, more vital, than having lunch with those 50,000 close friends. But here’s the paradox: intimacy can be and I think is much harder to accomplish than mere noise making. (Slight pause.)

All that leads me to this question: what is our real voice? What is our true self? Well, Paul says Jesus is faithful. And perhaps that is the key.

You see, I think when we emulate Jesus in faithfulness we can discover and rediscover our own real voice. We need to be aware the call of God on our lives is to walk in the will of God, express the love of God, seek knowledge concerning the path of God. That is faithfulness.

I think the path God would have us trod, the path to which God calls us is intimate, small, one on one. Therefore, instead of thinking about the world in big ways perhaps what we need to do is seek the justice God seeks one on one, person to person, one step at a time.

Indeed, Paul tells us we are called to be saints, people set apart for the work of God. And I believe that work means faithfully— faithfully seeking justice one step at a time, one person at a time.

So, this is where I’m at: seeking justice is a small act. And it is a small act because it’s done one on one, face to face. Indeed, it’s hard— or at least it’s hard for me— to deny another person justice when you are looking them in the eye, when you know them one on one.

And when each of us seeks the justice of God, when each of us acts in small ways, when each of does our own part, when each of us takes personal responsibility to seek justice— that is when seeking justice becomes big. Indeed, I believe when we seek justice in this way, one on one, we also are faithful disciples of Christ. Faithful disciples— faithfulness— now there is a really big idea— faithfulness. Amen.

01/18/2026
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “Scripture tells us— First Kings 19 to be precise— Scripture tells us the voice of God comes in a gentle whisper. I, myself, tend to be wary of loud. So please do listen for gentle whispers. A seminary professor of mine published a book about small being the right size for a church. So I don’t think it’s wise to follow what I see as a too often practiced American trait, rejecting small simply because it’s small. Or as a pastor friend of mine once said, it’s better to do something good than it is to do something big”

BENEDICTION: Let us learn as faithful disciples of Christ. Let us know that God is available to us at any time and in any place. Let us give thanks for the grace of God in Christ, Jesus. Let us trust in God for all time and for all eternity. Amen.