How is your foundation?

     This week we will hear more about Paul's letter to the early church in Corinth.  We have been hearing from the first couple chapters the last few weeks, and thus far it has been obvious that Paul is writing to a church that is experiencing some conflict - over a lot of things.  Recently we heard about the conflict over who started the church: Paul, Apollos, or Cephas?  This week's reading is from 1 Corinthians 3.10-11, 16-23 and Paul goes into the foundation of the church, Christ.  He very artfully says, "According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ."  Paul was one of many builders in the church in Corinth and they had to carefully think and pray about how best to build the church.
     I think Paul's letter could just as well have been written to St. John Lutheran in Ely, Iowa.  Thankfully we are not experiencing conflict, but we are at a point where we need to be thinking about how to build Christ's church.  God has blessed us and we are bursting at the seams - during worship, coffee hour, education hour, and during the week!  What a wonderful dilemma to face!  In 1854 a group of German and Czech immigrants started a new community of faith and called it St. John.  With Christ as the foundation, our community has experienced several changes in the 157 years it has existed, and yet here we are!  Precisely because Christ is the foundation upon which our community is built, it is able to withstand cultural, societal, and physical change.
     When Paul tells the Corinthians that they are God's holy temple, he was talking to them as a community of faith, but I also think he was talking to them as individuals.  You (fill in your name), are God's temple.  When Christ is the foundation of your life, that temple is strong and sturdy, and your light shines for all to see!  Paul goes on to say in his letter that everything in the world belongs to us, and we belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God; therefore everything in the world belongs to God.  How do we tend God's belongings?  How do we steward (care for) God's gifts to us?  Lastly, and the mystery for this week, how is your foundation?