IMAGINE THIS: YOU ARE SAINT PAUL, come to see what 21st century Christian life in Canada is all about. You spend time in a local church, where you get to know some of the people. You think back to all those people whom you had heard about on that startling Pentecost Day – when Peter and the others were heard in their own languages: men and women from all around the Mediterranean basin. But here you see many new faces: Vietnamese, Indian, Korean, Filipino, Chinese, Aboriginal. Even more startling are all these fairskinned, fairhaired men and women. You had dreamt of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ to all nations. Could it be that this dream had come true in such a dramatic way?

You wander down a busy street, following some of the people who had been with you at the church. A scruffy couple asks them for some money, and the church people snap at them and keep going. Twenty centuries later, these Christians must have as much trouble understanding the relationship between Eucharist and the poor as those dear Corinthians did. A few blocks further down the bustling street – way busier than anything you ever knew, even in Ephesus or Athens, you notice a tiny shop displaying an array of items that, on closer examination, look like they belong to some religious observances. You chat with the people in the shop, and realize that after all these centuries, you still recognize idols when you see them. A few blocks further you come across a group of young folk who are all sporting large crosses. You’re startled to see such things, but remember that crucifixion is no longer practiced. When you strike up a conversation as you used to, they laugh, “Hey, man, this cross doesn’t mean anything. It’s just the fashion these days. Why’s it so important to you?” The knife stabs your heart: the cross – folly to unbelievers, power and wisdom to those being saved. Why are the young people out here wearing the cross? Why were so few young people in the church? How could the cross of Christ – that event that changed the course of history – be reduced to a “fashion accessory”?

In the few blocks you’ve walked, you’ve seen so many buildings called churches. I t seems that they have all claimed Christ for themselves. You wonder how they would answer the questions you once addressed with such passion to the Corinthians, “Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you?”

You think back to last week’s Eucharist. The women who proclaimed the word of God and served the L ord’s body and blood: their presence reminded you of the baptismal equality so dear to you: “no longer Jew or Greek … slave or free …  ale or female” …. Some things seem to have sunk in. Snatches of conversation come back, however. O ne friend teased another, “It’s all about you, eh?” You wonder if these people struggle as much with the un-selfing that being part of Christ’s body demands, as some of the members of your community did so many centuries ago.

Paul’s world was not so different from our own, and his challenges, very like  those we confront. His hearers, like our contemporaries, came from a variety of religious backgrounds. Some were Jews; others were Greeks and Romans who had no experience of monotheism. Like most of our contemporaries, they had no experience of the risen Christ. Paul sought to hand on to all of them, each with their own culture and experience, the gospel of Christ crucified that he had come to know so intimately.

At the first vespers of the solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul on June 28, the church will begin a jubilee year in honour of Saint Paul’s 2000th birthday, which scholars have situated sometime between 8 and 10 A .D. What an  extraordinary opportunity to get to know the mind of Paul, and to mine his wisdom for today’s challenges. Too often our knowledge of Paul is limited to phrases such as “Wives, be submissive to your husbands” or “Love is patient and kind.” It’s time to get beyond these snippets to discover the fiery apostle to the G entiles who has been called the first Christian theologian, whose ability to apply his theology to the practical details of community life in his cultural context – however alien it might be to ours – was masterful.

We who live in an “alien culture” can’t complain that no one has ever before had to face the challenges it presents. Empowered by the Spirit, with mind and heart inflamed by God’s history-changing victory over the powers of Sin and Death inaugurated in the death and resurrection of Christ, Paul challenged, debated with and jostled the prevailing theologies and cultures that this tricultural rabbi knew so well.  Valuing tradition and recognizing the necessity for innovation, Paul set about the process we now call inculturation. His one goal: that pagan and Jew, slave and free, male and female, know Christ, the hope of glory. The same goal must underpin all our ministry.

Paul would not expect us to simply repeat every iota of the advice he gave to his contemporaries whose worlds, despite deep similarities, differed significantly from ours. Rather, he would expect us to do as he did: to think out of our deep theology, to grapple with how it translates into behaviours, values, relationships and structures, and to never betray any of it for “pastoral”  reasons. Such a process presumes that we too have met and been transformed by the risen Christ, that we see the Church as the manifestation of this transformation for the good of all peoples and all creation, and that we respond to the guiding power of the Spirit.

That the beginning of this jubilee coincides with the launch of the new Celebrate! is a happy coincidence, for our goal is to support all of you, our readers, in your varied ministries in these challenging times. Who better to inspire this task than Saint Paul? You’ll discover Paul in these pages during this jubilee year, but more importantly, in every year and every issue you’ll find articles that will help us work together with Christ, as Paul did, so that people, young and old, can meet Christ, hear his gospel, and live it.

celebrae@telusplanet.net