Then, what is Apollos?
What is Paul?
Servants through whom you came to believe,
to each (teacher) as the Lord gave
I planted,
Apollos watered,
but God went on causing growth.
And so
neither the one who plants
is anything,
nor the one who waters
but the who causes growth – God
So the one who plants and the one who waters are one,
each will receive their own reward
according to their own work.
For we are coworkers, (belonging to) God,
You are
God’s field
God’s building

Eternal Light, shine into our hearts,
Eternal Goodness, deliver us from evil,
Eternal Power, be our support,
Eternal Wisdom, scatter the darkness of our ignorance,
Eternal Pity, have mercy upon us;
that with all our heart and mind
and soul and strength we may seek thy face
and be brought by thine infinite mercy
to thy holy presence;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Alcuin (735-804)

And I, brothers/sisters,
was not able speak to you
as spiritual people,
but as people with apparently only human impulses
as ‘being babyish’ in Christ.
I gave you milk,
not solid food.
For you were not yet able (to eat it),
and indeed you are not now still.
For still you are fleshly.
For since there is jealously among you
and quarrelling, –
are you not fleshly
and walking according to ‘human standards’?
For whenever you say:
‘I am of Paul’, or another ‘I am Apollos’
are you not (acting) as all too human?

Lord, you have given me so much,
I ask for one more thing –
a grateful heart.

George Herbert

Further we speak about these things
not in words taught by human wisdom
but (in words) taught by the Spirit
– interpreting spiritual things with spiritual words.
But a human-only-level person
does not receive the Spirit of God.
For it is foolishness for them,
and they cannot understand
because they (spiritual things) are spiritually discerned.
“(For) the spiritual person sif ts out all things
but they themselves are not sifted.”
“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
who instructs him?”¹
And we have the mind-set of Christ.

Be thou a bright flame before me,
Be thou a guiding star above me
Be thou a smooth path below me
Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me
Today – tonight -forever
Amen.

St Columba

1. Isa 40:13 ↩︎

For to us God revealed
(these things)
through his Spirit,
For the Spirit searches out all things
even the depths of God(‘s own self).
For who among human beings
has come to know
the things of the human being
except the human spirit
which is in them?
And in the same way, nobody knows the things of God
unless the Spirit of God (reveals them).
For we did not receive the spirit of the world
but the Spirit which is (comes) from God
so that we might understand the things
having been freely given by God to us.

O Love, O God who created me, in your love recreate me.
O Love, who redeemed me,
fill up in me whatever part of your love
has fallen into neglect within me.
O Love, O God, who first loved me,
grant that with my whole heart,
and with my whole soul,
and with my whole strength,
I may love you.

Gertrude the Great

St Ignatius

Yet we speak wisdom
in the presence of the mature-
that is wisdom
not of this age
nor of the rulers of this age
-who are perishing.
But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery
that has been hidden
which was decided beforehand by God
before the ages
for our glory
which none of the rulers
knew.
For if they had known it
they would have not crucified the Lord of glory,
but as it is written:
what eye has not seen
or ear has not heard
and has not occurred to a human heart
God has prepared for those who love him.

Teach us, good Lord,
to serve thee as thou deservest;
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labour and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that we do thy will,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

St Ignatius

And I
-having come to you,
brothers /sisters –
came
proclaiming to you the mystery of God
not with
lofty eloquence (word)
or wisdom
For I did not judge
to know anything
(while I was) among you
except Jesus Christ,
and him crucified.

And I
in weakness
and in fear
and in much trembling
came to you.
And my word
and my message
was not
with persuasive words of wisdom
but with proof of the Spirit and power
so that your belief might not be in the wisdom of humans
but in the power of God.

Grant, Lord,
that we may hold to you without parting,
worship you without wearying,
serve you without failing;
faithfully seek you,
happily find you,
and forever possess you,
the only God,blessed now and for ever.
Amen

St Anselm

So note (the circumstances of) your calling,
brothers/sisters,
that
not many (were) wise according to ‘human standards’ (flesh),
not many (were) influential,
not many (were) well-born.
But God chose the foolish (people) of the world,
in order to put to shame the wise people,
and God chose the weak of the world
in order to shame the strong,
and God chose the insignificant of the world
and the despised,
– the things that are nothing
in order to bring to nothing
the things that are-
so that no human might boast
before God.
Because of him
you all are in Christ Jesus,
who became wisdom for us
from God,
and righteousness
and holiness
and redemption
so that as it is written
The one who boasts, let them boast in the Lord. ¹

1. Jeremiah 9:23,24 ↩︎

Thank you, dear Jesus,
for all you have given me,
for all you have taken away from me,
for all you have left me.

Thomas More (c.1478-1535)

(For Christ did not send me to (customarily) to baptize
but to announce the Gospel,
not in ‘reasonable wisdom’,
so that the cross of Christ
would not be emptied out….)

for the proclamation (word) of the Cross
is foolishness
to those who are being ruined
but it is the power of God
to us who are being saved.

For it has been written:
‘I will bring to ruin the wisdom of the wise,
and the shrewdness of the shrewd I will make powerless.’¹

Where is wisdom?
Where is the ‘sage’?
Where is the debater of this age?
Has not God made foolish
the wisdom of this world (order)?

Because
in the wisdom of God,
the world did not know
– by wisdom
God.
God was pleased
through the foolishness of preaching
to save those who believe.

Whereas Jews ask for a sign-
Greeks seek wisdom.
But we preach Christ, crucified
-to Jews a stumbling block
-to the pagans, foolishness.
But to those who are called,
Jew or pagan,
Christ is the power of God
and wisdom of God.

Because the foolishness of God
is wiser than (the wisdom of) humanity,
and the weakness of God
is stronger than (the strength of ) humanity.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy,
For your mercy and for your truth’s sake. Amen

1. Isa 29:14 ↩︎

So, I appeal to you, brothers/sisters ,
by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that you
all say the same thing,
and that there may not continue to be splits among you
and you be made restored
in one mindset and in one purpose.

For it has been made clear to me
about you, my brothers /sisters,
by Cloe’s people
that you are quarrelling amongst yourselves.

So, I say to you this,
that each of you says:
‘I am Paul’s
or I am Apollos’s
or I am Cephas’s
or I am Christ’s…

Has Christ has been divided up?
‘Paul was not crucified for you, was he?’
or ‘you have not been baptised in the name of Paul, have you?’

I give thanks (to God)
that I did not baptise anybody
-except Crispus, and Gaius.
So that no-one can say you were baptised in my name.
Well, I did also baptise the household of Stephana s.
For the rest, I do not know if I baptised anyone else.

For Christ did not send me to (customarily) to baptise
but to announce the Gospel,
not in ‘reasonable wisdom’,
so that the cross of Christ
would not be emptied out.

O Lord Jesus Christ,
stay beside me to defend me,
within me to guide me,
before me to lead me,
and above me to bless me,
that with you and in you,
I may live, and move and have my being,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

(unknown)

I give thanks to my God,
always,
for you all,
(because) of the grace of God
which has been given to you ,
in Christ Jesus:
because
in all ways
you have been enriched
in him,
-in all speech,
and in all knowledge,
as the testimony of Christ has been confirmed among you –
so that you do not lack any gift,
as you await the revelation of
our lord Jesus Christ.
He will confirm you also
until the end
free from any charge
on the Day of the Lord Jesus.
Faithful is God,
by whom you were called
into a ‘share in the life’ of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

O Lord, in whom is our hope,
remove far from us, we pray thee,
empty hopes and presumptuous confidence.
Make our hearts so right with thy most holy and loving heart,
that hoping in thee we may do good;
until that day when faith and hope
shall be abolished by sight and possession,
and love shall be all in all.

Christina Rossetti (1830-94)