Like Watching Sausage Getting Made
But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.
2 Corinthians 4:7-12
Friends,
A story comes from my childhood about blutwurst.
It seems one of my uncles was in the military. My uncle would receive homemade blutwurst and share it with a friend of his. This friend loved blutwurst. The friend loved blutwurst so much that he wanted the recipe to make his own blutwurst.
My grandmother translated the recipe from German to English for the friend. When the friend saw that the recipe called for 1-2 quarts of pig’s blood, he never touched blutwurst again.
There is a saying, “Like watching sausage getting made”. It means something like the process to get to a result is not very appealing, even if the result is appealing.
That’s true of church conventions. My wife is a delegate to our church convention this next week. She receives emails and snail mail from different sides of multiple issues asking her to vote a certain way. She receives the same type of communication asking her to vote for certain candidates. When she gets to the convention, she will see people disagreeing, often in very heated ways, on both issues and candidates. Accusations will be made; feelings will be hurt, and decisions will be made. Then the convention ends.
“Like watching sausage getting made”.
I quoted a passage above from 2 Corinthians 4:7. It states, “But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.”
The passage doesn’t say anything about sausage. But it does talk about people. We are fragile. We are broken. We get offended easy. Sometimes it results in some terrible disagreements among individuals and groups.
But the good news is God works through these fragile, broken and offended people. Paul says, “this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.”
Through all this conflict and disagreement, God ultimately brings about his purposes.
This convention will look ‘like sausage getting made” but God will ultimately accomplish his purposes despite ourselves.
Peace,
Ricky Adams
Pastor
Peace Lutheran Church
Mill Valley, California