we are the aroma of christ?

Paul wrote a lot of words,
the Paul of the Bible that is.
People along the way have used Paul's
words to clobber
one another.

Maybe you don't
agree.
Perhaps you don't
agree
because you
have not been one
clobbered by others
using Paul's words.

Whether or not you agree...
Paul still wrote a lot of words!

In the second chapter of
Paul's second letter to the
Corinthians starting in the verse
numbered 14
you will discover
an interesting statement.

Paul says we are the
aroma of Christ!

We smell!

I suppose as
a people called the church
there are times we
smell pleasant...
and there are times
we just plain stink!

What we say about
and what we do with
this thing called
faith
has the power to linger around.

We either invite and
encourage healing and hope...
or we
create
resentment
and dissent.

As Ann Weems writes:
Yes, yes, I know:
The Presbyterians
have a history of fighting...but our faith has a
history of forgiving.

It's time
to trust
God's forgiving.

It's time
to trust
each other.

It's time
to trust
healing can
happen.

If we can't
trust...
if we refuse to trust
we might as well
give in
to our stinky-
ness.