Dr. Docherty's eyes began to mist as he shared with me his thoughts of yesteryear. He describes walking through the streets of Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Iona and Washington, D.C., seeing the ghosts that walk those streets where he had ministered. He says, "I can't go back and have it the same way it used to be. So many of my loved ones have gone to be with Christ." And then looking at me with all the intensity one can bring in eye contact, counseled in that crisply articulated Scottish brogue, "John, never lead your people to the throne of grace in a pastoral prayer without remembering to thank God for the communion of saints, those who have gone before, with whom we are linked in such meaningful ways."

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I say the same to you. Remember, you were built for relationship. Don't go it alone in the Christian faith. Enjoy the family of St. Andrew's. Cultivate a global Christian view that reaches out to brothers and sisters in Christ here in Orange County, throughout the United States and across this Planet Earth, resisting those self-indulgent urges to individualism, separatism, cultivating your own exclusive and comfortable existence. Thank God for your connectedness with brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, who have gone before. They are still alive, even more so than you and I. Why? Because they are in the presence of Jesus Christ with new bodies, healed beings. Right now, they're cheering us on. They fill the stands in the arena. We are the players on the field. We are in this together. Thank God for the family of God. Thank God for all the saints who from their labors rest!

Do you see what Paul has accomplished in these opening words to the church at Corinth? He's reminded them of his own authority as an apostle. He knows he's going to have to deal with some difficult topics. His authority must be established. An apostle is one who has received his commission directly from the Savior, one who has seen the resurrected Lord with his own eyes, and one who has supreme authority. Nine times in these opening nine verses, he names the name of Jesus Christ, establishing his apostolic authority. He has been called by the will of God. He is not a puppet of the wealthy or the powerful or even the masses. He is an ambassador of God with a specific message that must be heard. He's addressing it to a church, not to a building made of bricks and mortar, but to a gathered people, saints who are consecrated, holy, pure, in the eyes of God, although not perfect in their own accomplishment. He refers to the saints at Corinth. He doesn't say the members of my church or Peter's church or the church of Apollos. Too often here in Southern California, we refer to the church as Robert Schuller's church, Chuck Smith's church, Rick Warren's church, Kenton Beshore's church, or even John Huffman's church. How much better it is to refer to the saints of the community of believers in Garden Grove, Costa Mesa, Saddleback, Irvine, and Newport Beach. Paul is establishing our relationship that we have with each other.