Respecting others and keeping unity

There are times when we feel we have a right to do good things regardless of others. I am speaking, here, of particular prayers, forms of liturgy and participation in good and holy things.  Just because an action is good in itself does not necessarily mean that it is the best thing to do or, indeed, the right thing to do in a given situation.  We must be mindful of our own relationships, family, community and faith tradition to which we belong.  If our actions cause unnecessary upset to others or risks sowing or exacerbating divisions in the Body of Christ then we ought not do such good things but, instead, trust in providence.

This point is well captured in the advice of Saint Paul to the church in Corinth (1 Corinthians 8:9-13):

But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling-block to the weak. For if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, might they not, since their conscience is weak, be encouraged to the point of eating food sacrificed to idols? So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed. But when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall.

Later in this Letter, he writes (1 Corinthians 10:23-24):

‘All things are lawful’, but not all things are beneficial. ‘All things are lawful’, but not all things build up. Do not seek your own advantage, but that of others.

And, in his Letter to the Romans, St Paul writes (14:15):

If your brother or sister is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. 

He boldly states (14:19):

Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual edification.

What St Paul wrote about and experienced in the very early decades of the Christian Church has so much relevance and salience right now, when we can sometimes convince ourselves that we are serving God by insisting on our rights, our preferences, or even our devotions. Yet Paul reminds us that Christian maturity is measured not by what we are free to do, but by our willingness to seek what builds up the Body of Christ, preserves communion.