by Warren Baldwin

When I was a kid, two items in the local newspaper drew my attention: the sports page and the Ann Landers (or Dear Abby) column. I liked the sports page because it carried a lot of stories about local events and athletes, and I liked the column of Ann or Abby (I can't remember which one of these two it was, but at one time or another I have read both of their columns) because I couldn't believe some of the personal-problem stories people wrote in about. I also couldn't believe some of the answers Ann gave.

It struck me early on that Ann was not giving Christian responses. Yes, much of her advice was moral and sound. But over time it seemed like the undertone of her advice was oriented to personal rights: "You have the right to be happy, you have the right to self-fulfillment, you have the right to appropriate self-expression." And in a society committed to individual rights, who would argue with her?

I think Paul would. Not Paul McCartney or Paul Newman. I mean the apostle Paul.

Think about it. Paul dealt with some of the same issues that Ann Landers did. Marital problems, selfish relatives and friends, inconsiderate neighbors or associates, sexual temptations or indiscretions, disruptions at church. Well, maybe Ann didn't deal with that last one a lot, but there were some discussions about church and synagogue issues in her column as I recall.

Paul dealt with those problems differently than Ann. Whereas Ann wrote from a personal rights agenda, Paul wrote from a corporate responsibility agenda. The answer to a question about an inconsiderate husband or wife was not to assert your rights, but to seek the best interests of the family, reflecting Christ in the process. The answer to sexual temptation was not to seek one's own comfort or pleasure, but to orient that stress toward marriage and family, reflecting Christ in the process. The answer to selfish or inconsiderate people in one's life was not to competitively assert one's self over them, but to serve their best interests, reflecting Christ in the process. And the answer to church disruptions was not to push back, fight back or retaliate in some way, but to maintain the body of Christ in the spirit of unity and peace, reflecting Christ in the process.

Some of Ann's answers might sound like Paul's on a given issue, but the origin and nature of their thinking over time would take the reader in very different directions: One toward individual happiness (which often results, ironically, in loneliness), and one toward corporate responsibility (which often results, as God intends, in belonging and togetherness).

Richard Hays writes of Paul's approach: "The advice he (Paul) offers is not ... as though he were a first-century Ann Landers, answering everybody's cards and letters in terms of a lowest common denominator of common sense. Rather, he is seeking to shape the life of a particular community ... His letters should be read primarily as instruments of community formation" ("Ecclesiology and Ethics in 1 Corinthians," Ex Auditu. Link: campus.northpark.edu).

As good as some of Ann's advice was, it was oriented too much around the self. It promoted self-awareness, self-assurance, self-realization. And, in fairness to Ann, that approach is quite the norm in our self-oriented society. One unfortunate result of so much self-promotion is we have many lonely, sad people, the unavoidable fallout of self-ish living.

Paul's approach, by virtue of the Spirit, is community focused, whether that community be the Christian home or the larger Christian community, the church. The Spirit promotes community-awareness, community-interests, community-service. Paul's interest in community building meant that he sometimes ignored his own desires and happiness, even his own health and safety, for the good of the larger community. Paul didn't put himself into situations to be imprisoned, shipwrecked, beaten, and starved because he liked it or it promoted self-ish interests. Rather, he endured abuse because it served the interests of the larger community and reflected Christ in the process. "Does this make me happy?" was not the pivotal question for Paul.

Paul or Ann; community or self. That tension tears at our families and churches. Which side of the tension do you fall on?