Sermon Title: "One Body"
Date: January 24, 2010
Minister: Rev. Susan Bjork

Lesson:  1 Corinthians 12:12-20, 26-27

 

The human body is a complex, interconnected system.  Each part of the body is important and serves its function, contributing to the health and well-being of the whole.  Each body needs its various parts to work together in order to be healthy: the heart must beat, pumping blood to the rest of the system; the lungs must breathe, bringing in the oxygen we need; the digestive system must process fuel; the nervous system must receive and transmit information; and so on and so forth. 

Now perhaps this seems very obvious to you.  After all, most of us here in 21st century America have at least a basic knowledge of human anatomy (and some of you who work in the medical field know a whole lot more).  And most of us know from our own experiences what our bodies feel like when we are most healthy and when something is out of sorts.

But actually, this notion of the body as an interdependent system of diverse parts working in unison for the healthy functioning of the body as a whole is not new at all.  It’s quite old. 

In fact, the apostle Paul was not the only person in the 1st century to use the human body as a metaphor for community life.  But Paul was the first Christian writer to speak of the Church as the Body of Christ.

You see, community imagined as a body is actually a very hopeful image.  A body at its best (or a community at its best) is an illustration of unity in diversity.  Just as the body’s diverse parts work together for the health and well-being of the whole, so can the diverse people in a community work together in unity and live together in harmony for the health and well-being of the whole community.

It is important to note that this kind of communal unity is not about uniformity.  In fact, this kind of unity actually requires diversity: just as the body requires diverse parts for diverse functions, the Body of Christ requires diverse people with diverse gifts and abilities who offer their best for the good of the community, which Charlie spoke about last week.

This unity in diversity is Paul’s great hope for the Christian Church, the Body of Christ.

Scholars have noted that Paul tended to bring up this image of the Body of Christ when there was discord or disunity in a particular community and they needed to be reminded of their true nature. 

You see Paul had a bit of a pastoral problem at the church in Corinth.  At one point in his letter, he openly cautions the Corinthians not to have an overly high estimation of themselves and to avoid prideful, boastful, or in his words, “puffed up” behavior. 

Chances are Paul was speaking primarily to a small but powerful minority within the Corinthian Church when he warned against this self-aggrandizement. 

The city of Corinth itself was a predominantly gentile city with a pretty steep social pyramid.  There was a small, but powerful wealthy minority who exercised political and economic power over the poor majority, sometimes to the point of grossly unethical abuse of the poor.  In fact, some of Paul’s contemporaries went as far as characterizing Corinth as a sort of “sin city” where hedonistic excess was the norm and where very little cultural depth was to be found.  But when it comes down to it, Corinth was probably like a lot of places in the Roman Empire where a few had most of the power and the majority didn’t have a lot of anything.

Interestingly enough, the Corinthian church probably reflected a pretty consistent cross section of the city.  So naturally, some of the same social dynamics that were at play in the city were also at play in the church. 

For example, a handful of the politically powerful, wealthy members were the ones who could afford to provide a place for worship in their homes (this was before communal church buildings were the norm) and they could provide food for the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.  These were wonderful gifts that these members could offer their church community.  However, this became a problem when certain groups within the Corinthian church began to gather early when the poor were unable to join them and eat and drink up all the food that was supposed to be reserved for the communal meal.

So, Paul, as the Corinthian’s pastor and apostle, saw the need to address some of these issues within the church.  And he saw that part of his task was to lift up the less powerful and encourage them, affirming their vital and integral role in the church community.  And at the same time he needed to offer a correction to those who had crossed the line and neglected to use their power for the good of the whole community.  So he wrote this letter.

And what better metaphor could Paul use to illustrate his great hope for Christian community then the Body of Christ in which each member is a vital and unique contributor to the health and well-being of the whole?  The Body of Christ in which there is room for a diversity of thought, a diversity of talents, a diversity of abilities, a diversity of means, and a diversity of functions and yet there is one goal: to be Christ’s Church in the world, to give glory, praise, and thanksgiving to God for the opportunity, and to live and act as one communion reflective of God’s abundant love to the best of our ability. 

Paul wanted the Corinthian church members to care for one another, to pay attention to each other’s needs, and to value each member of the one Body as a precious and vital member and contributor to the whole. 

And perhaps it should be noted here that Paul’s message was not “Corinthians you should become the Body of Christ” but more strongly “Corinthians, you are the Body of Christ; that is your very nature.  It became your identity when you were born anew through the Holy Spirit in the waters of your baptism.  It is who you are.  So it’s time to take a look at your community and make sure you’re actions line up with your identity.”

To live, breathe, act, and be the Body of Christ.  That is Paul’s great hope for unity in diversity in the Christian Church.

Now fast forward from ancient Corinth to today, to us here in this gathered body, each of us members of a large, global, and very diverse Body of Christ.  We are one small expression of the Body of Christ here at Bay Shore Church and we are also part of a much larger body that has taken shape in many forms, in many places, in many ways, in many cultures, over many centuries: one body, many members.

So, where in your life does Paul’s message speak to you?  What does it mean to you (each and every one of you) to be named as a vital, integral, and precious member of Christ’s Body?  What does it mean to you to consider the people you are sitting next to this morning as vital, integral, and precious members of Christ’s Body?  What does it mean to you to consider that people all over the world are vital, integral, and precious members of Christ’s Body?

I’ve been thinking about this metaphor of the body a lot this week.  I’ve been thinking about how our bodies function, each part doing what it was made to do, contributing to the whole.  And then I thought “what about when bodies suffer, when something in the body doesn’t function as it should; what about when bodies experience pain?”  What do we do with Paul’s metaphor of the Body of Christ now?

Well I came up with one conclusion (and perhaps you’ll come up with more).  My conclusion is this: the “body in pain” has something to teach us about compassion in the Body of Christ.

I have heard it said before that “when you have a toothache, you feel like you are all tooth.”  You could also say that when you stub your toe, you feel like you are all toe or when your head aches; that’s all you can focus on.  In other words, in many cases, our bodies naturally react to those areas that need our attention (sometimes very loudly and clearly as with acute injury and unfortunately other times much more subtly or sometimes not at all as with silent disease). 

Biologists would say that there is a biologically necessary purpose to pain.  Although we all know that pain can be exceedingly uncomfortable and often terribly disruptive to our daily lives, particularly when pain is chronic, intense, and/or long-lasting.  But think about it for a minute: if our bodies were not equipped to ever feel physical pain, how would we know when had a cavity, or sprained an ankle, or had another invisible injury to a part of our body?  How would we know when an injured part of our body was in need of care?

The bodily experience of pain alerts us to give care to an injured or ill part of our body.  Likewise, the experience of compassion alerts us to give care to an injured or ill part of Christ’s Body.  Compassion literally means “to suffer with.”  Compassion is on some level an embodied experience as well as an emotional, intellectual, and spiritual reaction.

I know I am not the only one in this faith community who has had a visceral, gut-wrenching reaction to the Haitian earthquake.  My soul has ached for the people of Haiti as I have seen the photographs and television footage of the devastating destruction.  They are our neighbors, our brothers and sisters in the human family, our fellow members of the Body of Christ.  I know I’m not alone in this reaction.

Compassion in the Body of Christ, like pain in one’s own body, is uncomfortable but serves as an alert to bind up the wounds of the injured and care for those in need  because when it comes down to it, we’re all part of Christ’s Body, each and every one of us precious in God’s sight.

The earthquake in Haiti (like Hurricane Katrina and the Asian Tsunami before it) was like a sudden injury that sent jolts of pain through our nerves.  But it is also a symptom of something more chronic and more serious.  When piled upon years of colonization, slavery, political instability and corruption, lack of infrastructure, and poverty, this 7.0 earthquake was like the “straw that broke the camel’s back.”  This earthquake was not simply a natural disaster that happened in a social vacuum. 

So the question is how do we respond as the Body of Christ to the aching and injured members of this one Body? 

Well, we have to start somewhere, so I say we begin with compassion, and continue with our honest prayers, and our earnest donations toward the immediate relief efforts.  And we continue (as the Body of Christ has long before us) to pursue peace and justice for all of God’s Beloved Creation, the journey begun by Jesus himself who said in today’s gospel lesson in Luke that he came “to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and to let the oppressed go free.” 

Jesus Christ is the head, the nervous system, the heart, the connective tissue that binds us together as One Body.  You are the Body of Christ, each and every one of us a precious member of it, beloved of God.  Amen.