For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12
Part of the power of Scripture is the use of metaphor. Jesus often used ordinary, everyday experiences in his parables. Paul also draws on something we are intimately familiar: our bodies, I am not sure how often we contemplate our own embodiment...until, of course, we stub our pinkie toe or toothaches or we receive a warm hug from a family member we have not seen in awhile or hold the hand of a friend in a difficult time. We don't often think about our sense of touch...but we know it to be very powerful. I feel the warmth of the sun or the chill of the rain on my skin. I jump in the pool and the water evaporates off, making me aware of my skin. This morning, after worship, the people who pressed their hand into mine, a moment of bringing Paul's words off the page and to life.
To be sure, we can wax eloquent about the power of community. There is much good that comes from our togetherness. As the great hymn says, "Blessed be the tie that binds...our hearts in Christian love...the fellowship of kindred minds...is like to that above." The church is to be a moment where the words of the Lord's Prayer, "Thy Kingdom (kin-dom...realm) come on earth." If the church is not a glimpse of that, we need to ask why? Yet, we also need to name and claim that the church does not always get it right. We make mistakes...miss the mark in our relationships. We say things we regret or drag out a debate about carpeting for the loooongest time, just because. One of my favorite Peanuts cartoons says it best...
I love humanity...it is people I can't stand. How many of us have ever felt that way? Of course, NOT me...certainly NOT after some church meeting when I said some boneheaded thing that led to a twenty minute exit ramp. Paul's point is that we celebrate the body of Christ, not only in good times when the Spirit is stirring and we are holding hands and singing Kumbaya...but also in difficult times and especially with people we, like Linus, may not be able to stand. Paul will go on to say, "The hand cannot say to the foot...I have no need of you." Likewise, I cannot say to that person who grates on my nerves...I have no need of you. Like a body, in order to be whole, we need each other. Even those parts that might frustrate us.
Part of what makes recent church life so troubling is ALL over the church seems to be saying to each other, "I have no need of YOU!" Evangelicals say it to Progressives; Progressives say it right back. Some churches say that about our LGBTQ brothers and sisters. Some churches say that about your political stance. Some churches say it based on what you understand about science or the Nicene Creed or how you read Scripture. Paul says, "Stop it." We cannot say that to each other. In Christ, all divisions were torn down. In Christ's life he reached out to the really religious and the left out. He ate with some of the holiest people and some whose hearts were as hard as stone. Christ lived in a life that loved humanity and LOVED people.
That is a high bar for us who claim to follow Jesus today. A bar, I knock my head on and don't clear numerous times every day...okay to be honest every hour! Yet, rather than hold Paul's words at arm's length, this week I am going to try to notice God's grace in the people I usually only get frustrated with, the ones whose voice is like nails on a chalk board. Because, what if, our still speaking God is trying to speak through that person? That person you usually dismiss or make fun of? It might compel us to listen...listen differently. Maybe if we do...there would be at least a trace of God's grace.
May it be so for you and for me.
Blessings.
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