More than Individuals

 

As we wrap up and wind down the practice of incarnation/wearing skin/being human ~ I want to move from the individual to the communal.  Paul says that we are the body of Christ ~ individually and collectively.  You are Christ’s hands, and we are together.

Did you catch that tension?  It really feels like a contradiction.  I want to say, “Um, Paul, is that I bear Christ’s image or that anytime two or three of us gather to sing, pray, have a committee meeting, or talk over coffee that/those moments together are the image of Christ?”  I sense Paul would smile and say, “Yes.” 

So, what does the church, being the body of Christ visually look like?

What does the church, being the body of Christ together, sound like?

What is our aroma?

What is our taste?

I could say, the church looks like all races and gender expressions and human understandings, singing and praying together whilst eating Jell-O salad that smells like limes and pineapple, with smiles on our faces and tears in our eyes.

I could say, the church looks like three people sitting silently while a pumpkin spice candle fills the room before they quietly serve each other bread, or wash each other’s feet, feeling the bread and hearing each other say, “This is the body of Christ for you!  And this is the cup of life and love for you!”

Or I could say, the church looks like a modern-day version of Hollywood Squares, each of us in our zoom box staring at a screen, as we laugh together, all of us with a candle burning next to us, and touching the keys of our computers to communicate.

Or I could say, the church looks like people gathered around a campfire roasting s’mores and singing songs and telling stories under the star-filled sky ~ that evokes and provokes all the senses!!

The body of Christ cannot be confined or contained in a box ~ that there are endless, evolving expressions of what it means to be together ~ something bigger than just the unholy trinity of me, myself and I.  May you and I continue to explore this through our bodies interacting with other parts of creation in these Easter days. Amen.