Together, Anything is Possible 1-23-22
Neh 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
all the people gathered together into the square before the Water Gate. They told the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel. Accordingly, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding. This was on the first day of the seventh month. He read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. Then they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. So they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
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. Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.
Prayer – Lord you have called all people to work together as one, to bring about your kingdom now. Sadly we value some parts as being more important than other parts; sadly we think that once we have done our part we have nothing else to contribute. Remind us this day that we are called to work, one member with another, even if we are different, to bring about the possibilities of your kingdom now and forevermore – help us together, be faithful members of your body – amen.
Paul has a troubled church on his hands – First Church in Corinth. As one reads through Paul’s 1st letter to the church in Corinth, you can infer that there were divisions, disputes, infidelities, and a host of other problems that made this group a candidate as poster child for Paul’s worst congregation. And yet to them, with all their problems, Paul says, “Now you are the body of Christ.” You are, despite any and all of your limitations, the body of Christ.
It is somewhat amazing to me that Paul would make that sort of statement to this sort of church. For a number of chapters Paul has been hammering the church for all of their woeful inadequacies as the church. They ought to be ashamed calling themselves Christians and acting the way they have acted, with their fussing and feuding and doctrinal ignorance, petty divisions, and cowardly disloyalty to the way of Christ. I just finished reading a book entitled “If the Church were Christian” which you will probably hear more about in future sermons. But when you think about it, the church today isn’t very different than the church in Corinth. Today, we fight over the authority of scripture as it relates to women in ministry and as it relates to the issue of homosexuality, ordination and same-sex marriage. Today we fight over the personhood of Jesus and what that means for salvation in a pluralistic world. Today we fight over traditional worship and contemporary worship and no matter which side you stand on you are right and someone else is wrong. These divisive fights are tearing at the fabric of the body of Christ – rending it, the church, in two. People seem to be more concerned with appearances and similarities rather than depth and diversity. People are more worried about maintaining the lines of separateness in the body rather than living as Jesus did – inclusively and filled with grace for every member of the entire body.
Dr. William Self a Baptist minister compares the church today to a swimming pool at the local YMCA. He notes that swimmers of different ages and abilities are in the pool, but most of the “noise” comes from the shallow end of the pool. The only sound coming from the deep end was the sound of experienced swimmers swimming with discipline and confidence – there was no yelling, no crying, no complaining, no evidence of fear or frustration. For him, this is a metaphor for the church today where all the noise comes from the shallow end of the pool from those who haven’t learned to swim with confidence or are not secure enough to venture into the deep water.
Church attendance is up in some places – excitement is up. The church in many ways has gone into show business. There is a church in Florida at an old drive in theater that promises that you will get all you need for life and faith in 35 minutes. We find a lot of people who are attending but few people are swimming in the deep end. You don’t find discipleship up, nor do you find godliness up. There is not much Christ-likeness or commitment. One pastor said, “Our people are deeply committed in every area except three: lifestyle, mindset and values. Other than that, they are deeply committed to the Gospel.” People breeze through our churches as though they are at a salad bar, selecting the items they want, taking nothing that is unpleasant or challenging, and at best, paying only the minimum.
As some of you know I grew up at First Presbyterian in Gastonia, a fairly large congregation to say the least. My cousin is in charge of the Interfaith Hospitality Network program at the church. This is a program that provides a meal, fellowship and shelter for homeless families, not individuals, about once every three months. You would think that in a church of 1400 members they could easily rotate the set-up, meal providers, and overnight chaperones for this program. Sadly, it seems that the same 7 people spend the night, the same 7 people feed them, and the same 7 people provide fellowship every single time the program arrives.
People today have become consumers of religion, conscious of style and going to the ‘right place.’ In every city across America today there are church’s saying in this manner: “Come to our church, our preacher doesn’t wear a tie, our preacher wears golf shirts and jogging shoes.” “Come to our church, we wear shorts and sandals.” “We’re fundamental; we’re liturgical; we’re liberal; we’re moderate; we’re denominational; we’re mainline; we’re dispensational; we’re progressive; we have video screens and power point; we have snare drums and electric guitars; we’re into political action; we have a religious superstar preaching today.” Everyone is out front pushing their style, but when we get inside we find that no one wins the prize, no lives are changed. The church of the big idea, the church of the big action, the church of the big deal somehow leaves us feeling empty. Something is missing.
That is the issue Paul is addressing in this letter. Churches that are built only on ideas or actions or style are doomed to die. When churches focus their energy on who gets in and who gets left out; when churches focus their energy on what gets taught and what doesn’t get taught; when churches focus on what separates us and not on what unites us, then there is no room for Christ in the church. The church is founded on Christ, he is the foundation. If you build on gold or silver or fancy presentations then you are losing the focus on Christ. Unless a church’s foundation is Jesus Christ, there is no substance, no power. It is sound and fury, just like the shallow end of the pool. If Jesus Christ is the foundation, walks the halls, sits in the pews, and is in our classes; if he interprets the Bible and sings our hymns, preaches our sermons, then we will know and do our mission faithfully. If Jesus is not there, no gimmick will make it happen.
Paul tells us today that we, the church, are to be a visible manifestation of the presence of God. What are some implications of this for membership in the church? The real church is not invisible and purely spiritual. The church is an embodied spiritual community with a distinctive call to reflect God’s presence in the world, to embody Christ in all that we are and in all that we do. If one is truly a member of this community, there is no way to detach oneself from the body – the foot can’t say, I am not a hand, I don’t belong. It takes all kinds; it takes all the parts of the body to make up the body of Christ. Belonging to the body of Christ is to feel all its pains, share its hungers, know its limits, suffer its illnesses, dance its liturgies, feed its growth, breathe its spirit, expect its healing, die its death, and hope for its resurrection. All these things the members of the body do together and for one another. The church is a living, changing body, an evolving structure selected so as to be God’s epiphany in the public space of the world. It isn’t always going to be the way it was years ago. It isn’t always going to be the way it is now. New members with new gifts serve in new ways, adding new powers to the frame. And yet, changed as it may become, the church is still always, always the body of Christ, the body of love which endures forever. And together as parts of its body, anything is possible.
Christ is the cornerstone, the foundation of the church. Christ is one body and we are the parts of his body. All the parts, all the roles that Paul uplifts for us today are vital for the life of the Christian community. The roles relate to the functions, not to any status or hierarchy of the kind that puts down other roles or functions. People have different functions. There needs to be unity and solidarity among the roles so that the church stays healthy. Paul challenges us today to see ourselves as the embodiment of Christ in the world, not necessarily as individuals, but as communities of faith, together all belonging to the greater whole, the church. Differences are acknowledged – it takes all kinds – people are not the same. They do not have the same abilities. The common life is nothing other than the life of Christ, the life of the Spirit. This remains constant.
Paul is reminding us today that we don’t need to get caught up in arguments over dogma and theology; we don’t need to get caught up in style and circumstance; and that we don’t need to focus all of our energy on the things that separate us and divide us. Paul is reminding us today of the basics – that our sense of identity lies not in the role we play, nor the status, nor the reward our role brings, but in the sense of oneness with the life of Christ which is the life of God, and ultimately the life of all that is. We are not asked as individuals to be Christ or Christs, let alone saviors of the world, although many of us suffer from this misconception and the burn out it produces. We, each and every one of us, are asked to be members of a body, of Christ; it takes all kinds and we are asked to play our part, no more and no less and so together, anything, perhaps all things, are possible –thanks be to God.