Sunday, October 23rd: "Holding Our Neighbors"

 

Watch the Sermon here

First United Presbyterian Church

“Holding Our Neighbors”

Rev. Amy Morgan

October 23, 2022

1 Corinthians 12:12-27

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. 13 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. 14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many.

 15 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. 16 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. 17 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?

 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.

 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many members, yet one body.

 21 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." 22 On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 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; 24 whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, 25 that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another.

 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

 27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.Several years ago, New York City was experiencing a problem with buskers – those folks who hang out in public spaces playing music for money. Some buskers were getting into brawls in Central Park’s Strawberry Fields. In this spot, dedicated to the memory of John Lennon, who was killed outside his residence nearby, buskers were fighting, requiring police intervention, as they competed for the highly lucrative tourist traffic through this area. 

But eventually they decided to give peace a chance. They agreed to work together on a schedule of daily time slots to provide a background track of peaceful Lennon tunes like “In My Life” and “Imagine.”

Lennon’s memory and music has left a lasting imprint in other areas of conflict, including the island nation of Cuba, where Communist leader Fidel Castro created a park in Lennon’s honor. It’s unclear whether or not Lennon ever visited Cuba or played for Castro, but the monument in his honor is inscribed with the first line of the refrain from   “Imagine”: You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. 

So all this makes me wonder: what is this power that draws feuding musicians to cooperate and Communist dictators to dream of unity? Is it the spirit of John Lennon? The power of music?

Or is there something deeply ingrained in the core of our common humanity that drives us to connection, reconciliation, and oneness?

Harvard professor George Vaillant argues that the human brain has evolved to be wired for positive, connective emotions like faith, hope, love, compassion, and forgiveness.  Studies have shown that babies will choose affection over food. While many in the scientific community firmly believe that humanity is fundamentally self-interested, others are now beginning to prove what people of faith have known for millennia:  we are made for community. 

Christians centuries ago were inspired to speak of God as a singular plural, three-in-one, a trinity. They experienced the very being of God to be a relationship. And so it should come as no surprise to us that humans, made in the image of this relational God, are built to be intimately connected to one another, like distinct parts of a single body. 

In his first letter to the Corinthian church, the apostle Paul tries to help a group of conflict-ridden Christians understand this reality. The Corinthian Christians have created all kinds of division in their diverse body. They are vying for honor and respect, attempting hostile takeovers and shunning members who seem weak or inferior. Like the Strawberry Fields buskers, Paul wants them to organize themselves in such a way that everyone’s gifts can be utilized without competition. 

This metaphor of the body was a common trope in Roman rhetoric. But unless we hear how it was typically employed, we miss the really radical thing Paul is doing here. Romans were very familiar with the language of society being like a body. But for Roman politicians, that meant that the “higher” parts of the body – the eyes and head – ruled the “lower” parts of the body – the hands and feet. The common folk were naturally created to carry out the work of the ruling classes. That’s what it meant to be a part of the body of Roman society. 

Paul inverts this idea, claiming that 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.

This was a radical idea 2000 years ago, and I’d argue it is even more radical now.

We may not hear politicians addressing the plebian masses with metaphors encouraging them to carry out their high and mighty proposals. But there are plenty of people, politically employed or otherwise, who speak of unity in terms of conformity. The entire point of political advertisements is to weaken and dishonor an opponent and entice allegiance to a particular platform. There is no space in our political or even social discourse to admit that the head and the foot both serve an essential purpose in the body, that it is appropriate to give special care to more vulnerable parts of the body, or that unity does not require uniformity. Our society today values division over diversity, victory over virtue, and rightness over righteousness.

And this isn’t just a social or even psychological bother. It directly effects how our society functions. In this environment, we are placed in constant competition, like those buskers in New York. In this environment, we are in ideological conflict with real-world consequences, like the standoff between Communist Cuba and the U.S. In this environment, might makes right, and the voices of the vulnerable are silenced. 

This is not an environment that witnesses to Jesus’s prayer that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 

That is why Christ gave the church to the world. 

The church, as described by Paul, as established by Jesus Christ, is an alternate reality within this contentious, contemptuous culture. It turns the common tropes of earthly power on their heads. It embodies God’s power to make all things new. 

Now, I understand this is not how all churches function, and it certainly isn’t the prevailing cultural view of the church. It isn’t how the Corinthian church was functioning when Paul wrote to them. Nonetheless, Paul’s words are not prescriptive, he isn’t telling the Corinthians who they ought to be. His words are descriptive, he is telling them who they are, whether they recognize it or not. He is describing the church as the Body of Christ, the church as it is, in reality, in the reign of God. He is describing the church both universal and particular, both mystical and practical. He is inviting us to see the church as God sees it, even in all the brokenness and waywardness that is characteristic of any human institution. 

Our support of 1^st on 4^th does not declare that this is a perfect church, a perfect human institution. It does, however, express our faith, our gratitude, and our trust that God has created and will sustain the church, this church, as a gift to the world, as a witness and a blessing in downtown Loveland and beyond. 

God has blessed this church with a diversity of gifts. We have thoughtful heads and skillful hands, energetic feet and compassionate ears, insightful eyes and even patient backsides who can sit and wait for those who move slowly in faith. There are many valuable parts of this body.

But there are some in our body who feel like they are not as strong, or noticeable, or useful as other parts. There are some who feel like they are doing all the heavy lifting. There are some who can think of great ideas, but have no idea how they will get carried out. And there are some who are looking for something to do, some way to be useful, but don’t know where they fit in. 

The apostle Paul assures us that all these parts have value, deserve honor and respect, and that all these parts should have the same care for one another. Because it is only when all these parts are working together that we can truly be the “body of Christ, and individually members of it.”

We have witnessed this body at work in the past year, and I just want to lift up a few examples of how God has been at work through the body of Christ at 1^st on 4^th. We have a member of this body who hasn’t been able to attend worship on site in years because of her health, but she used her gifts and strengths to re-convene the Gathering of the Goldens, a group that is life-giving not just for members of this church but a wonderful way for new attenders and other folks in our community to get to know people. We have a member of this body who has a lot of demands on her time with work and family and other obligations, but she used her gifts and strengths to re-organize the Loveland CROP Walk and raise over $1700 for Church World Service. We have a member of this body who dedicated dozens of hours to settling the estate of one of our members so that their final wishes could be honored and several non-profits, including the church, could be resourced. We have members of this body who went on a mission trip to Mexico and members of this body who hosted funeral receptions for grieving families. We have members who organized church camping trips and church picnics to connect us to one another and welcome new folks in. We have members of this body who make beautiful music and members of this body who make beautiful art. We have members of this body who care for children during worship and members of this body who visit and bring Communion to those who are homebound. 

The body of Christ here at 1^st on 4^th has such a diversity of gifts. We wouldn’t want a church where everyone was focused on financial management to the neglect of caring for children. Nor could we function as Christ’s church if everyone taught Sunday school and nobody stewarded our financial resources. We need all the parts, doing all their various things. 

But we need them to function together, as one harmonious whole. We need every member to know they belong and are needed and valued. We need to remember that we are wired for community and cooperation, that we were made to live, work, worship, and serve together, each person contributing their unique gifts to the work of the whole community. 

By the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, I see this happening at 1^st on 4^th all the time - in the examples I shared a minute ago, and in countless other ways every single day. You all love and pray for each other, for our community, for one another’s friends and families, and for the needs of the world. As imperfect and fallible as any of us are as individuals, within this body, God empowers each of us to do the work that is ours to do. And combined with all the other parts of this body, God is transforming the world through Christ’s body in this place. 

The changes may feel small, or slow, or barely perceptible sometimes. It is often easier to see the conflict and the challenges and the failures than it is to see where God is at work and to participate in that activity. But there are eyes among us who can perceive the movements of the Spirit, the Body of Christ making a difference around us, and God’s reign breaking into the world. There are voices who can share this good news. There are arms that can embrace this work and feet that can follow where it leads us. Together, as one body, all our gifts are contributing to the strength and power of Christ’s body, here at 1^st on 4^th, and in every life touched by this ministry. 

This is who we are as a church. This is what we were created for. To use all our parts, all our gifts, to reach out and love our neighbors. This is what makes us the Body of Christ, and the Heart of Christ in the Heart of Loveland. 

To God be all glory forever and ever. Amen.