IT=S WHO YOU ARE!
(Preached on Sunday, January 21, 2007)
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. -1 Corinthians 12:27
With Super Bowl Sunday just two weeks away and the big game being played in Miami this year, perhaps this version to today=s scripture reading will interest you. AFor the team is one and has many players, and all players of the team, though many, are one team. Indeed, the team does not consist of one player, but of many. If the defensive end would say, >Because I am not the quarterback, I do not belong to the team,= that would not make him any less a part of the team. And if the right tackle would say, >Because I am not a wide receiver, I do not belong to the team,= that would not make him any less a part of the team. If the whole team were tackles, where would the running backs be? If the whole team were running backs, where would the kickers be? And if the whole team were kickers, where would the cornerbacks be? But as it is, the coach has arranged the players of the team, each one of them, as he chose. If all were quarterbacks, where would the team be? As it is, there are many players, yet one team. The quarterback cannot say to the tackle, >I don=t need you.= Nor can the defensive ends say to the running backs, AWe don=t need you.@ On the contrary ... if one player suffers, the team suffers together with him; if one player is honored, the team rejoices with him.@
Like Paul=s image of the church as the Body of Christ, the image of the football team stresses the importance of each member of the team to the wholeness and success of the entire team. It also emphasizes the unity of the team even though there is great diversity in the various members C diversity in talents and abilities, in gifts and function. Those are very important points and they are very probably the primary message Paul is trying to convey.
But something else grabbed my attention this week.
It was the simple statement he makes at the end of the description of how a body functions and what the various parts can and cannot say:
ANow you are the body of Christ.@
To understand why that statement grabbed my attention, we need to remember to whom and about whom Paul is writing those words.
Corinth was located literally at a crossroads in the Mediterranean world and it became a major center for trade of all sorts. It also became a virtual marketplace for all the various cultures, religions, and lifestyles from around the Mediterranean world. It was an early lab setting for multi-culturalism and pluralism.
All this variety and diversity was represented in the early Christian community in Corinth. Its members came from a wide variety of cultural, ethnic, religious, economic, and educational backgrounds. They had a wide range of views on what was acceptable, moral behavior. They spoke a wide diversity of languages and dialects, and the community was highly transient, with people constantly moving, moving out, or passing through. In most respects it was the Miami of the ancient Mediterranean.
All of this led to the Corinthian Church being a troubled, troublesome church for Paul. The precise difficulties are a matter of speculation. But we can infer from this letters that there were divisions, disputes, infidelities, and a host of other problems that made this group a candidate for poster child as Paul=s worst congregation.
That is why it is so amazing that Paul would say to this sort of church: AYou are the body of Christ.@ After hammering them for their woeful inadequacies to be church, telling them they ought to be ashamed calling themselves Christians and acting the way that they have acted, with their fussing and feuding, petty divisions, and cowardly disloyalty to the way of Jesus, Paul blurts out, saying directly to them, ANow you are the body of Christ.@ He does not say something like, AYou ought to be the body of Christ,@ or AIf you work hard, someday you might be able to be the body of Christ.@ He just says flat out to them, AYou are the body of Christ.@ It=s an amazing thing to say about a group of people like them. It would be an amazing thing to say about a group of people like us!
Yet that is precisely the message I believe we need to hear from these words today. Far too often in our life together we don=t believe enough good about ourselves as a church. We look at our struggles; we look at our difficulties; we look at our disagreements; we look at what we don=t like about one another or our common life together; we question our abilities, our resources, our decisions, our actions; we focus on our faults, on our mistakes, on our shortcomings, on our imperfections.
We forget that none of that changes who we are.
We are the Body of Christ. We are the expression of Christ Jesus, his way, in the world today. We may or may not be a good expression; we may or may not be a positive expression; we may or may not be all that God would desire, hope, for us to be, but it doesn=t change who we are.
Because who we are doesn=t depend on us, it depends on God.
To bring this point home, let me tell you about a commencement speech that was addressed to Harvard=s Senior Class a few years back. It is tradition that on the morning of their graduation, the senior gather in Memorial Church to hear the minister offer words of solace and encouragement as they leave Athe Yard@ to take their places in the world. In 1998 they heard the unvarnished truth from the Rev. Peter Gomes, minister at Harvard. Dr. Gomes took no prisoners that morning. He began: AYou are going to be sent out of here for good, and most of you aren=t ready to go. The president is about to bid you into the fellowship of educated men and women and, (here he paused and spoke each word slowly for emphasis) you know just - how - dumb - you - really - are.@ The senior class cheered in agreement. AAnd worse than that,@ Dr. Gomes continued, Athe world C and your parents in particular C are going to expect that you will be among the brightest and best. But you know that you can no longer fool all the people even some of the time. By noontime today, you will be out of here. By tomorrow you will be history. By Saturday, you will be toast. That=s a fact C no exceptions, no extensions.
... Nevertheless, there is reason to hope,@ Dr. Gomes promised. AThe future is God=s gift to you. God will not let you stumble or fall. God has not brought you this far to this place to ABANDON you or leave you here alone and afraid. The God of Israel never stumbles, never sleeps, never goes on sabbatical. Thus, my beloved and bewildered young friends, do not be afraid.@
That is the same message Paul gave to Corinth.
That same message is here for us today: do not be afraid, you are the Body of Christ. We are unusual and utterly necessary, not because we do good things in the neighborhood, after all, many other worthy agencies do good things for the community. This church is important not because the people who gather here are particularly friendly and inclusive, after all, the carefully selected crowd at the local country club is often very friendly. This congregation is unique and important because we listen to and attempt to order our life on the basis of the teachings of Jesus that we receive through the Bible. This is us at our best. This is why we are the Body of Christ. Because we have been gathered to this place by the Spirit of God working in each of our lives; because we have been set apart and dedicated to this pattern of life by baptism; and because God continues to work in us and through us, no matter how imperfectly we allow that.
This is who we really are: the Body of Christ.
Let me close with one more story that lifts up the power of understanding who we really are and embracing that truth.
Rabbi Marc Gafni recalls one of the first bar mitzvahs he ever performed. It was for a boy named Louis. Louis was awkward and sad. His insensitive parents did little to encourage his self-esteem. They implied that he was too dumb to learn the tradition Hebrew passages a boy recites for his bar mitzvah. Rabbi Gafni was determined to bring out the best in Louis. He spent extra time teaching him the songs and prayers. He discovered that Louis was smart, and had a fantastic singing voice. On the day of his bar mitzvah, Louis performed beautifully. At the end of the ceremony, Rabbi Gafni stood and spoke directly to Louis. He said, ALouis, this morning you met your real self. This is who you are. You are good, graceful, talented, and smart. Whatever people told you yesterday, and Louis, whatever happens tomorrow, promise me one thing. Remember ... this is you. Remember, and don=t ever lose it.@
A few years later, Louis wrote to Rabbi Gafni. The boy whose parents predicted that he was too dumb to perform a traditional bar mitzvah was studying for his medical degree at an Ivy League university. He was also engaged to be married. Louis ended his letter by saying, A... I kept my promise C I always remembered my bar mitzvah morning when you said that this is who I am. For this, I thank you.@
Remember it is not what we achieve or don=t achieve that makes us who we are. Who we are is what empowers us to achieve what we achieve. Always remember, friends, you are the Body of Christ, and individually members of it. Embrace that identity and become all that God desires for you to become.