Title: “Better Together”

1/21/07 Epiphany 3, Year C

Scripture: I Corinthians 12: 12-31

Rev. Joy R. Haertig

I want to re-read this mornings scripture from “The Message”, Eugene Peterson’s contemporary language version of the Bible. This is the version of the Bible that the Confirmation class has been given for their use. The youth board purchased a copy for each of them. As much as I value studying and doing research with the Newly Revised Standard Version of the Bible, I do like how Peterson’s version brings the word to life in our day. (Read the passage)

Paul is writing to a church that is struggling to stay together in the city of Corinth. The members of the Corinth church are trying to create a hierarchy of spiritual gifts; some people are setting themselves and their gifts above others while others are simply falling between the cracks. Paul is trying to help them see the value of the variety and the importance of each gift, each person, working together for the common good.

He is also aware of how labels can divide communities rather than unite them. In the church at Corinth they had rich and poor, politically conservative Jews and liberal Greeks, politically enslaved and politically free. There are some who follow Paul and others who lean towards Peter and yet others who prefer the teachings of Apollo. Paul told them that those labels, the labels that divided them, no longer mattered nor did they hold any power in the eyes of God. They needed a larger “label”, a more encompassing image of which they have become through their baptism into Christ.

The label or metaphor that Paul gave them was the image of the Body of Christ. We all know that our body works best when all the various parts of it work together for the common good of the whole.

So it is with a church. So it is with a family. So it is with an Advisory Board, a church council, a school, or a soccer team.

My kids are soccer players and through the years I have noticed that when one of their teams has had a particular “star player”, the rest of the team tends to hold back, but when the star is absent the whole team works harder and more like a body. Perhaps there is something to be said for not having one or two people that we hold up as being the “star player” unless he or she is particularly good at realizing that their strong playing is interdependent of the workings of the rest of the team.

Peterson’s contemporary language version of Paul’s words say it well: “By means of God’s one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life…I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn’t just a single part blown up into something huge….but I also want you to think abut how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of.”

As many of you know, Staci and I spent last weekend with our Confirmation Class at Suquamish UCC on retreat. We had a wonderful time with those 12 young people and though Staci works with them every Sunday, it was my first chance to really spend an extended amount of time with them as a group. We are all aware that a body of youth ages thirteen to 15 could be fraught with challenges! But these kids were a wonderful example of Paul’s metaphor for the Body of Christ, even with two sets of siblings in the group.

I did not witness any sign of a hierarchy of power or popularity, only a sense of mutual respect and care. They each had their strengths and gifts that benefited the whole.

On our first night there Staci led them through an activity to create a covenant with one another in how we will relate to one another as the Body of Christ throughout our confirmation experience. After the “rules”/values were established by the group the words were put on paper cups and they built a pyramid with the most important parts at the bottom as a good foundation, and they moved up from there. This is the covenant we all agreed on:

On the bottom were respect, love, peace, and listening. Moving up the pyramid we have accepts others, be welcoming, and honor adults. (Staci and I did not have anything to do with these choices!) The next level was don’t criticize and all questions are valid. And on the top, the last one, yet as important as the others was, wear deodorant.

The covenant they created reflects Paul’s emphasis that in joining in the Body of Christ that we were no longer only concerned with our own needs, but the good of the whole.

There is another aspect to Paul’s image of the Body of Christ that is worth reflecting on. Paul emphasizes the importance of everyone doing his or her part in the Body of Christ. People who spend time studying the American Church in the 21^st century see a tendency towards what is called “consumer religion”, a reflection of the greater society over the last 35 or more years. Doonesbury did a comic on the consumer church to the extreme, it had a pool and a tennis court because that is what the people wanted and they would come to church if they could have it.

Since its inception the church as a community has operated from a “servant” perspective, giving of ourselves as Christ gave to us we understood that the church was a place where everyone invested their gifts, skills and care in the church community.

If we become consumers rather than servants than it seems that eventually the Body of Christ will eventually die away, won’t it? Ashes to ashes; dust to dust.

Is it possible to find a balance between giving and receiving in the Body of Christ? Does it have to be an either/or? Balance is important for individuals and for the whole.

We have to make room for people to say no I can’t help with that right now. And others have to be willing to risk saying yes, I want to help with that, yes, I invest my time in that.

There is a way to achieve a balance but it does have to be an intentional part of our commitment. We have to learn how to welcome new ideas, new leadership and new ways of doing things, we will need to nurture an openness to change and seek cooperation in the midst of diversity and be brave enough to speak our truth in love. We need to learn how to let some programs or goals go when there is no energy or spark around them and to follow a vision for uncharted territory.

Being a part of the Body of Christ, covenanting with even one person in partnership much less 12 or 300 is hard work. It takes a different kind of energy and investment.

The diverse church at Corinth was arguing with one another because they were trying to be a community.

They could remain as casual acquaintances that sit in the same pew but say no more than hello. That way they would probably never disagree, but it would not be a community. It would not be the Body of Christ. It would be more like attending a movie at the local cinema.

Author Wayne Muller quotes Jean Vanier who developed a community for developmentally disabled adults in 1964: “Community can appear to be a marvelously welcoming and sharing place. But in another way, community is a terrible place. It is the place where our limitations and our egoism are revealed to us. When we begin to live with others, we discover our poverty and our weaknesses, our inability to get on with other people…We believed we loved everyone…now we realize how difficult that really is.”

Yes, being a part of the Body of Christ can be hard work. We can discover our deepest wounds and struggles, but we can also discover some of the most powerful, shared moments of joy and service we could ever know. In community we can begin to see God at work in the struggles and in the joys of our everyday life.

You already know my bias.

I believe with all my heart that we are better off together than we are apart.

When I was in my 20’s I used to find great comfort in a picture I took in the rolling hills of Oregon one summer when I was doing a pastoral internship, of a strong tree that stood alone on a rolling hill. I used to think that if I could stand alone like that, strong and independent with my own roots deep into the soil of God’s love than I would make it in ministry. Now I am much more drawn to the forest where the trees are living close in one another’s company, even leaning on each other when the winds blow their hardest. Now I know that strength is found when our roots weave together in the strength of God’s love.

We are each significant – unique – amazing. A body is made up of significant parts, arranged with special gifts and functions. Yet not one of us is significant alone. We are significant because of what we are a part of.

Yes, I think we are better off together than we are apart.

Amen.