The Body of Christ (Third Sunday after Epiphany)

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In today’s second reading, Paul writes, “Now you (plural) are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” For many of us, these are familiar words, because we’ve read them when we install Council members, commission people on missionary trips and when we speak more generally of Christians working together.

And of course, the idea that Jesus has called people to be both individual followers and part of a community is part of what Jesus himself did from the beginning. It should be no surprise that Paul reinforces that idea, although perhaps he had to because the folks in Corinth weren’t doing it so well!

But for a moment, it might be good to reflect on this metaphor of “the body of Christ.” Because after all, there are other metaphors for the Christian community that are found in the New Testament. For example, sometimes the Christian community is described as a house built of “living stones” through which the Holy Spirit works. This is a metaphor found in 1 Peter. And it’s a good one, too.

And in the Gospels, sometimes the community of Jesus’ followers are simply described as the “crowd” who followed him. Often, that “crowd” involves people who are just wondering what this is all about, but often the “crowd” is the group that listens and learns and sometimes is even sent to do mission in the world. Like a fan base, Paul could also have written, “you are Jesus’ fan base, and individually called to be fans of Jesus in your personal life.” That seems a little sacrilegious, but not entirely untrue either!

Yet in this section of his letter to the Corinthians, Paul makes a big deal about being the “body” and individually understanding ourselves to be members of that one body. And that carries different implications than simply being a member of the fan base, or a stone in a building.

And the biggest implication of being a “body” together is remembering that “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.” I mean, we all know this experientially, because if you get out of bed in the dark and ram your toe into a piece of furniture, it’s not just your toe that’s in agony! And if you have a great and satisfying meal, it doesn’t just feel good to your mouth.

But sometimes, when we consider the need to be a well-functioning “body” we often tend to think of it in purely utilitarian ways. And so we note that if we don’t all “do our part” a particular event won’t be able to happen (at Prince of Peace, we’re always worried about this at Yard Sale time!) Or, we remember that if we don’t all “do our part” we won’t be able to help others in our community, or at least not as much as we could if everybody remembered to bring in soup and stew over the next couple of weeks.

Those things are true! But I think Paul is getting at something deeper here. In describing Christian community as a “body” Paul is asking us to consider that it’s in using our gifts together that we build each other up and that we grow in appreciating our own gifts and blessings from God. And while we often think about how we use and share our gifts for others outside our own faith community, Paul points out that it’s important that we do this for each other as well.

I think we’ve done that well at Prince of Peace over the past year! And as we come together for our Annual Meeting after worship, we have lot to celebrate and give thanks for. Together, we have done a good job of caring for each other, building up the body and being able, as a body, to help others in our community and our world.

At the same time, we also know that we can’t sit back and rest on our laurels. We have work to do ahead of us, and each year at this time in particular, we reflect on how each of us can individually be a part of this body of Christ and build one another up. And so we renew our call to people to share their talents, and their time and their money to make the mission of this body of Christ move forward in this coming year.

Often, though, we talk and think about these things in more or less utilitarian terms. That is, what do we need to give and what do we need volunteers to do to make stuff happen? Those are actually important questions. But Paul’s words today remind us that what we do as individual members is more than getting enough volunteers and enough money to do stuff.

That is, we’re called to be members of the body which reduces suffering and increases rejoicing. Sometimes, I have seen that happen when somebody asks for help with a project and at least one other person goes up and offers to help! Yes, it means that there are now at least two people who can work on the project, but it brings such joy to the other people who need the help! It really does make “the whole body rejoice.”

But sometimes, when we don’t help enough, it causes more suffering than simply not having enough volunteers or money. So, this year, to quote the opening words of the Treasurer’s report, “This was a good fiscal year for Prince of Peace.” And it was! But, at the same time, we still had a small operating deficit, and so we’re asking people to increase their giving by $20 a month…

The good news is that in our congregation, almost all of us could do this. But over the years I’ve been here, I know that each year there are a few of us who really can’t. They’re people who are living on a really fixed income; or they’re on disability; or they’ve lost their job. Those are different people from year to year, but there are always some who really can’t give. But whenever I or somebody from Council or Stewardship gets up and asks for people to increase their giving, no matter how gently, it happens almost every single time that one of those people who really can’t give approaches me personally or through email and says something like, “Pastor, I’m really going to try to give more.” And as I always try to assure them that they shouldn’t be worried about this, I’m thinking to myself, “Dude! YOU are not the target audience here!” But the fact that they can’t give more but feel like they should is really causing suffering. So a big part of the reason to give a little more when we can is not just to make sure we don’t have a deficit, but to ensure that we don’t have financial problems that cause the people in our “body” who can’t give more to feel bad and suffer. And it is like the body, when one part is injured, other parts help out so the injured part can get rest and heal…

But the other important part about using your gifts as part of the body is that it increases rejoicing in ways that you just can’t do by yourself. This past year, Social Justice Ministry led us in a tremendously successful Coffeehouse / Auction to benefit Gaithersburg HELP. We raised $15,000 for Gaithersburg HELP, which is awesome. But I always think one of the best things about these events is that they draw us together with our gifts and energize the whole body. People share their crafts and food and talents with each other. People have gotten to know one a another more deeply and built lasting relationships with each other. And as a result of events like this, we build energy and life in our congregation that wouldn’t be there if we just all wrote checks. And honestly, this same thing happens on a smaller scale in lots of activities we do together. It doesn’t just happen at big events like our Coffeehouses. And that’s the kind of “rejoicing together” that I think Paul is talking about.

Now honestly, I think Paul wrote all this stuff because the congregation in Corinth wasn’t doing a good job of being the body of Christ, but I think here at Prince of Peace we are! So, keep up the good work!

But even more, remember that throughout the year, as people in our congregation ask you to volunteer and give and share your talents, you’re not just being asked to fill a need. Rather, as Paul reminds us, you’re being called to share your individual gifts so that the body of Christ in this place can rejoice, and be built up, and become an even better messenger for the Gospel of Jesus in the world around us.

Amen.