THE PARTS AND THE WHOLE
In this passage Paul writes to address a conflict
in the Corinthian church. Apparently groups within the churches in
Moreover, it seems these groups were vying for
pre-eminence with each other. The preachers no doubt thought they were the most
important. Likewise the teachers thought they were most significant. And just
as surely, I’m confident the Pentecostals also thought the community of faith
should give them highest honors.
These groups within the churches had trouble
getting along. Our situation today is remarkably similar to what Paul describes
in
At least within our Presbyterian
family of faith, for the most part, we have resolved the issues of hierarchy
regarding preachers, teachers, elders, deacons, etc. We consider every member
of the church as equally important to the life of the body of Christ. However,
in the church today we still experience competing groups vying for influence
and control.
Within the body of Christ today we separate
according to different labels. Some claim to be conservative. Some claim to be
liberal. Some claim to be progressives. Some want the church to be a pure body
of worship without sullying its hands with earthly matters such as helping the
needy, the uneducated, the unclean and un-kept that exist in every community.
Some want the church to devote every resource to meet the human needs of the
less fortunate. Some want the church to promote social, economic, and civil
justice, in precedence over every other objective. Some want the church to stay
out of politics completely. Not unlike in ancient
Paul’s word to the Corinthians is also a powerful
reminder to us today. OUR UNITY IS NOT FOUND IN UNIFORMITY. Rather our genuine
spiritual unity is a gift from God that can only be experienced in community as
each individual member exercises and fulfills the particular functions given to
him or her.
{verse 12:
For just as the body is one and all the members of the body, though many, are
one body, so it is with Christ.}
The
divine unity God grants is experienced only as we recognize and acknowledge our
differences.
Paul’s extensive analogy comparing the human body
with the divine body of Christ communicates a very simple message: If one part
of the body is missing or malfunctioning the other parts are affected.
{verse 26: If
one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all
rejoice together with it.}
The various groups in ancient
Within the church, the struggle for who has the
power to set the agenda is as old as the church itself. Paul’s word to the
Corinthians, and also God’s word to us today is not one we are eager to hear.
We are called to discover and experience our Christian unity not in uniformity
of thought and action, but through diversity.
For Paul, it was abundantly clear, that God
intended there to be diversity within the body of Christ.
{verses 29-30:
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?}
In
a strict sense, Paul’s message is quite utilitarian. Each disciple is called to
fulfill and exercise the specific gifts granted, while at the same time
honoring and valuing the gifts and functions given to others.
As we consider this call to embrace diversity
within the body of Christ it is important to pause a moment and remember the
limits of what we can and cannot accept. In our cultural context today, within
secular circles the word diversity carries with it a connotation of relativity
that disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ cannot accept.
Diversity in this secular context often means that
we are called to accept one religious tradition as equally true as another.
Christians cannot accept that type of diversity. For us, the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Sarah, Rebecca, and Rachel, and the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ stands alone as our source for truth and eternal life.
Diversity in the secular context often means that
we must accept without judgment every expression of sexuality between
consenting adults. Christians cannot participate in that diversity. God has
revealed in scripture that it is his divine will that our human sexuality is
best expressed and experienced within the covenant of marriage between a man
and a woman.
Diversity in the secular context often means that
we must accept the proposition that each culture of the world is worthy of our
respect and esteem. Christians cannot embrace such diversity. Our faith teaches
us that each human being is made in the image of God and is thereby worthy of
respect and is to be highly valued in its own right. Yet numerous other
cultures, especially those of the Orient and near east assign little value to
an individual life. Christians cannot value and respect a culture that devalues
and disrespects an individual life.
Paul’s message to us today, however, is a call for
us to properly recover and treasure our diversity within the body of Christ. Within
our community of faith there is no doubt that conservatives are often irritated
with liberals. Equally, the liberals are no doubt often irritated with the
conservatives. Without question those who want a pure and unsullied worshiping
community are irritated by those who constantly push us to engage in worldly
matters such as social justice, economics, and yes, even politics. Those driven
by a social conscience are undoubtedly irritated when we devote our
institutional energy to worship and other internal matters.
As we consider these various irritants, let me
point to how one of nature’s most humble creatures copes with an irritant. When
the lowly oyster experiences an irritant, it doesn’t try to expel the offending
matter. Instead, its body slowly secretes
a
substance which surrounds the irritant and make it less irritating. Over time,
something of great beauty is created out something that was initially quite
troubling to the body.
Within the church today, we would do well to seek
to emulate the actions of the humble oyster. As we experience competition and
conflict between various groups within the church can we find a way to create
something of beauty out of something that is initially irritating?
God’s word to us through Paul’s message is that not
only can we, we are called to do it. As the unity of the body requires hands
and feet working together as a team, so too does the body of Christ need the
diversity of its members to experience genuine practical unity in the world. We
conservatives need our liberal brothers and sisters to push us forward to new
levels of obedience within the changing environment we live in. We liberals
need our conservative brothers and sisters to keep us anchored in the truth and
tradition of faith that has created us and formed us in the first place. Those
of us who are content with devoting our energy to the pure and rightly ordered
worship of God need our benevolent minded brothers and sisters to lead us out
of the sanctuary into the world to bring our faith to expression through the
actions of our hands and feet. Those of us motivated to help the less fortunate
need our devout brothers and sisters to lead us back into the sanctuary to
praise God in prayer and praise and to be reminded of why we help others in the
first place.
While the individual parts of the body of Christ
may often be at odds with other parts of the body, let us not lose sight that
we are all a part of the whole.
[verse 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]
Paul’s
words challenge us to find a way to honor and even rejoice in our Christian
diversity.
Let us rise to the challenge. May we find a way,
not unlike the humble oyster, to transform an initial irritant into a pearl of
great beauty that will reflect the glory of God to all. So may it be for us.
Amen.
Reverend
Marc V. Mason
January
21, 2007
Trinity
Presbyterian Church
Travelers
Rest, SC