Tuesday, January 26, 2016

"Many Members, One Body"


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.”

            Our lesson from Corinthians written by St. Paul was center of my formation as a young Christian.  I could count on it being referred to or read at pretty much any youth gathering.  In so many ways, these words from Paul became the foundation of how I viewed not only the Church but also how God was alive in the world through the body of Christ. 
            I still remember where I was standing when this harmonious vision of the Church as the body of Christ on earth shattered in just a few words.  I was on summer staff at Camp McDowell and we were cleaning up Epps Dining Hall following one of the camp sessions. 
It was a particularly lively clean-up day.  We were listening to the Spin Doctor’s Two Princes as we danced across the floor with our mops and brooms when someone on staff informed us that the General Convention of the Episcopal Church approved the election of Bishop Gene Robinson in New Hampshire. 
As you know, Bishop Robinson is noted for being the first openly gay and partnered person to be consecrated bishop in the Episcopal Church.  I hadn’t really thought about the implications of what this might do to the Church.  But my eyes were opened after a few comments from some of the other summer staffers.
One person on staff celebrated this news while another lamented.  A heated conversation began and it is a conversation that is alive and well today.  A conversation about the inclusion of LBGTI persons in the life of the Church has threatened and in some cases broken our bonds of affection not just within the Episcopal Church but also within the worldwide Anglican Communion.
As someone who considers himself as a moderate, this conversation has been deeply painful for me and in some cases has left me isolated from some of my best friends on both sides of the issue.  This conversation has led to ill-will between family members and church members.  This conversation has led to the development of the Anglican Church in North America. 
Law suits have been filled.  Churches have split in the ugliest of ways.  People have reduced the other to an adjective—conservative, liberal, moderate, heretic, homophobe, and the list goes on.  After all this, how can one still believe that the Church and her many members somehow make up the one body of Christ?
As you may know, the Primates of the Anglican Church gathered last week in Canterbury to discuss how The Episcopal Church’s unilateral decision about the theology of marriage as it pertains to same-sex couples has affected our relationship with other churches in the Anglican Communion. 
The Anglican Communion is comprised of roughly 40 Primates that represent the different Provinces of the worldwide Anglican Communion that consists of over 80 million people making it the 3rd largest Christian body in the world behind the Roman Catholics and the Orthodox Church.  The Episcopal Church is one of those 40 Provinces and our Primate is Presiding Bishop Michael Curry.
There was a lot of speculation that this meeting would cause a split in the Anglican Communion.  Predictions were made that Primates would storm out in anger.  Other people said that the Episcopal Church would be kicked out of the communion in order to preserve the rest of the body.  But neither happened.  A middle-way was discerned.  The Anglican Way was discovered at least for now.
This Anglican Way is rooted in common prayer and as Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby commented, the week together was rooted in common prayer.  Bishop Welby commented saying that it was a truly Spirit-led week where bishop’s listened to each other in a way that honors our baptismal covenant to respect the dignity of every human being. 
While the Episcopal Church was effectively suspended from making decisions on the church’s councils for the next three years, a unanimous decision to walk together was made by the Primates—a decision that was not foreseen in the weeks leading up to the meeting.    
The Primates concluded their time together with a Eucharist that included the washing of feet when they remembered Jesus’ new commandment—to love as I have loved you.  So as Jesus loved his disciples by washing their feet, the bishop’s gathered to wash each other’s feet in witness to the immeasurable love of Christ.


(Click here to read the entire statement made by Bishop Welby on the Primates' Meeting)

            If one were to make a top 5 list of the most unsightly body parts, then I am sure that feet would make the list every time.  So if we conclude that feet are considered one of the inferior parts of the body and if we take St. Paul’s words seriously, then we also must take seriously that feet are given the greater honor in the body of Christ.
            I know this sounds strange to elevate feet in the body of Christ.  Feet are generally dirty, generally ugly—only a select few make it as foot models.  Most everyone has a bone in their foot that no one else seems to have.  Some people have toe-nail issues and fungus issues.  Feet get sore.  Feet get smelly.  But we need our feet to walk and to run.  We need our feet to dance and to kick.   
            We can’t hide our feet.  We can’t pretend our feet don’t exist.  We need our feet warts and all.  It seems that St. Paul is telling us that we can’t afford to hide our imperfections.  We can’t hide our brokenness.  We need to bring our brokenness to light.  We need to let Jesus look at our imperfections in love in the same way Jesus looked at the feet of the disciples in love.
            The Primates let Jesus look at the imperfections of the Anglican Communion in love.  And because they allowed Jesus to look at them in love something miraculous happened, hope for future healing happened.
            The Church as the body of Christ is not held together because of parliamentary procedure.  The Church as the body of Christ is not held together because of consensus on doctrinal issues.  The Church as the body of Christ is not held together because her leaders are perfect. 
            The Church as the body of Christ is held together because Jesus looks at his Church in love.  Jesus looks at our brokenness with love.  Ultimately, Jesus is broken because of our brokenness.  But the good news says that Jesus makes us whole even in our brokenness.    
            This is the story that we get to live by, a story of healing, a story of death and resurrection.  As Christians who are a part of the Anglican witness to the gospel, we find ourselves more deeply involved in this story when we commit ourselves in prayer with our brothers and sisters who might not think like us and that includes our brothers and sisters across the globe, our brothers and sisters who are worshiping down the street, and our brothers and sisters who you find yourselves sitting next to today.           
Through our prayers we are made keenly aware of our shared brokenness.  We are made aware that we are all sinners in need of redemption.  Even more, we are made aware that we are many members of the same body. 
We remember that we are held together through the great love of our Savior Jesus Christ who died for us all and who rose again to show us a new way to live together in love and peace. When we pray, we join together and call on the one who is making all things new. 
            In the end, I am glad that my harmonious understanding of the Church as the body of Christ on earth was broken.  If it weren’t, then I would be living in a constant state of anxiety and frustration.  I might still be looking for the Church to get her act together and live in perfect harmony.  I would probably have left the Church by now.  I may have even given up my faith in God. 
            But it is not up to the Church to make the body of Christ one.  Only God can do that.  It is not up to the Church to be perfect.  Only God in Christ can make us perfect.  It is not up to the Church to fix a broken body.  Only God can do that.  And God has done all this through Jesus Christ our Lord.  
            But there is something we can do.  We can show God our feet.  We can let God touch our brokenness and imperfections with his love.  We can admit that we are far from perfect.  We can admit that our Church and her people on earth are far from perfect.  We can trust that only God’s love will transform us into a people who walk in love as Christ loves us.  Amen.

            

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