“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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