We are Many Parts and One Body in Christ Jesus
When I was growing up, my mother sometimes put big puzzle out on our big table in the dining room for everyone to work on together. It was good fun and we found that, working together, it came together relatively quickly. But there was a problem. One piece – in the very center of the puzzle -- was missing. We looked high and low. But we couldn’t find it. As children, we were very frustrated. Although almost all of the puzzle was complete, our focus was drawn to the hole. where the missing piece should have been. We needed all the pieces of the puzzle in order for the picture to be complete.
Paul is saying much the same thing to the people of Corinth. They had been fighting amongst themselves over who had the best, most spiritual gift. Using the metaphor of the body, Paul writes, “Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you’re still one body. It’s exactly the same with Christ… Each of us is now a part of Jesus’ resurrection body” Message Bible 1 Cor 12 and we are refreshed and sustained at Christ’s table, where we come to be renewed by God’s spirit.
For just as an eye is not better than an ear, nor is an ear better than your stomach, we need all of them to do their own job for the sake of the whole body. As Eugene Peterson translates this, “ No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, “Get lost; I don’t need you”? Or, Head telling Foot, “You’re fired; your job has been phased out”? As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the “lower” the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it’s a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn’t you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?” We are called to honor and care for all the parts of the body so that the whole body can function well.
The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part” 1 Cor 12:20-23 The Message Bible
If we look at our church, this is indeed the case.We are called to unity – to share the gifts we have been given. But we are not called to uniformity. For example, in the choir, not everyone can reach the low notes of the basses or the high notes of our sopranos, but together, the choir can lead the rest of us in singing beautiful praises to God. Likewise, some use their math and accounting skills to keep us on track financially while others focus on keeping the building running well. Some of you cook, others bake, and we all join together in making a delicious potluck fellowship that we can enjoy together after worship. When we all share the gifts that we have been given, we do the work that God calls us to do.
We can extend this even further. Just as each of us are one part of the congregation of Faith-Lilac Way, so our church is one part of Wildfire churches, which is one part of the NW Hennepin Conference which is one part of the Minneapolis Area Synod, which is one part of the ELCA, which is one part of the World federation of Churches, which is one part of Christ’s body. It’s like zooming out from the individual pieces to see the beauty of the whole. But when we zoom back in, we also see that just as when my family lost the puzzle piece, the picture was incomplete, so each individual piece is an important, essential part of the body of Christ.
And so, let us honor and celebrate the many gifts that God has entrusted to us – for God has indeed given us many gifts… including the gift of relationship between us and these larger organizations of which we are a part. And, as we celebrate the diversity of the gifts, let us also remember that even the seemingly littlest gift, the smallest person is an essential part of the body of Christ. As Paul writes, God calls Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female1 Cor 12:13 and I would add, republicans and democrats, voters and visitors, refugees and generational immigrants, all of these seemingly polar opposites, to be one in Christ Jesus.
And then Paul goes further, to remind us of our relationship with one another. Just as, if you hurt your hand, your whole body is affected and so works to heal the hand, so too, we as members of the body of Christ, should care for one another. For while we represent a great diversity of gifts and talents and opinions, we need unity when it comes to the care of the body of Christ. As Paul writes, “there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”
“If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.” And so, we suffer with the homeless, the refugee without a home or a country, the people impoverished by war or violence, the people whose homes have been burned by fire or flooded or destroyed by mudslides. The body of Christ has many different people with diverse qualities and gifts and all of them belong – and when any of them are missing or hurting or suffering – we all feel their suffering and so we are called to do what we can to care for the part, the people, who are hurting.
My father was a great guy and had many gifts and skills but… vacuuming wasn’t one of them. So, I found it odd one day when he got out the vacuum, disconnected the hose from the vacuum and then got out his flashlight and peered through the long hose. He then started to shake it violently. And… the missing puzzle piece came flying out.
We rejoice with those who rejoice and especially when one who was hurting is healed and those who were homeless are housed and all who are hungry are fed. This is our mission as the body of Christ. So let us not forget to rejoice with those who rejoice.
Brothers and sisters, friends in Christ, let us celebrate the diversity among us and the unity we share in the body of Christ. Let us take special care of those in need of comfort, care and wholeness and let us rejoice with all who rejoice in the love of Christ Jesus. Amen.
Faith-Lilac Way + January 26, 2025 + Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane