One Body with Many Members For 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. 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.
Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect, whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. ~ 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 (NRSVUE)
Today is a big day of celebration! Here at church, we are celebrating World Communion Sunday with our Christian brothers and sisters around the world, and at the Thibeault house this afternoon, we are celebrating my husband’s birthday.
This week, as I reflected on today’s scripture that talks about the Body of Christ and the fact that it takes all of us sharing our unique gifts and talents for the Body to be complete, it got me thinking about a birthday party we had for my husband a few years ago. We celebrated his birthday that year with a chili cook-off with family and friends. Have you ever been part of something like that? I guess it’s kind of like the deviled egg cookoff that seems to happen quite often at coffee hour here in Oldtown! Well, at a chili cook-off, everyone makes their own special chili recipe, and then everyone shares what they have made, appreciating the amazing flavors and differences between them. The list of ingredients that can be added to chili is endless, and the ingredients chosen can change the taste drastically, but it is still considered chili. Now, many chilis include chili powder or chili peppers, tomatoes, cumin, onions, and peppers hot and mild. Some chilis have meat of some kind in them, and some have beans. Actually, some have one type of bean, and others have several bean varieties.
Now, because this fall we are being curious, I wonder, if you were making chili, is there a secret ingredient that you would put in it? Personally, I like to put corn in my chili because it makes it a little sweeter, but I have also heard of people adding cocoa to it too. To be honest, I don’t think there is anything that you can put into a chili that would make it no longer chili, as long as it is something edible. Chili takes lots of different ingredients working together to have the best flavor, just like the church or the Body of Christ takes different people, personalities, gifts, talents, and ideas to make it complete. And just like you can’t put something in chili that would make it no longer chili, there is not a human being that walks this earth who is not loved by God, welcomed into THIS church, welcomed at THIS table, or welcomed into the Body of Christ. It’s like the various kinds of breads around our communion table this morning. They may look, smell, or taste different. They may have different ingredients and be cooked in different shapes, but they are all bread.
Okay, with all this talk of chili and bread, is anyone starting to feel hungry? The truth is, most of our big celebrations in life happen around food, don’t they? Just this week, our Jewish brothers and sisters ate apples, honey, and pomegranates on Rosh Hashana to ensure a sweet and joy-filled new year. On Thanksgiving, we gather at our dining room tables with a turkey and all kinds of delicious sides. Of course, on birthdays, we have birthday cake and ice cream with friends. Many gather for Christmas and New Year’s Eve dinners, Fourth of July clambakes, Mother’s Day brunches, Father’s Day cookouts, and romantic anniversary dinners. On Cinco de Mayo, we eat tacos and quesadillas, and on St Patrick’s Day, we fill our plates with corned beef and cabbage and Irish soda bread.
But the truth is, adding food to times of celebration is nothing new. More than two thousand years ago, the institution of communion happened when Jesus gathered in an upper room with his friends to share in the Passover meal. And because of that meal, we now gather each month to break bread and drink juice remembering Jesus, as he taught us to. Of course, Communion is always a sacred time that holds with it a mystery that we can never fully understand. That’s why ALL are welcome at Jesus’ table–to learn and experience the sacrament in their own way.
Theologians, or people who study the nature of God and religion, often believe that there is no time or space at the table that Jesus sets for us. And that during communion, we share this sacred meal with those who have gone before and those who will someday be! Today, we take that amazing celebration even a step further as we celebrate World Communion Sunday, acknowledging that when we gather at the table, it is not just about us here in Oldtown but that we gather at this table with brothers and sisters around the world! The sharing of communion and remembering what happened at the Last Supper helps us to unite not only as Christians but as the entire Body of Christ here on earth.
As we heard in scripture today, we gather here as the eyes and the ears and the hands and the heart of Jesus. Friends, when we celebrate the sacrament of Communion, we call on the Holy Spirit to be present, which makes the sacrament holy and sacred. But I think the best news about the sacrament of communion is it is a gift. Like grace, the sacrament of communion is not something we can ever earn or be good enough to deserve. All we can do is simply experience and receive it.
Now, there is always a mystery when it comes to the sacraments, kind of like secret ingredients that we don’t always know about in chili because we can’t always put our finger on the taste in some chilis. We can’t fully explain what happens at the Table during communion. All that we know is that, somehow, when we share the bread and cup, God’s love becomes visible. I also personally believe that when we are fed and nourished at Jesus’ table, we are then given the ability to go out into the world, making God’s love visible to others.
Friends, today, as we celebrate World Communion Sunday, we gather at the Table that Jesus has set for us with brothers and sisters all around the world. This is a place where Jesus welcomes all. No one is turned away, and there is always more than enough to go around. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you’ve been. It doesn’t matter if you were raised Roman Catholic, or Baptist, or Episcopal, or Methodist, or if you were raised with no religion at all. It doesn’t matter if you are young or old, Republican or Democrat, rich or poor, gay or straight, conservative or liberal, or somewhere in between. It doesn’t matter if you eat chili with meat or vegetarian chili or if you don’t like chili at all! Because whoever you are and wherever you are on life’s journey, YOU ARE WELCOME AT THIS TABLE!
On this World Communion Sunday, we gather at the table with brothers and sisters from all around the world: brothers and sisters who may look different, who may speak a different language, who may act differently, who may believe differently, but here’s the good news, my friends. God loves all of us just the same. And that unconditional love and grace is what this table is all about because, as Jesus always says, “All you need to be, to come to this table is hungry!”
So, brothers and sisters in Christ, as you go out into your busy week ahead, remember that World Communion Sunday teaches us that we are a part of something so much bigger, a sacred community of grace that calls us not to judge others, but to share our gifts, to learn by doing, to celebrate our similarities and our differences, and to feed those who are hungry in mind, body or spirit, truly sharing God’s unconditional love with the world.
0 Comments