Body Politics

Rev Dr Mark Porizky

1/21/07

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

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 by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body -- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free -- and all were made to drink of one Spirit.  For the body does not consist of one member but of many.
 

If the foot should 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 should 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 be the hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?  But as it is, God arranged the organs in the body, each one of them, as he chose.  If all were a single organ, where would the body be?  As it is, there are many parts, 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 parts of the body which seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those parts of the body which we think less honorable we invest with the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior part, that there may be no discord in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.  If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
 

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 workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues.  Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?  Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?  But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.

Have you ever wondered what body part you are? If the church is a body and all of us parts of that body, what part are you? Personally I would rather be the heart than a strand of hair. I prefer to be thought of as the blood supply of the church rather than the hangnail of our life together. I would rather be the brain or the eyes or the mouth than any of the body parts that have to do with the expulsion of waste products. And who wants to be known as the appendix of church life?

      But, I am taking this too far. This image is not meant to be taken literally. It's a metaphor -- given to us by Paul to help us better understand the ways in which we belong to one another, the ways in which we need one another.

Imagine going to a performance of Beethoven's 5th Symphony and there was no harmony. All of the instruments were playing the exact same notes just the same way. And all the instruments were…trombones. It would be awful. We love diversity, especially what diversity produces in something like a symphony.

And you and I love diversity when it comes to grocery stores and TV programming, and vacation options and restaurant menus, and of course, financial investing. Don't forget to diversify that portfolio.

We love diversity, except when it comes to people. When it comes to people, gosh, pretty much we like to be with other people who are just like us. We balk at diversity when it comes to people. Even the church growth experts will tell you, if you really want to grow a church you've got to take into consideration what they call the homogeneous unit principal. And that basically says that people like to be with people that are like them. And so to grow your church, target people that are just like you. And build in a comfort level, a comfort zone in the church that will not be threatened by cultural or socioeconomic diversity.

Some of the best preparation for ministry I ever received was in middle school when I took a summer course in dissection.  Of course, I didn’t know it at the time.  I just thought it was cool to cut open really large rats.  What I remember as being most important at that time was talking to Joyce, the girl whose attention I was trying to get.  In my seventh grade mind I thought I could win her love by throwing rat parts at her. 

I didn’t get the attention I wanted.  Never could figure out why.   

I don’t remember much about the class, but I do remember something the teacher said while dissecting a frog, I remember the teacher desperately trying to tell us about the interdependency, the diversity and complexity and yet harmony and unity that makes up just one organism.   The teacher explained that organisms sometimes failed to diversify.  Sometimes like-minded cells stuck together with just their kind and did their own thing.  He said that's what a malignant tumor is all about.  

And here in this text before us, what the Apostle Paul does is he gives the Corinthian Christians and you and me a lesson in spiritual anatomy 101.  Paul writes about what ought to characterize the body of Christ in terms of diversity. And in this text before us, we learn at least three things about diversity.

The first is this: that diversity is not a luxury, it's a necessity.

Just like in the human body, every part needs every other part. The parts are different but complementary to each other. They are all interdependent, they need each other. Just like the human body, so it is with the body of Christ. There are different parts, and they all play a needed function.  

It's not by accident, friends, it's by God's design that diversity is to characterize the very body of Christ. We sometimes flee from that. I like being with people that are like me. I don't get up in the morning and think about going out and trying to find people different from me and hooking up with them. Our natural inclination is to be with those who are just like us.

And yet, if we look at this verse, verse 18, this is a verse that homogeneity seekers like me need to wrestle with, because this blows apart the idea of homogeneity. God is bringing together all of this diversity. And it's uncomfortable for a lot of us. But this is who God is. This is how God operates. Diversity is God’s intention.

Paul says the body is one, but there are a whole lot of different parts. The body is made up, not of all of the same parts. They're different. Imagine a body made up of say, 50 kidneys all stuck together. That would be rather interesting. It would probably get a lot of press coverage. But I think that person would be somewhat less effective in terms of teaching Sunday School or doing evangelism. If a body was all kidneys, it just wouldn't work. The body is diverse, with interdependent parts. God doesn't like monotony. We have words for when everything's the same, when everybody's the same: boring, monotonous. God's diverse. Imagine if Michelangelo, in painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel used only the color green.

A second thing we learn about diversity in this text is that though diversity means that there isn't uniformity it doesn't mean that there's not unity in the body of Christ.   Let me repeat uniformity is not unity, and unity does not demand uniformity.

We're committed to creating a diverse, loving community of faith here at Saint Andrew Presbyterian Church, and we must acknowledge that there are some beliefs that you and I must hold in common if we are truly going to be unified.

But we will only be faithful to God’s intention if we are Christians living faithfully together amidst our diversity. The reason some Christians flinch at the idea of diversity is that they think that that means theological pluralism with no boundaries.  To this I say absolutely not.  Look at verse 13 again of your text. Paul says to the Corinthians that it's the Holy Spirit who is orchestrating this whole thing. He's bringing many different parts together into one body. We drink of one spirit.

That means you and I have got to ask the question: what's the primary function of the Holy Spirit? The first two primary functions of the Holy Spirit are these: first, the Holy Spirit always points past to Jesus Christ. Secondly, the Holy Spirit illumines the truth of God's Word in Scripture to us. We are committed to being a diverse, loving community of faith. We're all different.  We look different, we dress different, and we have different interests and tastes. We're differently gifted, some of us have great gifts others have more mundane gifts.

At a meeting of the American Psychological Association, Jack Lipton, a psychologist at Union College , and R. Scott Builione, a graduate student at Columbia University , presented their findings on how members of the various sections of 11 major symphony orchestras perceived each other.

The percussionists were viewed as insensitive, unintelligent, and hard-of-hearing, yet fun-loving. String players were seen as arrogant, stuffy, and unathletic. The orchestra members overwhelmingly chose "loud" as the primary adjective to describe the brass players. Woodwind players seemed to be held in the highest esteem, described as quiet and meticulous, though a bit egotistical. Interesting findings, to say the least!

With such widely divergent personalities and perceptions, how could an orchestra ever come together to make such wonderful music? The answer is simple: regardless of how those musicians view each other, they subordinate their feelings and biases to the leadership of the conductor. Under his guidance, they play beautiful music. 

Unity, but not uniformity.  It’s good to be different, but committed to the same goals.

Finally, I would add that Body Politics have no small players.  

In March of 1981, President Reagan was shot by John Hinckley, Jr., and was hospitalized for several weeks. Although Reagan was the nation's chief executive, his hospitalization had little impact on the nation's activity.  The government continued on with little slowdown.       

On the other hand, suppose the garbage collectors in this country went on strike, as they did a few years ago in Philadelphia . That city was not only in a literal mess, the pile of decaying trash quickly became a health hazard. A three-week nationwide strike would paralyze this country.

I have often said that you would notice the absence of Dan Rice before you noticed my absence.  Who is Dan Rice?  He is the custodian of this church who has quietly, almost inconspicuously served Saint Andrew Presbyterian for almost 30 years.

So who is more important--the President or a garbage collector, the pastor or the custodian?  In the body of Christ, seemingly insignificant ones are urgently needed. As Paul reminds us, "The head cannot say to the feet, 'I don't need you!' On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable"

“During World War II , England needed to increase its production of coal. Winston Churchill called together labor leaders to enlist their support. At the end of his presentation he asked them to picture in their minds a parade which he knew would be held in Picadilly Circus after the war. First, he said, would come the sailors who had kept the vital sea lanes open. Then would come the soldiers who had come home from Dunkirk and then gone on to defeat Rommel in Africa . then would come the pilots who had driven the Luftwaffe from the sky. Last of all he said, would come a long line of sweat-stained, soot-streaked men in miner’s caps. Someone would cry from the crowd, ‘And where were you during the critical days of our struggle?’ And from ten thousand throats would answer, ‘We were deep in the earth with our faces to the coal.’

Not all the jobs in a church are prominent and glamorous. but it is often the people with their “faces to the coal” who help the church accomplish its mission.

“Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.  (1 Corinthians 12:14-19)

Will you pray with me now?

St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Groton , CT

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