1 Corinthians 12: 12-26
One thing that you
probably don’t know about me is that I’m a watercolorist. I take classes
whenever I can so that I make time to paint. When I signed up for the Bird painting class through the
Connecticut Natural Science Illustrators I was deeply disappointed, at first,
to discover that we had to learn about bird anatomy before drawing and then
painting a bird.
‘Why do we have to learn
about the inside structure of a bird on order to paint it?’ That’s what I
wanted to know and the teacher just sort of said, ‘Well you need to know what’s
going on in the inside of a bird in order to make the form of the bird correct’.
You need to understand how the skeletal structure connects with the structure
of a wing. How the feathers are so delicately designed and laid out are as
essential to your painting just as the color variations.
Well, of course she was
right. Once I understood the anatomy of a bird my paintings and drawing were
much more realistic. What I grasped
on a deeper level is that a bird wing is nothing short of a miracle intricately
designed by a loving and creating God and it is essential that all of the
feathers are aligned and working together. This is how a bird can soar the heights with unlimited
possibility.
Tufted Titmouse by Suzanne E. Wagner
Anatomy is the science of
the shape and structure of organisms and it not only extends to birds and
mammals but to organizations and dare I even say churches also. The Apostle Paul knew that, he knew all
to well that if the anatomy of the early church were off, there would be
problems.
Paul writes his letter to
the people at Corinth, a bustling urban community that was ethnically, culturally,
and religiously diverse. Corinth was the heart of Roman Imperial culture in
Greece and it is more than likely that this small fledgling church population
mirrored the larger community. So
you can imagine that there were clashes because of this diversity and also
because of Rome.
At this point he is
writing as a mediator between the members. Hear the words of the Apostle Paul in the 12th
chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians.
Indeed, the body does not consist of one
member but of many. If the foot were to 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 were to 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.
As only Paul can do, he
illustrates his point in many ways.
In fact he just hammers that point in over and over again like a
jackhammer on stone. This passage
sounds like Church Anatomy 101 doesn’t it? The church body at Corinth was not working out so well, so
he uses the metaphor of the body to illustrate how the body of Christ really
should work. They were a fractured
church community and Paul tries very hard to bolster their confidence and
remind them what being the body of Christ is all about especially when the
culture around them was less than decent and who worshipped Greek gods.
Each foot, each hand, each eye, each ear is essential. Not one part is superfluous. One body, one spirit. They all work in harmony with one
another yet each maintains its special function within the body. Every member is significant and every
member is responsible for the workings of the church. Every member has responsibility to tell his or her story of
God’s love in their life. Every
member is dependent upon the other.
Every member brings gifts and resources that the body needs to be about
the work of Christ. A bird can’t
fly without its wing and a church can’t be a worshipping community without each
person and the gifts they bring.
And what binds this conglomeration of people together? For Paul it is critical for the people
to know that their baptism in Christ binds them together, it is their shared
story of love and pain, joy and sorrow, laughter and tears that they hold in
common. And yet they are free to
express their unique and diverse gifts for the good of the common weal. I don’t think it gets any better than
that. 'Unity and diversity are not
incompatible; they are interdependent on one another'.[i]
We, as a congregation, are embarking on a path that will take
us over many types of terrain. We
will pose questions for discussion and see what ‘aha’ moments there will be. We will reach a consensus that utilizes
unique gifts and that ultimately will strengthen this church.
Each board and committee has its area of expertise, its
special interests and individuals bring their distinctive gifts and talents to
each group, and that’s good. We
are all responsible together for the growth that will occur if we remember our
baptismal ties in Christ and that we are all gifted by the same God. When
Christ is the focus of all we do then we experience grace, acceptance, and
love. Then we can make decisions
that are fiscally responsible, mutually nurturing, and Gospel focused.
The church exists for the world, not vice versa. And it can because each one of us, with
our quirks and our affinities, brings to the take a wealth of unsurpassed
talent. Talent that can be
utilized for the good of the whole.
I am much more attuned to
birds now than I have ever been; their beauty, their little habits, their
unique color gradations, their feistiness, and their gracefulness. But I mostly marvel at their
wings. There are so many feathers
and each one has a purpose, not one is dispensable.
Blue Jay
Amen.
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