The Eye Cannot Say to the Hand

“The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you….’” Those fractious Corinthians! They were certainly a diverse community of Jesus’ followers. Living in a Roman port city, they had heard the good news from both Paul and others. Members of their community included both gentiles and Jews – and remember how difficult it was for them to get along – rich and poor, slaves and free, men and women, all of different origins and ethnicities.

When Paul wrote to these Corinthian Christians in the mid ‘50s AD, it was clear that there was dissension and conflict among them. Paul’s responses suggest some of the things they were arguing about: who had baptized the different members and therefore which faction they belonged to; whether they should eat meat sacrificed in pagan temples – not a trivial matter; whether they should remain married to pagan spouses; how women should dress their hair – also not a trivial matter; and how to regard various spiritual gifts, especially the gift of “tongues.” Paul was especially distressed to learn that when these Corinthian Christians gathered for the Eucharist, their gathering included a meal, in which the rich inclined in an inner courtyard where slaves served them a sumptuous dinner, while the poor were forced to fend for themselves in an outer courtyard.

Last week, this week, and next week, we hear the sections of Paul’s letter, in which he addresses this way of gathering for the Eucharist. Paul’s approach is to provide a theological foundation, and then to provide specific instructions. We won’t hear the specific instructions – they are in chapter 14 – but from the three sections you do hear you can guess what they might be.

Last week’s reading from Paul’s letter to the Corinthian Christians emphasized spiritual gifts. Paul reminded his hearers that whatever gifts we have come from the Holy Spirit at work within us. And, more important, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”

Now Paul wants to make sure that his hearers understand what he is talking about. So he uses an image that would be very familiar to them: the human body. The image of the human body was actually commonly used in the ancient world to describe society and to justify the hierarchical nature of society. However, here Paul uses the image of the human body to suggest what a Christian community is – or should be. It is a community in which all have been joined to Christ. It is a community that is not stratified, and in which all are full members. All are needed, all are equally valuable, and all share in each other’s joys and sorrows. In such a community social differences are irrelevant, for all are empowered by the Holy Spirit in baptism, and all are nourished by Christ in the Eucharist.

Yet Paul also acknowledges the delicate balance in such a community: “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” Although the members of a Christian community are united by the Spirit, they retain their individual gifts and talents. Indeed the community is richer for such diversity. All are needed to build up the community, all are needed for wholeness, and all are needed to reflect the diversity and comprehensiveness of God. More important, the community reflects the inclusiveness of God: all are welcomed into the body of Christ. Indeed, not only are all welcomed, all are needed if the body is to function as it should.

Those fractious Christians! Sometimes I wonder if we have learned anything since the first century. We have been reading Paul’s letter to the Corinthians for two thousand years. But are we all that different from those Corinthians who needed so desperately to be reminded of their unity in Christ, who needed to be inspired again to live as God’s beloved children and not as each other’s sworn enemies? Don’t we still see around us deep divisions among those who claim to be followers of Jesus, among those who have been baptized into the body of Christ?

Of course, the divisions that Paul addressed among the Corinthians also existed among other early Christian communities. Certainly, the communities in Ephesus and Galatia struggled to bring together Jews and gentiles. The same was no doubt true for the communities that first heard the gospels of Matthew and John and the book of Revelation. As the church expanded, there were Christians who followed the distinctive teachings of Nestor, or Arius, or Marcion. Alas, there was probably never a period of perfect unity among Christians. Certainly, the great councils of the fourth and fifth centuries did their best to reconcile differences. The wording of the Nicene Creed and the canon of Scripture – the books that make up the Bible – represent the efforts of the early Church to come to some kind of basic unity, despite all their many differences.

The differences among the various Christian bodies continued to grow, especially theological differences. Finally, in 1054, what little unity there was in the church was shattered, as the eastern church, led by the patriarch of Constantinople, and the western church, led by Pope Leo IX, formally separated. There has been much nasty history between the two bodies since then. The Orthodox in particular, who still consider Constantinople, now Istanbul, to be their see city, have yet to forgive the Catholic crusaders for looting Constantinople in 1204. Thanks be to God, Catholics and Orthodox have begun inching back together, and we can continue to pray that this historic breach may yet be healed.

Meanwhile, our mother church, the Church of England, was born in the wake of the great schism of the Reformation. In England and in the rest of Europe, the sixteenth century was a bloody century among Christians. Indeed our wonderful Book of Common Prayer represents an attempt to resolve some of the conflicts among English Christians: if we can’t agree theologically, it was said, at least we can all worship with the same words. Of course the splintering of the church has continued to this day, with myriad denominations and independent Christian communities, each believing that they are following the lead of Christ. And I might say that they conflicts we see in the church are not unique to the church. Deep divisions exist among all the historic faith communities. Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus all struggle with interpreting Scripture, ordering worship, and living within their respective cultures.

All this may be more history than you want, but it does provide a way of looking at recent events in the Anglican Communion and here in Gallipolis. The Anglican Communion currently comprises thirty-eight churches that descend from the Church of England. The Episcopal Church is one of them. Earlier this month the primates of the various provinces met in England under the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury. In that meeting a majority of the primates voted to ask the Episcopal Church to bow out of certain councils, because of our embrace of same-gender marriage. Needless to say, the primates’ vote reveals differences in interpretation of Scripture and the different social conditions under which these churches, mostly from Africa and Asia, attempt to live out their vision of the Gospel.

As most of you are by now aware, also earlier this month, the pastor of Grace UMC, who served as unofficial convener of the churches that participated in the Community Lenten services, “uninvited” First Presbyterian Church of Gallipolis and St. Peter’s from continuing to participate in these services, ostensibly because of our embrace of same-gender marriage and welcome of lesbian and gay folks more generally. Neither First Presbyterian nor St. Peter’s has done anything illegal or contrary to the canons of our denominations. Nevertheless we were told that we were unwelcome. It appears that the UMC pastor has now gathered together several like-minded pastors and will go forward with Lenten services in some form without us. As I consider both these events, I feel strongly as if the eye has said to the hand, “I don’t need you.”

Paul gives us a different vision of Christian community. Instead of fragmentation and conflict, instead of dissension and “uninviting,” Paul reminds us of our essential unity as followers of Christ. As I think about these recent events, both in the Anglican Communion and locally, and especially as I try to view them charitably, I see them as perhaps reflecting the diversity of the body of Christ. And I pray that we can see that diversity as contributing to the wholeness of the body. I pray that the body of Christ is truly a body where all parts are needed, welcomed, and valued, and where all have their respective roles. I firmly believe that the Episcopal Church takes its lead from Jesus’ embrace of all. I believe we are on the side of justice. I believe that our role now is to witness to the rightness of full inclusion in our life of lesbian and gay folks, including the embrace of same-gender marriage. Most important, I believe that we must continue to remain a hospitable and welcoming community for all, while we continue to do the work in the world to which God has called us.

The Book of Common Prayer can help us with this call – as it has done since 1549. I invite you to turn to page 824 and pray with me, “O God, you have bound us together in a common life. Help us in the midst of our struggles for justice and truth, to confront one another without hatred or bitterness, and to work together with mutual forbearance and respect; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”