The Body

The print version of the Sunday night worship service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church.  The Bible verses used are 1 Corinthians 12:12-27.

              There’s an old story about how all the different parts of the body started arguing about which one of them should be the leader.  The brain started out and said, “Well, all the thoughts, all the ideas for what we do come from me, so clearly I should be the leader.”  

The heart said, “Yeah, but I’m the one who gives us all our emotions, all our feelings.  All of our good motivations come from me, so clearly I should be the leader.”  

The eyes said, “Well, but I’m the one who provides the vision, who makes sure we know where we’re going, so clearly I should be the leader.”  

And one by one, all the various parts of the body made their arguments why they should be the leader.  Finally, the neck started to say why it should be the leader, but before it could even get started, all the other body parts started making fun of it.  They said, “You, the leader?  The neck?  What good are you?  All you do is hold the head up.  Why in the world would we make you the leader?”

Well, the neck got really mad at that, so it tightened all its muscles and constricted all its blood vessels, and pretty soon the brain began to feel a pounding, and the heart was having to work a lot harder to pump blood, and everything in the body was feeling really bad.  And so all the body parts said to the neck, “Okay, okay, you can be the leader.”

The moral of this story is that being a leader really does not require brains or heart or vision.  Sometimes all you need to do to be a leader is to be a pain in the neck.

In our bible reading for tonight, the Apostle Paul compares the people of Christ to a body.  He says that we are all one body.  Yet, he says, the body is not made up of just one part.  It takes many parts to make a body.

He goes on to explain that each part of the body has a role to play, and it is important that each part plays the role that it has.  If any one part of the body does not do its job, the entire body will be less.  If any one part of the body is suffering, the entire body will suffer.  Everything about the body is interconnected, and it all has to function properly for the body as a whole to be what it should be.

I found that out three and a half years ago, when I was diagnosed with bulging discs in my back.  The physical therapist gave me a bunch of exercises to do to strengthen my back, and what I found out was that when you strengthen your back you don’t just strengthen your back.  You work on your upper body, your stomach, your legs, everything, because it’s all connected.  If one part of your body hurts, everything hurts.  And if you want one part of your body to get stronger, you have to make your entire body stronger.

The Apostle Paul, of course, was not a physical therapist.  He was making an analogy to the church, the body of Christ.  He was saying that each person has a role to play in the church, and it is important that each person plays the role that he or she has.  If any one person in the church does not participate, the entire church will be less.  If any one person in the church is suffering, the entire church suffers.  And if we want the church to be stronger in following God, every person in the church needs to be stronger in following God.

Now, we say that, and it makes sense.  And people tend to nod their heads in agreement.  But we don’t look at it that way, do we?  We have certain people that we consider to be more important than others, certain people that we consider the leaders of the church.  And that’s true of any organization–there are always people who are considered to be more important, people who are considered to be the leaders.

Some people might consider me, as the pastor, to be a leader of the church.  And maybe there’s some sense in which I am.  But if there’s nobody here to hear what I say, if there’s nobody watching the livestream, if no one reads the church newsletter or looks at the things I say on facebook, then I’m not the leader of anything.  I’m just sending words out into the void.  Because again, one part of the body can do nothing unless the other parts of the body are doing their jobs.  The entire body needs to be working toward the same goal.

And in fact, it goes a step farther than that.  If people are listening and watching and reading, but they’re not doing anything about what I say, then I’m still not the leader of anything.  Because words are meaningless without action.  That’s one of the things the Apostle James meant when he said, “Faith without works is dead.”  

Now, don’t take that the wrong way.  I am not saying everyone should listen to me and do exactly as I say.  What I’m saying is that all of us–the pastor, the church council, the trustees, the United Methodist Women, people who are not part of any committee or church group–we all need to be on the same page.  We all need to be working together.  We all need to be working toward a common goal of serving the Lord.

            To once again use the analogy of a body, if one foot goes forward and the other foot goes backward, the body won’t get anyplace.  If the legs want to go to the left but the arms want to go to the right, we won’t get anywhere.  In fact, we’ll fall down.  Again, we all need to be working together, toward a common goal of serving the Lord.

            And the only way we can work toward a common goal is if we’re all working.  Because again, each part of the body has a role to play.  As Paul also says, one part of the body cannot say to another part, “I don’t need you.”  Every part of the body is not just important, but necessary, for the body to function properly.  If there’s a part of the body that’s not used, it will atrophy.  It will wither away.  And before long, it will be useless.  

            As Paul also points out, every part of the body does not do the same thing.  Each part of the body has a gift, and it needs to use the gift it has.  That’s true of the church, too.  Everyone does not have the ability to lead worship, although I suspect there are some people who have that gift and simply don’t use it.  Everyone does not have the ability to sing or to play an instrument.  Everyone does not have the ability to lead a Bible study.  

            Everyone may not have those gifts–but everyone does have some gift.  And it’s up to us, with God’s help, to figure out how we can use the gifts God has given us to serve Him.

            Because I’ll guarantee you that there is a way.  That’s why God gave us the gift–to use it in His service.  And that’s true no matter what the gift is.  Including some things we may not think of as gifts.  Being able to be organized is a gift.  Being an optimistic, cheerful person is a gift.  Being a good driver is a gift.  Anything that you are good at–or even anything that you’re just half-way decent at–is a gift that can be used to serve God.  It’s just that sometimes the ways those gifts can be used to serve God may not be obvious.

            And so, I encourage you to think about it.  And I encourage you to pray about it.  Think about the things you are good at.  Think about the things you’re just kind of good at.  Think about the things that maybe you don’t think you’re all that good at, but that you just enjoy doing.  In fact, what I’m really saying is, think about the things that make you, you.

            And then ask God, how can I use those things to serve You?  And then–and this is the really important part–be open to hearing God’s answer.

            Because my experience is that whenever we say to God, “Show me how I can serve you,” God answers that prayer.  And usually God answers it pretty quickly.  But the answer may not be what we were looking for.  The answer may be something that we were not thinking about at all.  And the answer might not come from a person or place we were expecting it to come from.

            I don’t say that to scare you off from this.  But this is not something to be done lightly, either.  We need to be serious about this.  Again, when we ask God to show us ways to serve, God takes us up on it.  So we need to be ready to do what God shows us to do.

            All parts of the body are important.  If one part suffers, the entire body suffers.  If one part of the body does not do its job, the entire body is less.  So let’s move together as a body.  Let’s move together as a church.  Let’s strengthen each other in our faith.  Let’s all use the gifts God has given us to serve God.  When we do, the entire church will be stronger.  And our community and our world will be better, too.