Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being 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 stop being 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 placed 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. (I Corinthians 12: 12-20)
This morning, I glanced at an editorial (my favorite part of the newspaper) that insists that Mr. Biden must be elected as the next president because he wants to unite the country. Now, my goal is not to bash Mr. Biden. The issue has nothing to do with him, and everything to do with the question of “unity.” To put it in the bluntest and less personal of terms, if person A disagrees with person B, then one of the complaints that person B can make is that person A is opposed to unity, or that person A is divisive.
This morning, I glanced at an editorial (my favorite part of the newspaper) that insists that Mr. Biden must be elected as the next president because he wants to unite the country. Now, my goal is not to bash Mr. Biden. The issue has nothing to do with him, and everything to do with the question of “unity.” To put it in the bluntest and less personal of terms, if person A disagrees with person B, then one of the complaints that person B can make is that person A is opposed to unity, or that person A is divisive.
I never felt so excluded from America as I did during the Obama administration. If I didn’t happen to agree with Mr. Obama’s policies (and I didn’t) I was told “sit down, shut up.” Or, worse, I was told that the negative consequence I foresaw “will never happen.” Please say that quote again in your biggest, strongest, deepest voice, with all the authority you can muster. And then when it did happen, the people who vowed that it would never happen just smiled. My point isn’t how bad Mr. Obama was, or how bad Mr. Biden is likely to be, but that the “unity” that people seem to associate with the political perspective didn’t exist. It was the “unity” of the approval of those who liked it, and all others were treated as though they had no intelligence and no rights. It’s the “victor’s unity.”
It’s like the unity proclaimed from the office of a car manufacturer back in the 50s or 60s, who said to look in the parking lot. No one wanted little foreign made cars. It’s like the unity of a business a few towns away who wanted to make it absolutely clear that they are unified in their love of diversity so they fired someone who said things they decided violated that love of diversity.
There are those who think the Church should be unified in the same way. Some think we should be united around the papacy. Others think everyone should be reformed, or Armenian, or Fundamentalist, or Charismatic, or Evangelical. Some claim that all of those are of Satan, and only the Emergent or Missional churches are the real Church (which, of course, all those other churches say is – at best – hogwash.) Some insist that we should be united around good old music, others around what seems to me to be not-so-good new music. Others proclaim that we must be united around love – whatever that means to them, or truth – what that means to them – or good works.
And I say that there are divisions that need to exist. I say that the Christian Church must teach Christ and Scripture. A church that does not is not a Christian church, no matter what they call themselves. They have the right to exist, but they are not Christian. But within “Christ and Scripture” there is room for a great deal of latitude that is not permitted by the “we need to be united” crew. I once had a boss who liked to say, “I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or Republican, you’ve got to agree that …” and then she’d say something distinctly liberal. Being more polite in person than I am in writing, I did not say, “No, I don’t have to agree.” Whether or not I agreed with the … part, the whole point is that we don’t have to agree. We do not have to even agree to be united. But, if being united (or uniform) is your highest priority, then there is a simple solution. Just agree with me. If that’s unpalatable, then maybe your goal isn’t really unity or uniformity, but control.
That is not what today’s passage teaches, First, what the passage does not teach us. Nowhere in today’s passage does it tell us to consider rocks, trees, zebra’s hooves, or lion’s teeth as part of the body. There are things out there that won’t benefit our body if we consume, apply, or wear them. It’s up to God what is or is not a part of the body. It does not matter how fashionable the item is. What matters is whether God tells us it belongs. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.
But, for those hands, feet, ears, and eyes that He has included? They belong. As I looked at the list, my brain perked up. Paul talks about eyes, ears, and noses (sense of smell), hands, and feet. The first three are how we take in information. The last two are how we go, do, and serve. Curiously, he did not include vital organs (brain, heart, lungs, stomach.) We are to be how the Body perceives and does – not survives.
And how do we perceive? Our eyes, ears, noses, and skin communicate with the brain. Is that not prayer? And then the brain tells our hands and feet what to do with the information. What a wonderful illustration of prayer.
It’s like the unity proclaimed from the office of a car manufacturer back in the 50s or 60s, who said to look in the parking lot. No one wanted little foreign made cars. It’s like the unity of a business a few towns away who wanted to make it absolutely clear that they are unified in their love of diversity so they fired someone who said things they decided violated that love of diversity.
There are those who think the Church should be unified in the same way. Some think we should be united around the papacy. Others think everyone should be reformed, or Armenian, or Fundamentalist, or Charismatic, or Evangelical. Some claim that all of those are of Satan, and only the Emergent or Missional churches are the real Church (which, of course, all those other churches say is – at best – hogwash.) Some insist that we should be united around good old music, others around what seems to me to be not-so-good new music. Others proclaim that we must be united around love – whatever that means to them, or truth – what that means to them – or good works.
And I say that there are divisions that need to exist. I say that the Christian Church must teach Christ and Scripture. A church that does not is not a Christian church, no matter what they call themselves. They have the right to exist, but they are not Christian. But within “Christ and Scripture” there is room for a great deal of latitude that is not permitted by the “we need to be united” crew. I once had a boss who liked to say, “I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or Republican, you’ve got to agree that …” and then she’d say something distinctly liberal. Being more polite in person than I am in writing, I did not say, “No, I don’t have to agree.” Whether or not I agreed with the … part, the whole point is that we don’t have to agree. We do not have to even agree to be united. But, if being united (or uniform) is your highest priority, then there is a simple solution. Just agree with me. If that’s unpalatable, then maybe your goal isn’t really unity or uniformity, but control.
That is not what today’s passage teaches, First, what the passage does not teach us. Nowhere in today’s passage does it tell us to consider rocks, trees, zebra’s hooves, or lion’s teeth as part of the body. There are things out there that won’t benefit our body if we consume, apply, or wear them. It’s up to God what is or is not a part of the body. It does not matter how fashionable the item is. What matters is whether God tells us it belongs. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.
But, for those hands, feet, ears, and eyes that He has included? They belong. As I looked at the list, my brain perked up. Paul talks about eyes, ears, and noses (sense of smell), hands, and feet. The first three are how we take in information. The last two are how we go, do, and serve. Curiously, he did not include vital organs (brain, heart, lungs, stomach.) We are to be how the Body perceives and does – not survives.
And how do we perceive? Our eyes, ears, noses, and skin communicate with the brain. Is that not prayer? And then the brain tells our hands and feet what to do with the information. What a wonderful illustration of prayer.
Comments
Post a Comment