I Corinthians

This morning our professor led us in worship (LBW setting one, no communion). There was no sermon, but we were supposed to sit there, meditate on the gospel for the day (from Luke, Jesus reading in the temple) and share our thoughts on it. However, my attention was caught, not by the passage from Luke, but by the second reading, from I Corinthians Chapter 12. It’s a very well known passage, with Paul talking about how the body of Christ is composed of many parts.

Something about the whole J-term experience this year made it strike me especially powerfully today. It struck me on a couple of different levels. The first level involved the different personalities on this trip. On most issues raised in the group, I am on one side of an issue and my classmates are on the other side. We get all excited and our professor wisely moves us on to another topic. Now I, of course, always believe that I am right, and am more than willing to defend my views. Not only do issues relating to religion tend to be rather important to me (I mean, one would hope that they are important to a master of divinity student.), but many have been formed by hard experience which is not easily ignored or discarded. However, most of the time, my classmates disagree with me. Issues of religion are no less important to them and based on the passion with which they talk about their experiences, they have obviously also had important experiences which have led them to different conclusions. We are very different people and will make different sorts of ministers. However, as different and contradictory as what we do and what we seek may seem, it doesn’t mean that any of us will be less useful. The body of Christ is composed of many different parts and we will serve somewhat different parts in different circumstances, because no two congregations are identical.

On another level, people connect to God in different ways and it is always a struggle to get the various ways to see that the various ways are equally valid. One person will feel closest to God when striving to bring God’s justice in the world. Another will feel closest when surrounded by others singing “Shine Jesus Shine”. A third may feel closest when deep in silent contemplation in a monastery. Yet another may feel closest to God when reading a lengthy treatise on theology. They are all very different ways of seeking relationship with God, yet they can all bring about the desired result. The problem comes when looking from our own path to God, we see that another person’s path has none of the same guideposts as ours, and so we assume that their path cannot be truly leading to God. One pastor once described God as a giant barn where God’s presence can be found in every inch of it. Our lives and our experiences of God are like a baseball that we get one chance to throw at that barn. That ball’s trajectory comes into contact with the barn and maybe even the space inside, but only a small portion of it. The reality of God is so immense that we can’t wrap our minds around it. Another person’s path and interpretation of what they’ve passed through may not intersect with ours at all, but that does not mean that they are not experiencing God.

Churches are like that too. They experience and express God in a number of different ways, but most importantly, they are all experiencing God. Different churches, of different sizes and different locations serve differently, but they all serve the same One. Some churches are about the excellence of their choirs and some are about the closeness of their communities, but all have the same goal of drawing people closer to God. Be it an urban church or a rural church, all are necessary to the body of Christ. There are different ways to serve God and different places to do so, but what is essential is that we serve God. Who knows what part of the body of Christ we will be in at the end of our four years at LSTC and whether or not it is a part that we would have picked. What we need to do is trust that God is putting us where God needs us.

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. (I Cor 12:4-6)

But in fact God has arranged the parts of 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 Cor 12:18-20)

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. (I Cor 12:27)

(above quotes taken from the NIV)