Rev. Betsy Aldrich Garland
January 24, 2010
I Corinthians 12:13-31a; Luke 4:14-218

Good News, Good Ways

Two of the lectionary texts this morning are among my favorites: Paul’s letter to the Corinthians about “gifts” and the story of Jesus reading from the prophet Isaiah in his hometown synagogue. Let’s look at the Corinthians passage first.

Conference Minister Chuck Barnes preached on the first half of this chapter last week – about the variety of gifts that we are given, all of them activated by the same Spirit. I heard two important ideas in what Chuck had to say: First, that every minister is different – different personality, different gifts, different strengths and weaknesses. I realized when I first came a year ago, that you missed Bary’s preaching style – but I couldn’t be Bary, I could only be me. Your new settled minister, when you call him or her, will not be like either Bary or me. We are all different; we can only be ourselves.

Second, Chuck reminded us that the gifts of clergy and lay people can complement each other. The Search Committee will be sorting out what gifts Edgewood Church needs in a new minister, what gifts can be found in the congregation, and how they, together, create a whole body.

In the second half of the chapter, the one we read this morning, Paul uses one of the most famous metaphors in the history of Christianity – that of the church as a human body. This Body of Christ metaphor does two things: it describes both complexity and organic unity. Consider this summary from one of the commentators:

“The human body has 206 bones, 639 muscles, and about 6 pounds of skin, along with ligaments, cartilage, veins, arteries, blood, fat, and more. Every time we hear a sound; every time we take a step; every time we take a breath, hundreds of different parts work together so that what we experience is a single movement, our minds and bodies working as one unit. Even the greatest engineers struggle to achieve anything like it in mechanical form. The human body represents one of the most complex systems in existence.” 1

You and I each have a body – and we are part of a larger metaphorical body, the Body of Christ, the Church. What does Paul say about this? Lots of things, such as the body has many parts, like eyes and ears, that have many different roles, like seeing and hearing, every part important and needed for the functioning of the whole. In fact, it is the diversity of all the parts and the relationships between the parts, that make us whole. What affects any one of us, affects all of us. As Paul says, “If one member suffers, all suffer together . . .; if one member is honored, all rejoice together . . ..”

Furthermore, Paul says that the gifts that each of us has – like teaching and healing and leadership and helping and cleaning the kitchen and designing the website and writing reports – are meant to be used for the good of the whole body. The text tells us that everyone matters – whether one is good at singing or making casseroles or chairing a meeting; whether one is an infant or an elderly person or someone with a disability, whether one is a generous or poor pledger, homebound or a worker-bee.

You and I belong to this Body through the act of baptism. Baptism is how we get in, how the Spirit’s power moves over our lives, just as it did at creation when the Spirit of God moved over the face of the waters, just as it did as Jesus came up out of the water of the Jordan at his baptism and a voice from heaven is heard: “you are my beloved Son, my chosen one. In you I am well pleased.”

Belonging is the gift of baptism. For those of you who might have ever wondered where you belong, you belong right here, in the Body of Christ. Belonging is one of our greatest human needs, right up there next to food and shelter and security. But belonging means participating. When we join the church, any church, we expect to participate through our prayers, our presence, our gifts, and our service.

But sometimes people don’t participate because they never took their church membership seriously. We need to reach out to them. Where would the body be without an eye? Or an ear? Or willing hands? Or a loving heart?

I often think that we have it all wrong, this business of recruiting people to serve on this or that committee or to take on this or that task. If we believed in gifts-based ministry, we would start with the person, and help him or her discover and use his or her gifts in the church and in the world. In other words, we would build the church around the members’ gifts; we would start with everyone’s gifts, and build ministries around them, not with the positions that need to be filled – something I’m thinking about for the Annual Meeting next Sunday.

Belonging means participating. But sometimes people don’t participate because they don’t feel welcome or needed. Here’s where we need to make sure that we convey the message that “whoever you are and wherever you are on life’s journey you are welcome here” – and mean it! Otherwise, think of it theologically – we are guilty of denying him or her “body-ness” in Christ! And just like the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, the Body of Christ is greater than a gathering of all of us. We are more than the membership list. We are a very complex, organic whole.

So, Paul’s letter to the Corinthians tells us we belong; tells us we participate when we belong; and tells us we are Christ’s body in the world. What does that mean for us? What are the implications?

Look at the gospel lesson: Jesus has been out to see his cousin John; he’s been baptized by John in the Jordan River; then he goes on retreat in the wilderness to listen for God’s voice, to be tested, to discern where this ministry will take him. Have you ever wondered if you can do something God has asked of you? Suffered over that question?

After the wilderness, Jesus goes back to Nazareth, his home village – I imagine to say goodbye, to explain to his mother why he has to do this. And on the Sabbath, as usual, he goes to the synagogue. The attendant hands him the Isaiah scroll and asks him to read. He unrolls it, searching for something. What is he looking for? And then he finds it. Raised on the Hebrew prophets since childhood, Jesus finds the place where it is written,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,...
to bring good news to the poor, ...
release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, ...
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

He hands the scroll back and sits down with all eyes on him. “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

This is the mantle that Jesus has accepted – his mission, his purpose, his agenda – and ours, those of us who carry the name Christian, if we are honest enough to admit it! Jesus’ mission must inform our mission. How can it not? The question for us to discern is, what part of that mission to bring good news to a brokenhearted world is ours?

I suspect the answer to that question lies in the individual gifts that we bring to this Body of Christ, and how they shape this organic whole that is Edgewood Congregational Church. We are back where we started in Corinthians.

But if we are to bring “Good News, Good Ways” to all of God’s people, we must go forth as Jesus did in the power of the Spirit with hope and love and joy as an agent of God’s mercy.

May it be so!

Amen.

1. David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Feasting on the Word, Year C, Vol. 1.