Sermon from Sunday 18 October

 

Reading(s): 1 Corinthians: 12: 12-27. This sermon was given by Jo Hooper at St Mark and All SAints.

Our bodies are made up of things like cells, nerves, skin, bones, and muscles. Did you know that your tongue is the only muscle that is attached at just one end?

Well, as cool as muscles are, if the whole body was only muscles, as well as looking a bit strange, we might find it difficult to function!

How do our muscles get energy to move without a mouth to eat? How could our heart be protected without ribs? What shape would we be without any bones?

Bodies are made-up of so many different parts that are all really important. And in the Bible, in a letter to the Corinthians, Paul talks to us about how as the Church, we're a bit like a body.

We can see in verse 12, right at the start of our passage, that many parts make up the body. Well, that does make sense… My fingers are a part of my hand. My hand is connected to my arm, my arm to my torso. It's starting to sound a little bit like a song that I knew as a child:
“The foot bone’s connected to the leg bone, The leg bone’s connected to the knee bone…” you know the one?

All of our parts belong to one body. And Paul writes that it's like that for us because we're all baptised by one Holy Spirit and it didn't matter if we were Jews or Gentiles, slave or free, we were given the same Spirit to drink.

So when this letter was written, people were putting themselves into a couple of different groups and not mixing… Jews were a group; Gentiles were anyone who wasn't a Jew; slaves were a group and free people were a group.

You can think of it a little bit like opposing football teams. For me, growing up in Southampton football club supporting household, I knew that you didn’t mention Portsmouth!!

But the Bible is saying that, for Christians, we don't have these divisions: we are part of one body. Whatever our differences, we're united.

On Disability Awareness Sunday, we might particularly want to remember this, as it applies to our abilities and disabilities and neurodevelopmental differences. We might be different, but we are all united.

Paul’s letter goes on to explain that every part is needed. Verse 21 gives quite a funny visual to imagine!

“The eye cannot say to the hand I don't need you.
The head cannot say to the feet, I don't need you.
In fact, it's quite the opposite.”

Can you imagine it?
Body parts going rogue and breaking free of the body, hopping away and trying to live independently of one another.

I can't think of a single body part that could thrive alone without support from the rest of the body. It's a silly idea. And that's the thing about us as the body of Christ. We need each other. We can't do it alone, and we can't say to any other Christian that we don't need them.

We might be different, but we're united and we need every single one of us. OK, so that might be true, but surely there are some body parts that are better and so we might think that some people in our churches are better or more useful than others. Absolutely not!

This passage describes parts that may seem weaker and parts that we think are less important. The Bible says those are the parts that we can't do without and that we treat with special honour.

There's some really interesting points to be made here. Firstly, the parts that seem weaker or that we think are less important. What humans view as weakness or lack of importance is often not in line with how God sees things. It's not the parts that are weaker or are less important, they're parts we're wrongly thinking of.

Putting that into the context of disability, it really flips everything on its head, doesn't it?

Our whole framework and understanding of disability is that someone's not able to do something the expected way, whether that's through physical or social barriers. If these barriers are not broken down, or accommodations are not made correctly, support not put in place, then people are excluded from participation and belonging.

It may seem that someone is weaker because they need help to access a building, a service, a coffee morning, but are they really weaker?
Are they less important in God's view?

Well, this passage would say everyone is united, everyone is needed and everyone is honoured. But particularly the parts that we might think seem weaker.

We need to give special honour, we need to provide accommodations and support so that our body, the body of Christ, can function fully and thrive.

“Through the Roof” is a charity. One of the ways we see this lived out is Through the Roof’s Wheels for the World programme, where donated wheelchairs and mobility aids are distributed in developing countries. Parts of the body of Christ geographically far from us, are receiving mobility aids they need, along with a Bible, one part of the body giving special honour to another because we need them.

Or perhaps more locally. Here in the parish of ACNB, we are working very hard to make our local buildings and churches more inviting and accessible for all, especially those who maybe disabled or neurodivergent. As a PCC, and as congregations, we are so committed to this, we have registered all our churches, as Inclusive Churches. This is important, not just because of the practical aspect, but it also demonstrates the body of Christ working together to make sure every part is being included and honoured because we need every part.

This passage is just so exciting and important because it shows us how necessary every single one of us is for one another, for the whole body, and for God's glory.

As it says in verse 27: “You are the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of it.”

Let’s be one body with all parts united, needed and honoured.

Amen.