Pastor: Paula Hemann
1st Reading: Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31
Gospel: Luke 4:14-21
January 26, 2025
Sermon: If We are the Body…
By: Pastor Paula Hemann
God put the body together in such a way that those who experience honor in
this life and those who do not are to astound the world by their unity and their
concern for one another.
Today I begin with lyrics from the Song by Casting Crowns (If We Are the Body and
more lyrics will be added throughout our message today.)
It's crowded in worship today
As she slips in trying to fade into the faces
The girl's teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know
Farther than they know
Today our 1st Reading describes a scene where Ezra, a priest, publicly reads the
Law of Moses to all the gathered people of Jerusalem after the rebuilding of the
city walls.
This leads all the people to a powerful moment of reflection, repentance, and
rejoicing as the people deeply understood and applied the scripture to their lives,
this shows us the importance of studying and applying God's word in an entire
community.
But if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?
And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?
There is a way
Today in our 2nd reading in Corinthians Paul uses the analogy of a human body to
explain that the church is made up of many different members, each with unique
spiritual gifts, and that every member is essential to the functioning of the whole body, emphasizing that no one gift is more important than another and all should
be valued and used for the common good of the church community; essentially,
everyone has a role to play and should not compare or compete with others based
on their specific gift.
The Body of Christ is the visible presence of the life of Jesus on earth. It is in the
church as Christ’s body that the world sees the implementation of Christ’s mission:
to proclaim good news to the poor.
to proclaim liberty to the captives
recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
A traveler is far away from home
He sheds His coat and quietly sinks into the back row
The weight of their judgmental glances
Tells him that His chances are better out on the road.
Paul writes to us who are a congregation who seems to have forgotten who they
have been called to be.
Like the Church in Corinth, maybe we have adopted the world’s values of status
and discrimination based on status.
Maybe we too are living for ourselves and in many ways, our behaviors are no
different than the culture around us.
Could we have forgotten that they are one in Christ Jesus.
Divided on many issues, so when Paul opens his letter,
He reminds each of us that we are united in faith.
He assures us that we have been given all spiritual gifts we need.
And he reminds us to discontinue worldly ways of organizing our
community life.
Friends, our relational pattern has been placed and arranged by God.
The people of Corinth needed to
(1) stop arguing about leadership,
(2) stop moral behavior that tears the community apart, and
(3) stop celebrating the Lord’s Supper in ways that exclude others.
Because if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?
And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?
Most importantly- no one is to think that because they have a more visible gift, a
more prominent location in the body, that they are superior.
And no one should degrade their function because it seems small, invisible and
insignificant.
Each part has been created and placed just right to fulfill the purposes of God.
Our theme is unity and the way in which that unity is ordered and used.
Jesus paid much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
We are the body of Christ
If we are the body,
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?
This is good as far as it goes, illustrating how all the various parts work together to
accomplish a unified goal.
That is the outward aspect of the body, but the limit of this illustration is that it can
ignore the inward aspect of the care for each member.
Don Shula helps us understand the gifting of the church for God’s mission. Shula
spent 26 years as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. Under his leadership they
had their famous 1972 undefeated season, including winning the Super Bowl.
While many coaches had philosophies of the game and forced their talent to fit
their philosophy, Shula looked at the specific talents of his players and crafted a
game plan around their gifts.
If he was given an impressive quarterback, he crafted a plan based on passing.
On the other hand, if he had a great offensive line, the plan was the running game.
The individual gifts of the players constituted the gift that was the team, and it
accomplished its goals.
Today in our Gospel Jesus says to his hometown people "The Spirit of the Lord is
on me," says Christ, "because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the
blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."
What is Christ saying to you and me?
Mother Teresa said this: "I find the rich poorer," "Sometimes they are more lonely
inside...The hunger for love is much more difficult to fill than the hunger for
bread...The real poor know what joy is."
A lay leader of a large suburban church stood to give her testimony. "My husband
and I had it all," she said, "all the good things that our society values. Good jobs, a
nice home, vacations in the Bahamas.
I now realize, though, how shallow and inadequate our faith was.
I can remember when I picked out a church for us because it had beautiful
chandeliers.
Then it happened. Both of us lost our jobs. For over a year we struggled. It was
during this time that we both came to know the goodness of God."
And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?
Let’s show them the Way.
Bob Bartlett, an arctic explorer, tells about a summer expedition where he and his
party gathered a selection of native birds. These birds were kept caged but well
cared for during the long voyage across the ocean. One day a particularly restless
bird escaped from its cage and took off in flight over the ocean. "Well, that bird is
lost," thought the crew. But before the end of the day, much to their surprise, they
saw that same bird flying back towards the ship at a rapid pace. Looking spent and
breathless, the little bird dropped upon the deck of the ship and surrendered itself.
It no longer saw the ship as a prison, but as a refuge. The ship was the only way to
get across the deep wide ocean.
An ambitious forty-year-old executive from Nashville, Tennessee, sat in a seminar
in Charlotte, North Carolina. The participants in the seminar were challenged to
view life from a higher plain” to explore new ideas and to expand their horizons.
The man was becoming increasingly agitated. He had come to learn some specific
how-to's” not some abstract philosophy. By the end of the second day, he was
ready to pack it in and chalk up the whole experience on the minus side of the
ledger.
But he didn't go. He went out for a jog instead. He felt he needed some exercise
and some time away, to work out the tension. He chose a back road near the motel
where he was staying.
As he trotted along the back road, he suddenly heard a tremendous growl and
barking. The hair on his neck stood on end! There, growling behind a thin wire
fence about three feet high, was a huge, young, and hyper Doberman Pinscher,
eyes blazing and teeth bared! The dog was about as high as the fence, and with
hardly any effort at all, could have jumped the fence. The man knew he was in
trouble and stood still for a moment to see how he could get away safely.
Then, an amazing thing happened. The dog barked and barked, jumped up and
down and growled, ran back and forth, but did not jump over the skimpy fence. In
a flash of insight, the man realized that the dog had been conditioned to stay within
the boundaries of the fence. Despite his capacity to run and jump for freedom, the
dog stayed just where he was, gnashing his teeth and running back and forth in
angry circles.
The next day, the man raised his hand in the seminar and asked to say a few words.
He told his story quietly and elegantly. "In that moment," he reported, "I knew I
was just like that dog." The man from Nashville had come to see that each of us
live behind self-imposed fences. He could not be free until he acknowledged that
he was a captive.
Yes, we are the body
That’s why our arms are reaching
That’s why His hands keep healing
And His words are teaching?
Yes- We are the Body
That’s why his feet are going and His love is showing them there is a way…
Jesus is the Only way,,, Because Together We are the Body of Christ… And all
God’s People said Amen
