The Sunday Sermon: January 30, 2022 – Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 27-31
Honoring the Body: A More Excellent Way
Four weeks ago, the last time we met together in this sanctuary for worship we said goodbye to the wise men, the Magi, as they left Bethlehem twelve days after Jesus’ birth. We also said goodbye and hello to Mary, Joseph and their baby, Jesus, as they fled to and then returned from Egypt. Only four weeks ago. Seems like much, much longer, due in no small measure to the fact that after that Sunday morning gathering on January 2nd, we moved back to virtual worship services and Sunday school classes and relied on emails to keep us informed on what was happening and when in our church community. It also seems much, much longer because between January 2nd when we welcomed the Holy Family back to Nazareth with Jesus as a two-year-old, and January 9th when we stood with Jesus on the banks of the River Jordan to step into the river with him, we jumped about twenty-eight years, scripturally speaking.
The baptism of Jesus by John is the first event that all four of our Gospels record as “happening.” No birth narratives in Mark and a very different kind of one in John. Three weeks ago, as we experienced and explored this first all Gospel “happening,” the baptism of Jesus, we remembered our own and embarked on a month of more deeply and fully understanding what baptism and the waters of our baptism mean for us. As beloved children of God, ourselves, followers of Jesus, and members of the church we go forth when we are baptized, empowered by the Spirit of God – to remember our baptism, to cross divisions in our lives and in the world, to die and rise to new life (daily), and this morning: to honor the body – our own and the Body of Christ, the church.
Pray with me … And listen for the Word of God from Paul first letter to the baptized in Corinth. Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 27-31. The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
We’ve been truly blessed to have been guided by David Gambrell this month through his writing and sharing in the Follow Me curriculum that has informed our Sunday school classes, worship liturgy, and my sermons. David is Associate for Worship in the PCUSA Office of Theology and Worship, co-editor of our denomination’s Book of Common Worship, ex oficio member of the Glory to God hymnal committee, and more – including a friend and colleague of mine. David notices and shares something curious in our reading this morning as he begins his thoughts on this week. “We often think of the water of baptism in an external way,” he notes. We have in the weeks past, of course. The water collected in a bowl in the baptismal font, or a baptistery pool, or a river – calm or raging, has been “outside of ourselves,” washing over us, symbolically or literally. So, David goes on, “it is curious to see how Paul shifts the image in this passage from an external “washing” to an internal “drinking.” You just heard it: For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slave or free – and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 1 Cor. 12:13
In this passage of this letter to the church at Corinth, the baptismal symbol of water is used in an internal way – as a source of connection among the many different members of the body of Christ. In spite of all our many differences, water and our baptism connect us.
We did note in week two that water is absolutely necessary for the survival of us all. The human body is comprised of about sixty percent of our body mass, helping us to digest food, deliver nutrients to vital organs, regulate healthy temperatures, flush out waste, cushion the shock and stress of daily activities, and much more. And water, specifically the waters of our baptism, and the nourishment of the Holy Spirit is necessary for the survival of the body of Christ, the church. These waters and this Spirit, poured out and swallowed in the Sacrament of Baptism, fill us all with God’s power, love, and grace, and join us together, preparing us for the work we have to do in this world together.
We didn’t read some very familiar verses in Paul’s twelfth chapter this morning, verses fourteen to twenty-six. That was for time’s sake, I suppose, though I almost always regret that later. In these verses, Paul imagines the different parts of our human body talking with each other about who may be more important, or more useful. He concludes that the physical human body understands that each part, is needed, and that God arranged the members of the body, each one of them, to work together, to “live” together in dignity, mutuality, and equality, respecting one another, serving a common purpose, and seeking the welfare of all. No, the parts aren’t the same – a foot is not a hand, and an ear is not an eye. But the emphasis is on relationship – how does the one work with, live with, and enhance the other? So it is, or should be, with the Body of Christ.
Baptismal relationships, my relationship with you and yours with me, our with one another do not require “uniformity.” Thanks goodness. I am not Carol. Carol is not Larry. Sally doesn’t need to think as Mark does, and Mark doesn’t need to have the same gifts as Stephanie… In fact, it all works best if we don’t! We thrive in our diversity, and we need to be different in order to fulfill the functions of this Body, the church: outreach, care, worship, Christian Education, and more. The Body of Christ is intended to be diverse, to include many members – apostles, prophets, teachers, and priests, with gifts of power, vision, assistance, and healing. It works best when we are many, baptized in water and quenched by the Spirit, working together in dignity, mutuality, and respect. The bodies in … the Body of … Christ.
Our bodies have a particularly special place in this Body. Our faith, the Christian faith, is unique among the world’s religions in locating the primary revelation of God – the Holy, the Sacred, the Divine, the “More” at work in the world – in a human being. The Incarnation, God “becoming flesh and living among us/within us” is the most powerful understanding of the body as the presence of God on earth – the body (small “b”, you and I individually) and the Body (capital “B”, of Christ), touching and being touched, feeding and being fed, giving and receiving rest, tending the wounds of the world and being healed ourselves, washing other’s feet and being bathed ourselves in the waters of our baptism.
And so, we choose a more excellent way through baptism, honoring the “body individual” by recognizing the divine image in ourselves and others, and honoring the “Body communal” by participating in the life and work of the church as the Body of Christ. We honor the body through
Self-care: spiritual development, physical exercise, emotional health, financial planning, vocational discernment, proper nutrition and Sabbath rest.
Care of others: the nurturing of relationships, outreach and witness, acts of compassion, and advocacy for justice and peace.
Care for the church: through a deeper understanding of our baptismal identity, ministries of pastoral care, the stewardship of spiritual and material gifts, and participation in its mission.
As we complete this month of exploring, deepening, and expanding our understanding of what it means to be baptized, we couldn’t be better prepared for what’s next: A more profound exploration of what it means to “live in community,” to need one another and to rely on one another. I’m not sure there can be a more important conversation for the future of this church and “the” Church than this one in our time – separated as we have been by COVID and the questions of “what’s next?” and “who will be a part of it?” The waters of baptism have prepared us to engage some of the most difficult questions we have ever faced in the weeks ahead.
But … for today, for this week, and in preparation: Go forth – remember your baptism, cross divides, die and rise again, and honor the body. We have been shown a more excellent way. As we follow this Way, we pray …
“Spirit of God, descend on us”, that we may all drink of one Spirit
and strive for the greater gifts along the Way. Amen.
Reverend Joel Weible, Pastor
Pewee Valley Presbyterian Church / January 30, 2022