 By Rev. Heather J. Blais, Rector
Earlier this week, while I was spending time with a set of Epiphany prayers from Daily Prayer for All Seasons, I stumbled upon a meditation, attributed to Richard Meux Benson. Benson was an Episcopal brother and the founder of the Society of St. John the Evangelist, whose order began in England. Benson wrote, “The wise men cannot return to their own country by the same way they used to come to Bethlehem. While they cannot go the same route because of Herod, we cannot go the same way once we have met Christ. We emerge from our encounter with Christ as changed people. We cannot follow the same path as before. Like the wise men, we must seek out Christ, but we will always leave as transformed people.”* We cannot go the same way once we have met Christ. We emerge from our encounter with Christ as changed people. It is this precise change that draws us out of our own worlds, and into our common life as the Church. We gather with those who understand how profoundly Christ has changed us. Together we listen to the scriptures and break bread. We discern how our individual gifts can be shared in community, to strengthen the mission and ministry of the Church. We explore how to embody Christ’s values in a world that seems to value the market, individualism, and power above and before God’s dream. Sometimes finding our way together as the Church is challenging. This was certainly the case for the early church in Corinth, Greece. This city was an important trade center, featuring two ports, and it embodied Rome’s imperial culture.** The church in Corinth was composed of some Jews, but primarily of Gentiles - those who were not of the Jewish tradition. This meant folks from two very different backgrounds were trying to figure out how to be the Church together, while living in the heart of Roman imperialism. Paul wrote to help the community grapple with their unique challenges. One question the community was stuck on was whether it was okay to eat meat from animals that had been offered to other gods in pagan temples? At the heart of this issue, was a more substantive question. One we still have to sit with today: How do we navigate being the Church in a world that has different values? Paul offers many insights in his first letter to the community. One of his most important pieces of advice comes from today’s reading, which is placed immediately before 1 Corinthians 13 - love is patient, love is kind. There will always be disagreements within faith communities, as we are each bringing with us our individual experiences, perspectives, and gifts. It is easier to find common ground and a way forward, when we remember that, first and foremost, we are one body of Christ. Paul writes: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ...God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as [God] chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members yet one body” (1 Cor 12:12,18). Just as we need our eyes, ears, hands, and feet, we need individual members of the church to bring their experiences, perspectives, and gifts to the body. We are always better when we come together as one body, in service of Christ’s mission. This fall I had the opportunity to see how people learn to work as one body at one of my kids cross country meets. While most people ran as individuals, this particular meet offered a challenge for teams to participate in - the centipede race. Each school could have four of their runners connected by rope, and they would run the entire 5k together as one body. When I saw the kids at the starting line, roped together, I was pretty surprised. It was hard to imagine being able to do that well given they don’t normally practice running as a team. This wasn’t a crew race after all. By the end of the meet, it turned out one of the centipedes fell apart, and never did finish. Another struggled, but persevered and finally made their way to the finish line towards the very end. Yet still another team figured out how to run well as a singular body, and they reached the finish line with an average time, right in the middle of the pack. Watching these teams try their best, or struggle through, was fascinating. They were a reminder of how difficult it can be to do things as one body. There’s no room for ‘my way or the highway’ attitudes, as it would lead to a disaster with everyone moving in the wrong direction. Nor can we refuse to participate, as that will prevent the body from moving at all. We have to slow down, and ground ourselves. As the Church we ground ourselves in prayer, setting our minds on Christ, and trusting the Spirit to help us run the race together. Paul emphasizes that for us to be the Church well, we need each of our many members with our individual gifts. We need people who are called to lead and heal, to teach and feed, to repair and sing. At our Vestry meeting this past week, Kathryn led us in a meditation and bible study where we explored the gifts within our parish. We reflected on how important it is that we continue to help one another see the gifts we each possess, and find ways to share those gifts. When we are able to do this, we are a stronger body. We are better prepared to follow God’s call to be the Church during uncertain times. This past week, we welcomed a new president into office, and we resumed our country’s long tradition of a peaceful transition of power. As is commonly the case, our new president signed several executive orders. No matter what political leaders are at the helm, no matter their political party, those leaders will seek to instill their values into law, setting the tone for the next four years. The challenge for us as Christians, as Christ’s one body, is that sometimes those values are deeply at odds with the values of our faith tradition. The Episcopal Church relies on scripture, tradition, and reason when making sense of how we are called to live out our faith in the here and now. It is through this practice that our church has embraced the importance of welcoming the stranger and supporting humane and reasonable policies when it comes to how we respond to the needs of immigrants, refugees, and migrants. The Christ-child and the holy family lived as refugees in a foreign land, and throughout his public ministry, Jesus routinely advocated that we welcome the stranger (Matthew 2:13-15). Likewise, it is scripture, tradition and reason that has informed our understanding of gender identity and expression, as a spectrum. As such we have supported respectful and reasonable policies that recognize the dignity of each and every person, particularly those our culture has historically placed on the margins, such as transgender and nonbinary folks. As the psalmist proclaims in psalm 139, God created us and loves us for our authentic selves, and that there is nothing that will ever change that. And of course, it is this practice that has informed our emphasis on creation care, and the importance of supporting reasonable and timely policies that help us collaborate with others around the world in addressing the climate crisis. At creation, God charged humanity to be stewards of God’s precious creation (Genesis 1:28-30). We cannot turn our backs on God, and this, the first of all our charges by God. So how do we proceed as the Church? How do we make sense of our mission and ministry as the body of Christ, as the empire we live within pursues, at least some values, that are deeply at odds with God’s values? We begin by remembering we are not alone. We are one body, with many members. While our many members may share different opinions and perspectives, we are united in our shared sense of God’s call to compassion, love, justice, and mercy. This is not easy work, as we are one body in the longest centipede race imaginable. Yet the Church, and other religious traditions, have a role to play in resisting the pervasive fear that is consuming our nation and culture’s common life. Because there is no place for fear in faith. As the prophet Isaiah once wrote, “O God, you will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are fixed on you; for in returning and rest we shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be our strength” (Isaiah 26:3; 30:15). When we come together as the body of Christ, and set aside our fears for faith, we will know perfect peace, and it will be our strength. That strength will ground us as the body of Christ. The peace and strength that comes from faith will help us to walk in Love. To help lift up our moral responsibility for compassion, love, justice, and mercy. As the body of Christ, we can do our small part, in our little corner of God’s world, to help bring about God’s dream. Our faith will guide us forward. Whatever those in power may be doing, we will persevere in Love: by welcoming the stranger; by respecting the dignity of every human being; by caring for creation; and by uniting in our common call to lift up the need for compassion, love, justice and mercy in God’s world. As we head into the coming week, I want to invite us to set aside our fear for faith, so we might persevere in Love. There are so many opportunities to try this: when we read the news, or see a strong opinion on social media, or listen to people in line at the grocery store, or get anxious texts from loved ones. Each time, let us take a breath, and set aside fear for faith, so we might persevere in love. Amen. Lectionary Readings Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a Luke 4:14-21 Psalm 19 * Daily Prayer for All Seasons, 54 (adapted). Original text: https://archive.org/details/benedictusdominu00bensuoft/page/52/mode/2up ** Jewish Annotated New Testament, 321.
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