Body Works

Let us reflect on how our body works. Let us think about all the parts of our bodies work when we toss a ball at or into another object. The parts of my body I would use include my hands, my eyes, and my brain. Could I have done it with my eyes closed? That was a possibility that faced me some years back when affected by an auto-immune disease that untreated would have taken my sight. I had difficulty coming to terms with what may have happened. Also what if I didn’t have any hands? What if my brain wasn’t working right? I need everything working correctly to make the ball go into the cup.

This week’s reading from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians talks about how all of us are like a body. All of us have special talents and abilities to use to share with others. Think about how the fingers and the thumb need to work together to pick up a coin. We all have gifts and we tell others about Jesus by using our gifts. All of our gifts are important and I bet you that you have a gift that you can use. I believe that you all have a gift to help you tell others about God’s love and about Jesus.

Maybe today at lunch you could talk with your family about the gifts that you have for sharing about God’s love and his son Jesus. You are the body of Christ and individually you are each members of the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of that body. This body would not work without you, or without all of you. Everyone in this building today is a very important part of the body.

Since the gifts are varied expressions of the one Holy Spirit, who distributes them freely, then it is unthinkable that they may be at odds with one another – they must act in harmony. The gifts that are given, are not meant for personal satisfaction, their purpose is to serve. They are given for the benefit of all, that the fellowship of believers may be extended and encouraged in love. Such gifts cannot give rise to rivalry or disorder.

No matter that the daily grind may seem monotonous and not very meaningful; we all belong to the whole body by belonging to that place. God has chosen this for us and calls us with great love. We separate ourselves because of fear and ignorance and selfishness. Or maybe this is simply because others are different. Humans have always tended to dislike those who are different.

Professor Higgins in "My Fair Lady" gives us a humorous view of this intolerance:
Why can't a woman be more like a man?
Why does every one do what the others do?
Can't a woman learn to use her head?
Why do they do everything their mothers do?
Why don't they grow up like their fathers instead?

From our unity with Christ flows all our connectedness with others. Because we respond with love to God's love for us, we can care for others and feel the sense of interdependency that Paul illustrates so clearly. Perhaps an old, yet ageless poem by John Donne will remind us why we need to be renewed by the Holy Spirit to shun intolerance and reach out in peace and love to all our brothers and sisters.

No man is an island, entire of itself.
Every man is a piece of the continent,
a part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.

Any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls,
it tolls for thee.