Epiphany 2 (Proper 2)
January 14, 2007
1 Corinthians 12:4- 7 (a paraphrase) (Crossen/Reed p345)
There are varieties of gifts but the same spirit
and there are varieties of services but the same spirit
and there are varieties of activities but it is the same God
who activates all of them in everyone
To each is given the same manifestation of the Spirit
for the common good
It is useful to think of the Letters to the Church at Corinth as an exercise in problem solving. The source of the challenges being the many controversies that had arisen between the several assembles located there. In the previous chapter, Paul struggled to make bring some coherence to the various views of the Resurrection which were common within this community. He ends up making the point that Resurrection was not just about us and survival but about God and this earth. It was not about the heavenly expectation but about the earthly transfiguration of the bodily world. Paul argued that the soul’s immortality with all the postmortem sanctions could not restore a world disfigured by human evil, injustice and violence. So for him, divine justice had to be about transfigured bodies living in a transfigured world. (1)
As we turn to today’s reading we find him concerned with the role of the Christian community - the body of Christ - as the embodiment of this transfiguration. The particular problem was how all of its parts might fit together seeing that they were representative of an amazing and potentially life threatening diversity. He see the work of the Spirit providing this cohesion in two ways. First of all, it is the source of all the gifts, services and activities which are present in the community. Secondly, it is the means whereby altogether they make up or provide for the "common good". (2)
What is not really developed by Paul, hence a good excuse for a sermon is exactly how this transfigured body, the Church, is to be a participant in the transfiguration of the world .The question is - can it to be, indeed its it intended to be a catalyst whereby its gifts services and activities are able to shed light upon the evil, injustice and violence which are everywhere and so move others to dedicate themselves to transforming this condition.
One version of this notion have been with us since the first pagan communities became Christianized as well as from the great missionary movements from the l6th century onwards, has been clothed in the belief that Christianity and civilization were synonymous.. Obviously, the serious study of Arab, Chinese, or civilizations makes it difficult to maintain this illusion. Nonetheless, the industrialization of the west made it possible to cast aside this bit of deception and offered its power in the service of a cross well hidden within the raw force of armies, cheep labour and raw material, civil servants and education in the language of the conquering authority. However, even this cover seems to have been exposed. A recent Guardian/ICM pole in Great Britain found that 82% of those questioned felt that religion was a source of division between peoples and on the whole did more harm than good. This pole is merely a representation of what seems to be a more general attitude in the western world.
But what if we replace the concept of religion with its implied sense of a structured community with what is commonly called personal faith. Men and women of faith are often held up not only as role models but as embodying the attitudes that are able to overcome evil and bring up a more just relationship between other humans. Possibly if there were enough of these lights shining in the world , they could provide the means for others to follow. Individuals are much less likely to be caught up with the power struggle that organized religion cannot seem to escape. This stress upon personal conversion is certainly part of religious experience and not just Christian. However within Christian history this view has resulted in the creation of communities of the saints which regard the “outside” world as a source of temptation and evil. Even if there is no doubt that impressive individuals may bring potentially transforming light upon the human situation - the hope falters over the equally human need to live in community and thus dimming the effect that individual example may have.
Another increasingly popular but very ancient response to Paul’s vision of a transfigured earth is to suggest it will be a result of a final confrontation based upon the resurrection of the faithful who will make possible a new earth. The source of this transformation will be a final cataclysmic confrontation between good and evil. The rightful response for the Church will be to do nothing to inhibit this event since no transfiguration will be possible until Armageddon transpires. Whenever serious trouble erupts in the Middle East this cruel and hateful theology becomes fashionable and appears to neglect his belief that a transformed earth will be possible only with transformed bodies.
What then is might be the relationship between the presence of living resurrected (transfigured) bodies and the transfiguration of the earth? To answer this question, I would invite you to participate in a theological thought experiment. We will begin with a look at the gifts, services and activities that make up the body of Christ. How do they tend to be portrayed within the Christian tradition. If we take the promises that are a part of the Baptismal Covenant in the BAS we note that they consist of:1. Continuing in the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers
2. Persevering in resisting evil and repentance when you fall into sin
3. Proclaiming by word and example the good news of Christ
4. Seeking and serving Christ in all persons and loving your neighbour
5. Striving for justice and peace among all people
6. Respecting the dignity of every human personOnly the last two speak in a direct sense of action that might lead to a transfigured earth. What tends to be missing - understandably for good liturgical reasons - is the attempt to develop a specific grounding for the person in his/her own life story..We do great justice to the recollection of the timelessness of our history but fail quite noticeably to anticipate the need for the timeliness of a particular life in a specific time frame. Completely absent is the specific moment which forms the content of the prophets’ preaching. Kings are mentioned by name - so is the action which is condemned. In committing their words to a written format we have transformed great specificity into bland generality. In the call to repentance which is the origin of the baptismal rite we tend to freeze upon spiritual forms rather than bodily ones. In a world wherein75% of the population lacks clean water we solemnly
Thank God for the gift of water
and then go on to present the newly baptized as homo spiritualis rather than say a homo viridis to the world. The point is we don’t try hard enough extend our vision beyond that of the community in which the local action transpires. If we can’t present a green child to a thirsty, contaminated world how can we ever hope to participate in the transformation necessary for its restoration? The fall out from this liturgical action will certainly have to be the creation of green communities. What would such a gathering be like? How would it live? Would it ever feel comfortable teaching something beyond the Apostles’ Creed and The Lord’s Prayer as essential to the green life? Would we dare to present our children to the font dressed in green? But then acting as if we are committed to transforming the earth may require change we have never imagined.
1. John Dominic Crossan and Jonathan L. Reed, IN SERACH OF PAUL, Saan Francisco, 2004, p.345
2. IBID, p. 347
The Rev. Roger A. Balk, Ph.d.